I've become a bit addicted to driving to California...
The trip down was a beautiful, though extremely long. 24 hours total drive time. I went Calgary to Lethbridge to the border to Helena to Idaho Falls the first day.
The lineup at the border crossing at Coutts/Sweetgrass
The second day, I pushed super hard and drove for 15 hours. Idaho Falls to Salt Lake City to Las Vegas to Los Angeles to San Diego. Because I'd pushed it so hard, I arrived a day earlier than I expected, so had some time to spend before the pre-convention mixer on Thursday night.
The mixer was at a lovely craft brewery right on the wharf, about 300 yards from my hotel. Ideal. I met Harold Buchanan and his gang there, as well as some of the folks I'd be spending the weekend with, including Will Bauer and his partner, Renee. Great beer, free pizza, and a general feeling of anticipation.
Friday
The convention was only a block and a half from my hotel, so I packed up some games and headed over. When I arrived at the building, I didn't immediately see a sign. What I did see was a woman who looked as lost as I felt. We introduced ourselves, and she turned out to be a Twitter friend, Natalia Wojtowicz. We went through the big main door and discovered we were indeed in the correct place, and stepped into the convention.
My first scheduled game was with David Siskin. We had arranged to play Norway 1940 from Trafalgar Editions. It's a fairly rare game and when we realized we both owned it and had not played it, it was an easy choice.
Grant with David siskin
We had both studied the rules ahead of time, and they were a bear. Originally written in Spanish, the translation seemed fine, but the rules themselves were spotty. Particularly lacking was firm information on set up and how units enter. We plowed our way through with much cursing and laughing. My Germans successfully invaded at Narvik, Trondheim, and Bergen, but were initially repulsed in Oslo. They made it in on their second try. As we got more into the flow of the game, its use of air and sea units as well as the land forces worked smoothly. There are naval combat units, transport units, and subs. The combat and transport units do the jobs you expect. The subs are used to detect enemy fleets.
The air units have a variety of missions: interdiction, naval bombing, land bombing, sub hunting, transport. Probably more. All missions are resolved with straighforward die rolls. In general, you roll the die for air and naval units often, but usually only hit on a six. There can be a lot of chucking for no effect.
David has almost had enough of battling me and the rulebook
In the end, we only got through the first 6 turns or so before calling it. We both had other games to play and we'd gotten through enough to feel like we understood how it worked. I'm not sure David will come back to it. I hope to, perhaps via VASSAL. I'm intrigued by how it manages to use air, land, and sea at this level.
I had a bit of time to look around, so here's a few things I saw before grabbing a bite to eat.
Revolution Games: Richard (L) and Roger (R) playtest Steve Carey's (C) next Blind Swords game on the first day of Shiloh
Justin Fassino and friend play Trevor Bender's Kursk game from C3i magazine
An all day session of Here I Stand. My pals Will (black t-shirt) and Christina (green hair) had a great time
Prelude to Revolution being taught by Wargame Bootcamp
Justin Fassino's Seljuk, the next game up in the Levy and Campaign series
After dinner, I had another scheduled game, this time with Kevin Thatcher, someone I met in the opponents wanted section of the SDHistcon discord server. We had agreed to play Napoleon 1807 for Shakos. Again, a game both of us owned but had not played yet. I took the French in the historical Eylau scenario and away we went.
Kevin analyzes his position
Napoleon 1807 from Shakos
This was another learning game where we got halfway through, but didn't finish. Kevin and I both had a great time learning it and went home wanting to play it again.
Saturday
I didn't have a game lined up for first thing, so I had another look around, and managed to do a couple interviews (more info on the interviews in upcoming podcasts).
Saturday morning game of Border Reivers
As well, a Saturday game of Angola that lasted most of the day
I did not expect to see side by side games of North Africa 41 happening. Wargaming was strongly represented!
Michael Maners, a fellow youtuber and Twitter friend I previously only knew as Scratch Kitty, showed my his World War I air combat game, Richthofen. It's a bit like a WWI version of Down in Flames/Wild Blue Yonder in that it is a card game and it has no board. Instead, every thing is based on which plane is tailing and which is being tailed. It's a fun quick game and Mike has both a Campaign Game and a solo mode for it. I'm happy to say I managed to help him out with a small tweak to the gun jam rules. I haven't played a dozen different WWI air games for nothing.
Scratch Kitty (Mike) showing me his WWI air combat game, Richthofen.
Playing Mike's demo was so fun, I sought out Same London as I'd seen his Firefight Tactical on the table back at GMT West, and was interested in a demo. As luck would have it, Sam had tired of playing the first two scenarios, and had set up scenario 7, a much more detailed affair. He wasn't sure it was the best way to learn, but as I've played as many WWII tactical systems as I've played WWI air games, I felt I was going to be ok. Turned out great. The game is a bit like Up Front in that it's cards and no map. It's a bit like Point Blank, in that the terrain is a grid of preset cards (so not like Up Front). Combat and morale are totally its own thing. And it uses a ton of dice. Not like a dice chucker, but more like a dice drafting game. If you've ever played Steampunk Rally, you'll have an idea of what it's like.
I loved the game, and came very close to a win, surprising Sam.
Sam London demoing his Firefight Tactical game, now on P500 at GMT
Then I finally got to sit down with my online friend Mark Johnson for a couple games. First we played Table Battles from Hollandspiele (not pictured) and then Mark's copy of Age of Aces, which he'd brought, knowing I love WWI air games.
I've been listening to Mark's excellent podcast, Wargames to Go, for years. I've loved his themed series, and when I started my own podcast, I wanted to emulate his sense of professionalism in a hobby setting, as well as his excellent audio quality. While I can't always control the audio of my interview subjects in remote locations, I've strived to keep the audio that is under my control crisp and even. Check out his podcast. He's a great guy and it was a pleasure to spend time with him.
Mark Johnson of the Wargames to Go podcast and I played Age of Aces from Vae Victus magazine
After dinner and another interview, it was time for the evening game. David Thompson set this up. It turns out Mark and I are his favourite podcasters, so he'd invited us to a game of 1754. We had a fourth who didn't make it to the convention, so David dragooned Miguel into playing. Turns out Miguel is a local and had some good food tips.
The game itelf was a ton of fun. The only downside was that it ended as games from this series sometimes do, with Mark and I getting a double go on the final turn where we managed to grab back enough areas for the win. Fairly gamey, but man, we had a great time.
Miguel, David Thompson, Mark Johnson, and I have an epic game of 1754 from Academy Games
Sunday
Sunday is when the convention starts clearing out, so my only arranged game was for that morning. Bayonets & Tomahawks with Christina Kahrl. She had not played the game before, so we played the first scenario with her as the French and me as the lobsters. She was a terrific opponent, really engaged with the game, and full of history. We had such a good time, we went for lunch later (where I had Carne Assado as per Miguel's tip eariler).
Christina after a raid doesn't work out
Near the end
The game went back and forth a fair bit. What kept us in stitches through out were the several battles for York. I left my back door open, and she took York from me. I took it back, then she took it again. Then I tried 3 or 4 times in a row to retake, but lost every time, despite having superior strength. On the final turn of the game, I finally managed to take it once more, giving the Brits a slim 1 pt victory.
The five battles for York!
After lunch, I got in a couple last interviews before we were tossed out at 6 PM. We really did use every second. Since a few of us weren't leaving until the morning, we went back to the same brewery I'd been to for the mixer, and had a great chat about health care, Europe, Canada, Lodz, and of course we played a couple small games that Mark had brought along. Along with us, fittingly, was Natalia, who I had started the convention with. A great final night as a cap to a wonderful convention.
Natalia, Mark, David and Grant win SDHistCon by being the last people in the hall when they shut the doors.
And excellent convention, I wholeheartedly recommed it to anyone who can get there.
In addition to the folks I've mentioned and pictured, there were many more I didn't get a photo of, and many I didn't even get a chance to speak with. It was wonderful to spend time with youtube's ZillaBlitz. We had a couple meals together, shared warstories about creating the stuff we do for the hobby, and generally got along like a house on fire. I had a good talk with Jason Carr from GMT about rulebook writing and accessibility. I met Grant and Alex from The Players Aid. I reconnected with Candace Harris of BGG, who I'd first met at GMT West. I got a chance to chat with Rachel Billingsley and Kai Jensen, both of GMT. I spoke with designers such as Jason Matthews, Kevin Bertram, Steve Carey, and Harold. I missed speaking with the amazing Dan Thurot, and Dan Bulloch. If I had a criticism of the event, it's that it would be great if it started Thursday. It's a long way to go for 3 days!
That's all for this year. Who knows if I'll ever make it back?
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