San Diego Histcon 2024
Chalk up another super long drive in the books as once again I drove from Calgary to San Diego. That's 1600 miles/2600 km each way. Which just means I got to listen to a couple excellent books. First I finished Holland's excellent Battle of Britain. Hugely recommended not just for the title subject, but for maybe the best and most detailed explanation of the Fall of France that I've read yet. Then I started a monster 19 hours long book on the English Civil War. Half way through, and now I'm itching to play some Roundhead games.
As last year, the event kicked off with an evening mixer at a local brewpub right down on the water at Point Loma. I caught up with SoCal friends I've made over the last few years, but the real highlight was meeting Eric Lee Smith. I was just casually introduced to him as though he was just another gamer. My jaw almost hit the floor as I stammered out "I love your games." We ended up sitting down and just yakking for about half an hour. Turns out he has plans to re-publish his seminal The Civil War game (orginally published by Victory Games). He said he's had plenty of interest from publishers, but is thinking of self-publishing. I wish him well.
Friday morning it was my usual breakfast at Point Break, maybe with Mike Smart (Zillablitz). I had breakfast there every day, so they blend together a bit. Then off to the con.
First event of the day, teaching Grant and Alexander from The Players Aid the Blind Swords system. Richard Handewith from Revolution met me there and handed off a fresh copy of their latest game, Shiloh: The First Day (designed by Steve Carey). I'd had a look at the scenarios and selected The Hornet's Nest as a way to show off the system. It's not a real introductory scenario, but I chose it as I wanted the guys to see as much of the system as possible.
You can see where the Rebs are poised to make a run across the bottom of the board
They took the Rebs and I took the Union, and away we went. Given so much of Blind Swords is similar to other systems, they took to it like ducks to water. So much so that they managed an auto win with a great flanking maneuver. I had units to block them, but in classic Blind Swords fashion, the regiment I needed to move into their way failed to activate twice in a row. So a great time and I think they really liked the system. I predict Blind Swords content on the Players Aid Youtube channel soon.
Next up, Mike Smart and I play the Midway scenario from Task Force (Vuca Games). This was tense and a ton of fun. As you'd expect, a lot of it is about who find the other carriers first. But there's also decisions about how much of yourm fighter force to put on CAP (Combat Air Patrol) and also cycling you units from missions, to reserve, and back to ready for another mission. Nothing worse that finally spotting a carrier but having no units ready to launch! We played the first of the two days of this scenario. I sank the Kaga, Mike sank the Enterprise, and then the Hornet, and I disabled one of his other CVs so that it had to head home. Had we played the second day, it could have gone either way. We both felt like we were sure to play more of this game.
For my final game of the day, I played Arabian Struggle from Catastrophe Games with Andrew Heim and David Siskin (sorry, no photos of the players on this one, I was getting a little bleary-eyed). This is a game set in the Arabian Peninsula in roughly the years 1890 to 1930. World War I is just something that happens in the middle of the game. Not a big deal other than it releases a bunch of colonial English units on the board to spoil player's plans. The real game is a struggle between the Saudis, the Hashemites, and the Rasheedis for control of the area. It's a card game with cool combat mechanics, and we all loved it. See episode 37 - Dan Bullock, Summit Award, Rob Bottos, Arabian Struggle for a closer look.
I poured myself to bed as I knew the next day was going to be a big one.
David, Grant, Andrew, and Alexander
Andrew Heim had organized a game of Virgin Queen (GMT Games) with the four players pictured above plus Maurice Suckling and myself. And when I say organized, it doesn't come close to describing the work Andrew had put into ensuring we had a great time. Each player had his own dice tray and own box of dice. Each player had a small dry erase board with a cover to keep notes for himself. The tracks where alliances etc are posted were upright with magnetic markers so that everyone could see without having to get up and peer across the table. It was phenomenal.
I'd never played VQ before, but I'd played Here I Stand, so while I wasn't on sure footing, I wasn't totally floundering. I was the Holy Roman Empire and came in second. Grant from the Players Aid won an autovictory on turn three as the Spanish. Terrific game, and a terrific group. All very helpful to newbies and a joy to play with.
That ate up about 7 hours, and I had no evening game planned, so I got to work getting my first interviews in the can. More on those down the line.
Sunday morning was Old School Tactical Vol 4 using the Commonwealth expansion that features the Canadians and Kiwis. I got to play the Canucks in a scenario vs David Siskin and managed to hang on vs his attacking Germans. I'd only played the game solo before, so it was great fun to finally play it live vs. David, who is an old hand at the series.
The rest of Sunday was more interviews (I think it was 4 after doing 2 on Saturday). I did have a game of Up Front scheduled for Sunday evening, but my opponent was late getting back from dinner with foodie Kevin Bertram of Fort Circle Games, so we called it off. I was to teach him the old classic, so perhaps we'll do it online.
By Monday morning, a fair number of players had headed home, but I was lucky to have pre-planned a game of 1812: Napoleon's Fateful March (Vuca Games) with Christina Kahrl. We played the middle scenario where the French are halfway to Moscow. I managed to get them there, but they were in a sorry state and Christina's Russians cut my supply line as soon as I arrived and grim attrition set in. I conceded as I just didn't have enough left to repair the line. A really interesting system. I love the hidden orders. If you want a closer look at this game, check out my overview: 1812 Napoleon's Fateful March -Overview
And then it was time to hit the long trail home.
It was another terrific event by Harold Buchanan and the gang. What makes SD Histcon unique is the sheer number of designers there. And content creators. And prototypes. I regret not spending more time looking over those prototypes and figuring out what's coming down the pike. I'll try keep that in mind if I make it back.
One last photo. Grant from the Players Aid with an excellent Pushing Cardboard dice cup. Click on the photo if you'd like to order one for yourself! (If they are out of stock, check back, they will return!)
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