Blog-Con Two – Saturday 3rd May

Readers of this Blog might remember that one of the highlights of my gaming year for 2013 was meeting other wargaming Bloggers at the first Blog Con in Nottingham last November. I think it’s fair to say that Blog Con One was a great success.

 

So much so, in fact, that we’ve collectively decided to stage Blog Con Two, this time at the Yorkshire Air Museum at Elvington near York. The date is this Saturday, and I think its fair to say that I’m looking forward to it a huge amount.

Last year’s Blog Con was remarkable for some really excellent games, including Dave (One Man and His Brushes) Doherty’s fantastic Blazing Saddles game. Dave is re-running our visit to Serenity, his wonderful Western town, and I’m hoping that this time I’ll stop Johnny Ringo from catching the Yuma Express.

Joining me on the trip up to Yorkshire shall be special Colonial guests from the Analogue Hobbies blog, Curt Campbell and his wife Sarah, who are spending a few days with me at Roundwood Towers with a view to finally teach me how to paint greyscale figures properly. It’s going to be a great event, not least of which will be a chance for some after game refreshment in York.

And, as I could hardly go to Blog Con II without putting on a game, I thought I would take up a small “Winter Sports” game, set in late 1916. Hmmm …… Winter Sports …..

Doesn't ring a bell? I guess its been a while. Maybe some of these pictures might refresh the memory …

Ahhhh.....those "Winter Sports".  With me now?

I’ve been wanting to run another trench raiding game for a while.  They're always fun, and usually chaotic as a participation game.  Back in the dim and distant days of the early 1980s, around the time I was first playing Dungeons and Dragons, I used to love the classic D&D bar room brawl.  Anything could happen in a couple of hours.  And as one of my chums, Mike from the School wargames club, used to say - "If the game hasn't warmed up in an hour, I'll just chuck a couple of ogres in to liven things up".  Wise words, Mike, wise words indeed.

I think of trench raiding games as the historical wargaming equivalent of a bar room brawl.  Chaotic, unpredictable, knife-edge fighting, with both groups of players scrambling around in the dark.  Perfect for a participation game, and hopefully just the trick for Blog Con Two.  

I’ve also been tweaking the "Winter Sports" rules slightly to give the defenders some more options, and the attackers some different ways of frustrating the defenders’ plans. Nothing major, but just some additional themed cards which should be fun to play.

After the game, I’ll post the player briefings and the suggested rules tweaks in case anyone would like to give these a try. As well as plenty of photos from the event as well!

Also, for those in the Twitter-sphere, I'm planning to tweet the Blog Con Two games with some pictures. It's a bit of a new departure, but I'm told its simple enough.  Partly this is out of curiosity, and partly its to try and see if the tweets feed through to Lard-chum Derek Hodge's excellent NetVibes Lard Central site.  Fingers crossed!