Historicon 2011
Historicon 2011 is in the rear view mirror and it was a great one! Demo Agent “Speck” was on hand with several car loads of new miniatures, new terrain and a fine crew of volunteers to aid in the heavy metal mayhem.
There were multiple BattleTech games available throughout the four days of gaming. I hosted two of them with the help of SaxyWolf on Thursday.
Iron Wind Metals and the Dealer Room
I love shopping at conventions for a lot of reasons. Chief among them is the ability to grab online exclusive units, limited editions, ala carte battle armor, no shipping, and the convenience of seeing exactly what you are buying. I’m not afraid to say I’ve more than once put a mini back on the shelf after seeing just how complicated the assembly will be. I’m not afraid of a challenge, but I try not to go out of my way to invite complexity.
Jim from Iron Wind Metals was graciously ringing up customers and holding the fort as convention goers browsed the many BattleTech, fantasy, and space miniatures available.
The rest of the dealer room held the usual suspects with a few notable absences. The number of dealers at the convention was definitely smaller than years prior. Certainly some of that is due to the uncertainty caused by various inner workings within the HMGS. Regardless, there was plenty to see and plenty to buy. There were also multiple demos available for those willing to spend the time.
I ended up buying a bunch of the new BattleTech infantry, some battle armor, a squad of fantasy elf archers, and a load of MERCS minis for use in A Time of War. I’ll hopefully have more pictures of the infantry with size comparisons in a future post.
Breaking and Entering
With a brand new load of terrain, SaxyWolf and I hosted an A Time of War mission to disable a Castle Brian Space Defense Station from the inside. Two squads of elite assault troopers infiltrated the facility and raced to find the command and control systems and take it over by any means necessary. Expect a more in depth after action report on this event. It was a lot of fun to run. We had two brand new players playing and they picked up the rules quickly. I also debuted a second iteration of my revised A Time of War tactical record sheet which helped lower the learning curve.
Dusting for Scraps
In the second event of a ScrapYard double header, the forces of the Free Worlds League faced off against the Word of Blake on Atreus. This game is a repeat of a game featured in an after action report here at the ScrapYard. See The Fall of Atreus for a full run down of the units involved. We ended up not using the artillery or the mines this time to help balance things for the Word of Blake.
The Free Worlds League forces fared better than the Word of Blake defenders but did not make ample progress towards their goal of escaping the battle. In the end it was probably a draw. We had two new players on each side who needed a bit of help to move things along but did a great job commanding their troops.
Devil’s Tower BattleForce
This event was an all day affair with regiments of units in action alongside artillery, minefields, and gun emplacements.
Between the three time slots (the players had to eat sometime…) forces were shifted to represent the relative progress of the coalition forces invading the Castle Brian. This was an amazing game using the new miniature BattleMechs to represent lances or Level IIs. As the end drew near the coalition forces breached the walls and made significant progress against the defending Word of Blake.
Kudos to Mark for pulling off such a massive game.
East Coast Commandothon
For the first time, a HMGS event was host to the East Coast Commandothon. Demo agents from near and far converged at the table for some ‘Mech stomping goodness. There were lots of familiar faces among the crowd. A full recount of the event is available on the Classic BattleTech forums.
Grand Melee
The traditional last event of the convention is the Grand Melee. This year’s event used the Castle Brian terrain as the center piece for the combatants to fight over. It was a fantastic battle ending with a final head cap.
2012 Location in the Works
There is a lot of speculation as to where Historicon will land next year. The Valley Forge convention center is going to be putting in slots and gaming tables in some of the spaces that would be required for games. Other prospective locations are in Virginia and possibly York Pa.
A move to Virginia would be the most disruptive but I’m sure that the Demo team is up to the challenge. The Pennsylvania based HMGS conventions are always so convenient for me in New Jersey. The longer trip will force me to do more to save costs to make the trip doable.
All the Rest
There is always more to Historicon than BattleTech alone. I spent a good bit of time playing other game systems from historicals to fantasy. I had a great time at Historicon and would encourage anyone who hasn’t had the privilege to make the leap next year.
Great pictures and the report gives a real good over view of the convention BattleTech events. Any chance of some captions on the last set of photos?
I’ve always been disappointed in how wordpress handles captions. The darn images never line up right again.
For the record though…
First two pictures are from a Battle of Antietam game we played in. Third is a random Civil War game.
Second row first and second are I believe Tripoli. Third is a All Things Zombie game.
Last row is a random trench warfare game. Honestly I just thought it was cool how the one player had to crawl on the table to move units. Second pic is an amazing BattleStar Galactica game. I’m going to have to try to play in that one if they run it next year. Last image on the row is a Lord of the Rings game. I played on the evil side and managed to eat Aragorn with my Nazgul. I enjoyed it thoroughly…
Thanks for that. Awesome games. I too would love to see that Battlestar game and have a go playing. In fact I’d play in any of the games pictured as they just look so tempting.
I hear ya. The BattleStar game had a home brew ruleset and miniatures from IWM.
I had written my name down on a list to receive a copy of the rules. So far nothing. But if I do get them, I’ll pass them along so you can take a look.
Brian
Thanks that would be brialliant.
WorldWorks TerrainLinx Titan Control right? I think I’ll post a link on their forums showing it in action. I’d like to get in a solid AToW session but have little time for prep. I might PM one of you guys for help in getting a one-off or two-off session going.
It is a combination of Titan and Titan Control.
I’ll have a full after action report available in the near future with lots more pictures. It will have to wait until the GenCon madness calms down a bit though.
Prep time is absolutely something we are trying to help. We have lots of plans. Eventually we will get to it all and get it up for the fans. Always looking for help if you are interested…