Rodger MacGowan - Sep 10, 2005 12:05 pm (#33 Total: 36) ConQuest 2005 - After Action Report Hi Guys, I'm back from San Francisco's "ConQuest" game convention. The drive up and down the West Coast, along with running our company booth and giving seminars at "ConQuest" was a go-go-go experience for me (like last year). I'm just now getting back to my normal production routine and working on "C&C Ancients", "Flying Colors", "C3i Magazine Nr17" and new P500 Projects to be announced. I want to thank a hundred times over the help and support I received from Mark Ruggiero at the "ConQuest" conventions over the last two years -- Mark is really a great guy! Mark noted, "...Just a note to thank GMT Games and Rodger MacGowan for there support and presence at Conquestsf. The wargaming at this con has gotten better every year..." I'll tell you why the board wargaming section of the San Francisco "ConQuest" convention has grown over the years and become very strong -- it is because of Mark Ruggiero. I know this from working closely with him at "ConQuest" over the last two years, and I also know from the many players in the San Francisco area who have told me about Mark's incredible efforts to buildup wargaming at "ConQuest". What Mark has done has been above and beyond, and we very much appreciate ALL his efforts. His influence has even been felt down here in Los Angeles, where they are now working to beef up the board wargaming sections of the local LA cons in the same manner. Mark added, "...Rodger, what can I say, your art work was well recieved escpecially the 'ASL' Prize! The 'Downtown' event was well attended,And the 'A W orld at W ar' demo I know generated a lot of buzz,'Manifest Destiny' went over well and on Sunday we had three boards of 'Empire of the Sun'. I hope next year we can get some GMT Presence in some form. Once again thank you!!!!..." Thank you Mark! Through Mark's efforts, and other key guys at "ConQuest", there were on going "Down in Flames" series Tournaments which led to many guys discovering the DiF series. I sold out of ALL of our DiF series games at the company booth over the weekend due to this fabulous activity. Tony Nardo noted, "... From what I've gleaned from others who were at ConQuest SF, the event sounded like a success. I'd be curious as well to hear how it went from the GMT booth perpective, and - of course - to see if there was a post-con P500 bounce..." Tony, the activity at the booth was strong and continuous throughout the four days I was there. Guys kept coming to the booth asking me when is that "Pirate" game coming out? We want that Pirate "Plunder" game! Some guys suggested we use real pirate names on the cards, have mini-bios of them on the cards, it would add flavor and so on. The interest level was HIGH! Thanks to everyone running "ConQuest" San Francisco for their support, help and care. I can't thank them enough for their friendly spirit. My son Steven and I ran our company booth for four days and nights at the Marriott facility. I got together with some old friends from the area like Dana Lombardy. Many of the "GMT West Weekend" guys were in attendance and helped me at the booth. It was fun. Thank you San Francisco! Rodger David R. Moody - Sep 5, 2005 10:41 pm (#10734 Total: 10764) Last played: Gringo, Downtown, ASL, Band of Heroes, Grant Takes Command, Pirates, WMD, Lock 'n' Load (ANZAC expansion), Brandywine (GMT), B-17, Settlers of Catan, Down in Flames. Reading: The Supreme Commander (Stephen Ambrose). ConQuest Report--Day 1, or, rather, Evening 1, since I went at night on the first day "Then the wife yells from the other room, "DAVID! Did you take out the trash yet?"" Oh yes--it wouldn't be game night/day without the Honeydew chores. On to Conquest. Friday night I left work early and hopped on BART down to San Francisco airport, there to take the shuttle down to the SFO Marriott, the site for ConQuest (for many years it was at the Dunfey down in San Mateo). Night 1 was the Downtown event, starting at 6 PM, and I wanted enough time to get down there, register, grab a bite to eat, and cruise the dealer room before the event started. All this I did, saying hi to Rodger MacGowan (a true gentleman) at the GMT booth and the staffers at the Endgame booth. Then I headed down to the boardgames room, in the same place as last year (they shunt us warmongering cardboard pushing types downstairs away from everyone else. Closer to the flea market though, and you get a nice view of the planes taking off and landing across the water at SFO.). I was the only person, aside from the GM, who had a copy of the game, and we had a lot of newbies. So we got both games going, and started with the training scenario, Surfing Bird. I took up a pair of Skyhawks against two newbies, one running the real flight of MiGs, one the dummy flight. My Navy flyboys spotted an NVA convoy on the road, bombed it, and headed for home, but were bounced by two MiGs. Flown by Rookie pilots, they fired off all their ammo but failed to hit us. We regained our carrier, but bomb damage assessment put damage at only Slight, meaning the game was a draw. With another player, we moved on to the next scenario in the training syllabus, Beginnings. It is ideal for four players and new players as it has two Navy strikes and no SAMs. I took the main strike (A-4s and Phantoms) at a bridge whose name escapes me, with another player running the secondary strike (A-4s and F-8s) at Kep Airfield. Each DRV (Democratic Republic of Vietnam) player had one real and one dummy flight of MiG-17s. The action was fast and furious. One flight of MiGs and one flight of F-8s attempted to engage each other, but failed. I swung one of my Phantom flights into action and splashed two MiGs, but lost a Phantom in return (he flew back to the carrier). The other MiG flight flew into the secondary strike's formation and engaged the lead four Skyhawks, forcing them to jettison bombs and abort. The MiGs fled to China, leaving the DRV with no planes on map. So we went to the bombing runs. One of my Skyhawks was crippled due to flak, and we only Slightly damaged the bridge, but the secondary strike flattened Kep (T result on the bomb damage table). The crippled A-4 made it back to base, so the US won a Victory with 10 VP. A good close game--had the crippled A-4 not made it back, it would have been Indecisive. By then it was getting late, and I was worried about getting back to the airport in time to catch the train back home. My game was in use by the other players. Fortunately, Joe Youst happened by and, as he lives close to me and is also a gentleman, he offered to take me home. We transferred the game in progress over to the GM's set, packed my game up, and headed out. All in all, a good start to the weekend. David R. Moody - Sep 5, 2005 11:06 pm (#10735 Total: 10764) Last played: Gringo, Downtown, ASL, Band of Heroes, Grant Takes Command, Pirates, WMD, Lock 'n' Load (ANZAC expansion), Brandywine (GMT), B-17, Settlers of Catan, Down in Flames. Reading: The Supreme Commander (Stephen Ambrose). ConQuest Report Day 2--French in the Fog, Part 1 Got up Saturday morning, my first of two full days at the con, and a big day--the 4th Annual Silicon Valley ASL tournament and the 20th anniversary B-17 Target: Reich mission. She Who Must Be Obeyed made a yummy breakfast while I got some ASL maps and the Halloween decorations (SWMBO likes to get the jump on these things) out of the garage. Then I ate, dressed for battle (Napoleon's European Tour--the Emperor always seems to give me luck on the field), packed up, and drove across the Bay Bridge down to the Marriott. The theme of this year's ASL tournament was Frenchmen Lost in the Fog of War. Each of the four scenarios chosen (three from Tactiques, one from Schwerpunkt) featured French troops (FFI, Free French, or just plain French) and had one side entering from off map. Thus, they provided some cool opportunities for fog of war. This year there were eight of us, up from six last year (where I came in third, to my great pride). After the GM paired us up and assigned scenarios, we got two briefing sheets. One was the scenario card, with only the information on our at-start forces, SSRs applying to our side, and info known to both sides appearing. The other was our general orders--our mission, basically--with special things we could do to gain special VP. Thus, we had no knowledge of our opponent's starting forces, setup/entry, or even the specific victory conditions for the scenario. In the first round, I had French resistance forces holding a village and airfield in southern France in July 1944. We had word of German paras in the area, and had to hold on to the village and airfield (especially the village--it had ammo for the Maquis in the area). I set up my forces mostly in the village, with a few around the airfield. I also got special VP if I captured enemy support weapons and killed German leaders. The Germans got glider troops, who landed on Turn 1 around the airfield (the scenario, I believe, is Sufferin' Sudankriech, or something like that, from Schwerpunkt). A big fight ensued, as the Germans cleared the field fairly quickly--a couple of my squads held out and inflicted losses until German firepower broke them. One fallschirmjager unit went berserk and charged one of my squads, which broke under fire and was cut down. Fighting also broke out in the village, as battered survivors from the airfield fight tried to rout to safety on the heels of the advancing Germans. My Maquis fought valiantly, holding a position on the edge of town and beating off Germans until a panzerfaust wiped out two squads and wounded my 8-1 leader. But I got reinforcements up, ambushed another berserk German squad and wiped them out in close combat, and took the hex back. The wounded leader rallied some troops and brought them up to bolster the defense of another big building in town, which was coming under attack by Germans creeping out of the woods. So time ran out, and I held on for the win, according to the scenario victory conditions. Alas, I captured no support weapons and offed no German leaders, but I had 10 VP after Round 1, so I was pleased. I had lunch, checked out games in progress, and headed off to the dealer room as I waited for the next round to start. David R. Moody - Sep 5, 2005 11:26 pm (#10736 Total: 10764) Last played: Gringo, Downtown, ASL, Band of Heroes, Grant Takes Command, Pirates, WMD, Lock 'n' Load (ANZAC expansion), Brandywine (GMT), B-17, Settlers of Catan, Down in Flames. Reading: The Supreme Commander (Stephen Ambrose). ConQuest Report Day 2--French in the Fog, Part 2 In Round 2, I had the French again. Free French this time, part of the 2eme DB, exploiting through France in August 1944. I had ten Shermans--five entering on turn 1, and the other five on Turn 4. I hate armor-only scenarios--I miss the infantry, and I never know what to do with tanks--but what the hey. My goal was to kill tanks and exit units to try and cut off the German Seventh Army. After my opponent set up, we had at it. I decided to try and sneak one armored column around the village to the left, but there was a Panzer IV there, and it was deadly accurate, brewing up one of my tanks right away and getting a Shock result on another. Another Panzer IV tried to sneak up on us from the right, nearer the village, but my armor leader nailed him. The remaining three tanks then tried to go through the village, but got hit by Jerries wielding panzerfausts and were wiped out (one did manage to get through the village and tried to take out a Panther, but was knocked out). My first tank platoon did manage to divert my enemy's attention from the other platoon, coming in on the right. That one tried to run off the map for the special victory points, and four of the five did make it, though I only got points for three--the fifth was knocked out. That one I didn't win--I needed to kill three tanks--but I did get 2 points for finishing on time, one for being the first group to start that round, and three for my three exited tanks, giving me 16 points, same as last year. When all the games were complete, I was fourth, in what turned out to be a very close tournament. Player 1 was way out front, winning both games in his rounds, but second place was at 21, third 18, fourth (me) 16, fifth 15, and sixth 14. Great fun, not quite as satisfying as last year, but I did place in the top half again(as an English friend told me at the B-17 game later that night). I need to brush up on the armor rules. I did get a waaay cool Tiger tank for my trouble--the turret moves and the gun traverses, and it's also a puzzle. It will go on my desk at work. David R. Moody - Sep 5, 2005 11:39 pm (#10737 Total: 10764) Last played: Gringo, Downtown, ASL, Band of Heroes, Grant Takes Command, Pirates, WMD, Lock 'n' Load (ANZAC expansion), Brandywine (GMT), B-17, Settlers of Catan, Down in Flames. Reading: The Supreme Commander (Stephen Ambrose). ConQuest Report Day 2, Part The Third--U-Boat Pens in the Fog, and What the #$%&*@ is going on with the Bay Bridge? After dinner and a cruise around the flea market (nothing really cool--I was tempted by a copy of Submarine, but not for $20) it was time to fly to Germany. The B-17 event has been a fixture for 20 years now at BayCon/Conquest, despite seeming a bit silly (a bunch of people sitting in a room and playing a solitaire game together--social antisocial gaming, as it were). Last year was my first time, and it was fun. This year, in honor of the 20th anniversary, we got some goodies: pilot's wings, a die within a die, a green US die with a star for the one, a feldgrau German die with a hakenkreuz for the one (both of which are now my 'official' B-17 dice), and a pencil with '20th Anniversary Target; Reich' on it (now my 'official' B-17 pencil). At any rate, waaaay back in 1985 when the whole thing started the very first target was Wilhelmshaven, so we went there again on the anniversary. I did better than last year (Mannheim), where I got a Fuel Transfer Failure over the Channel and had to abort. Thanks to each of us getting a Rabbit's Foot (free reroll) our losses were light. Alas, the target was shrouded in fog, but despite that our aiming point was right on target. However, since our leader was damaged, we all missed, dropping our bombs in a tight pattern right in the water next to the U-Boat pens. Maybe we sunk one going in. My plane made it back with two wounded, a damaged tailwheel, bullet holes, and claims for two Germans shot down. By then it was after 2 AM, so I headed home, exhausted. Then the real fun began. I was cruising along just fine until I rounded the bend into the final approach to the bridge. Then I saw the brakelights. Apparently, for some reason (seismic retrofit? I never did find out) they closed the bridge, or the part of it right in front of us, so we had to get off the freeway and go around. And all the bars in the City were letting out at that time, so the result was utter gridlock. It was chaos. People were leaning out of cars barfing, or getting out and dancing. Horns honking, stop and go, the works. And I just wanted to go home and go to sleep. In desperation, I fought my way back to 280 and went back the way I came, going over the San Mateo Bridge and coming home the long way through Oakland. It was 4 AM before I got to bed. Ugh. David R. Moody - Sep 6, 2005 12:07 am (#10738 Total: 10764) Last played: Gringo, Downtown, ASL, Band of Heroes, Grant Takes Command, Pirates, WMD, Lock 'n' Load (ANZAC expansion), Brandywine (GMT), B-17, Settlers of Catan, Down in Flames. Reading: The Supreme Commander (Stephen Ambrose). ConQuest Report Day 3--Gaming for the Sleep Deprived I was awakened by my six year old shortly after 8 AM and sleepwalked through breakfast, washed a sink full of dishes (the Honeydew again), and packed for the day. I had planned to play in the Pirates of the Spanish Main 100 point Battle for the Spanish Main at 10 AM, but that wasn't going to happen--I would be lucky to get there by 10:30--so I decided to go play in the Grant Takes Command tournament and Band of Heroes Demo. I got down to the Marriott and played a few dogfights of Down in Flames mostly to wake up, which didn't work. I did shoot down two Fw-190s, both in the new Tempest from the Fighter Pack, and a Bf-109E. The new Tempest is scary--4 attack for the wingman, just like the Bf-109K. After lunch it was time for GTC. In the first round, we played 'Sheridan Rides South', which covers Sheridan's Richmond raid in May 1864. I took the Yankees, and did well at first, getting down to the Virginia Central and wrecking lots of railroad stations. But my plan to get into the Richmond defenses was thwarted by my opponent, skillfully blocking me. Sheridan (with Merrit's division) fought an indecisive engagement with Stuart at Crenshaw's Mill, where Stuart was shot off his horse but otherwise unscathed. James Wilson tried to bring his division down the road from Yellow Tavern and hit Stuart in the flank, but could not get into action (failed his Assault roll). After that, my opponent threw his cavalry in front of mine to try and and block my escape to the James and Butler's army. I was only able to get two brigades to safety by the end of the game--the other four could not, and one was eliminated in Extended marching. That took 10 VP away from me, undoing all the damage I did. Sheridan did a lot of damage, but failed to beat Stuart and wore out his cavalry. In Round 2, we played the Wilderness scenario. I had the Yankees once again. It was very strange--instead of attacking, the Rebels marched up and dug in. I did the same, and almost all of the fighting took place around Todd's Tavern as the opposing cavalry units fought over the exits to the Wilderness. Here Sheridan redeemed himself in advance for his poor showing on the Richmond raid (or, rather, provided justification for the raid), beating the Rebel cavalry rather handily. I did launch one attack, sending the V Corps against part of the II Corps and getting bloodily replused with 4 SP losses. That cost me the game, giving my opponent a Marginal Victory. Ironically, if I hadn't attacked, I would have gotten a Marginal on points. Oh well. Still fun. By then I was pretty zonked, and I barely stayed awake through the Band of Heroes demo. Once again, I was the only player (other than the GM) who had played the system, so I was able to help him out. The maps are rather bright and garish, though that could have been just me being really tired, and we were confused by some of the terrain. The rulebook and player aids have some carryovers from the Vietnam games. It does look interesting, however, and if it's half as good as the original, it will be a great game. I ended up pushing some Jerries out of the woods before running into heavy fire and getting repulsed. I'm sure if I was more awake I would have launched a proper attack with smoke and stuff. So I headed home, weary from a weekend of glory. All in all, great fun. I can't wait for next year. Plus a con is about the only place where I look slim by comparison. Jason Pipes - Sep 9, 2005 1:49 pm (#10756 Total: 10764) onquest AAR, reposted from Convention forum... The convention seemed to go over really well. Aside from not knowing where to pick up the one item I had in the auction on Sunday that didn't sell (and thus now having it be lost/stolen/discarded/gone), I was really impressed with everything. I didn't play a lot of games this year but did manage to get in some rounds of Downtown by GMT which I have been wanting to learn for awhile. I was right, the game is really fun and I can't wait to get a copy soon. (note - since writing this I got it, it kicks butt). I was signed up for 2nd Fleet on Sunday but when I last checked no one else was and it also conflicted with the auction (note - this was my major faux pas on my part, I spoke to the GM and apologized again and again for this oversight). There were tons of historical mini games going on, which was cool to watch, although no modern naval battles. That will have to change for next year (I will make it so). I noticed a lot of other great games being played in the board game area, although hopefully over time it will grow even larger. It was nice to see people playing some of the games that are super rare and expensive, like Up Front, instead of only hoarding them for sale on ebay. The vender area seemed larger than last year, and although small there were a few gems to be found in the rough if you looked. I found copies of Flight Leader by AH and Gulf Strike with all the expansions for cheap at one booth, and I saw a handful of other nice used titles around as well. GMT as always had a great booth full of their games. Their latest release for the Revolutionary War series looks nice, although a bit expensive jumping to around $60 according to what they mentioned. Something about new rules for something being card driven. The flea market on Fri/Sat/Sun was great, and not just because I sold everything I came to sell (although that was nice, of course). I found some really great buys, including about 100 1/2400 WWII naval minis for Japan, US and UK. I also bought an entire WWI British and German naval fleet on Fri, then ended up selling it at the auction on Sunday when I realized I just wasn't going to have the time or direction to work on the WWI era. I ended up buying about 8 other games I was looking for at the auction, including a wonderful copy of SPIs massive Next War in the soap box. It's a players copy and some components have seen better days (stains on rules and charts, map has tape marks and is lightly worn, but the counters are perfectly clipped and sorted and stored wonderfully - some of the best counter organization I've seen in years, they look brand new. I was very pleased to score this for $14 bucks! The other games I scored were all pretty inexpensive, like Stonewalls Last Battle by AH for $12, Tac Air by AH for $3, Korea '95 by GMT for $15, and 2nd Fleet by AH for $12, among others. I was looking to expand my modern and Cold War era game collection. I did nicely. Overall, it was a great convention. I look forward to next year. I noticed that Gencon is in SoCal coming up soon. I wonder how Gencon CA will fair versus what it was like back in its heyday in Milwaukee (where I used to live and attended it every year). Man, was that a game auction OR WHAT??