From: Walter Zaagman Subject: Slightly (...) Overdue Game Reports yes! Here at last! The long awaited reports on the Modelling and Gaming Convention in Vlissingen in June! And, as a bonus, a report on September's Murphymania VI in Delft. Anyways, here goes. On a very sunny saturday morning, 15 June to be precise, me and two pals awoke at a ungodly hour to catch the train from Amsterdam to Vlissingen, or Flushing as you Ingles call it, to visit a Modelling and Gaming Fair, a first-time two-day event. The fun started with an announcement that instead of having a direct connection, part of the trip would be by bus because of construction work on the line. Expected delay: one half hour. Yeah, sure, we all know how THAT goes in real life. Well, it WAS half an hour (NS --Dutch Rail-- got something right after all). Next obstacle was finding the place, a sports hall. Trudging in the hot sun, my pals with bags and cameras, and me with fallen arches and a bad ankle (reminder of my Army service) and bags, and having to cross a highway because we had the wrong railway station. Everybody blamed me because I had asked them to come and I should have recced the route and I had always bragged about my service with a reconnaissance outfit etc. etc. Nag nag nag. We still managed to get there on time though. First impressions were favourable. The organiser, Mark Brown, was as friendly in real life as he was over the phone (he organised affordable and good lodgings for those who stayed for the entire weekend). There was a lot of room for maneuver (sports hall, remember). A diverse lot of traders and organisations was present, and the main thing that struck everybody there was the complete and utter lack of Card Games. Remember Monty Python's "Bruces sketch"? Rule One: NO MAGIC!!! What a relief. The preponderance of Magic at the (former?) premier event in Holland, Games Spectacular in Eindhoven, was the main reason for this show. To be very honest, it's been a long time, so I forgot exactly who was there or what happened. Some impressions: miniatures were very prominent, both fantasy and "real", wargames and collector. Books galore as well, including a trader who got stampeded by people who wanted to buy Osprey titles (very hard to get here). When I talked to him he seemed shellshocked. One moment nobody was there, the next he got mobbed. He was very happy though. Another bookseller came from Belgium, with lots of interesting stuff. I forked out some thirty pounds for a book of Don Troiani's American Civil War paintings, and that made him very happy (the dealer that is, although I presume mr. Troiani won't mind either). Duncan MacFarlane was there as well with his Stratagem/Wargames Illustrated booth, and I made HIM happy (I also make people unhappy. Myself, for instance, when the bank statements come in...). There were several modelling stands, a modelling/painting competition, the local historical society, a boardgame booth (the owner of which packed up in disgust after the first day because had made zero sales), Murphy's Heroes (a Delft-based wargames club of which more anon), we had the England-Scotland match (European Championships) in the restaurant (some English traders were noticably happier and wobblier when they cam down afterwards!), American Civil War reenactors... Oh dear. Yes. The reenactors. I knew we had Napoleonic reenactors in the Netherlands, but being a Civil War freak myself, I cound not be bothered. Well, I got the virus now! I haven't joined Co. A, 1st Maryland Infantry (CSA) yet, because of financial constraints, but I have grown correct period facial hair, i.e. a goatee. I must have seen Gettysburg and Glory once too often (well, more than once, actually...). The traders on the whole were very pleased with attendance (300 on the first day, according to our host), considering a) it was a first time event, b) it was an out of the way location, and c) the weather was appalingly wonderful. I got the impression that most of them (except for the boardgame salesman) would be happy to return next year. And so will I. Next event was MurphyMania VI in Delft, home of the Dutch Army Museum (visit if you can, it's great!) and the place where William the Silent got D-Elim'ed. Murphy's Heroes is the most active gaming group in the country. The venue was an activities center, with the activities spread out over three floors and several rooms. A very friendly atmosphere, a fairly affordable bar with the slowest barman Duncan MacFarlane had ever seen (yes! he was there as well! There's no avoiding him, and no avoiding spending too much money either). There was a Magic Tournament (that's the last time I'll mention the M-word), Napoleonic and Anglo-Roman reenacting, live and unlive roleplaying (or maybe dead and undead?), a lot of miniatures games (by Dutch standards anyway - Napoleonic, ACW, Seven Years war, Medieval, fantasy), boardgaming (ASL), trading stands (some of them were in Flushing as well), the ubiquitous Non-Star Trek Battle Game (a hilarious game where you have to wear gloves and facemasks when the hull of the ship is breached), Casus Belli from Nijmegen, whose French and English Admirals are forever trading roundshot and witty repartee with a miniature adaptation of Wooden Ships and Iron Men, and a brilliant participation game by the Pike and Shot Society called "Breakfast on the Bastion". Ever seen The Four Musketeers, with Michael York as d'Artagnan and Oliver Reed as Porthos? There's a great sequence during the siege of La Rochelle, in which the Musketeers have breakfast on a bastion between the French and Huguenot lines. The heretics take exception to this, of course, and try to dislodge our intrepid friends, only to be met with curses, bullets and big chunks of masonry. The game goes along the same lines. There are five players (the Musketeers, who get a felt hat and tabard to wear, and Planchet, their servant). The team gets points for killing Huguenots and eating cookies, and loses points for injuries and more points if Planchet gets hit. There are some nasty bits. a) Planchet has to load the muskets, for which he must place four cards in the right order. If it's correct, it spells B-A-N-G, if it's not, well... I mean, I really don't have to explain, do I! He also has to hand the Musketeers the cookies, so he's a very busy peasant. b) the Huguenots come in real time, i.e. as quickly as the gamesmaster can place them (which is VERY quick, let me tell you), and c) the cookies are absolutely the driest they could find (and it is deliberate. I asked). And no drinking of course. So the Musketeers try to munch their way through a never-shrinking stack of cookies, keep an eye on the charging hordes, and yell at Planchet for loaded muskets and more cookies. Planchet's desperately trying to get the loading sequence right and can't concentrate because of all this yelling... while all the time the gamesmaster is making helpful remarks ("Faster! Look at all them 'eretics commin' at yer! It's not goin' good, you're hit! Yer gettin' careless! Oh dear oh dear..."). In short, it's absolutely great fun, even if you're just watching. I can guarantee you that you won't play it twice, mainly because of those cookies. The first one is no problem, number two gets a bit harder to swallow, and it goes downhill from there. I managed six, mainly because I didn't bite bits off but shoved them into my mouth in one piece. Gag! My next report - if any - will be on Smurfomania, I mean Con Noviomagum, the yearly Open Day of Nijmegen's Casus Belli. More a club convention than anything else, it's good fun and very friendly. Happy Gaming! Walter Zaagman Kleiburg 150 1104 EA AMSTERDAM +31.20.6951212