HAWKs Host Games at Har-Con

Several members of the HAWKs (Harford Area Weekly Kriegspielers) attended Har-Con yesterday and ran five games at the con. This mini gaming convention is put on by Harford Community College's Gaming Club (Harford County, MD) and features video, board, card, RPG, and miniature gaming. The crowd was light due to wonderful spring weather, and those who did attend were scattered amongst the various gaming genres.
The HAWKs had two tables at the con. On one we ran two land battles, and on the other three naval battles.
The first game we ran was my "Look, Sarge, No Charts: WWII" 1941 Russian Front game, and featured a Russian force attempting to hold open a road as German forces tried to cut it.
We had a nice group of players at this game including two student's of HAWK Greg Priebe, who teaches an online history course at the college, and had offered extra credit to any of his students who played in the game and wrote a two page report about it and it's relation to the history of the actual events.
German forces, attacking from the left side of the table, attempt to cut the road running along the right hand side.

In the final moments of the game the action swirled around a small wooded area that straddled the road as the Russian defenders tried to throw back a couple of German units that had reached the road. In the end the game was declared a German victory.
While I was running this game, James 'Tank' Nickel was running an Uncharted Seas game on the second table. Unfortunately, I didn't get a chance to get any photos of it.
After my game, Buck Surdu set up his GASLIGHT 'Tripod Down' scenario; which features three tripods attempting to rescue the crew of a fourth one that has been destroyed; as local army units try to kill the stranded crew and beat back the rescuers. And on the naval table, Tank set up a 'Fire as She Bears' game featuring Swedish and Russian fleets.

I had a chance to play in this game as the Russian fleet admiral. My lack of skill as a naval commander showed as I was quickly overwhelmed by the Swedish forces.

My fleet (in foreground) comes to grips with part of the Swedish fleet.

Meanwhile, Buck's game was underway on the other table. Three tripods reek havoc on the English countryside.

In the end, despite a stiff defense from the humans, the Martians were declared the victors.

The final game of the night was a WWII naval game run by Tank using 'Naval Thunder'. I got to play in this one too as one of the Italians facing off against the British. I commanded four cruisers.

This was the second naval disaster for me, as lost my first cruiser on the second turn as a lucky British shot caused a freak magazine explosion. Soon after, as I tired to fend off two attacking groups my other ships were sunk or burning. (As seen in the photo above.) In the end the game was declared a British victory.

The HAWKs had a great time, and want to thank the convention organizers who provided everything we asked for, and all the gamers who came out and played in our games. We look forward to coming back next year.

10mm Fantasy Sampling for LSNC: Fantasy, Ancients & Medieval

As we go into the final stages of working on "Look, Sarge, No Charts: Napoleonics", I have begun working on 10mm forces for the next incarnation of the LSNC series, "Look, Sarge, No Charts: Fantasy, Ancients & Medieval". I haven't started to concentrate on one or two particular forces yet, but have been painting up some odds and ends I've acquired over the past couple years.
Below are a sampling of what I've been working on recently. Note, that while I have based them up in the standard LSNC style, we have not developed the labels for this version of the rules yet, so in some of the photos you will see a blank area on the back of the bases. Some of the figures are shown with a US penny to give a sense of scale.
At Cold Wars Rob from Eureka Miniatures USA brought us a few sample packs from their 10mm Fantasy line to peruse and purchase. These four 'Tree Trolls' are one of the packs I got. They are being commanded by a 25mm Games Workshop dryad, who passes wonderfully for a 10mm Ent, or a rarely seen Ent-wife as the case my be.
A close up of two of the Tree-Trolls. There is nice detail on these so they are a snap to paint by drybrushing.

Over the winter I purchased a Games Workshop "Battles of Five Armies" set, which contains a wealth of 10mm figures. Below are some of the goblins from this set.

At first I wasn't a fan of figures cast in strips, but the way these strips speed up my painting has started to make me a believer.

A close up of the goblins. These are great figures and more in line with GW's LOTR goblins, then their Warhammer and Warmaster varieties, which I find too cartoony

These are some of the elves from the BoFA set. Here again, these are great figures that paint up fast.

A close up of the elves. These will be the basis for a wood elf force I plan to build.

These are some Pendraken Amazons. I painted them more modestly then intended, turning them from PG-13/R to more G rated figures.

A close up of the Amazons.

These are a pair of Games Workshop High Elf Bolt Throwers. These are beautifully detailed figures, and one of the less cartoony races in GW's Warhammer and Warmaster ranges.

That's it for now. I'm mainly concentrating on Historicon painting at this point, but hope to post some more photos of my "LSNC: Fantasy, Ancients & Medieval" progress later in the summer.