Historicon 2012, Photos and Review

Our final day at Historicon would need to be cut short for the drive home, but we were signed up for a pair of games, and I had a ton of items I wanted to pick up from the vendors. Some photos from our final day and my review of the con after the jump.

Fireball Forward

I was pretty pooped by Saturday morning but joined some friends of mine for a Fireball Forward demo game.  We really enjoyed the tank battle from the previous day and wanted to give the infantry game a try just to make sure there was no "weirdness" in the squad vs. squad rules to put us off on picking up the rules.

Fireball Forward Americans.  Easy Co. didn't advance much farther than their starting area in our game. Doh!

The battle was a bit of a slaughter, with the American paratroopers suffering from poor luck and perhaps some poor strategy and losing the game on turn 3 of a 6 turn game. Still, the rules seemed intuitive, the painting clinic had convinced my buddy's wife she could handle painting an army, and the WWII fun we'd had convinced my friend to start a German 15mm scale force... as long as his wife painted it.

Success! I've been wanting to start Eastern Front gaming, but anticipated having to paint both sides. We headed to the vendor area and I spent the next few hours picking up Germans, Russians, rules and terrain. The vendor area seemed to have fewer vendors this year, but stil more than enough and I wound up dropping more money this year than in any past convention.

SAGA

Non-combatants caught between opposing forces squeal as the thundering cavalry approaches

After lunch, we reconvened for a four-on-four SAGA match.  I'd heard good things about the rules, but hadn't had a chance to try them. I picked the Normans, but facing a group of fairly timid Anglo-Danes, didn't have much of a chance to see them in action.

I did find that the cavalry was a little more fragile and the archers a little more effective than I had originally thought. Seeing the rules in action also helped me figure out what sort of figures to pick up initially, but with the day winding down I didn't have time to head back and pick up any Normans. I'll have to hit up Architects of War later this year for that.

Finale

On the way out we caught a glimpse of a 28mm Eastern Front Crossfire table being set up. It looked awesome, and with Crossfire being our first wargame, pulling away to head home was a tough decision. Hoping to play the GM's game next year.

How was Historicon? AWESOME.  I've seen a lot of kvetching on TMP - "the hall was too loud", "the cement floor hurt my feet", "the food was yucky". I experienced all of those same issues, but they failed to put a damper on my time at the convention. The games were great: fun GMs, incredible tables, and good natured players. I got to try a lot of games, none of which I knew the rules for, got inspired by the great modeling work, and completely leave the "real world' behind. Also, my wife and son had a terrific time as well. There's lots to do in the Fredericksburg area, the convention hall itself as well as its location was much nicer either Valley Forge or Lancaster, and the free painting clinics were fantastic for my son and our wives.  The hotel next door was also very nice, with friendly staff and good amenities.

Even before our last day at the con, my entire group was planning to attend next year and hoping to rope in another family we're friends with. A+ HMGS!