Historicon 2017 Plans

It's hard to believe that I will be departing for Historicon 2017 just 6 weeks from today! As usual I have an ambitious schedule planned. For the first time in recent memory... maybe ever, in fact, I have actually pre-registered to play in some one else's game as well! Here are the PEL listings for the various games:


THURSDAY

T-378 Battle of Ctesiphon 263 AD Ancients; 10 AM; Length: 4 hrs; Hosted by: Peter Anderson; Scale: 28mm; Rules: To the Strongest!; No. of Players: 8. King Odaenathus of Palmyra and Shapur I, King of Kings of the Sassanid empire clash near the Persian capitol. Plenty of Armour cavalry, camels and Elephants, but no tanks! TtS! is easily learned, and plays quickly, using a subtle grid and playing cards - no dice or rulers! Children 14 and above welcome with a playing adult

T-381 Battle of Ravenna: April 11,1512 Renaissance; 6 PM; Length: 5 hrs; Hosted by: Peter Anderson; Scale: 28mm; Rules: Hostile Realms by Piquet, Inc (modified for Historical play); No. of Players: 8. This key battle was fought during the War of the League of Cambrai of the Great Italian Wars. The outnumbered forces of the Holy League (Spain and the Papal States) have deployed in an entrenched camp, hoping entice the French to attack. It seems that both sides have a surprise or two up their doublets, however! Familiarity with Piquet and/or Field of Battle helpful but not required


FRIDAY

Since I bugged Eric repetitively to run a 7 Years War game this year, it is only right that I signed up for it as a player: 

F-584 SYW – Combat at Reichenberg Seven Years War; 1 PM; Length: 4 hrs; Hosted by: Eric Burgess; Scale: 15mm; Rules: Piquet’s Cartouche 2nd ed modified; No. of Players: 4. Come refight the small battle of Reichenberg, April 21, 1757, with the Prussians attacking under Bevern and the Austrians under Konigsegg defending small ridge lines with excellent terrain and field fortifications. Can you take command and win the field? Players 18 and older. Familiarity with Piquet would help, but rules will be explained. I will be using house modifiers to the basic rules.

F-379 The Viceroy’s Triumph: Battle of Raab, May 25, 1809 Napoleonic; 6 PM; Length: 5 hrs; Hosted by: Peter Anderson; Scale: 28mm; Rules: Field of Battle, 2nd edition; No. of Players: 8. The last of Prince Eugene’s battles with the forces of Erzherzog Johann, this action saw the Hungarian Insurrection in combat for the first and last time. Children 14 and above welcome with a playing adult

The start time for the Raab game is a little closer than I'd like to the end of Eric's game. but Raab doesn't have that m,any troops (by my standards at least), and the terrain isn't particularly complicated, so as long as I have everything well organized and  trucked in in advance I should be OK... with a little help from my friends!


SATURDAY

S-380 Chariots of the Gods? Ancients; 7 PM; Length: 4 hrs; Hosted by: Peter Anderson; Scale: 28mm; Rules: To the Strongest!; No. of Players: 12. Esarhaddon, King of Assyria, invaded and briefly conquered Egypt in 671 BC. A hypothetical engagement between the forces of Egypt, Assyria, and their Canaanite allies. Tts! is easily learned and plays quickly but subtly, using an unobtrusive grid, and playing cards in place of dice. Over 40 chariots on the table for this game! Children 14 and above welcome with a playing adult.

I decided to run this game rather late on Saturday, as in recent years the main gaming area has gotten quiet by Saturday night, and folks are often looking for a game to play. This one should have good "curbside appeal", the rules are easily l;earned, and it will almost certainly play to a conclusion in the allotted time. 



This years theme is "100 Years of Tanks", which holds no interest for me at all. However, there will be two games run by Brian Cantwell using FoB2 and 3mm Microarmor that I will try to look in on (well, at least the Friday AM session):

Friday, 6 PM, F-541

Saturday, 9 AM, S-542

Today Capuzzo, Tomorrow Tobruk. Operation Battleaxe , June 1941

Theme World War II Length: 4 hrs; Hosted by: Brian Cantwell; Scale: 1/600; Rules: Field of Battle World War II; Sponsor: Picoarmor; Prize: Prizes provided by Picoarmor (www.picoarmor.com); No. of Players: 6. With the disappointment of Operation Brevity and the arrival of the Tiger convoy, Churchill has pressured Wavell to launch his next offensive, despite minimal time for the crews to train on their newly arrived tanks. Can superior numbers, British spirit, and the Queen of the Desert carry the day and open the way to Tobruk or will the Desert Fox once again steal victory using daring and his last fuel reserve? Maneuver battalions and brigades in this division scale game of Operation Battleaxe. No experience needed, rules will be taught. Young gamers welcome with supervising adult.

As usual, I have a lot of painting to get done in the next 6 weeks:

3 units of 12 each of BTD Romans, 2 each Legionaries, Auxilia, and Bowmen. These are nearing completion; I plan to have them done by this weekend. 

2 units of 12  each Palmyran archers, Sassanid Javelinmen, Sassanid archers, plus 6 - 10 Sassanid Clibanophori and 16 - 20 Palmyran light cavalry. All Old Glory 25's.  That's a lot yet to paint, but they are pretty easy figures to do, and the OOB is flexible enough that if I fall  a bit short it won't be any big deal.  Unfortunately, ALL of it is needed for the very first game of the show!

There have been a few distractions along the way as well:

"Hooding Ceremony" for my younger daughter, Cornell University, College of Veterinary Medicine.

Processional entry of the Veterinary Medicine class of 2017 at the  General Commencement Exercises at Cornell stadium the following day. . If you look closely, you will see that the somewhat rowdy Vet Med grads are all waving long red (Cornell colors!) inflated full arm length exam gloves. You probably *don't* really want to know what they are used for, LOL!

Dr. Anderson and *almost* Dr. Anderson #2, with the Empress and her mother.  Lillian will be 91 in a week, and sure doesn't look it!

Although she looks fine here, Kristie has actually been in horrible pain in her leg from a huge lumbar disc herniation for the past 5 months, and is having surgery for same... today. Because of her many medical issues, she has about 3 months more of clinical rotations left before she will be officially done, and her surgeon doesn't want her to go back on clinical for almost 4 months after surgery [unlike (most) human medicine, veterinary medicine is physical stuff!]. We're hoping it will be more like 3 months!

Zoe and Annie go for a recreational swim  in the Shepaug River back home this weekend, just below the small rapids crossed by Volunteer's Bridge.