Arriving Wednesday, there was already much activity in evidence as this year there were scheduled events that day. It was a while before I was able to pick up my badge but this did not stop me from checking over the convention center and seeing if the Rising Sun'41 project (henceforth, RS'41) and War College area were setup.
The first RS'41 game, a naval miniatures one, ran tonight and was well attended. Making sure that numerous little things were taken care of ate up time into the night and in what ended up being a trend through all 5 nights of the convention, I did not get to sleep until after 2AM.
Thursday saw activities in full swing. The miniatures area was visually dominated by Duke Seifried's spectacular multi-game Lord of the Rings setup, but there were a number of visually attractive historical games as well. One of the most noticeable, set up near the entrance, was Phil Viverito's Battles for Troy.
More RS '41 events also got underway with the talk on how and if the Japanese could have taken on the Soviets (they needed a lot of background assumptions to do so). The alternate Pearl Harbor campaign scenarios using the Midway boardgame started and got enough interest to run multiple games on Thursday, Friday & Saturday. I spent a fair amount of time at the RS'41 desk and preparing materials for the next 2 days, along with a lot of walking around the convention hall, but a lot of this day has become a blur. In the evening, the Soviet- Japanese minis game was run. Though I only saw part of it, it was well-attended, hard fought, and more evenly balanced that one might have thought. Enough so that I don't recall who was declared the winner.
Friday morning into afternoon I ran my 1930's alt-history naval scenario. This was a continuation from the `Pearl Harbor 1931' scenario I ran last year. Unlike last year, this time the Japanese were well-coordinated and aggressive while the Americans split their forces and often ended up masking some of their own fire. The result was a Japanese victory, though not a decisive one.
After I finished with my game, I walked around the minis hall to check out some of the other games and get some pictures. There were a lot of games being run, though with the huge hall and the games being spread out, it did not seem crowded.
There were several that caught my notice, among them a micro-armor scaled game with superb terrain including a city, a G.A.S.L.I.G.H.T. game with some interesting models and another that wasn't being played when I went by that had sculpted, multi-level terrain that was quite striking. Unfortunately, I didn't remember to get the specifics (note to self – next time, take notes while going around so I can put the details in after).
Friday also saw the running of the games recreating the Pearl Harbor strike, and though I did not get to see any of them being played, the very well done diorama of Pearl that was used in the games drew attention and positive comments from numerous passers-by the whole time it was out on display.
Saturday was the day of the big Japanese invasion of Hawaii campaign exercise. Another scenario using the Midway boardgame decided the level of naval air and gunfire support available. Large maps of Oahu were used to plan and mark troop locations. A minis game then resolved the initial Japanese landing on the north shore, which was actually a large scale diversion on the part of the Japanese player. After fierce fighting the Americans eliminated the Japanese beachhead, but it also resulted in the bulk of the American forces being moved to defeat it.
The exercise then went back to the maps and the Japanese made their main landing against minimal opposition in the southwest corner of the island. However, despite overrunning that whole corner of the island, they were delayed enough by the American forces present that the Americans were able to move enough forces to stop them short of the Pearl Harbor area and Honolulu. The bulk of the Japanese naval air support available, particularly the dive bombers, spent most of their time suppressing and attempting to knock out the major American coast defense batteries. This left much less available to interdict the American movement and attack troops directly, though they were doing more of this late in the scenario. Since the Japanese were stopped short of their goal, were about to be bogged down in fighting in a built-up area, and with time against them, the campaign was ruled an American victory (but not by much). >< Those who played were enthusiastic and seemed to greatly enjoy it.
Sunday morning started off with the wrap-up debriefing and after- action comments on the games played. This session was well-attended and also reviewed some of the assumptions that went into the scenarios that were run. I had to leave a little before it was over to run an Ironclads game over in the minis area. I had a couple of the usual Ironclads players along with a couple of new ones. It was a close-run affair with the outcome in doubt until almost the very end, when the Confederates were able to get in successful rams on the big Union monitor and give themselves the victory. After picking up, I went over to the dealers' area. The hour and a half I had until they closed was the only big chunk of time I had in there the whole con – other visits had been only quick sweeps.
During the con, I managed to catch parts of some of the War College talks, though seemingly never a complete one. The talks were all reasonably to very well attended with some getting 50 people or more. As usual, the speakers were excellent for the most part and this continues to be a major success and selling point of the con.
I also did some periodic forays into the War Room (the board wargames area) that was around the corner from the RS'41 area. The area was constantly busy with a wide variety of games being played. The highlight for me, and the one thing I kept checking on, was the very large Grand Europa game using a 1944 scenario. The game covered the East, West, and Mediterranean fronts and ran for the entire duration of the con.
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© Copyright 2004 by Pete Panzeri.
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