The theme for the 1999 Historicon Miniature Wargame convention was the exploits of the Russian leader Suvorov. There weren't as many games on obscure battles compared to the past few years. Of course, the popular periods are Civil War, World War II and Napoleonics. However, there were some good colonial games and events. The high point for opening day of the convention, Thursday was hearing Don Featherstone give a talk on the Boer War. It lasted about two hours. Don started with the first Boer War and taled about the battle of Majulaba Hill. If I remember correctly, he had walked it and marveled at how the Boers were able to take it from the British.

He then covered the battle of Spion Kop and how the British were enfilidaded with fire from the Boers on the hill top. Finally, Don stated "Now what you've been waiting for, how to wargame the period". Don stated they never use Boer figures on the table since they didn't reveal themselves historically. He then joked that it's less work since you only need one army. At the end of the lecture, there was a question and answer period. I asked, "How do you handle the Boers in melee combat?" Don stated that if the British contact the Boers, the Boers are removed automatically. My feeling is that the Boers should take a morale check at a penalty and be able to route of the table. Overall, a good talk. By the way, Don has stated that this is his last trip over here.

On Friday morning, I ran my Russo-Japanese wargame, the land battle of Tse-Li-Tsu. The Japanese quickly overan the Russian trenches once they broke through in the middle. Everybody seemed happy but the Russians put down the rules. But the comments were constructive. I then took a break and was able to get into a Moros in the Philipines game hosted by Buck Surdu that evening. Buck, as usual prepared a very good scenario and is a gamemaster who knows how to run a game. The scenario had Moros coming in by the sea and popping up around the table.

The Moros had to try to burn a native building and take the Fort held by the U.S. I commanded the fort so I didn't get into the action as much but I had fun watching people. Buck used his 'Beers and Pretzels Skirmish Rules' or BAPS. There's a little too much die rolling for my taste (rolling an order for each figure that doesn't receive a command point) but they work. A fun game.

Saturday, I was in an Indian Mutiny campaign game. Four scenarios were played, the results of one scenario influenced the next. The Sepoy rules from Partizan Press were used along with the four scenarios in the rulebook. I was on the Sepoy side and speaking in my terrible Indian accent.

The rules heavily favor the British but penalize the Sepoys, but hey it's historical. The Sepoys have to roll command dice and spend a point to move each unit. The British are free to move every unit. The Sepoys rolls to hit are worse than the British too. The scenarios were quite lopsided in favor of the British. In the first scenario, the British easily took a fortified town losing only three casualties. They all came back for the second scenario. In the second scenario, the Sepoys had to hold a bridge long enough to enable charges to be place so they could blow it up.

If the Sepoys didn't hold it long enough, a die roll has to be made to determine if the bridge blows up. We held it very few turns and had to roll twelve on two dice to blow it up. My partner actually did so we won that scenario. However, it was getting late. Instead of each game taking two hours (four games in an eight hour session), the two games took eight hours altogether. The game master seemed kind of slow and laid back but that's a problem with some of them. Gamemasters need to be more forceful and keep the game moving. A pretty good game. I was so tired that night, that I retired to our motel room. Regarding the dealer room, there was very little new out that was colonial related. There was a great new product from Old Glory, a Volley and Bayonet supplement for the Spanish American War called Rough Riders.

The first volume covers the background and course of the war along with a San Juan Hill Scenario. The second volume features two scenarios (Las Guismas and El Caney) but get this, a campaign game! A point to point map is included plus a complete order of battle. With only a few lop sided historical scenarios available from the war, a campaign game in my opinion is the best way to game the war. If the Spanish through out a lot more troops in front of San Juan Hill, it would be neat to see what happened. I plan on trying this sometime. Though written for Volley and Bayonet rules, the scenarios and campaign are easily adaptable to other rulesets like Principles of War that I use. Though a 2nd edition of Volley and Bayonet is coming out, I get the impression that very little has changed from the first edition.

Overall, a good convention but I liked Historicon 98 better since it featured more obscure periods. Hopefully next year!