The air was warm and the skies blue as we began our march eastwards to Cold Wars. Despite the Spring like weather, our force was depleted -- down to one carload after last year's three. The deserters all had good alibis, but I missed their company nevertheless.

After dinner at the Lapp Family Restaurant and setting up our bivouac at the convention hotel, Steve, Dave and I broke out the boardgames and beers for our traditional Thursday evening entertainment. Steve snatched victory in "Tikal" from me on the last move of the last turn. He made amends by letting me coach his Dwarven team to a second half tie against Dave's Dark Elves in my first ever game of Bloodbowl.

Friday morning, we signed up for the DBA Ancients competitions (that evening's "Midnight Madness" and the Historical Periods tourney on Sunday), had breakfast, then darted to the Dealers Room. As always, the sight of the multitudes of figures, rules, books, terrain and other commodities is overwhelming. I had hardly made it halfway through when it was time to scurry back for my first event.

I entered Brian DeWitt's "Ramming Speed" hoping I'd enjoy his home rules. I've always had my eye on Ancient naval miniatures, but never taken the plunge and bought minis or found a rules set that excited me. Brian gave each player two or three galleys to control -- mine were two large, Macedonian ships bristling with archers and artillery. Across the table, Dave and his allies rowed against us in smaller Greek triremes. The rules ("Greeks at Sea") were quick and fun, providing a balanced game, I felt. So balanced, in fact, that upon counting up points, we ended in a tie. I purchased a copy of his six-page rules for $1 in case I ever decided to buy minis for the period.

Until the start of "Midnight Madness," I wandered the rooms, admiring the games. As always, I am amazed at the wonderful scenarios us historical gamers can stage. There is a lot of Art in our hobby, and you can think of our cons as top-notched galleries to display our talent.

Next, my skill at the Art of War was tested in the 32-player, single elimination, "Midnight Madness" DBA tournament. I had used my Later Sassanid Persians (my newest army) in only three games before -- in Dennis Frank's tourney at Advance the Colors '99. Back then, I didn't even have the army's one elephant element painted yet. The elephant fought like a rookie, too, leading my Persians in a rout. Despite turning the opponent's flank, my dice were miserable. I steadily lost combat after combat. For the first time ever, I was eliminated in round one (unfortunately, so were Steve and Dave).

Luckily, Great Lakes member Bob Beattie was staging a playtest of the yet-to-be released DBA 2000 rules for us round one flunk outs. I coaxed my friends and even Dennis Frank (who'd been watching) into joining in, and soon Bob had four battles raging. Dennis demonstrated to me that no matter how cold your dice are, there is room for them to get worse! His borrowed Normans vanished beneath the hooves of my Persians with barely a whinny.

Saturday dawned early, as I squeezed in an hour of shopping before my first event at 10 am. Lately, I'd been unhappy with the look of my villages on my Seven Years War battlefields. Towns or villages that were the proper ground scale could fit maybe one or two 15mm buildings each -- not very "village-y!" I decided to purchase some 5mm scale buildings to given them more a town-like look. I found some by Crusader Games and JR Miniatures and am looking forward to painting them. I also bought a campaign booklet on medieval Italy and some Essex 15mm casualty packs.

I prefer fast-playing, simple rules. My next game, "The Battle of Tofrek, 1885," fit the bill. The author of "Victoria's Battles" rules, Frank V. Capotorto, was running the British vs. Mahdist game. Despite the North African setting, my dice were colder than the previous night. I apologized to my Mahdist co-commanders. I felt my poor rolling (vs. my opponent's hot streak) was losing the battle. They were good sports, though, and we had fun anyway. We went into the game expecting the British to win -- we just wanted to make them sweat it a little. And sweat it they did, as our dervishes and fuzzy-wuzzies poured through one corner of their brigade's square, rolling up unit after unit of British-trained, Indian infantry. Our losses (read "mine") were too great, though, and we eventually broke and fled the field. The British were left, panting, in control of their thorn bush barricades.

After a late lunch at Fuddruckers (what DO people see in their overpriced burgers?), I stopped by to see Great Lakes member Phil Fry's Age of Sail "Aboukir Bay" game. His "Fire As She Bears" rules set seems to be catching on well, I'm glad to see (read Herald #30-31 for my review and playtest). After the game, we talked for quite a while, along with his comrade-in-arms, Mike Konwinski. I also had a great time chatting with my Chicago DBM Ancients pal, Myles Toomey. We discussed painting, caught up on each other's personal lives, and generally enjoyed spending time with kindred spirits. I'd always read in convention reports from veteran wargamers how much they enjoyed meeting old friends at cons. I know how they feel.

My final event Saturday night was the early 1700s "Battle of Wesel." The time period is an interesting transition phase from pikes to the firepower of the Age of Reason. My mission (which I chose to accept), as a Dutch Cavalry commander, was to drive off the attacking Spanish mounted force and prevent a siege of our riverside fortification. This was the least "beer and pretzels" of the games I played. I picked up the command mechanics quickly, but two hours later, I still needed the GM to resolve combat. I feel his explanations were more cumbersome than the rules. He'd run an earlier game, so was perhaps not in his best teaching mode. He was patient and helpful, though, and enjoyed the game. I defeated my Spanish rival, marking my first non-DBA victory of the con!

My Persians were looking to redeem themselves Sunday morning. Our first opponent in the Asia/Steppes division was an Early Ottoman Turk army. My heavier cavalry rode down his light horse. Even the elephant got into the spirit, trampling the enemy general to secure a 7-0 victory. My next opponent was looking for some year-old revenge. It was Jared Fishman, who I'd beaten last year in the finals of the Classical division. He brought a "mirror image" Persian army to face me. He lost the die roll to set up, which enabled me to line up the proper "rock-scissors-paper" matchups and advance upon him. He tried to redeploy, but his command and control dice failed him. As our battlelines collided, mine had the advantage of position, and took an early lead. His spearmen did slay my elephant (Tenderfoot, I think I'll call him from now on...) and gave me a scare in the center. My Persians triumphed, though, and galloped into the finals.

We faced a Later Samurai army run by Alan Spencer. Our battlefield had large areas of difficult terrain -- which favored his loose order infantry (strike one). I had to set up first, also (strike two). And my command dice never seemed to score above three, while his rarely below five (strike three). As if that wasn't enough strikes against my Persians, I foolishly ordered them into the "Valley of Death" between the terrain. It was too much for Tenderfoot and his friends and we fell to the bows and swords of the Samurai. On a positive note, Dave won the Biblical division for the second year in a row with his Egyptians.

Afterwards, the Columbus contingent loaded up our gear and started the long march home. Although we'd had our successes and failures, we'd enjoyed every battle of Cold Wars.