On April 8, I participated in HMGS Great Lakes' one-day minicon, "Warparty!" -- which was held at the Lakeside Lodge in Sharon Woods Park, Sharonville, OH (a northern suburb of Cincinnati). It was a very enjoyable event, which was attended by some 40-50 gamers. There were about a dozen games held throughout the day, all of which were very visually appealing.

The American Civil War was the most popular period of the day, with two Fire & Fury games, one Johnny Reb III game, and an ACW naval game using Smoke on the Water rules. One of the Fire & Fury events was the entire battle Antietam, which was fought using 6mm figures and a rules conversion from inches to centimeters. This impressive looking event lasted most of the day, and ended with the Union masses finally overwhelming the outnumbered Confederates. Another beautiful game was a Russian Civil War event hosted by Henry Lubbers. This game featured armored trains, biplanes, entrenchments and lots of nice figures and terrain.

Speaking of biplanes, there was also a WW I air battle, which featured some very nice barrage balloon models, as well as the airplanes. There was a Sword and the Flame game with Zulus versus the British, and a Wild West shootout game. Ancients was represented by a very sharp looking game of Pyrhhus versus Rome using Might of Arms rules.

With so many great looking events, it was difficult deciding which game to play, but I finally chose to participate in Matt Davidson's recreation of Cowpens using Patriots and Loyalists rules. Matt has been gradually building up his 25mm American Revolution armies, and he has doubled the number of figures in each battalion by adding a second rank. The result was a visually impressive game.

This was the first time that I had played Patriots and Loyalists, and they are an unusual set of rules. The rules emphasize unit morale, and some of the game mechanics are quite unique. For example, when a unit fires on an enemy unit, the player controlling the target unit rolls the dice instead of the firing player. This takes a little getting used to. The goal of firing is not so much to inflict casualties, but rather to inflict morale hits instead. An interesting feature is the ability of a player to decide whether to risk his NCOs and brigade commanders in order to minimize the chances that the target unit will take a morale hit, at the possible cost of having the officer getting shot and thus further harming the morale of the target unit. These rules definitely take some getting used to, and I would have to play them again before I could decide whether I really like them or not.

I was one of the American players, with command of about half of the American militia. The militia units have a fairly mediocre morale rating, as compared to the American regulars and the British troops. As in the actual battle, we decided on a defensive strategy, with the hope that our militia units could delay the British advance and inflict some damage before the final line of American regulars had to face the redcoats. The British began their methodical advance, alternately moving and firing, against the first line of American militia, commanded by Jack Shaw. Jack's riflemen did a good job of inflicting some morale hits on the enemy before giving way, and suddenly my militiamen were now in the front line.

The rules use a system of actions, whereby a die roll is made each turn to determine the number of actions that each unit may perform. Moving and firing each consume an action. With the benefit of being on the defensive, we Americans were able to use most of our actions to fire, while the British had to spend at least some of their actions moving so as to continue their advance. My militia troops performed quite admirably, holding much longer than expected. As my units accumulated morale hits, my Brigadier General exposed himself to fire constantly, exhorting the militiamen to hold. Although hit several times, my General was leading a charmed life, with the balls merely passing through his clothing instead of finding flesh and blood. At last, my General's luck ran out, and he rode off the field with a mortal wound.

At this point, I expected my militia to finally break and run, but surprisingly, most of them still held firm under the British fire, even though they had lost their General. The British light field artillery failed to do much damage, and we continued to slowly grind the redcoats down. At last, with the American regulars finally in the fray, and with the British artillery out of ammunition, the British conceded the game, at least in part out of frustration with the exceptional American die rolls. A little luck never hurts, I always say!

In the evening, an auction was held, with several lots being sold, most of which were some nice books. Also auctioned off were some rules sets and unpainted miniatures. Although I bid on a few items, I didn't win anything. Many attendees got some great bargains, though. All in all, Warparty! was a very enjoyable day. Everyone seemed to have a good time, and all events went off with plenty of players.

The Lakeside Lodge is a nice facility for gaming, although it was an unseasonably cold day, and since we couldn't figure out how to get the heaters to work, it was a little cool inside. I believe that this was the first gaming event to be held in the Cincinnati area in some time, so many of the local gamers seemed to appreciate the chance to participate. Hopefully, there will be a Warparty next year.

Thanks to Ray Garbee and Darryl Smith for putting this event together!