This year's Spartacon XII came and went Saturday, Jan. 12, in Lansing, MI. It was the usual excellent con with way more interesting games to participate in than one person can do in one day. This year?s Spartacon set an all time attendance record of over 190 attendees!

Games that I personally got to participate in were:

1st slot: Napoleonics game, using Empire V, set in 1809 pitting the French against the Austrians run by Jerome Lavis. I was commanding an Austrian Division in an Austrian attack against a crossroads town held by the French. I've known Jerome for several years now and he is an excellent Empire game master. Normally, you wouldn?t expect someone to be able to run a convention game of Empire to completion in four hours. However, Jerome consistently manages to accomplish this. Kudos!

2nd slot: French Foreign Legion, run by Jim Thomasson and Tim Weber of The Colbys, who made the drive up to run a game. This is the first Spartacon that the Colbys have made an appearance at to run a game. I was running a French Foreign Legion squad and managed to more than hold my own and wreck mayhem upon the Arab attackers. The dice and cards went in my favor for a change! The game was up to the usual high standards of expectations of enjoyment that I've grown to love from the Colbys. Jim and Tim -- a big thank you for running at Spartacon. I had a great time in your game. Kudos!

3rd slot: World War II Air Combat run by Dave Winfree using his homebrew rules. Dave has been perfecting these rules for almost 20 years now. The game is an annual event at Spartacon and uses about 20'x20' of floor space to be played on and 1/285th scale planes on big flight sticks. This scenario was especially enjoyable as Dave did a late, late war European scenario and I got to fly a Me262. I got 1 1/2 kills (1 B-17 and 1/2 B-24 with my wingman) and lived to fly again. I?ve played Dave?s game many times and just wish that he?d finally finish his decades of playtesting and publish the rules! As a side note, this game is also used to aerate Dave?s backyard. He'll occasionally run it at his house on the back lawn. The flat metal bases of the flight stands get replaced by metal points. The sticks just get poked into the ground then as they move.

So, there you have it! One person's view of this year?s Spartacon. If you couldn't make it this year, I recommend attending next year.