Historicon 2001 has come and gone. (Along with one of the greatest lucky streaks I've ever had) I've been asked to pass my thoughts along on the event and the adventures of The Dogs of War. Six of the Dogs were granted release from the pound Tim Daun, Chris Snell, Danny Jones, Dave Lynch, Joe Nacchio,and myself. Tim, Chris and I left Tuesday on the Dawn Patrol flight out of LAX and had a late afternoon arrival at BWI. A short trip south brought us to Running Spring, MD.
Now, you are probably wondering that if Historicon is in Lancaster, PA then what were we doing in MD. (We let Tim navigate?) Well, the Dogs decided to sight see in our beloved national capital before Historicon. Tuesday night we caught dinner and a movie. (The Score, not bad, 20 minutes too long, a Tim choice) Wednesday mom the rest of the Dogs joined us from Philadelphia and we grabbed the Metro into DC. (Disgustingly cruddy) First stop was the Navy Yard to see the Navy (Obviously) and Marine Museums.Nice to see some niffly guns in the little parks. Next stop should have been the ER as I was near to collapsing from the heat and humidity. Turns out I had traveled with a lung infection that just thrived on the Maryland humidity. I'm better now if anyone cares.
We pressed on to the Air and Space Museum for a short trip to see the combat planes. No Civil Aviation fans with the Dogs apparently. Now on to the US History museum and you guessed it we saw guns, guts.. and glory. Hey, I should use that as a rules title. We got back to our car in MD and my roornic, Chris and I drove out to Lancaster that evening. Stayed at the Classic Inn, nice Place, right next door to the Con, ask for a quiet room in the back but don't be taking mine.
Thursday morn was sleep in time followed by registration and waiting for the dealers room to enter. As the doors failed to open exactly on time and tile crowd started to foam at the month while uttering vile threats, I casually stood off to the side and reached for my pepper spray. (I did not use it on Chris, he was WAY beyond pepper Tray) As the crowd coolly and calmly entered the ball ( Now the pepper spray but this is not. to be taken as ANY form of confession) we were greeted by a floor flill of tables bulging with products to sell. I'll say this about Historicon dealers, if you play it someone in there has got it. I did not see many eye catching products but a few do stand out. New Battle Front cards, new WWII air rules supplement, a couple of nice books by Greg Novak on the Am Rev. A minor beef to me is that not all of the dealers take credit cards. I saw more than one impulse buy be put back down when only cash was accepted.
What gives? I lose track of how much I've charged and just keep impulse buying. As long as it goes through I haven't hit my spending limit yet. (God I love my wife!) After wading through the dealer's room I played in a great Marlburian game hosted by our ex-local Greg McClusky and his friend Bill Amick. Both now gentlemen of Georgia. Using a modified "Fire and Fury" system I proceeded to take my Allied cavalry and sweep the field.
I told you earlier that I had a run of luck? Well, they stopped counting many consecutive melee 10's I rolled at 6. Fortunately my opponents were our own Mr. and Mrs. Kevin Thomas who lost with grace and spirit seldom seen. Bravo to them!
Friday was a blur of shopping, socializing, and a short National Board breakfast meeting. (It could be summed up as "flash back to the 90's". No offense intended to anyone.) Friday night found all but one of the Dogs playing each other at the Am Rev Battle of Germantown. We used "Patriots and Loyalists" with the rules author Scott Holder hosting. Dave and I were the forces of Just Righteousness (British) while Chris, Joe, and Tintwere some rebellious scum intent on disturbing our sleep. Needles to say we sent the rabble packing and ended the rebellion by capturing Mr. Washington. Off to the Tower, flowers to the widow. In all honesty Joe's command fought admirably causing for more casualties than we deserved. I'm pretty sure Joe was an exBritish officer. Maybe he can be saved through re-education.
Saturday mom was more shopping and socializing. I watched Joe and Dave run their "Spearhead" game. It looked nice, but I felt bad for the poor Brits. I spent the afternoon playing "Might of Arms" with Bob Bryant, the title's author and game host. Nice thing about Historicon is playing rule sets with the authors. I was the Roman CinC, killed Hannibal, slaughtered the Carthaginian infantry and took minimal casualties. Enough said. I want to mention that Bob is one of the true gentlemen of our hobby. Saturday night ended early from exhaustion and the need to pack.
Sunday was a short dash to the dealer's room for goodbyes and final putchaqes. Then we were off to Joe's sister's house where Momma Nacchio made us a home cooked Italian dinner. There is truly no way to accurately describe the great taste of this meal, or the sight of the Dogs wolfing it down. We then proceeded to another great sight that must be seen to be believed: the sight of the Dogs throwing around a football. Trust me, no one is calling any NFL scout to recruit a Dog. A little later Tim, Chris, and I drove to BWI for our flight home where we were met by TinVs wife Jen, who made sure we At got home betbre passing out. Thanks Jen. Next time don't let Tim navigate. To sum it all up I had a great time. Historicon looked to me to be a little light on both games and attendance. Maybe it was me but Saturday afternoon in the main gaming room looked to be about a third empty. Other PSW people I ran into were; Maw Canu, Stephen Phenow, Greg Kuntz, and others whose names I can't recall right now. Sorry guys, I'm 40 now you know.
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