On Saturday May 8th fellow MIGS member Lembit Tohver and I attended "You Gotta Do Whatcha Con", the largest of the one-day gaming conventions hosted by the Miniature Garners of Michigan. This would be the third trip to "Whatcha Con" for yours truly, having had a very good time at the past two. For the second year in a row I would be presenting a game. Last year's English Civil War game seemed to go over fairly well, and I enjoyed myself tremendously in the process. This year it would be an American Civil War game using "Johnny Reb". This period and rule set has proven to be quite popular in our region lately, so it was fairly easy to rustle up the terrain, figures and an assistant gamemaster.
"Whatcha Con" was held once again at the Ferndale Community Centre, located minutes from I-75 in the northern suburbs of Detroit. This location is well suited for a gaming convention: a sizeable and well-light main hall, ample free parking and easily accessed from a major highway.
The convention was organized into three rounds of gaming with approximately 10 games in each round. Lembit and I were running our game first thing in the morning. The nine positions for commanders in the game filled up quickly. I was even talked into adding a tenth "Johnny Reb" fanatic! Approximately half of the players were familiar with the rules, so they were given the commands beginning within close proximity of the enemy while the newcomers would be commanding the brigades marching on the table. As an aside, it became apparent that running a game which uses a widely known rules set such as "Johnny Reb" has certain advantages, the most significant being that you probably will not have to teach the rules and charts to all of the players! For the uninitiated there is a brief "Beginners Guide" included in the rules. This is invaluable for newcomers, or gamemasters handling newcomers. I wish every rules set in the hobby included a similar document.
The scenario was the hypothetical "Battle of Churchville Creek" presented at our club a few weeks earlier and later at Historicon (see map below). The premise was that a surprise night attack by William Farrar Smith's Union division had attempted to capture the two bridges over Churchville Creek from Daniel Harvey Hill's Confederate division. The Union wished to capture these bridges on the road to Richmond before the retreating Confederate army could destroy them. The night attack was partially successful, with one of the two bridges having been captured. The scenario begins at dawn, with the objective for each side being to control the two bridges at the end of the game.
The players were each given two pieces of information. The first was an overview of the strategic situation. This was the same for all players. The second was the particular information available to each commander which would not necessarily be known to all of the other players (quality and equipment of troops under their command, orders and objectives for their command, information on nearby enemy troops, etc.) Once players had an opportunity to absorb this information, the game commenced.
The battle unfolded in a manner similar to the previous club playtest, with the Union side managing to obtain a marginal victory. Rain's (Confederate) assault on Hancock's (Union) position at Stevenson's Mill was immediately repulsed. The appearance of Rodes' brigade (Confederate) and Ward's detachment (Confederate) placed Hancock in some jeopardy, but the timely arrival of Berry's (Union) and Birney's (Union) brigades helped stem the rebel tide and the bridge at Stevenson's Mill was held by the Union at the end of the game. At the Churchville bridge, Early's brigade (Confederate) was able to hold off the initial assault by Davidson's brigade (Union). Smith, with Brook's Brigade (Union) arrived on the scene to reinforce Davidson at just about the same time as Hill, with Featherston's brigade (Confederate) arrived to assist Early. As the time limit for the game expired, the Union attack had been repulsed, but they were still capable of another assault. The game was considered a minor Union victory since they were still contesting the Churchville bridge as the game ended while they had clear control over the Stevenson's Mill bridge.
In the end, the players all seemed to enjoy themselves, as did the two gamemasters! I have found it to be quite refreshing running games at "Whatcha Con". The players were attentive, patient, co-operative and accepted their setbacks with good humour. I think this is at least partly due to the gaming environment fostered by Bob Marshall and the MGMers. These guys emphasize the idea that the objective of gaming is having fun, something that some gamers need to keep in mind more often!
Once the game was packed up we had a chance to look over the afternoon games and peruse the dealer selection. The Connoisseur Range was in attendance this year with a wide array of excellent 25mm figures and some 15mm Museum Miniatures. Nineteenth Century Miniatures was exhibiting their growing selection of figure ranges, which now includes Minifigs, Old Glory, Battle Honours, Soldiers & Swords and Thistle & Rose. 1-94 Enterprises was on hand with their usual extensive of micro-armour. There were three or four other retailers on hand, including Winston Johnston who "managed" to twist some money out of yours truly for some rare Spanish Civil War aircraft models. Isn't it funny how obtaining a rare 1/72nd model of a Messerschmidt Bf109B for your Spanish Civil War project can make your day!
Unlike the morning session, when I didn't have much of an opportunity to look around, I was able to check out the afternoon gaming. Craig Tyrell was running a small, fun oriented, WRG 7th edition tournament. Tod Kershner was presenting a very nice 18th century North American skirmish game which the players seemed to be enjoying immensely. Steve Dake was running a Franco Prussian War game using his beautifully painted 25mm figures and the new "They Died For Glory" rules. There was a number of other well attended games being run, including WWII micro-armour and Napoleonics, with the players all seeming to be having a tremendous time.
With the 3-4 trip back to Hamilton and Toronto ahead of us, Lembit and I decided to forgo the nighttime gaming round and head home, not without some regrets. There were some interesting games set for the final round of gaming.
It is unfortunate that "Whatcha Con" will not be able to return to the Ferndale Community Centre. Apparently the facility has been sold and will be converted into office space. This has raised a number of issues regarding the future of Whatcha Con. Indications are that this game convention will be back next spring, but the place and format are yet to be decided. Whatever the format, I am already looking forward to year. Being an out-of-towner, I was quite interested in the talk of expanding the format to three days. (C'mon Bob! Trust me! Running a weekend convention is fun!) Based on my trips to Whatcha Con I would highly recommend the MGM gaming conventions for those historical miniature garners looking for a good time.
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© Copyright 1994 Hal Thinglum
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