In contrast to last year's deluge, October 17th dawned clear and bright under mere whisps of clouds. The drive to Picatinny Arsenal off Rte 15 in New Jersey proved a pleasant trip, and the guard at the gate quickly let us in. PicaFight II was held, as last year, in the officer's club. The backdrop outside the window where the MagWeb booth was located looked out over the adjacent golf course and to the multicolored hills beyond. The O club itself is quite nice, with plenty of room, a huge bar, and a kitchen. Unlike the obscene prices you pay at Historicon, food prices are very reasonable. Picafight includes gaming of all types, including historical miniatures, board wargames, CCGs, and role-playing games. There is a small dealer area with a trio of vendors, MagWeb included. The convention staff, headed by John Thomasovich, is quick to help out and throw a good convention. Top of the Morning Up first in the morning was a terrific American Civil War game run by John Holly and based on the attack on the cornfield at Antietam, and on the table nearby was a Full Thrust sci-fi spaceship game. There was a hypothetical German vs. British WWI naval game as the Germans try to run the English Channel. CCG games include the ubiquitous Magic and the popular Legends of the Five Rings. I saw a couple Warzone games being set up, which is a 25mm sci-fi skirmish level game. Pete Panzeri set up a smaller version of the Alamo, but included San Antonio on the table as well. There were Normans vs Avars with DBM and an Up Front card game as well. A Fire and Fury game was started, as well as a Desperado Wild West shootout. Richard Berg and Rob Markham came to show off their Desktop Publishing style boardgames. Richard was also testing GMT's latest offering (now in production) of trireme bashing. I played in the Fire and Fury game--the Battle of Steele's Tavern in the Shenandoah, March 1863. Hosted by Maj. Mark Z, I played the Union, which had three corps vs. the Confederate's one corp. However, the Union had to cross a fordless river--and there were only two bridges. The Confederates already had one crossing covered, and it was a race to the other. I managed to get a cavalry brigade over the bridge, but it ran headlong into a march column of Rebel infantry. It came down to an initiative roll, which the Confederates won. That pretty much ended the cavalry brigade. Supporting infantry managed to cross in march column as well, but again, could not deploy in time and were chased back. A horse artillery gun blew away most of the Confederate cavalry, but was chased back across the river. Rebel reinforcements moved up, and that was about where the game was called. Barring a lengthy, lucky shoot-out across the river, there was little the Federals could do to cross. Homeward Bound And that drew my day at Picafight to a close. I was pleasantly surprised by the turnout--about 100 or so by my estimate. And wonders of wonders, there were more games than players at the show. It could easily hold twice as many. Congrats to John and crew for hosting another enjoyable Picafight convention. Back to MWAN #97 Table of Contents Back to MWAN List of Issues Back to MagWeb Magazine List © Copyright 1999 Hal Thinglum This article appears in MagWeb (Magazine Web) on the Internet World Wide Web. Other military history articles and gaming articles are available at http://www.magweb.com