The Call To Arms '95 convention was a fantastic show to attend. Lion's Den Wargames debuted the commercial release of AURIGAE and were given the main stage of the hall to set up on. Surely a sign of respect our club enjoys regionally. The HAHMGS president, Rick Nance, complimented our club's efforts, and I quote: "one of the hardest working clubs in the area." It was an enjoyable show and fun to be in the spotlight. How did the event unfold? The club's gladiator troops faced off in single and group combat during the Friday evening sessions. We had a steady stream of players throughout the session with many players returning for more than one round of play. Doug's troop, I think got the best workout and accrued the most experience points for the evening. Don Featherstone, Jim Getz and one other gentlemen played in the gladiator game with Doug's troop. The official kudos break down like this. Don used a character from Doug's troop, represented by one of Dan's painted gladiators to kill one of John C's gladiators. Ken's painted gladiator was in Don's pair of fighters and greatly assisted in the final resolution of the fight. Does this elevate all of the miniatures and characters to elite status? The Lion's Den says yes! AURIGAE The premier chariot race held on Saturday of the Con. was a spectacular event to see. The playing surface was an immense 7 1/2 x 16 feet. The Spina, hand built by our club members was dazzling. Six chariots thundered down the straight away for the glory of Rome. And I mean thundered! Accented by the special effects of event music and sound effects it was wargamings ultimate high. The creation in miniature of an historic event with every detail attended too, I could almost smell the horse sweat (or maybe that was an odiferous conventioneer,) Any way it was a great race. The gold faction made a last place to first place push for victory, Hell bent for leather, and taking each turn on one wheel and fishtailing the gold faction aurigae Dan Reardon pushed his team to a glorious first victory. The opening race was very cleanly run, Not so for race two, Going into the first turn an initial shipwreck in a blind spot on the spina was to claim all but three aurigae during the race. Each lap around added another chariot to the minefield of debris, Devin Loomis could navigate the obstacles and made it look easy as he drove the red faction on to a splendid victory. "There was never any doubt." Thus ended day two of the convention, The final day of the show, Sunday found the Lion's Den short handed for players. No one wanted to test their skill against all of the arena beasties and so our Beastiarii game was set up on static display. I saw a lot of people taking pictures so I am sure it was enjoyed in some respect and added to the ambiance of the Convention. Jon H. and I played in Pete Panzeri's Kelly's Heroes Scenario. I played the part of Oddball in the Sherman and took out three German tanks. We got the money out of the bank and won the scenario. It played very fast and was a good game. I liked the mechanics of the "6 Kills" combat system. Back to Table of Contents Penny Whistle #18 Back to Penny Whistle List of Issues Back to MagWeb Master Magazine List © Copyright 1995 by Lion's Den Publications. 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