Saturday morning we were placed opposite a couple of old friends from Buffalo. SAGA subscriber Paul Forgette, who manages to plague me in the semi-finals of our local competitions was in command of a very able army Marian Romans. Their setup combined with a judicious placement of terrain managed to tie up my attack force while Dave had to send some of his 6-man LI units to keep the enemy off my flanks as I pressed my attacks. Again, it was a LMI archer unit which pinned down two units of the enemy while the legionaires managed to get within dart range of the enemy elephants, shooting at them with a grand -3 and then routing them in close-combat! The resultant waver tests won this game for us as our losses were marginal (we lost an expendable HCh... I know, a piece of fiction!) With this win we were on a streak!

Over a hundred gamers were involved in the WRG tournaments at this point and it was very satisfying, in this large area of the convention center, watching so many gamers playing in an orderly and gentlemenly fashion.

The only untoward incident was when a disgruntled player winged his dice across the room, bouncing them with considerable force off the wall next to Paul Forgette's head! Where was this guy when the Yankees were looking for relief pitchers this spring? On the whole, though, everyone seemed in good spirits and played judiciously and well. Scott Holder (see his reports in SAGA) held up remarkably well under the circumstances, dealing fairly and effectively with disagreements and player problems. My own favorable impressions of team play was enhanced by the fact that four players could usually settle any disagreements among themselves, with one's teammate often temporizing a volatile situation and convincing his ally to 'see the light' without having to go to the umpire constantly. In fact, in our three games, the umpires were called upon only twice.

Our third game was Saturday afternoon. We needed a convincing win to make the finals on Sunday. Our opponents this time around were to be the dreaded Seleucids. A considerable amount of terrain covered the left third of the table as the Seleucid players opted to tie up our flank and destroy our right. They almost succeeded. Dave and I deployed badly and instead of my attack force facing the main enemy line, Dave's skirmishers were stuck with holding back the Seleucid foot, elephants and pike with a bunch of LI and units of Huns and auxiliary foot. My task, on the other hand, was to angle in and close with the Seleucid center and break it.

The Seleucid CiC opted to place several units of LMI, camels and horse on my left and proceeded to march them through the brush, woods and heather toward my very weak delaying force (a total of six LI with CB/Sh.) who were located in a woods on my left. I moved them out to slow the Seleucid advance, which they did. I tried to get the Roman foot into contact, but the scythed chariots and bowfire slowed my deployment. Dave's Huns routed the enemy LC, but were in turn destroyed by a phalanx flank assault. Suddenly the Seleucid elephants moved up and into action, smashing through Dave's screen of LI and converting a charge into his LMI, routing them in turn and effectively destroying our right center. Things looked bleak.

On my right, our LMI archers had crested a hill and were charged by two units of HC Companions which charged uphill, over steep terrain and were consequently shot to pieces by both preparatory as well as support fire. One unit was destroyed and the other shook and broke off. Subsequent waver tests caused us to have a 50 point winning draw at game's end, with total losses at over 300 per side. The Seleucids had done better in one of their games, so they made the finals. Dave and I came close, but we missed the cut by 1 point. As we packed up the Roman foot, I couldn't help but feel that the 25mm team competition not only made a grand spectacle (with 1800 points worth of figures) but fostered less intensity and competitive anxiety than singles play. All weekend, former adversaries joked, chatted and discussed their wins, losses and tactics without gritted teeth or a bad taste left after a game.

Saturday evening, after dinner (I made Dave go to a restaurant as there is just so much Spam the human body can handle in two days) six of us sat down in the lobby of the hotel, set up some tables and had a 2000 point per side pickup game with 15mm Romans (Greg Ellsworth's) vrs. Macedonians (Dave Armer's). Dave Ottney, William Connoley &Bruce Taylor joined in the festivities.

Next to us, Jevon Garrett was beating up on Jamie Fish's Normans with Samurai, avenging last years debacle. Trevor Halsall (of Newbury-fame) made an appearance and kibitzed a bit with the Greek players before sighting an attractive young lady and heading off in the vicinity of the bar. Greg learned to use his army effectively in this game as I forced him and Dave Ottney to skirmish and tie down the Greek flanks while I dealt with the enemy center. WRG 7th are excellant for team play, giving a quick resolution in usually, under 3 hours.

Scott Holder stopped by (it seems that when you set up a game in the middle of the lobby everybody stops by eventually -- this is one of the best parts of the convention ... as long as you're not getting your head handed to you!) and we got a quick ruling from him. I wanted to talk to Scott, so we retired to the bar, leaving my army to the mercy of Gregg and Dave, but victory was assured at this point anyway (sheesh, what brass!) Scott and I discussed our past differences of opinion and talked about the ancients wargaming situation as we saw it in both England and the U.S. We then talked about the possibility of having Scott umpire at Simcon next spring, which he tentatively agreed to do. The dearth of gamers in the Nationals from NY/Ohio/Canada has been a perplexing problem as when we do play, one of our group usually makes it into the semifinals at least. Hopefully, next spring, we will place 2-3 top finishers in the 1990 National Master's tournament.

At this point, Scott had to get his figures and I wanted to meet Donald Featherstone, who was seated nearby. Don, who I have to credit with getting me started in miniature wargames way back in 1963 in a great guy, taking delight in the fact that my amateur publication was modelled after his Wargamer's Newsletter of the '60s. I gave him a copy of SAGA which I hope he will enjoy and we talked a bit about the convention and his visit. It was the highlight of the weekend getting to meet a man I have admired and respected for over a quarter of a century and I trust Don and I can keep corresponding regularly in the future.

As I walked back to my neglected game, Greg Ellsworth informed me that our tactics had in fact carried the day and we had defeated the Greeks. Dave, Bruce, Greg Hauser and I went to our room to watch a movie and, as it was 2:30A.M. by the time it ended, I decided that this day had been long enough and tried to get some sleep. soon found that I was too wound up to sleep, however, so I ended up back in the hotel lobby where several gamers were still passing the hours in conversation and gaming.

Russ Tulp and Tom Downs from Connecticut wandered in around 3:30 looking for a pickup game! This was too much, so I finally said goodnight and went to bed.

More Historicon 1989 Convention Report

Introduction
Friday
Saturday
Sunday