Trojan War

Fired up by the movie Troy, Norbert Brunhaber ran a Trojan War game. Tibor and I happened to stumble into the room and he needed two players. Instant warriors we became, I of the city, he of the invaders.

Troops were 25mm, individually mounted, with a d20 roll to "hit" against a statistic. Heroes were 13 or 14 out of 20, retinue fellows were 7 or 8 out of 20. The hittees then got a saving roll. One hit and the warrior is down and out. Heroes had to be grabbed and dragged back to camp, or, grabbed and dragged into the city. Movement order was by cards.

The invaders moved quickly off the boats and stormed inland. The defenders charged out to meet them. The melees were intense and relatively quick. Swords clanged against shields. Heroes screamed. Bodies dropped. Vultures circled overhead. (OK, I made up the part about the vultures).

In the end, the Trojans grabbed the most dead Greek heroes and carted them back to Troy to be stuffed and mounted. We Trojans even burned a boat, though I could not claim such a feat as I was dragging two Greek hero carcasses into the city.

He Shoots, He...

Of all the unusual things I saw, there was this out of print soccer game that had little men standing in bowls (so they would always remain right side up), a small ball, and a couple of nets. Soon, I was involved in a lopsided game where my fumble fingers could do little right and my opponent (who owned the game) could do little wrong.

It looked easy, but eye and hand needed to be in sync. The idea was to flick the man into the ball and propel it down the field and score. There were rules, like the same guy could only hit the ball three times, and if the ball hit an opponent last, the opponent took over control of the ball. The goalie was on a stick that you moved to block shots.

What a blast! Man, it was difficult. I got better as we went along, and even managed a shot or two on goal, and then with time winding down (1am), and the score 3-0 against me, I had one last possession to try and win a morale victory. I drove down the field, passing with nerve and fortune, sliding past defenders, passing to my forward fellows, and finally, I managed by dint of digital genius, to place the ball directly in front of the goal with my main striker right behind it!.

That's when I got my opponent nervous. It was like a penalty kick. I faked left, I faked right, I faked a finger snap, and then, I unloaded. The ball angled towards the left hand corner of the net. It flew straight and fast. And then, in the blink of an eye, my opponent shoved the goalie stick hard over as far as he could...and swatted the ball, the net, and his own man through the air and onto the floor.

DE-NIED! Lockwood failed to score.

But I had a great time with whatever this game is called.

Please note that photos, they of 1000 words, form the majority of the report and thus, will be slow in downloading.

More Historicon 2004

Introduction
Dealer Area
World War II Theme
Wargames Galore
Personalities
Lockwood Defends the City...and...He Shoots, He...

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