Cangames 2015

After a week of fun & games I arrived home last night complete with a cold...oh joy. Not sure where I picked it up, but it was certainly an unwelcome guest. So I will warn you now, this is a long post, so grab a beer, tea or other beverage & settle in.

This was Cangames 39th running & I was happy to hear a rumour that it may once again be extending into the Holiday Monday, as you really cannot play too many games.

Friday Afternoon:
My first game was the Battle on the Ice - Retreat. Prince Bishop Hermann is in a town when Prince Nevsky and a force of the Novograd Republic counter-attacks hoping to slay the Bishop. Meanwhile a force of Teutonic Knights is riding to rescue the Bishop.

The Bishop in the town with his foot-born troops.
 

 As the assaulting forces closes in, I moved the Bishop across the bridge & toward the oncoming knights.

The Knights with the Bishop slew Nevsky a destroyed the Novogradian Cavalry, then rode towards the bridge. The foot-born forces of the Bishop were pretty much wiped out, with just a single Crossbowman holding the centre of the bridge.

As the game ended rather quickly, not filling the 4 hour time slot, I wandered over to where fellow was running demo's of the new Batman Miniatures Game by Knights Models. One thing that caught my eye was the dumpster made out of mdf.

The figures are quite nice, being 35mm.

 Friday Evening:
There wasn't a large selection of miniature games for the evening, so I jumped into Chariots. No photos were taken, & needless to say I was out by the first corner, having the misfortune of being drawn early on the second round & then a sitting duck for everyone who wanted to bash my chariot on their way by.

Saturday Morning:
The game I played during this time slot was entitled 'Stop the Romans' using the Hail Caesar rules. As the campaign season was ending, it was  the desire of the Romans to breach a dyke that guarded the pass to the Celt strongholds.

Initially there were 3 British baggage trains making for the dyke. These if captured would provide extra victory points. 

The Celts surge forward & managed to destroy one of my Veteran Legions & my Scorpion. However their general was slain, netting me an increase to my leadership. Meanwhile the other Roman commands were pressing forward.

A shot of the excellent terrain piece of the Dyke. It was defended by some skirmish elements.

The battle continues, as the Romans move to the dyke. The Celt forces are starting to crumble.

The Romans for a Testudo & await the Engineers to place a ramp

Up the ramp!

The Celts did have 2 units of Fanatics which surged forward as soon as they saw a Roman unit on the Dyke. Unfortunately as they pushed the Romans back, they followed up & were whittled down until destroyed.

The Romans atop the dyke. It was deemed a marginal Roman Victory.

Saturday Afternoon:
I got into a game of Dawn of the Dead, having played the previous year, I was interested to see how Matt had fixed the issues with his initial running. This time around there were 8 human players & 4 Zombie players. The zombies were now faster than previously, as they could now move 3 spaces when a human was visible.

The human players had to enter the various shoppes to find other survivors, & then make it to the rooftop to a helicopter. Cards were handed out randomly.

I was dealt the Biker.

We started off well, & I managed to slay 3 zombies before things turned sour. As it turns out the zombie players had several cards each they could play which would do things, like make players trip, etc. As luck would have it I was 'bitten' which meant certain death for the Biker, as well the Zombie player hit me with every attack roll, I think the only number on his dice was 6.

The Doctor entered the first store, & as expected ran into some zombies. As I had already perished, I moved onto to other things after this.

I am pretty sure the zombies won this game. 

The table beside us was running a game of Battle of the 5 Armies. 

Another table was running the Siege of Louisbourg 1758. The fellow running it, named Ed Burley made all this terrain I believe.

I really liked his Haskel-bastions.
 

Saturday Evening:
As always, I played in the 'Rubberboots' Pulp gaming scenario that Todd always puts on.  This scenario was entitled Rubberboots & the last train to Shangri-La 1923. Each of the players, & there were quite a few, run a small group of troops. Each has unique victory conditions.

Set in the last days of the Russian Civil War, the remnants of the Intervention seek their escape aboard a train travelling high in the Himalayas.

I played Ludwig von Selberhorn seen below. Yes Todd creates unique characters for his returning players.
 

 There were 3 factions in this game, the Explorers of which I was part, the Bolsheviks & the Mystics.

My force started near the train station with another Explorer faction.

The mystics were in the town.

As the armoured train moved along the tracks, it was boarded by several factions & fighting ensued for control of it. This led to the exposing of 2 Yeti which were in the coal car.

The Bolshevik forces managed to wipe out the Czar & his entire family before they were finally wiped out.

Ludwig von Selberhorn & his ally. Alas I do not recall Rita's characters name. What made this unique is that for once, she didn't have a secret agenda to kill me.

Sunday Morning:
This mornings game was Samurai Battles - Mikatagahara. Using the Pike & Shotte rules Takeda Shingen was aiming to sweep the Mikata plain clear of Tokugawa's troops.  I believe I was playing Tokugawa.

I found my forces in a bit of a pickle  from the beginning, having Cavalry units smashing into my flank.

Each commander has sub plots, so you really didn't know what was going to happen. There were a couple duels fought. Our forces were getting decimated.

As the axe was falling, I learned that the commander on my left flank, retreated with his entire force (as was his sub plot). My force was down to 2 units. It was after this turn, where even though I won the combat against the Cavalry, I soon accepted defeat & gave the enemy the field.

I had the opportunity throughout the weekend to chat with old friends. Below I spoke with Glen, & yes we ate Ham & Jam & Spamalot!

Sunday Afternoon:
As I was waiting for my afternoon game to get set up, I noticed this game getting laid out. It was a Force on Force scenario called Elements of Destruction. A sinister group having obtained a Cold War Nuclear Weapon system.

Of course the game I was waiting for was the Doctor Who game. This was a fun scenario which placed several incarnations of the Doctor into the Fifth Element.

We had 8 players who needed to collect the various elements, which were needed to activate the weapon which prevent the Great Evil from taking over the world.  The elements were scattered throughout the oasis around the edge of the board.
 

I played the 10th Doctor and had some Judoon troops.

The 11th Doctor had the Tardis

As the various factions neared the oasis, groups of opponents surged out of them.

My force encountered the Autons. Luckily my heavily armed & armoured Judoons, made pretty short work of them. I did find an element in the oasis.

The 11th Doctor found Leeloo, & her associates.

We eventually got the elements & Leeloo to the temple.

As our troops dealt with the temple guardians we proceeded to the room of the elements

And thus managed to stop the Great Evil!

 
It was a fun game & Brian always goes over the top with his terrain elements.  As it was a cooperative game, we decided to roll randomly to determine first place. I was the lucky one & now have 3 first place certificates from these games.

So another Cangames comes to a close. I spent Monday & Tuesday with my hosts, hitting a couple game stores & just relaxing a bit before returning home. I did buy some things, & found a Canadian company doing mdf bases, etc. I have some of their brochures to distribute to the club when next we meet.

Now I just wish I left this head cold on the luggage conveyor.

Thanks for reading about my gaming adventures!