Wednesday, May 25, 2016

Cangames

I've finally made it home from the Cangames Convention. Certainly a milestone as this was the conventions 40th Anniversary!

I warn you now, that this is a long post covering my weekend of gaming goodness. So please, take a pause & get yourself something to drink.

As usual the Convention started on Friday afternoon. So to start things off, what better than some Frostgrave!

I used a pre-built warband. Our first scenario was a co-operative effort with each of us playing the Wizard & 2 soldiers. We needed to get past the Deathguard at the far gate & off the board. We decided at the beginning of the scenario to split the spoils.


It's always a pleasure to play on outstanding terrain! As our host had forgotten to bring cotton for the fog, a tissue was employed.


We quickly advanced, taking out any skeletal warriors that appeared. The Deathguard also fell to the group effort. As we split the spoils, Todd managed to get a Grimoire of Telekinesis...


This next scenario pitted Todd's warband against my own. Remember that Telekinesis.. it allowed a very easy victory as you will see.

In this scenario, there were several raised platforms within a fog enshrouded bog. Visibility was limited to 12" unless a member was within 3" of one of the torches, they could be seen by everyone. 


I quickly deployed a fog to limit any incoming missiles.


Todd easily used Telekinesis to pull 3 of the chests, including the middle one to his warband & was able to run off the board. My Templar & an Armoured Skeleton managed to match numbers during a melee & felled one another.


My warband continues to withdraw. We were able to take out Todd's wizard however, & though he suffered a bad wound, was able to pay to recover.


One of the fellows had an excellent layout for the Library scenario. I was checking out his pieces, as that is the next scenario in our own campaign & I need to build a bunch of bookshelves, etc.


I recall his mentioning the use of something like Sculpy to make the books


Friday Evening:

I got into the game of Chariots, wherein I rolled boxcars in the first corner & rolled my chariot, thus removing me from the game. Due to the horrible wounds inflicted, there are no images of this event.

Saturday Morning:

I got into the follow-up event of Hail Ceasar from the previous year. This scenario entitled 'Bagotrix Strikes Back' was the attempt to recapture the dyke lost the previous year.


I played one of the British factions this year. Below our mounted units bypass the tower leaving the foot units to deal with the Romans there.


My British command moved to the top of the Dyke, then climbed down & advanced on the 4 units of Roman's who were having a horrid time activating. (He kept blowing his command rolls). This proved lucky for me as I was able to get out of the pit & reform.


I was able to charge his formations, catching one of them in a flank.


After a couple turns he was down to a single unit, whilst my force suffered 1 shattered unit. The remaining were in quite good shape.


As in most convention games, time had run out & I believe it proved to be a Minor British victory as the tower remained in Roman hands, though their supplies would dwindle. The Reinforcements for them had been decimated.

Another game occuring during this timeslot was a WW2 "Operation Veritable" scenario which I managed to take a couple of photos of before they began.



Saturday Afternoon:
 A Game entitled "Cangames the Apocalypse" had caught my eye when I was registering. A home grown rule set of a Zombie Apocalypse which I just had to play in!

I am glad I did

Each of us played a survivor & was given an objective card. I ended up with Mr. Moose!



And my miniature.


The table


He had a good mix of vehicles, many of which I am still searching for to add to my own collection.



We all started in the same building & exited heading off on our various missions.


One group of us stuck together, while several smaller elements headed out in one's & two's.


We got swarmed quickly and after a tough fight with several wounds & the loss of one of our members were able to continue on.


His rules had several Zombie variants, which were degraded when taking wounds until they were finally removed. "Ankle-biters" were children sized zombies & the lowest form  of them.

He also drew from a deck of random events. In the case below the "convicts" were forced to fight amongst themselves until only 1 remained. 


Another view of his terrain set-up


We were finally able to make it off the board, having dodged feral dogs, cultists & a crazy clown zombie. This game was a lot of fun & I hope to see it again next year.


Saturday was also our unofficial Red Shirt Day, where all the Ottawa Red Shirts, in attendance wears their colours with pride. We snapped this photo before Rita ran the Monster Mash event.


 

As I waited for the evening timeslot game I grabbed a couple photos of Ed Burley's "Siege of Fort Beausejour" 1755 scenario.






Saturday Evening:
Every year I look forward to the Rubberboots event. This chaotic mashing of numerous players vying to achieve their secret objectives is pulp goodness!

The scenario this year entitled "The Mask of Agamemnon" - In 1876 a Temple of Apollo is rebuilt near the British Museum. As artifacts of the Trojan War are brought there under heavy security after threats from the mysterious Order of the Magii.

I played the Austrian Mountaineer Selberhorn, who arrived with some rather large friends whom he found in the alps & was able to persuade to join the Prussian Army.


The location for the scenario.


As the game begins, everyone begins to move towards the central courtyard. My mission was to engage & destroy the French Aeronautique forces who were claiming to be filming a movie...sure they were.


There were forces representing Austrians (me), French, Anarchists, British Constabulary & Sherlock Holmes. Also making an appearance were a group of Persian scientists & of course...Rubberboots.


The French Aeronautique were having lots of problems with numerous groups trying to take them down.


The Anarchists were pretty much killing everyone, though they left my faction alone.



At the end, Rubberboots was found to be posing as the film crew & was able to get to the temple & with the Persians, made a run with the Mask of Agamemnon.


 Sunday:
Another event I look forward too, is the Doctor Who Miniatures Game.

This year we played Doctor Who - The Day of the Daleks scenario, which is of course based on the TV show. The 3rd Doctor is investigating strange events at Apsley House, the site of upcoming peace talks to avert Nuclear War led by Sir Reginald Styles.

I chose to play the Daleks with 2 other players.



Having chose our Time entry locations, we arrived & began moving towards the manor. Each Dalek arrived with a pair of Ogrons. There was also a guerilla faction which were the mortal enemies of the Daleks. They too were after Sir Reginald to kill him.


One of the Dalek groups was immediately engaged & a long brawl ensued between Sgt Benton & one of the Ogrons.


The Doctor used his invention skill to modify his Sonic Screwdriver to return the Daleks to their time. (This caused them to miss a turn before being able to attempt to return). When they did return, they arrived at the Railway tunnel.

My Dalek force engaged the Mortar team, while the remainder of UNIT & the Doctor approached. 


Meanwhile the 13th Doctor had appeared & was slowing the arrival of any reinforcements. He was also sending Daleks back to their timestream.


As all the Daleks had been returned to their time, The Brigadier had an easy time of getting Sir Reginald out the back gate with little in the way of opposition.


Another game that was occuring during this time slot had a large container ship with numerous forces attempting to capture it. I believe they were 15mm troops






I wandered over after the Doctor Who game & heard that there were Zombies on the ship!


If this was the normal convention, the games would have ended Sunday night. However as it was the 40th Anniversary, it hearkened back to the years that there was gaming on the Holiday Monday.

So, on Monday I played in Chariots Imperium, an often discussed change to Chariots. This added Gladiators & chariots pulled by Beasts. Each chariot had a Driver & Gladiator to begin, however as chariots became damaged or destroyed, the players could move & jump onto other chariots passing them & fight for possession to continue the race. A trophy was given to the first Driver & the first Gladiator to cross the finish line.

I didn't get any photos of the event, however I was able to be the first Driver to make it across the finish line, riding the beasts that had been pulling my chariot after it crashed in the last corner.



At one time, almost every game had a trophy attached, but over the years this has become less & less which I find kind of sad. Its nice to return home with something to show for your victory besides a piece of paper, but perhaps this is a sign of the times.

Regardless, this little fella will join my others on display in my miniature cabinets.

Of course no convention is complete without buying stuff from the vendors who take the time to showcase their wares at the con. This year I purchased several things, but was still able to keep my suitcase below the weight limit...whew!

This year I was able to buy several painted dark age era buildings, the new Warhammer Quest, some figures to use in Frostgrave from the Pathfinder Miniatures & a copy of How to Paint Warhammer Miniatures.


   

 

12 comments:

  1. What a fabulous post Terry, so much to enjoy! Frostgrave in a swamp, that amazing crane in the zombie game,but what I really what is a container ship!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks Michael. It was an excellent weekend of gaming, with lots of chatting with old buddies from when I lived in Ottawa in the 90's. I realized that this was my 26th Cangames, which in itself is a feat. Not sure of your last comment, what is a container ship? Ships used to haul sea containers back & forth...usually filled with Kickstarters these days.

      Delete
    2. 26 Cangames, now that is impressive! I think I was rather taken with the MDF Container ship and the idea of it being the premise for a zombie game.

      Delete
    3. I believe each container on the ship was an individual piece, or at least some were as he pulled one out to show me the biohazard logo on the side.

      Delete
  2. Loads O Fun!

    Makes me want to plan a visit next year.

    Peace

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. You should indeed Brent, it will give you an opportunity to play rather than work the convention!

      Delete
  3. An excellent review and great pictures as always Terry. It was good to see you again and thanks for playing in my Doctor Who game. From the GMs perspective I would say the main reason the Daleks lost was that they did not deploy a squad behind the house so UNIT took advantage of the opening. In the test game I ran the Daleks did deploy behind the house and won.
    Have had some requests for Sea Devils next year, although the theme is taking flight plus I have a pyramid I wish to use so I will have to ponder plans for next year.
    As to a trophy I can ask if my Doctor Who game can be allotted one for next year rather than a certificate. The organizers prefer the latter to keep costs down.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. This comment has been removed by the author.

      Delete
    2. Oops type & couldn't edit it. Thanks for hosting the game as always Brian, your passion with this rule set is obvious & the layouts fantastic. As for Pyramids & Sea Devil's, it could be an Amazonian Pyramid with Sea Devils. One of the other things that hindered us was that the guerilla's appeared right beside one of our Dalek patrols & that caused them to attack each other due to the mortal enemy thing. Of course the Doctor is meant to win 8D

      Delete
    3. Thanks Terry always appreciate your presence at my games and ideas. Hmmmm Amazonian Pyramid with Sea Devils, that has possibilities. I actually have an Amazonian type pyramid.
      Thinking next time I might go back to the format where the GM controls the bad guys and will once again tweak the activation system to avoid the multiple combat issue with melee. May go away from the poker chip system.
      Yes we also had the problem of the guerillas landing to close to the Daleks in the test game resulting in guerillas being slaughtered which is why I had them arrive in the tunnel this time. However they then advanced on your patrol near the side of the house. Only so much the GM can do to control what players do.

      Delete
  4. Lots of fab looking games! That old library board looks ace!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Doesn't it! I didn't get a chance to play on it, but got inspiration for sure

      Delete