Each year there is a general theme & this year's was Clockwork. I believe the intent is to have those who offer to run games, attempt to tie their games into the theme. As the range of games is everything from Ancients to Modern, Boardgames to RPG's it's often a stretch.
However I played in my usual gamut of games & tend to have my favorites. However the dice were not overtly kind to me this year, but that doesn't diminish the enjoyment of the event.
I didn't take photos of all the games I played, guess I got caught up in the moment, or was taken out so early that I moved off to other things. However here are the photos I did take
One Day in a Long War - Afghanistan Sangin Province. A British Patrol & things go horribly wrong.
Each of the players had a fire team & our mission was to cross the dry river bed & exit off the far side of the board. While some teams covered & observed, the first troops begin to cross.
However as everything was looking good, a sudden explosion erupts. Seems one of the lads tripped an IED.
As troops began to slowly clear paths across (we used wooden squares to define the cleared path), some other troops are taken down by more devices.
Medevac is called & a chopper is soon inbound, however we still needed to extract other wounded soldiers. Each wounded trooper was on a timer to see how long before they bled out, so we were challenged to take it slow & risk losing them, or rushing across to aid them, likely setting off more devices.
As the chopper lands, dust flies everywhere.
The wounded are loaded onto the chopper.
The few taliban who showed up were taken out. We did manage to get a couple troops to the far side to get a body count.
I also had a chance to finally try Gloomhaven. My first impression was good & I would be interested in the 'campaign' it is designed for with people I know. Alas, with a tournament game, we had that 1 guy....who ignored the scenario, rather just going for the loot to 'win'.....& here I was playing the scoundrel.
On Saturday I played another old SPI game called Time Tripper. It was a very interesting concept, where each of us was a soldier with limited ammo, grenades, etc. who find ourselves suddenly caught in a bright blue flash. We emerge in a different era...firstly being attacked by Vikings. Once we eliminated the threat & checked the bodies for 'loot' we were again 'teleported' to another era. So with this, we were attacked by Mongols, WW2 Russians, Daleks (with a ride in the Tardis for some), Dinosaurs & finally Zombies. I didn't take any photos of this game, but will be contacted the fellows that ran it for a pdf. Great system to use all those different era miniatures!
The afternoon I played Horror at Moose Cove, a Zombie Apocalypse game I get into every year.
So for this multi-player game, 3 of us were a disguised Spetnaz team led by Vladamir Putin himself. Our goal was to collect the brains of the various zombie strains, as well as get to the secret laboratory to collect documents pertaining to the outbreak. As long as we didn't use our firearms, we would remain disguised.
We begin to make our way off the jetty
After killing a zombie & collecting its head, we continued. A quick search of a dumpster yielded gasoline, which the Lt grabbed. I was playing the Sgt, who was armed with a silenced Automatic Rifle. No need to use these yet.
We were making good time, passing a gas station, where the Lt dropped behind to see if he could get the Tow Truck started.
This is where my story ended however, as after shooting at a mutant pig, I was beset upon by 2 runner zombies & taken down. I later rose as a zombie
Saturday evening I played a Frostgrave system game called Ironboots & the Shieldmaiden's Secret. This was the annual 'Rubberboot's' themed game that Todd runs for quite a few of us. We had 11 people this year. Again no photos from me as I was helping a person who had never played Frostgrave. This same guy un-bound my demon, then blinded me, which pretty much took me out of the game. The unbound Demon & I eventually slew each other. Of course my opponent shall not be named...he knows who he is!
Sunday I played a WW2 Aircraft game titled Achtung Hurricane. A battle pitting the RAF against the Luftwaffe's first foray into Africa. My flight arrived late to the battle, however it was also just as the German Bombers were unloading onto Tobruk's harbour, so I arrived right on their tails & proceeded to destroy 3 flights thanks to some Flak damaging a couple of the bombers. As the 3rd flight fell, my flight was decimated by the remaining 3 bomber groups & the 2 fighter support groups. The RAF lost 9 aircraft that battle (our total force), but the damage inflicted on the German Bombers was greater & won the overall battle.
Sunday afternoon I got into another of my favorites. Doctor Who & the Sea Devils
In this game, the 3rd Doctor is assisting a scientist in inventing a underwater probe. As well he has hidden a piece of the Master's Tardis somewhere on the base. The Sea Devils, have finally had enough meddling in their realm & have decided to make it personal.
I played the Doctor, & had Sgt Benton & some UNIT troops in support.
The Sea Devils arrive & begin to hole the motorlaunch.
Captain Yates & his soldiers were in their barracks. A bazooka team exited to get a shot at the Sea Devils. The rest remained inside the barracks shooting out of the windows.........no support coming from there.
The Bofors gun took out some large creature they attacked with. However with the blasters the Sea Devils were using, our forces were getting depleted quickly.
The Master did sneak onto the base disguised as a Royal Navy Officer, & found his component in the first building he searched. He then left the base while everyone was engaged with the Sea Devils. As can be expected the UNIT soldiers weapons are inferior to those of most alien species. Thus they need to rely on heavy support weapons to level the playing field until the Doctor invents something to counter-act the alien technology. This of course takes time, which we didn't seem to have a lot of. As well we did have some terrible rolls....I rolled 4 1s at one point.
UNIT did eventually start whittling down the Sea Devils, but by then it was too late.
As with most game conventions, there were some vendors on site as well as the SWAP tables (people put stuff to sell with a set price - you like the price you pay & take it).
So this year I snagged the following goodies for my collection.
Todd was selling his Wierd War walkers which he used a few years ago in a Rubberboots game. Think these are all DUST figures.
One of the vendors had these collectible Batman vehicles. He has a few more, but I wanted the 1/43 scale Tumbler & this red vehicle to use for Pulp Gaming.
From the Crossed Swords vendor I snagged this Egyptian Terrain piece which will go nicely with my Lunesgarden Egyptian terrain tiles
Another SWAP item, this box of Privateer RPG stuff with lots of miniatures.
Diewaffenkammer was here this year! Thanks for coming!. I was able to get 2 Morris CS-9's
Lastly, I picked up this Witch Hunter from Crossed Swords.
Thus ends another Cangames, though the memories will live on. As the last salute, here is the annual Spamalot Sunday T-shirt photo of Glen & I. We have made this an annual thing. Red-Shirt Saturday & Spamalot Sunday. Here is to keeping this new tradition alive!
When I arrived home last night, there was a box waiting for me....
Will the fun never end?
Thanks for visiting my blog.
