A number of us elected to not attend Historicon / Fall In last weekend for a variety of reasons. We took the opportunity, however, to meet in Chris’ basement to do some in-person miniatures gaming. We played three games: A Feudal Patrol(TM) Aztec skirmish from the upcoming FREE Meso American supplement.
Aztec Raid
This game was hosted by Mark Morin and involved an Aztec raid on a Tlaxcalan village. Unbeknownst to the Aztecs, a group of Conquistadors was in the village as well. It was a hard-fought battle, but in the end our Aztecs prevailed and brought home many prisoners for ritual sacrifice.
The initial setup, Tlaxcalan village on the left and Aztec raiders on the right.Our Aztecs begin to advance. The fields were muddy, so they slowed us to half movement. This forces us to move along the channels created between the fields.Starting positions for some of the Aztecs.Greg defending the village with bowmen and Conquistadors. He really WAS having fun.The Aztec advance continues.Tlaxcalan bowmen took up a position on the forward edge of a corn field and begin pelting my advancing Aztecs.Fire from the Conquistadors shredded my Aztecs.Dave’s Aztecs advance on Chris’ defenders.Duncan’s Aztecs berserked into the corn field and a fierce, multi-activation melee ensued.A wide view of the carnage.The battle of the corn field continued.Dave eventually won the day on the Aztec right.The Conquistadors never moved. They began the game pinned and stayed that way most of the game. Their fire was devastating but would have been even more so had they unpinned. That might have made the difference between Aztec victory and defeat.
Wars of Ozz
The second game was Wars of Ozz(TM), hosted by Chris based on a Napoleonic scenario from a 1981 issue of Wargames Digest. The Munchkins were advancing to keep open a road, but the Winkies were working to keep control.
Initial setup. We had three brigades of Munchkins. Two were tightly packed along the road.Our Munchkins were maneuvering into position.We worked hard to try to unclog our forces and deploy. We were surprised by the speed of the WInkie advance.Munchkin cavalry on our left tried to slow the WInkie advance. It didn’t go well.Another ill-fated Munchkins cavalry charge. This should have gone well, but the stars (and dice) were not our friends.I love the colors of Ozz games!Greg’s Winkies advance quickly on Duncan’s right flank. (Greg really WAS having fun.)Marks Winkies on their right engaged in a series of aggressive charges against Dave’s Munchkins. In the end, Mark’s command was shattered, and Dave had several fresh units, but they kept us away from the road.Greater pumpkin heads too Dave’s artillery on the flank and route it.Chris’ bears smashed into one of my Munchkin units. It was a close-run affair, but both our units were smashed.Duncan fired on one of the advancing Winkie units. In response, they charged Duncan. In a series of results, I hadn’t seen strung together like that, Greg charged, Duncan did little damage and backed up 4″ disordered. The Winkie reaction was the charge again. This happened several times, until that unit nearly cleared our right flank. Then a second unit of Winkies charges… It was ugly.At this point, though we had several fresh units on our left, the Munchkins conceded victory to the evil Winkies. There was very little likelihood we were going to cut the road in any reasonable time. One thing I have learned from Ozz and WOOD games is that fortunes can change quickly, so we could have been wrong, but that’s how we all saw it at the time.
7TV Fantasy
Several of the folk left after the Ozz game (but not because of the Ozz game, but Chris, Duncan, and I participated in a first running of 7TV Fantasy run by Greg. As this was our first time running or playing the game, it went a little slowly. We had a good time, and I look forward to a second running when we will be more familiar with the mechanics.
My Star Hat duck warriors faced off against some humans. We were both trying to collect artifacts from the table.
All-in-all, Christoricon was a great success. Everyone enjoyed some in-person gaming with friends. We’ve been doing a number of Zoom-based games. I live in Florida now, and host games with players in Maryland, North Carolina, and the UK. For me, miniatures gaming is my social outlet, and it was fun to game in person again.
