backwards view :: 2005 Napoleonic games & my early tabletop

 I had been gaming for many years before starting the blog, mostly RPGs, however the Napoleonic era had caught my attention, after attempting some ancient Roman stuff (with DBA) and some fantasy things (with HOtT), so in my form I had decided to see if I could find some more players by doing some game promotions.

One of them was at the Courtenay Recreation Center, a day of Napoleonic Games:

there were tabletop miniatures games

and a gigantic Eagle Games board game
of Napoleon in Europe

 I was able to turn out in my Napoleonic ADC Uniform for the event, and we even did a few pictures outside with it, one that came out nicely.

I was determined to try one last time to get interest into the ancient Romans, with a tournament!

backwards view 2005 :: Dak-Kon convention room

 For a number of years after I left the Comox Valley a group of gamers set up a local game-player run convention, called Dak-Kon.

when I came back it was still running, though in need of some new energy, which I gave along with bringing in some new game players.

I have very few still images from these events - as I was not doing much documentation of them at the time.

 I did find this 'pixaround' image that I did of a moment in time during the 2005 Dak-Kon X

The original file is a self-running 'postcard' that does a slow pan, or you can clik on it and control the speed or zoom in on a part of the image, of (in this case) the 360 degree circle around the room, that I built with images taken while slowly turning in a circle.

 

I was unable to get that 'postcard' file to enter into the blog, though I have been able to send it as an attachment in an email.

I did some freeze frames of the image so as to help capture that time here on the blog.

the empty table in the foreground was the game I was
running at the time

Some faces here will appear in other posts covering the time before the blog, and indeed there's a few that have changed over time in this blog over the past 20 years, at least a few are likely to make more appearances in the future.

backwards view :: 2003 STORMTROOPERS!

 I had a lot of stormtroopers from Star Wars in 25mm ... once upon a time

it was a sizeable force

 

I then needed cash more than these miniatures, so off to eBay they went.

there were more than stormtroopers

and other Imperial forces

indeed there were complete game sets that I sold off

I still have the rules, and a few minis - not anything like the volume of the past.

Tabletop minis game campaigning ideas

 Using an old board game to set up a massive campaign or series of tabletop games centered around Gettysburg.

The idea here is to use the Avalon Hill "Gettysburg 88" board game to set up the tabletop battles that would be played out using either Valour & Fortitude or Fire & Fury, depending on the players at the battle situation.

I have generated a Cyberboard game box for Gettysburg 88 and have some ideas for how to make the translation happen, yet in the end it will simply be up to the players at the table at the time to setup what makes sense for them and their playing space, time and miniatures available.

the Lee playing piece

I also quickly put together a quick chart for the layout and a first blush at what the map looks like, it will work out very well I believe.

test map for opening positions of all games

No feedback yet from potential players, yet I see this as a way to engage on having the tabletop games have more meaning than the battle of the moment.

 I came to this idea after watching a great little summary of a General article from 1989:

 

What do you do to make your tabletop games have more meaning than just the game of the day or training? 

An Arcadian Guild throwback - the Alumni

 in the before blogging time, I had a website.  One that I did all the coding for - and kept up to date, mostly.

In my review of data around the start of the blog and my Napoleonic 200th anniversary battle games preparations, I have come across some notable data that I ought to preserve here, since it likely doesn't exist any where else.

There are a few from the games conventions, that are going to come out in the next little while, along with a notable Role-Playing element that I am proud of.

For now, here's the Alumni List from 2005:

Another Confederate Division for Gettysburg in 15mm

 12 days again!

Only 12 days from start to finish for this Confederate Division of Rodes, in 15mm.

The process, now having been committed to memory, is going faster than in the past.  This month I will have managed to crank out two divisions, one Union and one Confederate.  Not likely in the coming month, as more time will be set aside for other actions already planned.  Not to mention the time needed to form the new location game table ...

bare metal

brushed on base coat 
(still shiny and wet)

'damp brush' the pale tan

base colors

ink!

detail layer

matte coated (still damp & shiny)

onto base stands

flocking done

in a battlefield formation
with three of the new 'earthworks'
on the top of a new hill
(cloth is old, the foam hill underneath is new)

isolation photos of 4 of the 5 brigades

neat shot showing off the guns and troops
with the earthworks

So that looks like all the coming game action for July 2026.

August is shaping up to be more about the games table, even though it may not be done until later in the year - depending on more factors that I care to focus on.

This may mean I'll need to do a game on the old "back-of-the-chalkbord" tabletop system; though barring any major mishaps I may be able to game this Autumn on the new tabletop.

Free Wargames Library

 The good gamers at Little Wars TV have put together a free wargames library, that they have curated.

They announced it today with this video:

I'm certainly pleased with this action and plan to try out a few of the games.

WARGAMES LIBRARY