Skirmish Game Con 2024

It's been a while since my last post, obviously. The house situation has been a weeks-long drama upon which we're finally making some real progress. Flooring everywhere! Well, not the bathrooms which are still untouched, but the rest of the place is looking good.

Mark and I trucked it down to Jacksonville Florida for Skirmish game con last weekend for some much-needed downtime. It was a good couple of days of gaming and this might have been the first con I've attended during which I've never before played any of the games I ended up playing. First game was Friday afternoon at 1:00PM. It was a fairly simple game of What A Cowboy for four players, each with two very similar characters. We'd all heard there was a looted Union payroll stashed in a wrecked house. 

The players were split into two groups and away we went.

Our table. My two gunslingers are the closest - Buck Owens and George Jones. All the characters were named after classic Country and Western singers.

At the end of the encounter, both my fellas were pushing up daisies. I'd managed to take out Willie Nelson. My teammate took out an opponent but as it turned out both gangs failed their morale tests at the same time and the survivors all fled with the sound of cavalry approaching. I had a terrific time and really enjoyed WaC. 

My next game was One Hour Wargames WWII. These were simple infantry encounters designed to demo the rules. Although I enjoyed myself, I'm not sold on the bargain-basement simplicity of the game system and it didn't really trip my trigger. 

My final game of the evening was home-brewed 40K Bike Racing.

Entertaining enough but rough-and-ready. Having designed the most excellent Rubber and Lead game, I could fix this bike racing game. I've got ideas kicking around in my head, but they need to ferment for a bit. The game was a hoot. I was first to be knocked out and my Space Marine ascended to Racetrack Sniperhood. From the Sniper's Pulpit, I helped two other racers ascend. The race was won by a cautious / timid gentleman who seemed to miss the bit about it being a race.

Saturday morning I hosted my PULPY! Steampulp game for a group of six. GMing, I failed to take many pictures, but I got a few.

The good guys stormed the lair, snatched evidence and disabled the tank! Dr. Krauss and his assistant Milford escaped of course...

The players seemed to really enjoy the game. All were complimentary of the terrain, miniatures and most importantly the rules. I put the basic Pulpy! rules together back in December I think, gave it a basic mechanical test once, a thorough test with my wife once and this was showtime! One of the players had significant experience playing Pulp games and was rather taken with my rules so I gave him the one printed copy I had and let him keep one of the QRSes. I have a couple of follow-on scenario ideas.

After lunch it was more What a Cowboy. This time a much more involved scenario based on a pivotal scene in the movie Silverado. I hadn't done my homework and having only seen the movie once when it was in theaters in 1985, I didn't remember any of it. I was in charge of Sheriff Langston and Mal while my teammate had Paden and Emmett. Opposing us were a real motley crew of scum and villainy. 

Again, I didn't take many pictures. We were tasked with the Herculean assignment of releasing horses and taking back some stolen money. What we did was get our asses kicked. My deadeye sniper Mal got one good shot then took a chest wound effectively neutralizing him very early in the goings. The sheriff did alright as did Emmett and Paden but we just couldn't make any forward progress. It was a series of one step forward, two steps back. So yeah, the bad guys won handily and for the second time last weekend, I really enjoyed What a Cowboy.

Next up was some sci-fi skirmishing with Cyberpunk: Red. Our host Alex gave off a typical young millennial vibe with his spiky, dyed hair and I prepared myself for a steam of irritation. I was dead wrong about him; he was such a nice energetic guy that it gave me hope for the future of the miniatures gaming hobby! 

The game itself is not a far cry from Infinity with regards to aesthetic, with much smaller forces. The game plays more like X-Wing miniatures and is quick, straightforward and easy enough to wrap one's head around.

I didn't take many pictures, but I sat in front of a Japanese-themed group that was heavy on the cheese. My opponent's force was very much a melee-focused group. I felt a little bad that he got a poor read on the table and I took advantage of his disadvantaged deployment right from the get-go. He was a gracious opponent and handled himself very well in the face of adversity and uncooperative dice rolls. If I didn't already have such a heavy investment in Infinity, I'd pick up Cyberpunk: Red. The minis are dead sexy and I may pick some up just to paint. 

My final game was Wars of Ozz. There was a LOT of Ozz being played last weekend, with games being hosted by both Discover Games from Atlanta and by Mr. Buck Surdu himself. The late Saturday game was a four-player affair hosted by Discover Games.

I sat in front of the Pumpkins so I led them into battle with my Winkie allies against the Munchkins and Frogs. 

Our line of battle at the start of the affair. As you can see, it was a dead gorgeous game. Interesting minis, bright colors, adorable terrain.

The game itself is quirky as hell but plays well and everyone at the table except for my traveling companion Mark enjoyed themselves. Mark's dice were abysmal and he wouldn't get past it. Once he left we finished a very entertaining game, wrapping up well after midnight. 

A damn fine two days of gaming. I met some great folks, played a bunch of wonderful games and quite simply had a fine couple of days away. Be well and good gaming everyone!