The club held its first Game Day of 2018 this past weekend. The day had a full schedule of games for each of the three gaming sessions and the event ran from 8:30AM to almost midnight. Nine miniature games and three board/card games were played and over 32 CSGA members and guests participated throughout the day. Along with the gaming a “For Sale” table was set up for people to buy, sell, and trade miniatures, games and terrain, plus there was a table of books and magazines for sale to raise money for the Friends of the Fountain Library. CSGA President Andy Oertig expressed his thanks to everyone who helped make the event such a great event. He personally thanked all the game masters who put on the games and Vice President Cal Pearson for coordinating the food and refreshments for the event.
The day started off with the morning gaming session of three miniatures games and one board game. The first game of the session began a half-hour before the official start time of the day to ensure it could be completed in the allotted time. That game was put on by Lamont Anderson and Ed Strecker and was Command & Colors Napoleonics, which had been modified for use with 28mm miniatures. The scenario was the Battle of Heilsberg, which was fought in 1807 between the French and Russians before the battle of Frieland. The other two miniatures games were sci-fi games put on by Brian Cummings and Ethan Hope. Brian’s game was All Quiet of the Martian Front and the scenario had the earthlings trying to recapture Canon City, CO from the Martians. Tying the game’s scenario to Colorado was especially appreciated by all who played as it added a little local flavor to the scenario. Ethan put Star Wars Imperial Assault and the scenario was a replay of the capturing of the shield generator from the Star Wars’ movie Return of the Jedi. The final game of the morning session was a fantasy card deck building game put on by Jeff Scott. The game of Thunderstone allows players take on the role of heroes who go on quests to gather treasure and magical weapons, and game experience to progress to harder quests. Having a board or card during each gaming session allowed for attendees to have a change of pace from playing only miniature games.
The afternoon session saw another four games on tap for attendees to play. Played were one historical game, one sci-fi game, a fantasy miniature game and one fantasy card game. The historical game of the session was WFG 2.0 Almost Written and was put on by Walt Williams. The game was actually two games in one, set during World War II, but in two different theaters of the war. One of the two “mini” games was set behind the beaches of Normandy where adhoc groups from both sides were stalking each other in and around the towns and villages of the French countryside. The second game was a desperate defense by the Japanese Imperial Army to hold an island invaded by British and US forces. Walt’s games are always well received and this duel battle was one of the highlights of the day. The sci-fi gamea was Star Wars X-Wing and was the second game put on by Ethan. The scenario was a replay of the rebel attack on the second Death Star from Return of the Jedi. The fantasy miniatures game was The Age of Reason and the Undead by Greg Elliot. The rules are a modification of the colonial game The Sword and the Flame that Greg developed to include fantasy creatures. The game had a 19th century Russian force battling an army of zombies. To round out the second session, Jeff put on his second fantasy card game of the day, which was a follow-on of his Thunderstone game played in the morning. Players were allowed to carry over their heroes from the first game to battle even stronger monsters during this session. It was a great way to allow players to build upon the experience their characters received earlier in the day.
The evening gaming session began at 7 PM and went until the completion of the last game being played. Like the first two gaming sessions, four games were scheduled (three miniatures games and one card game) for all the die-hard players who still wanted to play. The games for this session were two sci fi games, one historical game and a fantasy card game. The two sci fi games were Massive Darkness, a post-apocalyptic dungeon crawl game put on by Ethan Hope, and Fleet Commander Genesis, a sci-fi space battle game put on by Cal Pearson. Both games were scavenger games with Ethan’s game set in a dungeon, while Cal’s was set on a derelict space ship. Both games had players trying to go in and get out with treasure before being killed by the other players in the game. The historical game was another WFG 2.0 Almost Written scenario put on by Walt Williams. This scenario was set during the French-Indochina war in 1954 after the fall of Dien Bien Phu. The scenario had the Viet Minh trying to ambush a retreating French column. This scenario has been played a number of times at the club with the French always losing, would this be the time their fortunes changed? The final game of the evening was another round of Thunderstone put on by Jeff Scott. This game was the culmination of all the previous games where players could take on the final greatest adversary pitted against them.
Twelve games lasting for more than 14 hours throughout the day made this Game Day one to remember. High player turn-out, great games, along with excellent food and drink made for a great day for all who could attend!
The club has two more game days scheduled for 2018 with the next one being held in June.