Greetings, gang,
This is in *NO* way by any means a comprehensive and complete 'after con
report'. This is just a summary of highlights. There was far too much going on
for me to run around the whole weekend taking notes on things. Just could not
do that. This statement alone should give you some indication of how much fun
we all had. So follow along as best you can, this is going to be a bunch of
disjointed thoughts strung together.
For those who are not up to speed on all this 'GZG-ECC' stuff, a year
and a half ago Jon Davis and I began discussing the feasibility of getting a
bunch of East Coast people together for a weekend of GZG Game playing. We
noted that many people got together at GenCon, and a fair number paied visits
to Origins, and that a number of our West Coast brothers got together time and
again to do some gaming. It seemed to us that all the FT/DSII/SGII
players on the East Side of the US (with the exception of the Canadians;) were
scattered hither and yon to the Four Winds. We wanted to meet some of these
listmembers and play some GZG games. Our discussions eventually jelled into
our hosting the first GZG East Coast Convention in February of '98.
Unfortunately for us, we didn't really get started on this until the December
before we held the Con. However, despite the short notice, we had 13 people
show up (8 of them were the Canadian Contingent ;-). GZG-ECC I was a
trial con, to see if we could pull it off and if it would be feasible to do
(ie,
would people come, would costs be okay enough we didn't go bankrupt trying to
hold this thing, and would everyone have fun). We decided that our first
GZG-ECC was a great success. We did not have any vendors there that
year, as we were completely unsure of how well it would go. After our success
for the '98 con, we decided to:
1) hold our second GZG-ECC (known as GZG-ECC II), and
2) have a few vendors come this time so participants could pick up some stuff
they forgot, have been looking for, or suddenly decided they wanted.
Well, to sum it up, GZG-ECC II was a smashing success. We had 28 people
attend the convention, more than double from last year! We had 3 vendors (KR
from
Geo-Hex, Erik Kochte from Corner Fortress Collectibles, and Faron
Betchley from Little Wars in Wash, DC) who came and made their wares available
(and from what
I saw and heard, the attendees - myself included - made a small dent in
the stuff they brought:).
A great many games were being played this year, and most all had good numbers
of people in them (if not full, they weren't often empty; only a few games
here and there got no players since players had signed up for other games). A
few
pick-up games also appeared during the course of the weekend (such as
Aaron Newman's spontaneous sunday morning scenario 'Severed Dreams' using EFSB
rules). There were actually several EFSB games put on during the weekend. And
a large number of FT games, and quite a few SGII games. The only game not
represented strongly was DSII, but Jon Atkinson made sure that there *were*
two games run (one friday evening, one sunday morning; when I finally left the
con at 3pm they were still playing the massive island invasion scenario....and
it's
quite likely it's still going on! ;-).
I won't go into the individual games that were being run. I tried to visit as
many of the tables as I could during the weekend, but couldn't always get to
them all. But from the noises coming from the tables in the room, I think
everyone was having a Good Time(tm). Many photos were taken by quite a few
people, some of them with digital cameras. So you can probably expect to see
a few pics on the web over the course of the next few days. :-)
The Miniatures Contest was run once again this year. In the FT category, a
LARGE number of the entries were AOG ships (and a FULL 1/3-1/2 were
Minbari Sharlin warcruisers!). Some very nice paint jobs on all of them, too
(especially the Shadow-Tech Omega). The first place winners (plural; we
had a
tie) were the Shadow-Tech Omega and a pair of Narn T'Loth Assault
Cruisers. The
SGII/25mm category had about half WH40K stuff, half GZG stuff. The first
place winner here was a lone WH40K Marine, followed closely by a squad of
Heavy Gear
and then finally a squad of FSE desert troopers. The DSII/Epic Scale
entries were few (only 6 or 7, as opposed to the 17 FT entries and 14 SGII
entries). I could have entered some of *my* DSII minis had I brought them and
I may have
had a shot at winning. ;-) As it was, of the DSII/Epic Scale entries,
the Epic fighters took first, with a GZG helo coming in second by 1 pt, and a
pair
of grey/black camo GZG tanks (one a NAC Phalanx) coming in 3rd by 1 pt.
Jon Davis got pictures of the winning entries, and those will probably be
posted on the web soon.
Prizes for various games and the miniatures contest were donated by
Geo-Hex,
Corner Fortress Collectibles, and our list-dude Los. They deserve a
great deal of thanks for the support they gave the Con.
This year we also had t-shirts! Nick Caldwell (who, other than KR, wins
the
prize for coming the furthest to attend - all the way from St Louis,
Mo!) came up with the idea and design and brought a couple dozen to the Con.
They went
over pretty well (I picked up two :). There was a special t-shirt there,
also, but for the time being we are not allowed to discuss or talk about it.
Later,
perhaps (when Nick gives the 'OK' :-).
It was really a pleasure to have finally met a large number of people from
the list here. And re-see the faces from last year (only a few were
unable to return this year). Among the listmembers who attended were folks
like Aaron Teske, Los, Kr'rt, Nick Caldwell, KR, and Stuart Murray. And many
more
(I'm not going to go through a roll-call here; I'm sure they will likely
post
their thoughts/views/opinions at some point here - well, I hope they do!
:).
There was much discussion occurred throughout the whole weekend at various
tables about the Teske Field (some people felt its influence, some did
not -
and in a few cases, some people rolled die like I generally do with
p-torps!).
Some of this you'll notice in collected set of 'Quotes', stuff that was heard
or overheard at the various tables during the weekend. I'll post that as a
seperate message.
Right off, I think that's all I have to say right now. I'll let others give
their views/impressions/thoughts on the con. I just wanted to touch on
some
of the highlights. It was a grand time, and there WILL e a GZG-ECC III!
Mk
> What do you mean 'Vorchans aren't atmosphere-capable'? wrote:
Correction: Brian Bell ran the Moon Station Xi scenario on Friday night and
John Atkinson ran the Assault on Carter Island.
> There was much discussion occurred throughout the whole weekend at
Hee hee hee... I got 9 6s on 18 dice and blew away Jim Bell's battleship
Friday night.
I really don't want to talk about my SG dice rolling today.
Andrew Presby was quoted as saying "You people are insane! Damned humans." as
he was taking a break from a EFSB game.
Stuart Murray said "Easy Peasy Lemon Squeezy" during the Convoy scenario. He
said it was a familiar British advertisement for dish washing detergent.
> What do you mean 'Vorchans aren't atmosphere-capable'? wrote:
> large number of FT games, and quite a few SGII games. The only game
Note: I didn't run the Friday one--I was busy reffing Kr'rt blowing the
hell out of Imperial BatRon 5 or 4 or something. I'll be posting AARs for both
my games.
And we started packing up around 1700, with actual departure from hotel at
1830 or so.
> had a shot at winning. ;-) As it was, of the DSII/Epic Scale
Correction: That was an AH-1 Cobra, by GHQ.
Jon spake thusly upon matters weighty:
> Hee hee hee... I got 9 6s on 18 dice and blew away Jim Bell's
Well, Jon, consider yourself lucky. Only a few of us have had the satisfaction
(and it is quite satisfying) to plug a ship belonging to the *infamous* Mr.Jim
Bell. That is of course significantly less
satisfying than plugging one of JP Fiset's units - JP being our
group's local French-Canadian. Me and JP love to gnaw at each
other.... of course, he finds his viewpoint sympathetically represented as
many of my friends (Hi Peter! Hi Tom!) find it quite a bit of fun to plow
under my units.
But that's what wargaming is all about - plowing your friends under
for your (and their) entertainment!
I'm very disappointed I didn't make it down, especially to see Stuart, Jon,
Mark, and the guys from the first con last year, and the new attendees like
Los that I've been dying to get to split a beer with. I'm sure I'm not alone
in saying I look forward to next year's GZG ECC III (or 00 depending). Sounds
like everyone had too much
fun....
:) Tom.
/************************************************
> Jon Davis writes:
> rules). There were actually several EFSB games put on during the
Oh, yeah, sorry Brian; I was falling asleep last night trying to get that all
written up (knowing full well I won't have any time the rest of this week for
any significant contributions) and misremembered friday evenings
events. :-/
> There was much discussion occurred throughout the whole weekend at
Ah, is THAT where those came from? Okay, thanks, I'll update the webpage...
Mk
> Thomas Barclay wrote:
We missed you too, Tom!
I did have the pleasure of nuking JP's country into dust in the Nuclear War
game. So between the "Lance of Death" that emanated from Centaur into Jim's
Basilisk and the glowing radioactive embers of JP's country,
I had a great convention. Did I fail to mention that Jim shortly
thereafter nuked me out of existence also? :-)
In fact, I was... 1) Blown up by Jim Bell in a mutual beam attack 2) Nuked by
Jim in Nuclear War 3) Munched by one of Stuart's Royal Alien guards, and
4) Hit by Stuart's DFFG-1, but I SURVIVED!
We're in the process of working on the schedule for next year's. I found out
that the hotel room rate will be higher for next year at $59. No doubt the
conference room will be more expensive too. We'll do our best to keep it
economical if it requires a change of venue.
We'll keep you posted.
Jon spake thusly upon matters weighty:
> In fact, I was...
That sounds like fun.
> We're in the process of working on the schedule for next year's. I
Well, for me that won't be a deterent. It wasn't money that stopped me, it was
illness and work. 95% work. I'd have come sick.
> We'll keep you posted.
Do. I *will* come next year and I *will* run a scenario. And it *will* be a
good one!
Tom.
/************************************************
> Thomas Barclay wrote:
And I *will* sign up for it. It wouldn't have to do with the Company dude
again?
"Hi. I'm from the Xenobiology dept. with Corporate R & D and I'm here to
help."
:-)
> We'll keep you posted.
Geez, Tom, wish you'd show a *little* enthusiasm or something...
;-)
Mk
> "Hi. I'm from the Xenobiology dept. with Corporate R & D and
Stupid LT would not let me blow them to pieces :-)
> Jean-Pierre Fiset wrote:
You needed the proper justification. If they didn't respond correctly to a
hail, you could have at them.
As Company, you need to smile a lot and play by the book until the proper
moment. Heck, in that game I simply would have communicated early on with the
marines to subdivide the base into areas of responsibility. I would have done
my best to convince the marine player that getting the Queen out of the
station would also satisfy his objectives without killing her.
I also think I would have kept the cyborgs concealed until needed.
> Jon Davis wrote:
> Jean-Pierre Fiset wrote:
> I also think I would have kept the cyborgs concealed until
A quick few points...
1. That guy (the MSG) was trying to kill us for the whole game, long before he
ever saw the cyborgs,
2. The individual squads under me had their own GM-driven agendas. WHich
is why I was consyantly on the radio yelling at them to pull back and trying
to reign them back from letting you see them. When they would go traispsing
right up to the marines. The cyborgs had an almost
sinmgle-minded programming to go after hte queen regardless. The human
mercs were pissed off that the power armor dudes and he fancy cyborg tech were
getting all the glory and were determined to porve that they were still the
best. (In fact it wa sthey who subdued the queen without help of our wazoo bug
zapper.
3. Our secondary job was to ensure anyone who saw the cyborgs did not live.
Hence we delayed as long as possible from getting in there to make sure as
many of the Marines as possible got eaten up. The borgs were trying to get at
the LT and the SAS guy to kill them when the alien did the job.
4. It was clear after the first two turns that there would be no reasoning
with the NCO in the APC (or the player running him) despite repeated efforts.
(If only we had a satchel charge!)
The Aliens/SG2 game sounds fascinating...who were the sides/players and
what were their goals?
Sounds like you had a bunch of bickering humans and some Aliens who went right
thru the whole lot of them...(my count is: Humans: Marines, Mercs, Cyborgs;
Aliens: Aliens...) Some sort of complex command & control structure on the
human side? (Plus slimey sorts from BioWeapons Division who really are "here
to help"?)
I am not privy to the secret agendas of the others... <G> I was in charge of
the Human Company Mercs. We were all ticked off about being used as grunt
labor and all the praise and such was going to the slick Power Armor teams or
the blasphemous Synthetic Personnel <G>. We played well for the
most part but if there was an opportunity to hot-dog it, we took it.
Los was Commander of the Company teams and also in charge of the Power Armor.
(ANYONE can be a hero in power armor...)
Brian Bell <?> was in charge of the Company Synthetics. (Not that the Company
uses synthetics...)
Jon Davis was the aforementioned green USCMC LT in charge of the Marines. The
others names escape me...
We actually had the Queen in a net before the Marine dropship dumped
explosives on us. <whimper>
-=Kr'rt
> ----------
> "Wasserman, Kurt" wrote:
> Jon Davis was the aforementioned green USCMC LT in charge of the
I ran one squad of marines and JP ran the top and the other squad of marines.
You'd link you would remember the guy who finished off three xenos
with his ka-bar, or at least the guy who slagged the building in which
you were standing!:)
Yes one thing that I don't think I made clear. Myself as teh commmander was
given a misison which I briefed the synths and the Human mercs on. THEN Stuart
pulled them aside and gave them their own secret agends.
By the way a very very nice touch was that noone,company, or Marine players,
were allowed to talk toe ach other unless you rolled for commo, which of
course could be jammed. Better yet we were not informed of this rule intil
after we had made our initial plans and set off on teh op which led to some
very
cool/frustrating happenings on both sides. Only the Aliens had unity of
command (controlled by the GM)