ECC-VII: short visit, long report

I had a great time during my short stint at ECC-VII. My son (6) and I
drove up saturday morning and we were there for the am and afternoon sessions,
cutting out after dinnertime. Zev spent his allowance on minis, helped roll
dice, and in general was really impressed with the whole thing. He did remark
on the general lack of women in the event. I had no idea what he was talking
about. He was really happy and proud to have been invited along. I think he
acquitted himself pretty well at the con, and I'm grateful to everyone there
for their kindness and tolerance.

Stuart Murray's Cinegrunt (The Mysterious Island of Dr.Carter) was my first
chance to play any type of StarGrunt, and it was great fun. My Witchdoctor
bought the farm relatively early, still believing he could
con his god into helping him off the chief so _he_ could marry as many
women as he wanted to. The natives in general started getting their act
together late in the game trying to stampede dinosaurs into the various
factions invading the island, though not with enough effect by the close of
the game. Of the surviving surviving (i.e. not squashed or eaten by dinosaurs,
or shot in the head by Great White Hunters) scientists, two made off with a
couple pterodactyl eggs (ensuring everlasting fame, or at least decent
breakfast), and the two daring female volcanologists, after barely escaping
abduction by natives, secured a ruby from the base of the volcano large enough
for them to buy several universities.

I'm not sure what happened to the Brits, Americans, and Germans - the
natives didn't really distinguish the various thieves of the Tears of God
(apart from recognizing the Gentleman in the White Suit who came from the
Giant Gleaming Fish of God as their deity), and the scientists weren't
interested in politics.

Well. It all made perfect sense at the time. Zev enjoyed the dinosaurs, but I
think he was as frustrated as I was that the natives kept getting themselves
killed. Storming the German's compound might have gotten the native their
rubies back, but the natives don't know much about cannons. I thought
shimmying up the legs of the Victorian Walker and taking it over would have
been fun, but climbing natives are not a real match for pistols.

The afternoon game was Dean Gundberg's Sci-Fi crossover, where the good
guy fleets (B-5, BSG, Rebels) were outnumbered 4 to 5 by Evil (Empire
and Klingons). We didn't do badly, but a too-hard turn brought my Omega
too close up against a D-7+C-9 squadron, and I 'd sent my fighter
escort off to aid the Super-Star Destroyer assault. I think my best
snapshot that encompasses the "crossoverness" of the crossover was my Omega
staring down three D7's in the front arc, with four squadrons of TIE fighters
swarming around the ships. Losing initiative on that round really hurt, since
the Klingon fire took out both my forward grasers, really cramping my return.
The TIEs also shouldn't have been the
problem they were, doing damage to ships only on a 6 (+reroll) but they
did over 10 points in one attack, and kicking me over an extra threshold a
turn earlier than I might have. When Zev rolled my dice, we did well, as I
expected, but when he was distracted and I took over, we suffered greatly. In
the end, the forces of light did not prevail, but it was grand.

It was great meeting and talking Jon T in person, and I've already started
putting together the NI minis I got from him. If the stars align correctly in
the future, I hope someday to have the privilege of gaming with him.

In the "flesh" I really like the look of the NI minis - they've got
this nifty stylistic twist to them a shade of retro-'stremlined' -
Flash Gordon-y look to them when you look close, but more modern
UN-meets-Japan style if you step back. Sure I'm biased, but I really do
like them.

In all, my stint at ECC-7 was short but sweet. I would have liked to
stay for the later session, and to have had more time to talk to folks, but I
will make do with the electronic medium for now. I hope to make the next one.