[GZG] GZG ECC XIII

Back safe and sound in Canada, with a no-latex crossing. A great
weekend!

With the latest ECC in the history books, I thought I should take a moment to
thank Jon, Mark, Jerry and (anyone else whom I have forgotten) for doing such
a great job of organizing this event. The Treadway's facilities are at least
as good (in my opinion) as those we enjoyed at the Brunswick, food and beer is
closer, and no one objected when we wanted to keep playing a little later
Saturday night. Having the hotel restuarant just down the hall was nice too,
and the bar.

I'd also like to thank Mark Kinsey for running two fine events I was able to
participate in.

My raider/mercenaries turned privateers (probably having a letter of
marque from the newly installed puppet governor after the arrest and show
trial of the last one) now have a base, their jump drive is working, we have a
few new recruits who chose life with the freebooters over a wall with some
bullet holes, and a pile of loot that we captured (mistakenly, but it was
loot... so was it a mistake?). And all of this tacitly sanctioned by the
Imperial Navy and the local police....

In the second game, my Rhodesian army forces got to lay a bit of a beat down
on a number of ZPF forces. It's true they burnt the local church, but the
platoon commander came home with all of his men and 20 or 30 of the ZPF didn't
succeed in fleeing like scared rabbits, so he considers it a victory in his
books.

I'd also like to thank Dr.Murray, Esq. for running a wonderful 1970s
British Cop Show-themed event. "Geezers, Shut It!" was fun, and
Smithwick And(rew) Wesson with his ridiculously oversized revolver,
intimidating glare, and a general inability to negotiate had a great time
blasting and pistol whipping bad guys. It is true that he did end up with a
nice summer home in Provence, some expensive mods for his replacement car, and
likely a promotion for capturing Mr.Small and a number of other petty crooks
and for breaking the crook (Mark Kinsey) who ratted out Mr.Big's lair, while
(with a mock tragic expression) letting Mr.Big "Escape". How he could afford
all of these items on a policeman's salary is a matter for his intimidating
glare! His only regrets were that Slicky Willy talked his way out of a long
stint in jail and that someone appeared to have unwisely stolen his
overpowered American sports sedan...

On Friday night, I ran an IF/NI skirmish in the desert on the colony
world of Qatif during Operation Jericho (NI search and destroy on IF colonies
in the Inner Colonies) that was quite fun.

Initially, it looked to me like the NI were holding a solid line and were
going to break the IF forces with accurate fire. Then the IF got into 'last
stand mode' and got close enough to launch some overwhelming close assaults.
The NI had more squads, but they were small fireteams. The IF had fewer, but
they were more full squads with flamers. There were several successful close
assault (and I believe one failed one). The NI command squad was actually
engaged, but they mopped up the remnants of the previously weakened IF squad
that did that. In the end result, the IF command squad was deemed to have
retreated to recruit some more fighters. The NI, on the other hand, had to
take back 4 or 5 dead and 2 or 3 wounded and explain these losses to higher
command. About the kind of result one expects on platoon on platoon meeting
engagements.

On Saturday night, there was my Stargate: SG-21 scenario FMAS(ish)
game, with each player running a single character against GM run foes. A
Russian covert SGC team had been inserted to investigate a Tok'rah
tip-off to Goa'uld activity in some ruins on a desert world. They had
missed two radio checks and the nearest standby team had been
dispatched on Combat Search and Rescue (SG-21, a Canadian team in my
slightly alternate universe).

Jon Davis led his team through the gate, using stealth to begin a survey of
the ruins. Spotting Jaffa and eventually one of the Russians (who had seen the
SG team), communication was established and the Russians indicated something
probably bad was going on inside the local pyramid structure. There were also
many Jaffa, at least one First Prime, and possibly one or more Goa'uld here.
The Canadians got
set and opened up on the Jaffa, with their USAF Liaison Officer/Sniper
denting the armour of the First Prime several times (to the phrase "Damn
Canadian Bullets...").

SG-21 fought from a stream bed, an uphill battle against swarms of
Jaffa (who shot about as well as they do in the show). The SG team used M203
grenades, rifle fire, and the occasional zat blast to take down the better
part of a score of enemy Jaffa. They also used some neat tactics like jamming
a Goa'uld's personal shield generator and using trash talk to draw the enemy
First Prime out by accusing him of fighting like a woman (the Jaffa are a
deeply patriarchal society).

The Russians, meanwhile, led by Mark Kochte, were mostly well hidden amidst
the ruins near the pyramid. Eventualy they got in the act with close range
fire, hand grenades, a claymore mine (which had an unforseen firing delay due
to one Russian rewiring the other Russians
mine...), and generally a lot of well-directed violence. The one
Russian played by John Davis who was with the SG team proved to be a lethal
marksman and eventually proved that nothing is faster or tougher than a
Russian on Vodka. He close assaulted a Goa'uld with a jammed shield generator
trying to make it to the Stargate, bayoneting him multiple times next to the
DHD. A successful triumph for liquid courage!

The Russian Demo expert went into the pyramid to apply the P equals Plenty
rule of demolitions. He rigged his bomb, but the Goa'uld toying with the alien
artifact used a hand device to kinetically toss him back out of the pyramid.
30 seconds of frantic fleeing later, there was a huge boom and the pyramid was
no more. Very shortly thereafter, there was a strange visual FX ripple in the
air and the pyramid ruin started to implode as the SG teams fled for the gate.

In genre-typical fashion, Indy's courageous and stoic Russian Colonel
stayed behind to disable the gate and ensure the connection to the SGC
was broken before the now-forming gravitational anomaly swallowed the
planet (and if the gate had been up, possibly the SGC too). His heroic
sacrifice, so common in Hollywood Russians, saved the day.

Of course, in all the confusion, no one noticed the slightly odd behaviour of
the vodka addled Russian covert team member. They just
chalked up his occasional eye-flashes and intemperate outbursts to the
aftereffects of the 26'er of vodka. But I know where the next scenario now has
to start....

(For those who don't know, the Goa'uld are parasitic symbiotes that can leave
dying bodies and infect others.... and no one notice this in the heat of the
moment....)

The drive back was full of tense moments as we listened to the sporadic CBC
updates on the Olympic Men's Hockeygame. Obviously a real
nail-biter of a finish featuring two top-notch teams that could have
easily went either way.

Thanks again to everyone. It was great fun to play in some good games, have
great players in mine, and to see everyone again. It's a pity ECC is only once
yearly.