News from the Front! – COW2009: Report 2

Saturday Morning (Part 2)

Naseby

Phil Steele ran a session about the Battle of Naseby. It was well attended, and participants included Will Whyler, Tony Hawkins, Jonathan Crowe and Alex Kleanthous.

When Empires Clash!

Wayne Thomas and David Brock help play-test the latest draft of WHEN EMPIRES CLASH! Nigel Drury also attended this impromptu session and made valuable contributions to the after-game discussions.

Alarm! Alarm!

The morning session was interrupted by the fire alarm, which allowed the staff and conference attendees to practice the evacuation procedures. As expected, this went without a hitch. Although there was no evidence of an actual fire – it was probably a false alarm triggered by an insect entering one of the sensors – the fire-fighters insisted on searching the building before anyone was allowed back in.

The local Fire Brigade arrive on scene.

The opportunity of having everyone present was too good to miss, and several ‘team photos’ were taken … thanks to the chef!

Middle Age Spread

MIDDLE AGE SPREAD is the latest game to be developed by Richard Brooks and Ian Drury using the RED SQUARES game architecture. Two battles – including Flodden – were re-fought during the session.

Sharp End

John Salt makes his point during Phil Barker’s SHARP END game.

Phil Barker moves some troops forward as Jonathan Crowe, John Armatys, Steven Bowns, and Nick Huband look on.

Saturday Afternoon

I took part in the Airsoft session, as a result of which I came away with several nasty bruises – two of them due to the accuracy of THE NUGGET editor’s firing – and the need to take a shower (it was very warm and humid, and you do not Airsoft is thin clothes!).

After Dinner Games – Saturday Evening

Falklands Task Force Commander

This game – designed by John Curry – recreated the problems faced in 1982 by the men who led the Falklands Task Force. Those taking part included Jerry Elsmore, Alan Paull, and Rob Cooper.

The General

As usual Tim Price managed to combine figures and well produced graphics with innovative game design to produce an excellent recreation of the famous incident during the American Civil War.

HMS Belfast WW2 Damage Control Game

Jim Wallman ran this game on HMS Belfast earlier in 2009. The players – Rob Doe, Will Whyler, and Rob Roriston – managed to contain the growing number of damage control problems that arose during the game.

Gettysburg

Martin Wallace of Warfrog put on an additional session of his newly-published game, GETTYSBURG for Tony Hawkins and Graham Evans.

Rubicon

This is John Bassett’s game of plot and counter-plot in Republican Rome. The conspirators included Rob Cooper, Tim Price, Will Whyler, David Bradbury, Chris Ager, Alex Kleanthous, Ian Drury, and Wayne Thomas.

Churchill Troop Commander

John Salt laid on an interesting session that put the players into the roles of Churchill tank commanders.

Each player had a control board on which they marked their actions and decisions for each turn of the game.