Monday 22 August 2011

Call To Arms 2011

Hi, All.


This weekend saw Leadwood's first public outing, to Call to Arms at St. Patrick's College, Wellington. And what a lot of fun it was!

I hadn't been to a wargaming convention since I worked for Games Workshop, (twenty years ago!) so I had only a vague idea of what to expect. It was great to see such a turnout, although a number of people commented on the average age of the punters. There were very few youngsters present.

Leadwood was very well received and it was very nice to get the chance to answer people's questions about the model, the design process, techniques and materials I used, etc.

And of course, there were the gunfights!

A party of monks attempts to cross Main Street.

Molly Malone turns her back on Ennio, in search of a better man. A mistake?
We were kept busy all Saturday and much of Sunday with game after game. Thankfully, I had the help of Notorious Greg and Brian Smaller to run the games, so it never got dull. Loads of players joined in, resulting in the biggest games we have had so far. Many protagonists were not familiar with the rules, so it was a testament to Brian Ansell's "Rules With No Name" that everyone picked it up so quickly. (Well done, Wargames Foundry - shame your stuff's so expensive!)

The bullets flew thick and fast and our table was rarely less than crowded. The addition of lots of bystanders and stray-shot rules, Roly Hermans' Maori wars miniatures (who needs a reason? It's toy cowboys, for God's sake - if you're taking it seriously, you're doing it wrong!) a runaway wagon and a vengeful Sheriff resulted in some very silly moments and a hell of a lot of fun.

My thanks to Greg and Brian for their invaluable assistance; to my fellow Kapiti Fusiliers, Roly and Scott; to everyone who joined in and made the games such fun - too many names to remember (sorry!), and to everyone else who just came up to say hello, to chat, ask questions, and for the many compliments and encouraging remarks about the model. I had a great time and it was a pleasure and a privilige to meet you all - keep in touch!

I'll stop babbling on now and let the pictures do the talking. Sadly, I didn't get many good shots (pardon the pun) so anyone who wants to send me their pics of the convention to put up here - please do!

Rifles at dawn - Arizona Frazier steps out of the Attorney's office into Bank Street, only to be gunned down by La Nariz de la Muerte! (The nose of Death)

Adam 'Cactus' Tucker ventures onto the bridge. He was shot down moments later.

Trixie the Whore and Creepy Pete the undertaker discuss a common interest in stiffs... Meanwhile, Lantern Jack seems to be rather too interested in an open window...

Marshall McClure and La Nariz de la Muerte trade bullets, ignoring the womanly charms of Miss Charlotte, batting her eyelids over by the bank.

How The West Was Won... by Maori?

A wagon runs out of control down Main Street.

Granny teaches The Kid a thing or two about manners. He won't see his nineteenth birthday!

Katie Wainright gets Adam 'Cactus' Tucker in her sights. Meanwhile, Maori Toa guns down Wulf Bradley across the river.

Pedro, in a little trouble...

Wahine poses for the camera, while Maori Toa makes short work of Wild Bill Hicock.

Hone Heke and Arizona Frazier face off on Hooper's Lane. The legendary Maori's shotgun made mincemeat of the US Marshall.

Pedro Gordo runs out of bullets - and he still has Stonejaw Monroe to deal with!

All the Best! 

16 comments:

  1. Hey Colonel, thanks for going to the effort to take this to the show, and it was a pleasure to get the chance to have some games with it on saturday. Plus the added bonus of actually winning a couple of the games! It was certainly fun running the Maori, and clubbing down cowboys with their green jade thingies. Bet that came as a shock to them! Great fun!

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  2. Conventions are fun, your gonna like your comeback to them. Whetter it are the big ones which assassinate your bank account, or more local and smaller ones giving you the chance to have a talk with familiar internetnames and the faces behind those, I still enjoy them all.

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  3. Scott - my pleasure as always. And wait till you hear about my new BIG project!

    Tomsche - You may well be right, my friend. I sense a lot more of such days in the future!

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  4. Trixie and Creepy Pete need to take it indoors...time & place what!

    Your next BIG project must be gynormous to eclipse this fantactic masterpiece.

    Whenever I see a highly realistic professional diorama such as one might see at a museam I always think what would that be like to wargame on. Your wild west set-up has scratched that particilar itch..thanks Colonel.

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  5. Trixie never takes it indoors. She is more a back alley type of girl.

    It was a great weekend of Wild West skirmish gaming. We have come up with a whoel swag of ideas for improving or making the next outing even more fun.

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  6. Looks and sounds great. Well done Colonel.

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  7. Creepy Pete is still smiling. It's rather disconcerting...

    Ogilvie - always happy to provide itch-scratchingly good terrain! I'll be sure to do my very best, Sir!

    The idea's a pretty ambitious one - should turn a few heads!

    Brian - thanks for all the brain-storming. Greg, Scott, Roly and I should be getting together soon to work out a few campaign guidelines. If you can make it, that would be very cool.

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  8. Rodger - thanks! It was awesome to get so many players for a couple of days.

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  9. Sounds like the convention went well, sadly I think the younger generation of gamers remain solidly GW until they get to the point where they have there own bills to pay, at which point a lot come flying over to "proper" wargaming.

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  10. A great time was had by all - and I'm not just talking about Trixie! I love the atmospheric photos taken through Leadwood. Looking forward to seeing what your next project will be.

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  11. New BIG project? Oh God! My wallet is trembling... ;-)

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  12. Have no fear, Scott! It all ties in very nicely with our Victorian Sci-Fi theme! You shouldn't need to buy yet another army...

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  13. Thank God for that, the wife will be pleased! ;-)

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  14. Scott - I shall reveal all on Thursday night! But only if it's not too cold out...

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  15. Great looking game! amazing terrain,
    my favorite models are the pack of monks trying to cross the street alive

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  16. Thanks, Ferret! I like the monks, too. They used to have a whole mission to live in, but I couldn't fit it in Leadwood. Always a pleasure to get them into a game, though.

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