My weekend at the Stack Académie Con

It has been over a month and I have not had the chance to write up about my experience at the Stack Académie Con, held April 15-17th at the Comfort Hotel and Suites Downtown. The location was very central, located just minutes away by foot from one of the hubs of Montreal's busy metro system (Berri-UQAM) , as well as the main intercity bus terminal (Gare d'autocars de Montréal).

The convention was devoted to old style paper and hex wargames. Some other games were in evidence along with what appeared to be Magic: The Gathering CCG. There were no miniatures or RPGs at this event. The con opened Friday April 17th at 9:00 AM. For people staying at the Comfort Inn, breakfast was available in the dining room located in the bottom floor of the facility. Otherwise the kitchen was closed and participants had to seek meals offsite 

The con was held in two meeting rooms located near the dining room. The dining room was undergoing renovations and it was clear that the washrooms near our meeting site had been newly renovated. I took some pictures of the sink that I sent to my roommate who writes a blog about public washrooms.  They may yet appear on her blog.

I would describe the site as very intimate. When filled to capacity (60 participants) the rooms were loud and it was difficult to freely move. Refreshments (juice, water, soda) were available and the price had been included in the registration fee. The concept behind the con was open gaming. Bring a game you want to play and find a partner.

The Montreal Boardgame Meetup Group was holding a 16 player Twilight Struggle Tournament which started in February. Once Jason Matthews, one of the designers of Twilight Struggle was confirmed as Guest of Honour, it was decided to hold the semi finals (if possible) and the finals at the con. Marc Guenette who beat me in our quarter final match (see April 13th posting) , won his semi final match but lost the tournament's final game to Edson Tirelli. I think this was the only semi-organized event at the tournament.

I'd also like to congratulate Marc Guenette on his hard work and success in organizing this con. He was able to convince the many sponsors to donate products so everyone in attendance won a door prize. I won a copy of Battles Magazine No 5 with its White October Game. Some items that were available included some of the very latest games from GMT Games such as Fighting Formations: Grossdeutschland Infantry Division and Dominant Species to older issues of Vae Victis Magazine, a French language gaming magazine.

Friday I arrived about noon and I was able to get three full games in. Stan Myszk and I started with Combat Commander: Battle Pack 2 Stalingrad. I did not record which scenario so I cannot add details. I am pretty sure Stan won. He and I then paired off in a game of Storm Over Stalingrad. This is a 2-player wargame simulating the Battle of Stalingrad from October to November 1942. One player plays the German army, and the other is the Soviet army. Play continues through 6 turns, at which point the winner is determined. It is a area movement game with cards used to influence and control events. Stan won the Storm over Stalingrad tournament at Cangames last year and wanted to get some practice in. It was my introduction to the game and I'd play it again. Comrade Stalin would not be happy with my performance on the Volga.

My third game of the day was against Jack Stalica a gamer from Ottawa. We played Rock of the Marne. This game covers both the final attack of the German army in July 1918, and the Allied counteroffensive that produced the battle known to Americans as the Second Battle of the Marne. The Germans believed they could launch an offensive on both sides of Reims, which would pinch out an Allied salient and draw in Allied reserves, and thus possibly produce a breakout across the Marne leading to the final drive to Paris. We played an introductory scenario with a 6 turn limit. I was the Germans. Being familiar with the Standard Combat Series of games by The Gamers I had no problem picking up the mechanics of this game. As the German player I had to gain territorial objectives, including a number of towns and the French trench line for points. I had no problem achieving my goals.

An interesting feature of the game was the supply rules. A unit has to be within the supply radius of its Corp HQ, or the Army HQ to make an attack. Once used to provide attack supply the Corp HQ has to resupply before it can provide attack supply in another turn. This is done by rolling a 6 on a D6, during the resupply phase. I was very lucky when it came to resupply. It gets harder as the game advances. It is impossible to roll a 7 on a D6. The allies have the same problem. The solution lies in the overrun rule. You make overrun attacks as part of movement. They do not require attack supply, but in order to achieve results you must be willing to be bled white.

I later learnt that Jack runs the Storm Over Stalingrad tournament at Cangames and brought a play test copy of Storm Over Normandy with him to Stack Académie Con. I was content with my Friday results and headed home at about 11:00 PM .

Saturday I knew was going to be a long day. It turned out that I only got two games in. The first was against, Andrew Nick, another visitor from out of town. We played Combat Commander Mediterranean Scenario 24. I was the Indians and he played the Italians in the battle at Tug Argan Pass, Somaliland August 12th, 1940. August 12th is my birthday and it proved to be a good omen for the game. This match took us almost 3 1/2 hours to play and was very intense. It was a good workout of the system and in the end I won a major victory. I am enjoying the exploration of this game system.

My second and final game of the day was an old favorite of mine. I hoped that I'd run into Bill (AKA Chinese Gordon) at the con and we could get a game of Panzergruppe Guderian under our belts. I knew that Bill was an aficionado of the game, having played it many times at the World Boardgames Championships. I met Bill through the Montréal Wargame Meetup Group.

According to Boardgame geek "Panzergruppe Guderian is a simulation of the German campaign to capture Smolensk in July, 1941. The game is played in twelve turns: each one represents 2 days of time on a map scale of 10.5 km/hex. The game is famous for its innovative use of "untried" Soviet units. The Soviet combat counters are face down, their combat strength unknown to either player, until they are involved in a combat. The game also models the effectiveness of German operations by allowing them a full movement phase both before and after a mechanized movement phase after combat, while the Soviets only move prior to combat. If all a German divisions regiments attack or defend in the same hex, their strength is doubled, by a so-called divisional integrity bonus. The German player scores victory points for capture of cities and the Soviet commitment of forces from the Southwestern Front. The Soviet player scores for recaptured cities and destroying entire German divisions (which possess several steps of strength)." PGG is always a surprise. 

 

German Position at the End of Turn Two

I drew the Germans and at the end of my second turn I had managed to get a Panzer Division into Smolensk. Bill was down cast and only continued to play to be a good sport and let me have some fun. Turn three is when the main onslaught of German forces is unleashed against the untried Soviets holding the front. I had no doubt that I'd have reinforcements up and in Smolensk within two turns. It was not to be. I could not crack Bill's front line. It seemed to me that there were no 0-0-6 Russian Infantry in front of me, nor was any of the Soviet armour, when flipped a 0-10. At the end of my mech movement phase on turn 6 I had failed to break through. The Panzer Division that was holding one hex of Smolensk suffered it's third step loss and was about to be overwhelmed. I knew that I would not win. It was still one of the most amazing games of PGG that I ever played.

Failure to Break the Soviet Line at the end of turn 3

Due to the nature of the con, I didn't take too many pictures.  They would have only offered a view of a cramped meeting room with players hunched over their tables. It would not offer any of the colour and pageantry that miniatures provide.

Bill and I went out to eat. I bring this up as a footnote on the recent Canadian General Election. We walked passed the Headquarters of Gilles Duceppe, leader of the Bloc Québécois. I was truly amazed that with just over two weeks to go in the election campaign, that his HQ stood empty and deserted at 7:30 on a Saturday night. That fact alone told me that the Bloc was in trouble. I know from my personal experience working past election campaigns for the NDP downeast that our HQ would be hopping. After eating I decided that I had enough for the day. I had two very intense games against two very able opponents. It was time to head home to catch the final two periods of the hockey game. Montreal won the second game of their series against Boston. Still it was not an excuse for the Bloc HQ to have the lights out. They could have had game playing on a TV in the corner.

Sunday was the final day of the con. Things were winding down. Gamers from NY and Vermont were on their way home. I arrived in time to get a spot in a game of Founding Fathers. The following description of the game is by Dirk Knemyer and is part of a review he posted on Boardgame Geek.

Founding Fathers is the newest game from Christian Leonhard and Jason Matthews, the co-designers of 1960: The Making of the President. Matthews was also the co-designer of Twilight Struggle. Again dipping into U.S. history, Leonhard and Matthews have created a game about the authoring of the U.S. Constitution. You play one of five of the Founding Fathers of the United States, attempting to be the primary influencer of the document in order to be recognized as the "father" of the country.

Play centers around three primary mechanics: voting on issues, deciding issues in committee, or having the most influence in debate across the four factions in the game (Federalists, Large States, Small States and Anti-Federalists). Each of these are largely straightforward in their mechanics. Similarly straightforward are the four actions each player can take on their turn: to have a delegate vote "Yea" or "Nay" on the current issue, to commit delegates to the debate tracks for the four factions, to use the Action on the card of a delegate, or to jettison your delegates and redraw. Each player starts with three delegates in their hand: the Founding Father they are playing and two other delegates. These cards have flavour text, action text and clarify which state and faction they are affiliated with.

Players earn victory points based on how successfully they commit delegates to winning issues, how well they do in the debates at the end of the game, and based on special actions on the delegate cards. Thus you are trying to come in on the "right" side of issues - yea or nay - while steering the faction control behind the issues and debates in a way that proves advantageous to your debate equity at the end of the game. Nice, clean, simple

I was the fifth player to arrive and we were walked through the game mechanisms by Jason Matthews, the co-designer of the game. His presence helped keep the game flowing and provided a clear guide to the rules. He talked of his interest in politics and started to explain some of his views on the problems of the American federal state at the time and stopped. "You guys are Canadian I don't have to explain that to you." Unsaid is that we were a collection of Canadians (a mix of French and English) living in the province of Quebec, which has its own unique view of the Canadian federal state. He sort of joked that he might be interested in designing a game about the Canadian political situation.

The game is limited to six turns. each turn an article of the constitution is introduced to the convention.  On the reverse of the card is an article written in such a way to oppose the meaning of the actual article.  Players vote, and commit delegates, pro or con. The first side to reach 7 votes wins. Each state may only have one vote. If player A votes yea with his delegate from Georgia, player B may reverse the vote if he controls two delegates in his hand from the Georgia and have them vote Nay.  Otherwise you cannot use your Georgia delegate to vote on the floor of the convention. A state may only have one vote and is marked off on the list of states on the board.

You gain points by being on the winning side of the vote.  Losers go to the Committee room, where they can influence articles that fail to pass convention. You gain points in committee by getting a resolution into the constitution. The final way to gain points is have the most delegates in one or more of the four available factions in the debate room. Founding Fathers is an easy game to play. I don't think it would provide as much interest for me as Twilight Struggle. Who would have thought that you could turn articles of the constitution into a game. People started to drift out for lunch and I was content to leave.

A Leisurely Friday Afternoon Part II Seljuk Turks vs Later Crusaders

It has been a busy month and I am long overdue with the 2nd part of this posting. Blame the weather, blame the Canadian election, or better yet blame the Canadian tax filing date. It has been a busy month. Today was the first day in almost two weeks that I didn't have some tax related function that I had to fulfill.

Anthony and I met so I could introduce him to DBA the last Friday in March. Our first battle was a Roman Civil War after which we stopped for lunch. For our second dust up we looked for some medieval inspiration and decided to do a Crusader Game. I suggested we play with a Later Crusader (IV/17) Army and the Seljuk Turks (III/73). I forget the method used to pick sides but I ended up with the Crusaders.

We fought the game beside of a waterway. which ran along the western table edge. The northern two quadrants each had rough going and the southern quadrants had a gentle hill in the east and an oasis with palm trees in the west. I rolled a 1 for a total aggression of 2. The Seljuk Turks have natural aggression of 3, so he didn't even bother to roll. He was the invader. Anthony's army entered from the north, which was the table edge he wanted. My forces established their camp in the south.

Armies In there Initial Positions viewed from the West

(Transport Cases in background)

Later Crusader (IV/17 Ag 1)

1x 3 Kn (Gen) Non Hospitaller

2 x 3 Kn (A chance to use  my Knights of the Order of Saint John the Hospitaller)*

1 x 3 Cv or 3 Kn (I choose an 3rd Hospitaller Kn element)

5 x 4 Sp ( represented by Halberders with one Element assigned to guard the camp)

2 x 4 CB (I used LB)

1x 3 Bw

* See Captains Blog

Seljuk Turks (III/73 Ag 3)

1 x 3 Cv (Gen)

1 x 3 Cv or 2 LH (Anthony choose a 2nd Cv Element)

8 x 2 LH (A chance to exercise Jef's Hun's)**

1 x 2 Ps or 3 Bw or 3 Aux or 2 LH (3Bw Chosen) and the same choices repeated

1 x 2 Ps or 3 Bw or 3 Aux or 2 LH (3Bw Chosen again)

** See Captain's Blog

Anthony go off to a slow start and kept his forces intact. I was lucky with my pips and rapidly advanced in three battles.

 

After two more bounds Anthony rushed his light horse forward into my knights. Units on both sides had remained out of bow range to this point. My spear had grabbed the high ground and I was feeling confident with my position. My spear would defeat the light horse they faced and could move to protect my right flank. My bow were positioned to guard the left flank and were safely positioned in rough terrain.

 

Anthony's General and BG, and bow held back on his right flank. My general was in the forefront of the battle but I was overlapped.

Oh how the mighty fall. Tactical lessons are forgotten and one of the beauties of DBA is the rock, paper, scissors aspect of the game. Knights are quick killed by Light Horse. My General and another Knight Element fall to superior numbers. Even though I had a +4 tactical factor to a  +2 for Anthony's Light Horse, God was not with me. Death and disaster are risks one takes when leading from the front.

 

After the initial meeting it was all over but the crying as my general and another element of knights  were blown away with no loss to the enemy. Below the remaining knights look in disbelief at the horde that will wash over them.

A Leisurely Friday Afternoon Part III

It was about 3:00PM and we decided to play one more battle. In order to save time we would use the same two armies but change the look of the battlefield.

Once Again Armies In there Initial Positions viewed from the West

Both Armies Advance, but it looks like the Seljuk Turks will be able to grab the high ground and the better tactical position before the Crusaders.

 Seljuks and Crusaders Battle for Control of the Hill Crest.

Suddenly Two Elements of Light Horse are Destroyed

The Seljuk BG (L) and Gen (R) slam into the Crusader General (L) and BG (R)

 The Battle Ebbs Back and Forth. Both Generals Recoil

Once more unto the breach, dear friends, once more!!!

 

Two More Seljuk Elements are Destroyed (a 3Cv and a 2LH) for a total of four Elements.

The Crusaders lost a 3Kn in the Battle for the Hilltop.

Proclaim the singing of Non nobis throughout our Host

It was about 4:00 and the day was done. I was able to get some of my miniatures in action and I hoped that Anthony enjoyed his introduction to DBA I re-staged the battles about a week after we fought. I used the photos I took at the time and a couple of quick notes to set the stage. I hope I got it right.

Twilight Struggle Tournament

Last night I was eliminated  from the local Twilight Struggle Tournament quarter finals. Marc and I  played our match on-line during the great Canadian Leader's debate of 2011.

I drew the USA and suffered in the first two turns from a lack of high ops cards. I received  a mix of mostly 1 and 2 point US/USSR  operational cards. Marc fared  far better than I at the draw. He held the Aisa Scoring card in the first turn and since I had played the CIA I knew it was coming but I decided to try to prepare for Middle East or Europe Scoring. I received Middle East Scoring in turn two but I was not able to benefit from it. We both had presence. By the 3rd turn I was far behind in all regions.

I only won one of my war card, coup, or realignment rolls. In turn 4 I was forced to play Europe Scoring and as hard as I tried I could not break Marc's domination of the continent. It put him over the top. I started off in a poor position and was not able to recover.

Marc will play in the semi-finals on Saturday as part of the following event. Marc is the organizer of the event but not the local Twilight Struggle Tournament.

Stack Académie 2011 - Du 15 au 17 avril 2011

Twilight Struggle Tournament

Yesterday I was scheduled to play my third and final game in round one. Fifteen minutes before my opponent was due to arrive I received an email, from him. He wrote that he was sorry but he felt that he was overly ambitious when he agreed to participate in the competition and he'd was willing to concede defeat in any unplayed matches. That should advance me to the quarter finals. I would have preferred to have taken my chances with a game. I played in three practice matches last week, against the sole player in the tournament to win all three of his first round games, so far. I lost.

(April 7th) As expected I have advanced into the Quarter finals. I will engage my opponent on Monday evening playing our game on-line through Wargame Room. I will update this posting with my news.

A Leisurely Friday Afternoon Part I Roman Civil War

Yesterday I  introduced Anthony to the world of DBA. It was an opportunity for me to display some of my miniatures and to actually get them out onto the kitchen table, I mean into the Fields of Battle. We played three games over a leisurely Friday afternoon. 

The first match was a West meets East Roman Civil War. Anthony commanded the western conference and I, the eastern. Our armies were fairly evenly matched. having both selected our troops from The Middle Imperial Roman Armies lists II/64. The west was the visiting team wearing the blue jerseys. My men were mainly dressed in green

  Antonius, C-in-C West, as he awaits the outcome of the Cavalry Battle.

Army of the West: 1x3Cv (Gen), 1x3Cv, 1x2LH, 1x3Bd, 3x4Bd, 4x4Aux, 1xArt
Army of the East. 1x3Cv (Gen), 1x4Kn, 2x2LH, 1x3Bd, 3x4Bd, 3x4Aux, 1x4Bw

Eastern Claimant with Bodyguard and Screening Force

LH close with enemy Artillery while Kns wait to charge Cv

The terrain was a 3 foot x  3 foot battleground. A river ran from the north to the south, near the centre of the board. A road traversed the battlefield east-west, with a stone bridge crossing the river. Orchards were located in both the NE and NW quarters while a steep hill was situated in the SW quadrant.

Battlefield: Looking North

I sat up in the south. My camp near the eastern river bank. My general and the cavalry located on the west side of the river but east of the hill.  My infantry was formed in two ranks on the river's east bank. In the first rank, the Bow was on the  left and three elements of Aux stretched in line to the east. The second rank of troops was 4 elements of Blades, with the 3Bd element positioned behind the Bow.  The two ranks were separated by 100 paces.

 Western Arty destroyed along with one Eastern LH

In response to my sit-up Anthony placed his General and Cavalry, along with his Artillery on the west side of the river to face off against my Cavalry wing. His Blades were in a column of march, on the eastern riverbank, with the Aux troops stung out in a line, through the orchard in the NE quadrant of the battlefield. He had one element of Aux in a 2nd rank. Antonius then commenced his advance.  On the western side of the battlefield his advance was limited by the speed of his artillery. In the east, Anthony kept the Aux dressed in line with the slower moving Blades.

Eastern Bowmen fall behind in the advance, but Aux hit Aux. 

Western Blades have overlap.

Eastern Blades seen entering the bottom of the photo

I advanced my Troops. I planned to use my LH to screen my General and Knights from the ranged Artillery fire. On the east side of the river, my Aux quickly outdistanced my Bow and the followup Blades. Our Infantry clashed near the centre of the board fighting over the road. I soon lost two of my Aux Elements but fortunately my Blades arrived in time to fill the empty sectors of the line. In addition I had overlapped his eastern most element. With a little luck I was able to push Anthony back while destroying his Aux elements.

Eastern Blades take position in the front Rank. 

Western Aux are pushed back before breaking.

No Room for the western Blades to expand into line

On the western side of the river I was able to charge my LH forward, getting into close combat with his LH and Artillery. My Knights closed the distance with his Cav and my General held back to manage the battle and to be a mobile reserve if needed. He was not needed. In the final round of combat The west lost his third Aux Element. With the destroyed Artillery unit it was enough to give Victory to the East, which had lost three elements (one LH and two Aux).

 

Eastern C-in-C, now Emperor surveys the carnage. 

It was now time to take a break for lunch. Two more games were to follow in the afternoon. The Later Crusaders (IV/17) will face off against the Seljuk Turks (III/73). Those tales are yet to be recorded.

Form 540: What's in a name?

"Each RAF squadron compiles a daily diary of events known as the RAF Form 540. These documents give a facinating insight into the highs (and lows) of squadron life from the very earliest days of the Royal Air Force.."

The quote was copied from  The Battle of Britain - Home Page.

Since November of last year I have lead an active gaming life in Montreal. It has taken me over 12 years to achieve, and I have to thank the on-line organizing company of Meetup. I have been a member of  the Montreal Cribbage Meetup Group for over  2 years. There were a number of RPG and Warhammer groups locally but that really didn't grab my interest. Finally  the Montreal Wargamers Meetup Group was formed. I became a member and met some fellow travelers.

I have since expanded my network through the Montreal Boardgames Meetup Group (Yahoo Groups) and Stack Académie ( Consimworld Forums) . I have played more wargames in the past four months than I have played in the previous 12 years of living in Montreal. I 've had the opportunity to try out some new games, play some old favorites, and help play test a new product. I have engaged the enemy in Panzergruppe Guderian, World War One, Battle for Germany, War of the Ring (Fantasy  Flight Games), Combat Commander: Europe,  Paths of Glory, Twilight Struggle, and even Settlers of Catan.

Stack Academie is planning a three day game fest in Montreal the weekend of April 15-17. I am currently one of 16 participants of a Twilight Struggle Tournament being run by one of the members of the Montreal Boardgames Group. The final has been scheduled to take place during the Stack Académie Con, as Jason Matthews, one of the designers of Twilight Struggle will be in attendance. Currently I am still in the first round of my group. I am one for one with my third and final game scheduled for Sunday afternoon.

Today I played my first miniature games with one of my newly acquired wargaming buddies.