RayCon 2012

For the second year running, I have been graced with an invitation to a weekend of gaming and drinking up at a cottage on the base of the Bruce Peninsula, just off of Lake Huron.  Last year I had but a smattering of figures with me, a little bit of ImagiNation, two sections of WW1 French and finally some spaceships for a game that was never played.

This year on the other hand, I arrived with a large enough army of ImagiNation figures to finally play a game.  Prior to leaving for the "'Con" I made sure to get in touch with Dave Hoyt of Much Ado About Nothing fame and to set up a game.  On the lovely Saturday early afternoon, the tables of conquest would see the forces of the Duchy of Libations (yours truly's) boosted by a regiment of grenadiers from Das Kaiserreich (one of Dave's two armies) facing off against the might of the army of Le Grand-Duc de Gourmandie.  I will not actually write a battle report for this match, as the Duchy of Libations were massacred, but pictures will be posted later on down the post.

Fantastic morning shot of the bird sanctuary island across from the patio of the cottage.

A nice 20mm North Africa game was the first to be set up and played.  I had slept poorly and on my left shoulder the night before and was not feeling particularly inclined to play a game in the morning, so I sat off to the side in the sun and watched.

Dave and I only had access to a smaller 6' by 4' table as the other two were being used by his son Mike (my standard gaming partner).  Coupled with the fact that we were going to be trying out a new ruleset with the help of his friend Vidal, we kept the terrain simple.

The forces of Libations and Das Kaiserreich form-up for battle.  Note:  I have 7 less units then Dave according to his "all painted models on the table" philosophy.

The mass of cheese-reeking men form-up on the opposite side of the table.

A couple hours later and a sound trouncing (which incidentally only gave Dave one more Epic Point then I according to the campaigning ruleset of Maurice), I decided to get in on a game of 20mm Egyptians vs Hittites.  Having never played an age prior to gunpowder games, I was very much interested in getting one in.  An hour and a bit later, the dinner bell rang and we decided to call the game.  My first victory of the weekend!

Finally the last game of the weekend took place on Sunday morning and was put on by the duo of Dave and Vidal featuring Dave's fantastic early WW2 collection.  I was placed in command of the French side and while we would sustain horrific casualties, we managed to stave of the advancing Germans long enough for the bridge to be blown, thus ending the weekend with another victory!

Overall, this was a much needed weekend, both to get some gaming in with my ImagiNation project and to get away from the supercharged nature of RMC.  The weather held off for most of the weekend and Saturday, when most of the gaming takes place, was perfect.

I came away from this weekend with a massive amount of new idea's to add to my current project and after asking Dave if he had any spare artillery bases I could borrow and replace, I walked away with the bases and about 30+ pounds of Napoleonic figures, some of which I will be stripping and repainting.  I have plans for a "Sharp" based skirmish game for Peninsular War gaming.