Sunday, September 25, 2011

Southern Front Convention Games Part 1

Southern Front is the best honkin' gaming con in North Carolina! Has been for the past 25 years! Bias? Darn tootin'!! It's where I was introduced to miniature gaming by Larry Brom and Ed Mohnmann with 25mm Napoleonics with a massive map-based campaign, a couple battles of which were played out on a 6'x12' table. I've been going since 1985. I did miss a year while I was in Africa, but nobody's perfect. There were probably between 150-200 gamers there. So why don't more people show up? Tell me and we'll both know..... This year they had a Flames of War tournament and games from all sorts of genre's; Sci-fi, fantasy, F&IW, ACW, WW2, Naval, Aviation, Steam, Ben Hur chariot racing, Napoleonics, ancients, zombies, colonials, Clint Eastwood, the list goes on and on..... Here's a sample of shots of the action:

Civil War naval, massive ships in massive numbers!

Heavy Gear mega-tank with supports. Don't forget the upcoming demo game in Heroes' Headquarters in Mocksville!




The doomed Zouves approach the church in the American Civil War. 25mm.

Flames of War Tournament Action! Typhoons dive on a fistful of StuG's.

FoW again, this time it's downtown, where apparently a division of T34's is preparing to assault. You know what I mean when I say "Assaulted?" I mean ASSAULTED!!!!!!

Whoa, how do you rotate a picture?



It's time for the big push during the War of Northern Aggression! Massive casualties await, especially for the Zouves in the center.

25mm Indians, ready to start hassleing the local settlers. Later in the game they were surrounded by militia and given a good kicking.

The Age of Fighting Sail, the Frogs trying to form line of battle. And you wondered where the term "ship of the line" came from.

The French Foreign Legion manning an outpost on Mars. The natives are restless. Or were they revolting?

Either way, they were too tough for the Legion at the outpost. Here's a shot of the lone survivor. The FFL did manage to hold out in other locations, one of which was the religious temple. The natives will no doubt take offense and be back with more guys!

Wings of War? Check! Some barrage ballons made an appearance, too.

The Battle of Guildford Courthouse played with 40mm figs. Here we have the Brits and some Hessians starting to push forward under the "Carnage and Glory" rules.

Warmachine Khador Jacks in a four way battle for King of the Hill, put on by the Gunbunnies of Raleigh.

Napoleon's retreat from Moscow 1812, using 40mm figs. Lots of random mayhem. I got the impression the French might have some trouble exiting the map.

15mm Cog Wars put to sea. A great simple game uncluttered by details such as wind speed or direction, tides or currents. Hey, are you supposed to be circumnavigating the globe or kicking butt? So get to it!



So did Cogs really ram each other? Every chance they got, buddy. How else are you going to board 'em and take the battle to the enemy?

25mm figs duke it out, guarding a supply wagon from interception. Looks very French & Indian War-ish, but you can never be too sure.

The Lord of the Ring sends his boys into Gondor. A nazgul tries real subtle-like to sneak around the north flank. Dude. Really. You're a nazgul. Full speed ahead and may hell take the hindmost!!!

Battleships go to battlestations as the enemy is sighted!

Look to your battle gear, and it will protect you. We guard it with our lives. Space Hulk, not for the squeamish.

Here's a squad of The Emperor's finest heading into the hulk. I'm pretty sure we all know what's lying in wait for them.

Why not strap on your X-Wing and give the Other Emperor another reason for heartburn?

A game of Firestorm Armada just getting started.

The action goes high-res with the Tron Lightcycle game. Four players duke it out!

Orange Stig is in trouble, as a series of bad dice rolls give the Yellow Peril two moves in a row! Boxed in, his only chance is an extremely difficult escape attempt, which results in another lousy dice roll.






That's me blasting along in top gear in the blue machine, past the spot where Orange Stig de-res'ed.





Trouble in paradise! My final moments as the dastardly Yellow Peril uses his special ability to create an extra section of wall which I can't avoid, just as I was about to blast past him and force him to de-res. The game was Obviously Rigged.


Stay tuned for additional shots and commentary in the not-too-distant future!

2 comments:

Chris said...

That Tron Light Cycle game seems too cool although obviously rigged against you. I mean you specifically Chuck.

Chuckaroobob said...

Oh yeah, it was rigged big time. I could go into greater detail but I'd just start crying again. Just noticed on TMP there's a link to "Light Cycles" the game of, you guessed it, Tron Light Cycles. $0.99 and the pdf can be yours! Apparently ToysRUs has already discounted the bikes. Maybe I should sneak over to the local just to be sure....