Basement Con is On! (now with merchandise!)

We have an official date for Basement Con (the convention in my basement). Friday evening August 27th and Saturday the 28th. Escape the heat of a Missouri summer by gaming in my cold, smelly basement.

Basement-Con is located conveniently smack dab in the middle of the US of A, in Independence, (home of Harry Truman) Missouri.

To commemorate this occasion, we're making a new Basement Generals T-shirt, and for the first time possibly making it available to the general public for those who cannot attend Basement-Con.

As the date approaches I will post more info on events, times, etc. See ya there!

Note on the design: This T-shirt commemorates a game that seemed to contain all the best of wargaming. At one point, I over heard a pre battle discussion as how to best deploy the troops. It went something "No, no. First the Zombies, then the robots, then the tanks." It became our unofficial motto. A featured game of Basement-Con will have all three.

Some people have asked where I'm located in the state. Tada!:

GASLIGHT Thursday

In a bend of the River Budenski, lies the small Balkan state of Krappultavia. There, in Castle Krum, vile experiments are taking place. Krappultavia has a reputation of somewhat lax moral standards when it comes to scientific research, with forays into biochemical warfare and the occult.
Now, news has reached French and English spies that the top Krappultavian scientist is currently residing at Castle Krum. A joint Franco-British task force has been dispatched to capture or kill said scientist.
Defending Castle Krum is a German force bolstering a Krappultavian Home Guard.

Both forces advanced slowly. A German "flying wing" was formed from their fastest forces, Rokkit Truppen, a Jaguar Motorized Velocipede, and a Wespe Gyrocopter. British Naval Landing troops moved forward in a Brute Class Land Ironclad, protected by its armored sides.

French Regulars and Marines took cover in a small wooded area approaching the castle, while a Spyder Armored Walker trundled through the trees. With a loud "bang" the Spyder's main gun disabled the Krappultavian Armored Steam Wagon.

Advancing British troops were greeted by a hail of bullets from the Jaguar. It's motorized Gatling Gun spewed a hail of bullets. Fortunately for them, but not for Corporeal Jenkins, all the bullets struck one man. 

A group of Germans emerged from the safety of the castle to take potshots at the rest of the British but were forced to retreat when the Brute's main gun opened up on them. Next, the Rokkit Truppen's rocket packs roared to life as them "jumped" behind the poor Brits, cutting them to ribbons with their clockwork repeaters. They in, turn were shredded by fire from the Naval Troops inside the Brute.

Meanwhile Krappultavian troops worked frantically to get their Steam Conveyance operational, protected by machine gun fire from the castles turrets. They got working long enough to take stomp from the Spyder, disabling it again.

But sides had taken high casualties. The Naval Troops were slowly whittled down by fire from the castle and the newly emerged Killenkanner, whose flamethrower proved devastating.

In the end, only a few French troops were left to storm the castle. They were outnumbered and easily thrown back by the defenders inside. The Aliles were forced to retreat, leaving Castle Krum to crank out more vile creations.

An Impervious suit falls victim a to Krappultavian troops.

AJ asked about the units cards:

Renaissance Cards for CandC

Just to make it easier for players, I worked up some unit cards for a Commands and Colors Renaissance game I'm working on. Each card lists how far a unit can move, number of dice to throw for Ranged and regular Battles. I even color coded and listed the number of stands in the unit.

The final product will have an actually picture of the miniatures. I have this pic as a place holder.

I had hoped to have the game ready for RECRUITS in September, but I won't be able to attend, as it's my 15th anniversary, and I'm taking my wife on a much needed vacation. So maybe I'll be ready for BASEMENT-Con instead.

Commands and Colors Medieval

The field before the fight

Last week we ran a game of BattleLore with miniatures. Last night, the Basement Generals tried Commands and Colors (a Classical Age set of rules) with my Wars of the Roses figures. Instead of 3-4 blocks representing the troops, I used a single big base, which I've used in the past with my standard Medieval rules. For hits we used a small die.

A standard base. These were rated "green" for C&C.

In the future I would look at using a casualty stand.
Needless to say, it worked great. No fuss over ranges, movement or results. It played out realistically (as far as I know, not owning a time machine), although it lacked the chaos of the rules I usually use for this period.
The game played out in 2 hours with 48 stands (roughly 350 28mm miniatures), with a definite outcome. Try that with another ruleset!

Hexes for movement.

BASEMENT-Con is on!

Got a date now, Friday August 27th and Saturday 28th. Depending on attendance, I'll have anywhere up to three tables going. Admission will be attendees bringing food and drink for the enjoyment of all. I'll finalize which games I'll run and post as we get closer. Anyone interested please let me know. Basement Generals, I know you'll be there...

so crazy it just might work...

My wife has a girl's weekend 3-4 times a year, where she takes off for Friday and Saturday and leaves me to my own devices. I usually start gaming as soon as the garage door slams shut, and don't stop till Sunday morning. Both my kids like to play, so this arrangement works for everyone. Usually, this function is only open to rest of the Basement Generals, but I thought, why not open it up to everyone else. So, without further ado, I propose the first annual Basement-Con.

A convention in my basement. Huh? Whatta ya think? I've got a 8x6 table and have room for 2 more 6x4s if I open up the garage. One of our fellow Generals runs Wargame Downloads, so I've got a vendor. If I charge a small fee, maybe $5 I could provide beer and snacks (although lunch and dinner would have to be provided by the local pizza/sub place).
I have a couple hotels conveniently located nearby for those out-of-towners. So, opinions?

Battle Lore Thursday

Last night we tried out Battle Lore, a board game with miniatures. But we had to up the game by making the miniatures 15mm, and based up, rather than single minis. We also played on an 6' x 8' rather than the small board provided with the game. Now, Battle Lore is really a simplified, fantasy version of Command and Colors which I've been fascinated with since playing it (with minis) at RECRUITS. I've had BL stashed away for awhile it wasn't till a rainy day months ago that I dug it out and Lead Addict and the Boy played for 3 hours. We were sold after that. Time to dig out all the old Demon World figs.

Shelob ain't got nothin' on this spider

The real beauty of Battle Lore is the no muss, no fuss-ness about it. Hexes clearly (even though you can barely see them in my photos) define ranges, terrain type and location of unit. No rules, no gamey sneakiness of where you are in relation to someone's flank. The units are color coded and the dice clearly show what happens. Clean, simple but with lots of nuance.

Centaurs take the hills

Our battle involved a joint Dwarf-Elvish defense against some Orcs and their Undead friends. The battle evolved slowly with each side being cautious, with a few long range archery losses. Early, the Orcs and skeletons had it rough, suffering the loss of 3 units. Then, suddenly the Undead exploded from the right flank, crushing everything in their path. The whole flank was lost and the elves were forced to retreat further into their woodland home.
You will notice the lack of finished bases. We're working on that, and apologize. The Basement Generals do not usually tolerate this kind of untidiness on the battlefield, but this was really a play test. Our version of Battle Lore is slowly evolving into Command and Colors with fantasy. We'll be making cards for each unit that clearly defines its abilities.