[GZG] GZG ECC XIII

Back safe and sound in Canada, with a no-latex crossing. A great
weekend!

With the latest ECC in the history books, I thought I should take a
moment to thank Jon, Mark, Jerry and (anyone else whom I have
forgotten) for doing such a great job of organizing this event. The
Treadway's facilities are at least as good (in my opinion) as those we
enjoyed at the Brunswick, food and beer is closer, and no one objected
when we wanted to keep playing a little later Saturday night. Having
the hotel restuarant just down the hall was nice too, and the bar.

I'd also like to thank Mark Kinsey for running two fine events I was
able to participate in.

My raider/mercenaries turned privateers (probably having a letter of
marque from the newly installed puppet governor after the arrest and
show trial of the last one) now have a base, their jump drive is
working, we have a few new recruits who chose life with the
freebooters over a wall with some bullet holes, and a pile of loot
that we captured (mistakenly, but it was loot... so was it a
mistake?). And all of this tacitly sanctioned by the Imperial Navy and
the local police....

In the second game, my Rhodesian army forces got to lay a bit of a
beat down on a number of ZPF forces. It's true they burnt the local
church, but the platoon commander came home with all of his men and 20
or 30 of the ZPF didn't succeed in fleeing like scared rabbits, so he
considers it a victory in his books.

I'd also like to thank Dr. Murray, Esq. for running a wonderful 1970s
British Cop Show-themed event. "Geezers, Shut It!" was fun, and
Smithwick And(rew) Wesson with his ridiculously oversized revolver,
intimidating glare, and a general inability to negotiate had a great
time blasting and pistol whipping bad guys. It is true that he did end
up with a nice summer home in Provence, some expensive mods for his
replacement car, and likely a promotion for capturing Mr. Small and a
number of other petty crooks and for breaking the crook (Mark Kinsey)
who ratted out Mr. Big's lair, while (with a mock tragic expression)
letting Mr. Big "Escape". How he could afford all of these items on a
policeman's salary is a matter for his intimidating glare! His only
regrets were that Slicky Willy talked his way out of a long stint in
jail and that someone appeared to have unwisely stolen his overpowered
American sports sedan...

On Friday night, I ran an IF/NI skirmish in the desert on the colony
world of Qatif during Operation Jericho (NI search and destroy on IF
colonies in the Inner Colonies) that was quite fun.

Initially, it looked to me like the NI were holding a solid line and
were going to break the IF forces with accurate fire. Then the IF got
into 'last stand mode' and got close enough to launch some
overwhelming close assaults. The NI had more squads, but they were
small fireteams. The IF had fewer, but they were more full squads with
flamers. There were several successful close assault (and I believe
one failed one). The NI command squad was actually engaged, but they
mopped up the remnants of the previously weakened IF squad that did
that. In the end result, the IF command squad was deemed to have
retreated to recruit some more fighters. The NI, on the other hand,
had to take back 4 or 5 dead and 2 or 3 wounded and explain these
losses to higher command. About the kind of result one expects on
platoon on platoon meeting engagements.

On Saturday night, there was my Stargate: SG-21 scenario FMAS(ish)
game, with each player running a single character against GM run foes.
A Russian covert SGC team had been inserted to investigate a Tok'rah
tip-off to Goa'uld activity in some ruins on a desert world. They had
missed two radio checks and the nearest standby team had been
dispatched on Combat Search and Rescue (SG-21, a Canadian team in my
slightly alternate universe).

Jon Davis led his team through the gate, using stealth to begin a
survey of the ruins. Spotting Jaffa and eventually one of the Russians
(who had seen the SG team), communication was established and the
Russians indicated something probably bad was going on inside the
local pyramid structure. There were also many Jaffa, at least one
First Prime, and possibly one or more Goa'uld here. The Canadians got
set and opened up on the Jaffa, with their USAF Liaison Officer/Sniper
denting the armour of the First Prime several times (to the phrase
"Damn Canadian Bullets...").

SG-21 fought from a stream bed, an uphill battle against swarms of
Jaffa (who shot about as well as they do in the show). The SG team
used M203 grenades, rifle fire, and the occasional zat blast to take
down the better part of a score of enemy Jaffa. They also used some
neat tactics like jamming a Goa'uld's personal shield generator and
using trash talk to draw the enemy First Prime out by accusing him of
fighting like a woman (the Jaffa are a deeply patriarchal society).

The Russians, meanwhile, led by Mark Kochte, were mostly well hidden
amidst the ruins near the pyramid. Eventualy they got in the act with
close range fire, hand grenades, a claymore mine (which had an
unforseen firing delay due to one Russian rewiring the other Russians
mine...), and generally a lot of well-directed violence. The one
Russian played by John Davis who was with the SG team proved to be a
lethal marksman and eventually proved that nothing is faster or
tougher than a Russian on Vodka. He close assaulted a Goa'uld with a
jammed shield generator trying to make it to the Stargate, bayoneting
him multiple times next to the DHD. A successful triumph for liquid
courage!

The Russian Demo expert went into the pyramid to apply the P equals
Plenty rule of demolitions. He rigged his bomb, but the Goa'uld toying
with the alien artifact used a hand device to kinetically toss him
back out of the pyramid. 30 seconds of frantic fleeing later, there
was a huge boom and the pyramid was no more. Very shortly thereafter,
there was a strange visual FX ripple in the air and the pyramid ruin
started to implode as the SG teams fled for the gate.

In genre-typical fashion, Indy's courageous and stoic Russian Colonel
stayed behind to disable the gate and ensure the connection to the SGC
was broken before the now-forming gravitational anomaly swallowed the
planet (and if the gate had been up, possibly the SGC too). His heroic
sacrifice, so common in Hollywood Russians, saved the day.

Of course, in all the confusion, no one noticed the slightly odd
behaviour of the vodka addled Russian covert team member. They just
chalked up his occasional eye-flashes and intemperate outbursts to the
aftereffects of the 26'er of vodka. But I know where the next scenario
now has to start....

(For those who don't know, the Goa'uld are parasitic symbiotes that
can leave dying bodies and infect others.... and no one notice this in
the heat of the moment....)

The drive back was full of tense moments as we listened to the
sporadic CBC updates on the Olympic Men's Hockeygame. Obviously a real
nail-biter of a finish featuring two top-notch teams that could have
easily went either way.

Thanks again to everyone. It was great fun to play in some good games,
have great players in mine, and to see everyone again. It's a pity ECC
is only once yearly.

Tom
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