[GZG] ECC XI ACR

[Indy <indy.kochte@xxxxxxxxx>]

[tried sending this out right after GZG ECC XI, but the lists were down due to machines eating themselves; resending now, but stripped off the quote board due to size considerations; will send that in a separate message - Indy]

As I start to type this, it's been 24 hours since the official end of
GZG ECC XI. At this point, I haven't seen any other postings from
anyone else, so I'm assuming either:

1) the listserves are being buggery (hence why I'm sending this to every GZG email list addr I have ;) ),


2) Everyone's beaten down with work, or
3) Everyone's beaten down from the fun. :-D

Or a combination of the three. 

In
any event, it was another good con with great games. While a number of
our regular attendees were unable to make it for various critical and
family-emergency related reasons, we had a small host of new attendees
from Indiana and Vermont make the trek to Lancaster for the weekend. A
good host of fun people. Our ECC long-time veterans, however, are now
down to four: Jon Davis, Jim Bell, Stuart Murray and myself. Rick
Rutherford was unable to make it for the first time.

 one wanted to leave said tables for fear of missing anything, and
partly The Quote Board got exercised again this year, but not as much
as in years past. I think this is partly because it was placed far from
many of the tables where the action was occurring and nomany of the
newbies to the con really weren't cognizant of it's existence at first.
In any event, I've transcribed it and it is recreated at the end of
this ACR.


Due to various events and happenings pre-con, I ended up playing
*no* games this past weekend. I spent Friday evening trying to get the
prize kitty organized for all the games (and ran out of FT prizes since
so many FT games were being played this time around - urp!), and went
around snapping a few photos of various games being played. While I was
prize organizing, I realized I had left all the GZG ECC calendars back
at home! :-(  I called my gf, she offered to drive them up to me the
following evening (yay).

Later that evening John Lerchey and I retired to the hospitality
suite to decompress a little and chat about various things in Life(tm),
in addition to our DS3 game that would be run midday Saturday. During
this conversation, enter into our room a 19 year old chick who was
apparently a stripper looking for Maury and Tom. A complete ditz, she
couldn't understand we weren't her customers. She was...disturbing to
converse with (there was more space between her brain cells than there
is out in our asteroid belt - and go see in the email archives my
write-up about that!) but eventually departed. After the fact it was an
entertaining encounter. I've missed the lingerie event that was at the
hotel, missed the wild ski party group, missed all the other extra-con
events that have gone on in the past 10 years. This past Friday night,
we got the stripper. Heh!

Saturday morning came on like a freight train. After the shower
(which took about 5 min for the water to heat up), joined Jon Davis and
Damo for breakfast at ex-ZImmerman's-now-Yorgo's. That place has had a
renovation facelift and we learned that they are open on Sundays now,
8am (later learned there is another place just down the street from
there open on Sundays at 7am, but I was too tired to explore that come
Sunday). After a pretty decent breakfast, I sauntered off to the local
farmer's market and picked up two boxes of donuts for the con, and some
produce for home. :-)

Back at the con, first thing I was involved with was an alpha-test
of WWII version of the draft SG:AC rules. Primarily run by Phil
Pournelle, I was his GM assistant, insomuch as I could given everything
else I had to attend to (i.e., the miniatures painting contest). That
game went well, but the current artillery rules as written were
re-emphasized as being rather domineering and broken. I didn't take
copious notes (no time), but I'm sure Phil will supply Jon T with what
is needed. :-)

For lunch, the hotel offered to do an in-house delivery of
sandwiches or other food items. We were all given menus and placed
orders if interested. I went with the fish and sticks (fried fish and a
few large slices of fried potatoes). Wasn't bad, but there wasn't
enough fish for my liking. Ah well. :-)  Trying to support the hotel
here!

For the afternoon game John Lerchey and I ran a DS3 playtest game,
the Return to Gramicci Pass. It was a good game, starting swinging in
one direction, ended up going in the other. I *think* all of 2, maybe
3, turns happened total. It has a VERY different feel and flavor than
DS2. Moves a heck of a lot faster, more dynamic, more bloody. :-)  But
still has some things to work out. In the game each side had to choose
a set of secret orders/goals. The ESU had 8 different orders/goals, the
UNSC had 9. Some of the orders/goals were complementary, others had
nothing to do with each other, and some offered an unexpected surprise
for one side or the other. In this particular game, the UNSC's goal was
to get into the pass and destroy the howitzers the ESU had set up. The
ESU, who actually had NO howitzers, much less any set up, had the goal
to get intel on all size class 4 and/or 5 vehicles the UNSC brought to
the fight. Alas for the ESU, the UNSC had only size 3 vehicles in this
game. Oops! :D  So while the two sides attempted to seek out their
primary objectives, they ended up having themselves a good ol'
fashioned knock-down, drag-out firefight that ultimately ended up
seeing the UNSC push their way through the Pass and into the rocky
highlands beyond, precisely where the ESU did not want them to be.

During all of this the voting was open for the miniatures painting
contest, and I took ballots in groups as they were submitted. It was
interesting to see trends in the voting as the counts came in.
Ultimately about 2/3 of the con participants voted (I abstain from
voting unless there is a tie not resolvable by other means I've
implemented in the voting procedure), but after a while it became clear
that certain entries were favorites amongst the crowd. :-)  Some
entries had tough fights for first and second or second and third
places. Others, there was no contest (and if some of the people who
weren't able to make it had come, there would have been at least one,
possibly two high-power fights for first place, I'm sure!). In the end
we had the following winners:

DS/6mm Category:
3rd Place: Eddie Daub (OGRE Mk V)
2nd Place: John Lerchey (some military trucks and infantry stands)
1st Place: Martin Connell (Pacific Fed grav tank platoon)

SG-15mm Category
3rd Place: Phil Pournelle (US Cav, WWII)


2nd Place: Mark Kinsey (Citadel high-tech infantry)
1st Place: Martin Connell (Spugs!)

SG-25mm Category
3rd Place: Damond Walker (DLD APC)
2nd Place: Steve Barosi (Zeppelin Troopers fireteam)
1st Place: Martin Connell (Drantahk)

Full Thrust Category
3rd Place: John Lerchey (GZG pirate ships)
2nd Place: Scott Kern (unknown brand "with hostile intent" space force)
1st Place: Eddie Daub (BFG battlebarge - VERY nicely done!)

Despite these guys being the winners, all entries were pretty well
done. A number of 4th and 5th place finishers were not that far behind
the 3rd place person.A vote or two either way could have changed that
standing quickly. 

Now, one hint for some of you who entered but didn't place, esp wrt
the Full Thrust category: paint your stands and bases! Several people
commented about how some minis looked good, but the unpainted
stands/bases really detracted from the overall aesthetics. Just
something to keep in mind. :-)

After the general announcements and awards ceremony, we broke up into
our evening games. I ran an FT3 playtest game, pitting the ESU against
a NAC/NSL battle force. The year was 2191. While they were arguing, a
Phalon force jumped i-system and began to lay fire on the ESU. The
following turn they ignored the ESU and pounded on the NAC/NSL. I think
the following turn they went back to the ESU, but might have stayed
focused on the NAC for a turn longer before re-focusing back on the
ESU. The premise of this game was simple: the NAC had, decades ago,
placed a small battle base in this backwater red dwarf star system,
close enough to the Core Worlds that should any of the NAC's Core World
holdings be threatened, this would be an ideal jumping off point. This
being 2191, the Kra'Vak war had been going in full-swing for 7-8 or so
years at this point (go study the timeline for ALL the details of that
year!). The ESU have not yet been told about this base, despite the
"enemy of my enemy is my friend" philosophy that brought the human
powers together (in a tenuous relationship) against the Kra'Vak. The
NSL had been brought into the fold on this base, however. Anyway, there
are factions of the ESU (and FSE) who feel the NAC (and NSL) should
fight the Kra'Vak alone, weaken each other, then they can take the
spoils. One of the high command ESU admirals who shares this point of
view has spent the past few years getting other commanders who link the
same into positions of standing in the ESU fleet, to the point he has
his own formidable task force he alone really commands. He's since
learned about the base and decided it was time to put his battle fleet
into action: take out the base, deny the staging area to the NAC and
NSL.

The NAC and NSL have been, during the past few years, working on
cutting edge technology, and designed a few prototype ships each to
test against the Kra'Vak. They just had a combined fleet exercise with
the new ships escorted by the 'old' style ships and just jumped
in-system here to refuel/re-arm before going off to a perceived weak
flank in the Kra'Vak "lines". When they jumped in-system, they found
the ESU force above already barreling in towards the base and system
defense boats, weapons hot. They moved to intercept.

A turn or two later there was a disturbance in the jump fields, and
suddenly a new fleet of ships appeared - most definitely not human!
Turned out to be a Phalon force looking to exact some change over their
lost ship (again, see the 2191 timeline details where the FSE
encountered a Phalon cruiser). They had no interest in the base, only
the two battle forces. Being they couldn't take them both on, they
would "ally" themselves with one for a bit until the opposing fleet was
reduced to 50% or less, then swap sides. And swap sides again as the
50% limits were reached until all human ships were destroyed.

We ran out of time to play it all out, but the short of it was that
the NSL had gotten savaged and jumped out of the system, preserving
both of their next-gen ships. The NAC had to stay in system and protect
the base at all costs. The ESU wanted to destroy the base, period (the
NAC next gen ships would be a bonus). And the Phalons just wanted to
remove the mobile forces before opening negotiations. By the time the
game was called, the ESU were pushing hard at the base. The NAC was
trying to keep up and interdict. And the Phalons were behind both
lobbing pulsers and random piles of plasma on ships. 

As this was a test of the FT3 systems, the ones I was testing were
put to good use, and for the most part found to be in pretty good
shape. Some further study needs to be done, but the players gave good
positive and critical feedback of the systems employed.

During this my gf showed up with the calendars and I was able to
give those people who pre-ordered them theirs. Several other people
bought some. I have two remaining if anyone is well and truly
interested in them. All proceeds for the calendars go straight to the
con. Next year when Jon sends out the GZG ECC notification, the 2009
GZG ECC calendars will be available for ordering directly. :-)   Save
me one thing to remember to pack. :-D

By the time everything was all said and done, it was 1am and I had
to kick everyone out so the ballroom could be locked up. No strippers
for anyone this evening. 

Sunday morning came all too early.
Jon and some others had gone off to breakfast at 7am, but my gf and I
weren't able to really get going until 8am. We did breaky at Yorgo's,
then back to the con room where she watched us geeky people for a while
before heading home. I prepped my next game: a Pacific Theater WWII
naval conflict known as the Battle for Savo Island (look it up on
wikipedia for more detailed info as to what happened there). I was
using FT rules for this game. As doing a direct and straight-up
recreation of the battle would have been b-o-r-i-n-g for both sides
(the Japs came in and smacked up the Allies barely taking anything in
return), I gave the Japanese fleet players the option of taking the
historical route in (SW Savo Is), or one of two other potential routes
the Japanese might have taken back in 1942 (NE Savo Is and NE of
Florida Is). To the Allies I gave them all the ships that were
available at that time and told them to divide their force up into
three sections: SW Savo Is, NE Savo Is, and far end of Florida Is. I
told them to think carefully, as only *two* of these fleets would be
able to participate in the conflict, but each area had to have a
minimum of three ships assigned. Thus if the Japanese came in from
around Florida Is, only the Florida Is contingent and the NE Savo Is
ships could be available to interdict. If the Japanese came in through
SW Savo Is, only the SW and NE Savo Is forces would be able to fight.

Oh, and to top it all off, this was night, with no radar. I was
using night spotting rules pretty much stolen straight from Flames of
War for this mechanic. Worked pretty well, I might add. :-)

The
Allied players divided their ships, giving the Florida Is force the
weakest fleet: a heavy cruiser, a light cruiser, and two destroyers.
The SW Savo Is force got the heavy cruiser Chicago, the heavy cruiser
Vincennes and two destroyers. The NE Savo Is fleet received the heavy
cruiser Quincy, the heavy cruiser Canberra, the light cruiser Hobart,
the light cruiser San Juan, and a couple of destroyers. The Japanese
players opted to go in the historical route (SW Savo Is) and the battle
thus ensued.

Unfortunately for the Japanese, the battle did NOT go as historical
as they might have liked. They got nailed with a flare by the Allies
and the SW Savo Is force savaged the lead Japanese elements, but not
before they in turn were pretty much all sent to the bottom. Then came
in the NE Savo Is force. The Japanese loosed a full barrage of their
Long Lance torpedoes at these ships, but few were actually hit. The
Allies were not in position to launch torps of their own and had to
rely on excellent gunnery skills (rerolls!) to send one Jap ship after
another to the bottom. But again, not without a price: about half of
the Allied ships were badly damaged and/or sunk themselves. 

I imposed a houserule on rerolls for the game that no battery could
have more rerolls than the class size of the battery (i.e., class-1
batts could only get one reroll, class-3 batts three rerolls, etc).
This did mean people had to roll their gun shots separately, but it
really didn't slow the game down any. It did add to the atmosphere,
though. :-)   And there were some pretty solid hits on both sides
during the game. Likewise, there were some pretty dismal rolls, as well
(at one point Steve Barosi, Allied commander, rolled something like 15
or so class-3 dice, got two points damage; I was about to hand him the
"Curse Of Indy" button when Damo, Japanese commander, replied with a
similar amount of fire, with almost identically similar results!).

The game ended with an Allied victory, but at a *heavy* cost.

After
this, packed everything up and loaded the car. Stuck around until most
everyone had left. Usually the last person to leave is Carl Shue, one
of our vendors, as he has a ton to pack, but this year even Carl beat
Ken Wang and Eddie Daub out the door! See the Quote Board list below
for one of the final quotes of the con about this. :-D

Thanks again to everyone who came and made the con what it is. :-) 
W/out you guys...we'd just be a smaller group of characters looking for
a game. ;-)

Mk
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