Toronto Trek: Success!

	Toronto Trek 12 came and went!	I would like to thank all of the
players and game masters who contributed to the success of the con.
Canada's largest non-profit sci-fi convention pulled more than 3,300
guests this year (they are still counting).
      
	The gaming concourse was pretty packed.  As for FT/DS/SG games,
they drew quite a crowd.  The DSII game master could not make the con,
and
as we alternates had devoted most of our time to setting up Full Thrust
and Stargrunt, we decided that Dirtside II wouldn't be run this year
<sigh>.  However, interest in Full Thrust and Stargrunt *more* than made
up for it!
	 
	Four  Full Thrust games were run, two using Star Trek ships,
and two using the FT line of minis.  The Klingons took it on th chin
*twice*, with the Feds taking heavy damage.  In the other universe, it
was
a tie; The Neu Swabian League had a brilliant victory on Saturday, but
the
Federal Stats Europa inflicted some severe punishment on Sunday.

	As always, Stargrunt II was a hit (second year running at
Toronto
Trek).	Six SGII games were run.  Three of the smaller games involved
platoons of the OUDF (Australians) and PAU (Africans).	Two games
involved
the Japanese and a Merc platoon.  No clear outcomes were seen between
the
OUDF and PAU.  The scenarios alternated betwen meeting engagements and
attack/defense.  Most people picked up early on that This is Not
Warty-40,
and that marching out in the open and pushing for close combat
translated
into unacceptably high casualties.  The two games with the Japanese and
the Mercs offered no clear-cut victors; both scenarios were recon
platoon-sized meeting engagements, with both side taking/inflicting
gross
casualties.  In the end, perhaps the Mercs did better in both games, but
that is a shady judgment call.

	And of course, in full Toronto Trek tradition, we had a company
level assualt!

	The forces invloved were the OUDF and FSE/PAU, controlled by 14
players.  The game was played on a 10x4 foot surface.  The OUDF was to
assault the starport, capturing it intact and minimilizing own losses.
They had a platoon of regular OUDF, a platoon of light NZ recon (Merc
figs), and a platoon of powered armour (NAC).  In addition to the
comapny
command, they had 4 APCs, 2 infantry walkers, and 1 combat walker.  The
defenders had a bit less...

	On defense was an understrength platoon of PAU regulars led by a
squad of Legionnaires.	They had been holding the starport for several
days, and were exhausted.  Reinforcements came in the way of a full
platoon of Legion paratroops and a combat walker.  The also had a sqaud
of
local colonists acting as mounted infantry (converted Ral Partha Boer
figs).	A number of mines and dummy counters were also available.

	Five turns and five hours later, the defense was getting a rough
lesson in tactical set-up.  The defenders had placed ALL of their mines
in
the middle of the table, and a majority of their forces in woods and
hard
cover scattered throughout their half of the board.  Only TWO of their
squads were in the starport proper.  The Aussie's powered armour took
60%
casualties, but they had punched a gaping whole in the defender's line.
They also destroyed the defenders company command squad and one of their
platoon command squads (OUCH!).  The attackers also lost all of their
walker units and a few Kiwis from a recon squad.  The defenders lost
about
30% of their forces, and were in the process of retreating back to the
starport.

	Sadly, had we started the game at 7pm rather than at 8:30pm, we
could have followed through to the conclusion.	We stopped at 1:30am,
the
ultimate outcome being obvious to most.
									
	Thanks again to Geo-Hex for supplying many wonderful prizes!  We
are planning more Full Thrust/Dirtside/Stargrunt events at Sci-Fi World
this September and, of course, at Pandemonium in January.

	Hope to see you there!

	Ken