Life After Lancaster - They Fought Like Spartans

Hi

Just a quick note. After dodging 6 state patrol cars, 2 opp cars
(sighted along the way), enduring rain (seemingly endless) and fog
(thick and for about an hour or maybe 90 minutes of travel time), I have
(no boos or catcalls) returned safely to the True, North, Strong and
Free haven of Ottawa. :)

I had a most excellent time in Lancaster and I'd like to publicly
commend Jon Davis, Mark Kochte, Jerry Han and anyone who did labours
behind the scenes... the con was great fun and an excellent social
occaision. And getting to watch Mark prove that it doesn't matter the
number of sides on the dice, all 1's are created equal was quite
funny....

I'd also like to thank KR, Lord-King of The Duchy of GeoHex, personally
for spotting me some painted figures I needed (saved me a lot of time
and tears) and for his excellent help and advice on terrain construction
and fast painting techniques. Additionally, he demonstrated some of
these techniques when I acquired some at-Lancaster reinforcements for
the KV side. And of course, one of the most important things, he brought
us beer during the key stages of map setup Friday night and for that he
will surely get into Heaven via the express lane. The figures will
return successfully to Oregon shortly KR! :)

And, I'd be entirely remiss if I didn't thank the players in Grey Day...
they made this mass battle the bloody carnage it was and displayed
enough skill and perserverance to manage to achieve their victory
conditions (to a fair extent) on both sides. Things kept on for a long
time, and I imagine we could have played another 4 hours... but we know
pretty much how it would have worked out. I think Ted summed it up best
by saying "We aren't quiting because we're tired, we're quitting because
the FIGURES are tired of standing..." An AAR and some fiction will
eventually hit the list after me and Los recover and collaborate. (Also
Pics!)

Special note to the captains of the two forces: Tom Pope (who thinks I
should change my name to avoid Tom confusion... the KV Commander) and
Rick Rutherford (who has no stated opinion on my renaming....Commander
of the Human FSE/NSL force). The players (and I may miss some... I hope
not):

<BTW, If I mis-spell or mis-remember any of these, I issue a statement
of massive contrition...)

Mark "1's are me" Kochte,
Rick "My shirt is pink, but it is my wife's favorite shirt - so there!"
Rutherford
Stuart Murray
Kr'rt "Weasel Boy" Wasserman
Tom "Our wounded? They're from the other clan. Kill them too." Pope
Ted "In from the Left Coast" Arlauskus
Don (whose last name I forgot... apologies!)
Joel "Bobba" Frock
Brian Bell
David "You won't take my Platoon Commander alive, I'll kill him first!"
Raynes

Also, I cannot thank my excellent buddy and co-ref Los enough for his
contributions of many excellent (and finished...) KraVak and for his
able assistance in setting things up and running them. The experience
taught us a few things to avoid I'm sure, but was in large measure
memorable and I hope fun for all involved and fun for the spectators to
watch. It isn't often you get to see 116 square feet of table used in
one game...

And congrats to our newbie Brendan.... it was fun Nuking civilization
with you... :)

More generally, Kudos to all the attendees. Bitter Envy I'm sure will
runneth over in the cups of those not counted among the blessed 39 on
this great weekend in 2000 at our Thermopylae....the games were great
fun, but as usual the people attending made the convention what it was -
fun, exciting, and memorable - the stuff of which legends are made.

Thomas Barclay
Who now is going to try to make up for a lot of lost sleep

BTW, Mr. Kochte... I'll get you for that "Carter Island" comparison....
you can't hide... and lord knows if you roll your own dice you can't
fight... :)

--
---------------------------------------------------------------
"Good? Bad? I'm the guy with the gun." - Ash, Army of Darkness

Homepage: http:\\fox.ntsn.ca\~kaladorn\index.html
ICQ: 58316640 (Tomin8tor)

"Ah. I see. Inform me if there is any change in his condition."
<hangs up the phone>
"How is he?"
"He's dead."
-- The movie Top Secret