[AAR] GZG ECC VI (longish)

Rick said:
through the Red team had taken over 3/4 
of the map,

[Tomb] Yes, my bold plan to try to take 
down Adrian with one fell swoop ended up 
taking me down with much automatic 
weapon fire in the rear quadrant from Herr 
Crimmins, the Marksman of Death!

 and it was looking like they would win 
handily. I was afraid that I had dreamed up 
an awful scenario and that the game was 
going to end prematurely, but the tide 
turned and the game ended up being a very 
close contest at the end.

[Tomb] IIRC: Green side: 1 squad (3 men, 
shaken), 1 squad (1 man, broken) and Red 
Side: 1 squad (1 man, broken), 1 squad (2 
man, broken). As the shaken unit was the 
only one that could actually leave cover, it 
made it a green victory. (PS - when I called 
the artillery down, you said we were using 
the AOL template for deployment - what 
you didn't mention was that there would be 
THREE, not ONE, thus making my charge 
into the near area of the artillery much 
more dangerous looking.....)

Now, on to my AAR:

Fri Day: Long drive from Canada and hassle 
at the border ("What kind of convention did 
you say you were going to?"). Lots of 
fantasy baseball (APBA) on the way down 
in the Explorer. Fun drive as usual with Jim, 
JP and Adrian. 

Friday Night: Aaron's B5 Game. My criteria 
for side selection was "Which side is JP not 
on?" (after all, I live to fire at JP.... and he 
at me... and Jim likes to shoot at either of 
us). I got my chance, leading my mostly 
ineffectual Drahzi (Green-Purple Alliance). 
The Salvo-ish Missiles were thwarted by 
the Plasma nets and my guns just weren't 
up to White Star/Shadow levels. But it was 
fun and we barely won. 

Fri Late: Board game dot-com with David 
Raynes, Mike Hudak, JP, Aaron, and Chris. I 
think Chris one, after a hard fought battle. 
The salescreature can apparently avoid bad 
projects (the game is full of them) and get 
venture capital at just the right moments....

Saturday Morning: Convoy Ambush by 
Adrian J. The least bloodless SG2 game 
I've ever played, and one of the most well 
played by both sides (in terms of the 
execution of mission orders and the focus 
of the teams). Our side had orders to draw 
the rebel's mercs into combat (we were a 
convoy that was 'bait' but we had lots of 
infantry and a tank) and then destroy them 
and capture their leaders. My big fear was 
when I started disgorging infantry, Chris' 
would break and run. So I was careful not 
to let the cat out of the bag until he had 
commited. My PA was going to VTOL in 
once I'd located his command unit (he tried 
to head fake me after I did so by having a 
small scout unit flee, but his command unit 
was still EWing and transfering commands, 
so I didn't buy it.... I knew his command 
unit was still hidden in the trees). I made 
sure not to lose a squad in the first vehicle 
(made them ride on the tank instead as I 
knew the APC would be taken down by the 
attackers). I fired a fair bit, but Chris' side 
had good dice and survived with nothing 
but a case of the jitters. Come to think of 
it, I captured two mercs (a plus for some 
intel), but I didn't score a SINGLE casualty 
in the entire game. Chris got away with a 
truck full of supplies when my driver bailed 
(I thought it had *empty boxes* aboard - 
missed the *real supplies* bit in the 
briefing or I might have moved it further 
off). Anyway, Adrian ran a great game, and 
Chris' side ran a great attack and I think I 
ran a good solid trap, even if the dice 
sucked. My plan was good, I got them to 
commit, I got them dug in, and I got behind 
their command unit with a very dangerous 
asset. But the dice were fickle. At the end, 
it came down to Chris got some supplies, 
we got some prisoners, and I might have 
gotten to his command squad with an APC 
and some infantry (given he'd shattered my 
PA with one lethal artillery shot). They 
might have ended up prisoner or not. The 
problem for Chris' side breaking contact 
was we still had an APC and a tank and 
thus a mobility advantage. If he killed 
them, he'd probably get most of his force 
away. If not, I'd probably have destroyed a 
half of them and captured some important 
figures. Brilliant game! And Lee, on my 
side, new to the game, had a lot of fun and 
got a copy of the SG2 rules as a prize! That 
was great! 

Sat Aft: 
Con Queso Carnage..... and some good 
cheese! Thanks Rick! Great game, though I 
died early. Watching you frustrate over 
90% of Adrian and JP's comms rolls and 
watching JP score six hits in one salvo of 
fire and not get through the Unobtainium 
Armour of Tony Finan was amazing. ("Must 
be the goo"). And it ended up balanced ish. 
Fun, silly, and entirely appropriate for Con 
Queso. Tony volunteered to run next years 
cheese game. 

Sun Night:
Had there been an event, which there 
wasn't, it might have involved sheep, 
thieving NAC and OU teams, and the FSE 
defending the sheep and the honour of 
Lady Eliza Ful...errr... maybe Chris was 
right, that one isn't mentioned. It would 
have (had it happened) seen the likes of 
Allan MacCajun of Southfen, de-frocked 
Anglican Minister Jon of Needham, Rabbi 
"Magic" Makowsky on a flying carpet 
(including augering in after a run in with 
the Mosque gaurds),  Death and 
Resurrection (and subsequent rescinding of 
the Resurrection) of Stuart "Scot-Free" 
MacMurray,  Mary "Not So" Gentle 
commanding the Full Metal Attack Sheep 
(and trying to re-cock same), "Mad" Brain 
of the OU, Fiset of the FSE shooting 
through his sergeant, Dynamite as a sheep 
hearding technique, a missing geiger 
counter, the use of Joe Louis (a savory 
chocolate and creme pastry from Canada) 
as a seduction aide, the French defending a 
woman's honour, acts of cannibalism as 
sheep were lured with MRE (Tripe), Honest 
Abdul, purveyor of previously enjoyed 
Dromedaries, Oh-Oh Ohlsson and his big 
rocket launcher, the fight with the 
lightsaber and scots kiss, followed by the 
dropping of the lightsaber on the toe, much 
mental trauma, comments about sheep 
that I don't even want to think about, and 
the attempt by Roger (Ornery Ful...errr... 
again best not mentioned) to bribe a ride 
out of the area with the UN (who had he 
and Mike under arrest for shenanigans 
surrounding a young doctor from the 
Gezundheit Institute of the-back-end-of-the-
back-end-of-nowhere), followed by 
everyone else bribing the UN to keep them 
there while the Fissionable Mass (or was 
that Final Minute?) Atomic Sheep went off. 
I guess the only good thing you could say is 
that this never really happened and 
therefore the mental damage is entirely 
illusory. 

Sat Late: Formula De, 1 lap, demolition 
derby style. 

Sat Later Still: A 4 way game of nuclear 
war which no one won (all died). 

Sunday: Cruel and inhumane treatment. 
(Jon D's backwoods militia bumpkin 
accent). Fought a chapter in the 2ACW 
over Huntlington West Virigina. 
Provisionalists (Initially, provincialists, so 
we assumed the Canadians had invaded) 
vs. Constitutionalists. Similar tactics from 
me as leader of the Cons and Stu as leader 
of the Provs (board split by a river with 
three bridges, each picked an end bridge 
and tried to roll the others flanks while 
pushing on the center bridge). Stu made 
one bold stab into our rear with some GEVs 
and nailed my 3 VTOLs behind a hill, thus 
turning my flank. Our GEVs crossed the 
river, and the infantry battle was raging at 
the end. I think based on damage done and 
assets on the board, Stu got a victory. The 
odds were about 60-40 he'd get the main 
bridge and we'd either get run out of town 
or hold one bridge. We *might* have 
stopped him if we'd killed enough of his 
infantry as his tank and VTOL advantage 
doesn't mean a lot in urban terrain. A great 
battle! Good scenario Jon, and a great 
honour to play against an enemy 
commander as good as Stuart. 

Sun (day): Long drive back to the great 
white north through a storm and some 
freezing rain. Long discussions about 
XML/XSLT, etc. and many other matters. 

Summary: A great con. A great trip. Great 
people. Can't come again soon enough. 
And great to meet a few other known-
virtually listers in the flesh. Great to have 
Roger from England!
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Mr. Thomas Barclay
Software Developer & Systems Analyst
thomas.barclay@stargrunt.ca
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