Tables of Interest - Historicon 2021

In typical fashion, I am almost exclusively a day tripper. Usual caveats: I may very well have missed a room or to - it was pretty dispersed in my opinion and I'm not sure I saw everything. I was there from opening to around 3-4 pm do missed games that began outside that window. Here's what caught my eye at Historicon on Saturday 11/13/21 at the Valley Forge Casino Resort, best looking games, plus what surprised me in the dealer hall at the end:

Of the periods I'm interested in, this Rorke's Drift one is the best game I saw all day - beautifully done!

I've little to no interest in gaming Vietnam as readers of this blog should have picked up upon by now. That said, this table was the best overall I saw all day. Gorgeous!

 

This is a battle mat for a 15mm crossroads encounter yet to be set up. No? Oh, it's the carpeting in the main hall. Very inspirational, I wonder if there are scraps around.

This is a battle set in Baum's Oz - it is eye catching with some fun elements to it. Little bit kitchen-sinky about it all and no real cohesion to the overall effect, but certainly novel (see what I did there)!

RavensFeast- a Dark Age skirmish set (provided free to all the convention goers) being played here -  a runner up table for me in terms of visual appeal and quality - I like to see all the seasons reflected and this one hits the mark. I'd like to see more white birches around.

Gnome Wars - 10 years ago this would  have been on a billiard-table green piece of felt. Some nice details here.

Some ACW thing - the rolling terrain and mats look great but the unbased regiments and tabletop clutter mar the effect. I'm sure it was a fun game and the table otherwise looks great!

Interesting back drop for this ?LOTR? game

I like the storybook quality of this one. If only my HOA was as tidy with the landscaping.

ACW but in New Mexico?

Folks are eschewing lush green tabletops a lot these days.

This was a pretty good looking ECW game run by: an English guy! ECW seems very rare in the US and it takes an immigrant to do it properly. Beautiful table!

Simple but effective.

An airborne scenario that I'm told is still used in training today.

One of the few tables that were following the theme of the convention: Aircraft of War: Balloons, Bombers, Helicopters, and more...

Great WW2 North Africa game! Not really my period either, but this is what I'd want it to look like.

Interesting game boards for Musketeer era skirmishing. The bottom is to be a busy marketplace, yet undecorated. It reminds me of the Lost World game books, a paper, scossors, rock kind of gameplay. Looked fun!

Italians in Ethiopia - the rolling hills are the real draw here.

Beautiful, Men who Would Be Kings (Osprey) game here - Darkest Africa. I always like these last stand scenarios: Rorke's Drift, Camerone, etc

This little set up was not a game in progress but an auction item, a nice one too.

Gunfighters Ball! This was the first thing one sees in the Dealer Hall this year and it's a beut! The propreiter has really pulled out all the stops with this demo game - every conceivable detail has been thought of. I didn't get any shots of the game itself but I'm a sucker for well painted western figs!

The renaissance man behind GB sculpted, painted, designed the game from the bottom up. Amazing output and I was certainly surprised that this was the first I had heard of it. Best presentation of the show in my book - really well done!

Despite no Old Glory, no Brigade Games, I found plenty of vendors to spend on. 

What I find striking about Wally's Basement every time is how common everyone seems to be ditching their Napoleonic armies. I feel like we're losing something in the US, but in retrospect, it's a wonder why the Napoleonic Wars were a thing at all here. 

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