Grand Adventure Continued and year end wrap up

On the Friday of Fall-In I explored the venue and took lots of pictures. Here’s a small selection of several of the rooms.

I played a WWI Chain of Command variant where after each scenario the terrain was expanded on.

The GM Mitch Abrams, was very good and his terrain was modular and well designed. We played 3 rounds and I had great fun. 

Next I explored the vendors hall and got some stuff. TBH I don’t entirely remember what I bought on which day and from which vendor anymore.

Here are some photos of some of my haul.

Armoured cars from Brigade Games, an FT17 from Gaddis Games (in grey) and from Empress Miniatures (yellow).

Some WWI Austrians from Brigade Games and some hero types from Old Glory’s Chaos in Cairo range. I also picked up a resin boat from Old Glory as we had a membership.

Some resin Scenics from Ainsty, Miniature Building Authority and some Empress SCW Moroccans.

I also got some other stuff that didn’t make it to my camera roll. WWI Turks from Brigade Games, some WWI American trench fighters from Brigade Games and a Wargames Illustrated.

Then I played another WWI game based on the battle of Belleau Woods. The rules were Trench Wars and GM’d by the author Jon. Great far and nice terrain as well. Think most of the figures were Great War Miniatures, Brigade Games and some old Renegade Miniatures.

Saturday I wandered the venue again and took. Ore photos.

I met a few YouTube stars. Mark from Mark’s Game Room and Greg from Little Wars TV. I didn’t want to be super annoying so just thanked them for producing great content.

Next I played a Spanish Civil War game. The rules were based off Flames of War and by the end of the game, I still wasn’t sure what I needed to roll for hits. IMHO a good convention game is one where the players don’t need to go thru the GM for the basics after several turns. However, the figures and terrain was stunning and there were prizes after. Perhaps part of my issue were the players at the table.

The game was set up that the loose alliances ultimately would have to turn on each other to win the game. I wiped out one of my allies early in the game and that guy got so upset and quit. Another player thought things weren’t fair and threatened to quit and I had another ally who kept running away and then made a deal with the enemy. His victory condition was to eliminate that enemy. 

I’ve played in many convention games over the years and never left a game feeling WTF is wrong with people. Lol. My friend Dan was also at the game and he agreed that the players really detracted from that game. 

I decided I was done playing games that weekend and skipped my evening game altogether. I had dinner by myself at Longhorn. It really was THAT good.

I went to Wally’s bargain basement a couple times on Saturday and Sunday and the vendor hall as well.

I scored a deal on some terrain, about 50 painted WW2 German infantry ($100) and a 4ground building ( $5).

We left Sunday morning and went to Antietam for and ACW battlefield tour. It’s not my period, but I gained a real appreciation for it.

The tour guide was fantastic. We ate as a group of 9 at Denny’s for dinner and stayed overnight at a Super 8. We’ve decided that next year for an extra $10-15/person we will stay at the Hampton Inn.

Dan, Brett and I split from the main group and headed home. At the drop off, I stopped at Picard’s Peanuts for some snacks and made it home to get my kids from the school bus.

I’ve already booked my November vacation around Fall-In for 2024. I think next year I will maybe do less games and more hobby university stuff. All in all it was a great trip.

I finished the year putting together some of the figures and 4ground building I purchased. I also made a purchase from Badger Games for more 4ground buildings so I could have a set.

A Grand Adventure

On Wednesday November 1, 2023 at 11pm, I packed up my car for a weekend getaway and drove out near Kitchener to meet some “friends of Hotlead” Dan and Brett.

Shortly before midnight we started the 5+ hour journey to Ligonier Pennsylvania.

We were in the first leg of our trip to Lancaster Pennsylvania to attend a HMGS convention called Fall-In.

We were the “East” group and would be meeting up with the “West” group comprising of David, Pete, Brian, Keith, Kevin and Joe.

We arrived at our preplanned meeting spot. A diner called Ruthie’s. Blink and you might miss it. We got in at about 5:50am. But the diner didn’t open until 7. 😂 

So we laid back and grabbed a nap. We went inside just after 8am.

I was hungry and needed a boost so I got two breakfasts. The special, eggs, ham, potatoes and toast for the princely sun of $6.95 and two hotcakes for $4.95.

As I drove the entire night, Dan graciously offered and paid for my breakfast.

The other crew arrived after 9 ( they had a longer drive 8hrs and took a little unplanned detour). 

After breakfast we drove down the road to visit Fort Ligonier. A French and Indian War fort erected in 1758 by the British. 

It was fairly impressive in two respects. It was build on a hill and had multiple walls several inches thick which meant it was literally an uphill battle just to

get to it. 

Secondly there was surprisingly large amount of artillery located at the fort.

There were 6lb guns, mortars, howitzers, and swivel guns on the ramparts.

Upon viewing the displays inside the museum and speaking with a volunteer guide, the purpose of the fort was to guard the thousands of tonnes of supplies and almost all the soldiers bivouacked outside of its walls.

From there we drove about 3 hours to the Wyndham Hotel in Lancaster Pennsylvania. With pit stops at a liquor store and Walmart for supplies.

We unpacked and divided ourselves into two rooms.

Then went to dinner at Longhorn Steakhouse. I’d never been there before but it was amazing.

At 8:30pm, exhausted I crashed and fell asleep.