Heroics - August/September 2001

Club News:

Raffle Winners

There were some big winners as Rob Hooper won $47 in the June raffle and Jim Vroom won $40 in the July raffle. The winner gets half the money collected for the raffle, with the other half going into the club treasury. Tickets may be purchased from the club treasurer when dues are collected or at any time before the drawing. Tickets cost $2 apiece, $4 for three, or $6 for five. A real bargain!

Club Finances and Attendance

33 paying members and 1 visitor attended the June meeting. $160 in dues was collected. In addition, the raffle added $41 dollars to the treasury. $5 in prepaid dues was used, lowering the prepaid dues balance to $446. Club expenses were $178.20 for room rental and $24.18 for newsletter publication. The club cash balance was down $1.38 to $1577.74 29 paying members and 1 visitor attended the July meeting. $140 in dues was collected. In addition, the raffle added $34 to the treasury. $5 in prepaid dues was used, lowering the prepaid dues balance to $441. The only club expense was $178.20 for room rental. The club cash balance was down $4.20 to a total of $1573.54.

The Changing of the Guard...

...or at least the rearranging of the EPGS Officers! Starting next issue, Bob Stribula will become editor of Heroics. Dave Bohnenberger will assume the position of Publicity officer. This change was necessitated by Bob's recent move from the area.

June Flood Report

By Bob Hranek June 2001 starts off with a relatively low attendance of 33, perhaps the other regular members knew something we didn't? We play throughout the day mostly oblivious to the 10 inches of rain falling outside. My first hint of real trouble is seeing the registration clerk wandering the hallways around 8 PM looking worried, but not informing us of anything wrong at that time. Around 9 PM Steve Cameron finds out about flooding in the hotel's parking lot and announces this to the group. I'm parked under the hotel in the first slot adjacent to the stairway. Water is slowly rising from the far end of the lot towards the road, but my car's not in danger yet. So I decide to load up the remainder of my gaming gear into the trunk while I can do it out of the rain. On my last trip I'm just about to pass a woman on the stairwell when the power goes out. This is the first time I notice that the Best Western has no emergency lighting. The woman starts yelling that she's night blind (it is in fact pitch black where we are) and I walk her down slowly to the bottom of the stairs where I can see as my eyes adjust. The car is safe for the moment so I check around the hotel for how others are doing. Everyone's huddling around the entrances, feeling pretty miserable, but I really feel for the couple trying to let their upset infant get some sleep. The hotel staff start getting small candles distributed for minimal lighting. My sandals and shorts turn out to be the lucky clothing choices of the day since I could get into and out of three foot deep water repeatedly and not get soaked. Around 9:30 PM the water is at the bottom of my car and rising, so I move it into the upper part of the lot in front of Palace of Asia. Bob Sohn opts for the back of the hotel, and Steve Cameron goes on into the next parking adjacent parking lot up the hill from there. We receive notice that all the following are closed: PA Turnpike from Exit 25 to 27, Route 309 ramps in Ft. Washington, Pennsylvania Ave (the way I normally come in), and Susquehanna on the other side. I call my wife on my cell phone to let her know that I might not get home at all tonight. As we watch the water rise above car headlights, some of their alarm systems get activated, only to fade away as the battery dies and the water rises to the windows. Steve Cameron lets us know that the Hotel management said it's OK if we can't leave on time and that we can use the room for the duration without penalty. Power comes back on, but not even long enough for a quick game of Liar's Dice, gaming is over for the night. The water is shin deep in the road, pouring into the parking lot, and I decide to drive my car into a higher lot across the road just before the water gets to the Accord's door level. Some of our members wait too long before moving their cars and their engines won't start with that much water inside. EPGSers start pushing members and non-members cars into lots across the road. Deep appreciation was expressed by several people after we pushed their vehicles out of the water to higher ground. For the moment, EPGS Heroics were appreciated beyond the normal confines of our newsletter. Bob Sohn decides to check on his car and he, Dave Bohnenberger, and I proceed down the candlelit stairwell to the parking garage level. There's some water coming in through the closed door and I tell them not to open it, but they don't listen to me and open it anyway! An additional foot of water starts flooding in, washing various unidentified floating debris into the basement before they can fight the door shut! Next time maybe they'll listen to me! Bob Sohn later uses a "Poseidan Adventure" analogy to describe the event. We do eventually get to his car via the PoA entrance, see that it's at risk, but his only option is to move it up on the grassy knoll right behind PoA. The water's already too deep for him to safely get out to the road. A strong glow of headlights, many emergency strobe lights, and police bullhorn announcements lure me towards the PA Turnpike. I feel confident of the terrain since I've scouted this area a couple of times for my Hash run this September (see www.GTHHH.com for background). Taking advantage of a lull in the rain and braving a strong knee-high current, I wade alone to a point overlooking the Exit 26 toll area. As upset as the people are at the hotel, we are much better off than the motorists trapped at the toll plaza. Hundreds of vehicles are parked bumper to bumper with emergency vehicles' (a couple towing emergency boats on trailers for use somewhere) sirens blairing in vain trying to get through the mass of parked traffic. Their one saving grace is that the river I just waded through doesn't have a path down to them or else they'd be even more desperate. Coming back to the Best Western, I decide to check out the Hotel's lobby. I don't make it all the way down that stairwell. The water's about my chest height and I'm not that curious. The New Hope room is being used by many of the stranded people in the hotel now. Steve Cameron, Steve Esposito, and I help a frail older Indian couple rescue their car from mid-door height water. The damage is already done, but at least it'll dry out a little bit now. We notice that water's starting to subside and given news that another front's on the way we decide to act upon a tentative route out of the industrial park. I turned in the New Hope room key to one of the hotel employees just around 12:30 AM. As it starts to rain again we form an EPGS convoy (very loosely organized), and proceed out to a left on Susquehanna, to 309 North, and then I use 202 South to get home. Some roads have filmy streams running across them, but I don't have to traverse any standing water. I get home just after 1 AM and feel lucky to do so. Some of our members didn't get home until 3 AM while a few decide to place it safe and get rooms (above the waterline) at the Best Western. More than a few members expressed, not so jokingly, that we move EPGS to higher ground. We're still looking into possibilities, but my best prospect was hit even harder by this flood than the Best Western! I was very proud of our EPGS floodgaters. We acted as a team and freely helped many other people.

Games People Played

Games played at recent EPGS meetings - the June listing was flood-damaged and may be incomplete!

June 2001

Axis and Allies - Europe (AH/Hasbro) Axis and Allies - Pacific (AH/Hasbro) Axis and Allies (MB) Battle Cry (AH/Hasbro) Battleline (GMT) Carcassonne (Rio Grande) Die Handler von Genoa (Alea) Dragon's Gold (Blue Games/Descartes) Empires of the Ancient World (Warfrog) Expedition (Queen) Fluxx (ICE) Gettysburgh - Bill Micklow India Rails (Mayfair) Medici (Amigo) San Francisco (Amigo) San Marco (Ravensberger)

July 2001

Africa (Rio Grande) Airlines (Abacus) Ancients (Mike Nagel) Axis and Allies - Europe (AH/Hasbro) Axis and Allies - Pacific (AH/Hasbro) Axis and Allies (MB) Druiden Waltzer (Kosmos) Eden (Kosmos) El Grande (Rio Grande) Formula De (Eurogames) History of the World (AH/Hasbro) Knight Court (Tom List) Mag Blast (Fantasy Flight) Medina (Rio Grande) Metro (Queen) Ra (Rio Grande) Ricochet Robot (Rio Grande) Roller Rumble! (Play.com) Traders of Genoa (Rio Grande) Traumfabrik (Hasbro) Wilderness War (GMT) Wiz-War (Jolly) Wongar (Gold Sieber)

Historicon '01 Wrap-Up

By Jeff Kimmel

The biggest convention of the year has come and gone. The unofficial numbers for the four days was an attendance in excess of 4000 people and over 400 games run (that doesn't include any pickup games). The Rogues ran seven games that were all full. There were some location problems with the ACW games and the Monterrey games unfortunately but the games went on. I took it upon myself to walk through all the convention rooms at least twice a day top see the variety of games going on. The convention theme was the American War of Independence (AWI) so there were a good number of games in that period but that only accounted for maybe twenty percent of the total. I saw cowboys and Indians, WWII skirmishing in the streets of a blow out Russian city while across the room American GI's stormed the Normandy beaches. The Red Baron took to the skies again in a large scale WWI airplane game and the armies of Napoleon did battle with all comers in just about any scale. Pirates, Zulus, Knights in shining armor, and tanks covered by a light dusting of snow, it was all there in a fascinating array of beautiful figures and terrain. The dealers hall was packed as usual, offering just about any scale or period you could want to game in. The fleamarket moved to a new spot, the old night club of the Host. It was cramped but offered a nice variety of second hand items. The highlight of the convention for the Rogues was the Massacre as always. 35 players competed in the nearly five hour game to decide the fate of New Orleans. In the behind-the-scenes wackiness that usually occurs during a Massacre, several Confederate officers attempted to oust their overall commander during the battle, even getting the Confederate Congress involved! The Luftwaffe and VVS met over the pakfronts of Kursk in a game I ran Friday evening. The surviving bombers then flew on to Saturday evening to hit targets in a Spearhead game run by a new friend of the Rogues. The Rogues also put on a huge Monterrey spectacle, hundreds of 25mm Mexican American War figures on hand carved terrain, all painted by the highly talented Bill Moreno. All in all, a great convention.

Baylen, 1808 scenario can be found at http://www.geocities.com/jtkimmel/historicon01.html
I ran this game on Thursday evening at Historicon just a short while ago. I had six players show up, dividing up three to a side. Four of the players had previous Shako experience to some degree or another, one player having played in at least three of my games at previous conventions. First a word on the terrain. The board required a fair amount of elevated land, with the river being the main low areas. I used some mid sized styrofoam blocks and foamcore supported by small styrofoam blocks to make the elevated areas. It worked pretty well though twice players leaned on the foamcore and bent it. Fortunately, my vision of troops being launched off the table didn't come true. Things started off pretty quickly, and it looked like it might be a short night for the French. Barbou went straight up the road into Reding and lost four battalions in two turns. He passed his morale check and kept pushing despite being outnumbered by Reding 2-1. Gobert took a while to get across the water but hit Copigny just as Frescia's cavalry, having worked its way through the mess on the roads, crossed the water and charged into the lead battalions of Jones command which had moved up to the crest line. At this point the battle became a seesaw. Over the next eight turns, the balance of the game shifted at least four times as the French would blow a hole in the Spanish line and advance, then reinforcements would pile in, close the line and push the French back. Then another hole would be blown somewhere else and the whole process start over again. Barbou actually fought his way through Reding to reach Baylen with the last two battalions of his command, the Paris National Guard, but the following Swiss mercenaries of Frere's command met a solid line of Irish and had to try to force their own way through. Gobert lost half his command in while inflicting the same casualties on Copigny. The French cavalry was in the best shape and would have had no trouble making Copigny let him through. Vedel arrived around turn 10 and though he didn't do much actual fighting, his presence ensured that part of the French army would escape. La Pena's division also arrived too late to have an impact on the game and spent most of it trying to catch up to Frere. The battle ended in a draw. The Spanish were unable to inflict the crippling losses that sealed the doom of Dupont's corps historically but the French lost too many men in braking through to win ensure a decisive victory. The Swiss mercenaries were trapped and I had the commander roll for them to see if they would surrender, they did, leaving theSailors of the Guard to suffer their historical fate. It really was an exciting battle, the two sides are evenly matched in their crap troops. I used the advanced Shako rules with my d10 modifications. The new players caught on to the rules fairly quickly which is one reason why I like them so much.

Eagles over Kursk, July, 1943
I had 10 players in all show up for the "Eagles over Kursk" game on Friday night. There was a good mix of new players, experienced players, and "played a few times" players. The new players caught on to the game mechanics very quickly. The game was divided on two boards, one featuring the VVS bombers and the other the Luftwaffe bombers. The victory conditions on each board was to get 50% of the bombers through. On the Russian board, there were eight PE-2 medium bombers and five Sturmoviks being escorted by four YAK-9D's, with three LA-5N's and the token lend-lease P-39N flying as hunters. The German's intercepted with four FW-190A3's and a pair of Bf-109G6's. The PE-2 group was left almost entirely alone by the Germans, only having one bomber damaged before they exited the playing area. The Germans seemed to be trying to take out the fighters first and let most of the bombers through. The slower moving Strumoviks did take losses finally, one aborting, two more shot down when the Germans all pounced on them, and the last one actually rammed by a wounded Focke-Wolf! A Russian victory here, getting 70% of the bombers through, though losing most of the tank busters was a sore blow. On the German board, an even dozen JU-87D/1's and a pair of HS-129's were escorted by four Bf-109G6's with another four flying as hunters. The Russians intercepted with six LA-5N's, two MiG-3's and two LaGG-3's. The Russian interceptors here did the same thing as the Germans did on the other board, concentrating on the escorts and hunters. The LaGG-3's did go head-to-head with one Stuka group, damaged a few of them, and got shot down as a reward. As the Stukas neared the board edge, the LA-5N's finally ganged up and managed to bring down three of the dive bombers. A clear German victory here, getting 78% of the bombers through, especially the high firepower Henschel's. The overall casualties were lighter than expected but everyone had a good time.

After turn 1, ALWAYS watch out for the UK player knocking a hole in your defenses for the US to exploit through. You'll either need to kill the potential UK spoilers or have a more layered defensive perimeter. Killing UK ships has a high priority since they have an even harder time rebuilding them than you do and it helps eliminate your headache defending against that annoying Allied 1-2 punch. Turn 2 is when you decide to invade Australia or not. Depending on the Allied moves, you could invade Queensland from #32 and/or #29 with ships from #43, #44, #38, #27, #15, and even #10! If you consider the Aussie position to be weak enough, then go for the turn 3 victory. Try to take Northern Territory as well if you'd like to have ships from #45 & #46 reinforce your invasion. If the US was very careless, you might be able to invade U.S.A. from #10! Using all your planes as combat losses is justified if it gives you the game! Your builds on turn 2 and beyond are based on what you're looking to do next turn. Plan on returning unused Trans to Japan so you don't have to waste IPCs building new Trans. Each turn you should probably build a Sub, DD, or some other naval reinforcement. Subs are a particularly cost-effective means of slowing Allied naval advances later in the game. Build just enough land units to keep your transports useful every turn. After turn 2, most of these will be destined for use in Asia. Turn 2 combat moves are focused first on adding Borneo, Dutch New Guinea, Celebes, and Sumatra (and their convoy routes) to your turn 1 conquests to gain the golden 4 VPs at the end of the turn. Remember to use the last 2 Inf on Hainan. Your 2nd objective is crippling the UK. This means sinking their fleets and then denying them their convoy centers. If that Philippino Sub still lives, you must kill it before it interferes with your income! Grinding down as many Chinese as possible is always a good idea to protect your IPCs as well. It is easier to reduce the Chinese threat before the US can shuttle bombers there. Look for opportunities to keep the US off balance. If you're strong enough to attack Hawaii again then do it - it pays to keep the US on the defensive as long as you can. Your non-combat moves will be to bring transports back to Japan and strengthening your defense perimeter. For a couple of turns you'll be able to keep big fleets threatening to strike forward. But as the US juggernaut advances, you will be required to put sacrificial buffer ships and/or CAP up to keep the Allies away from your all important VP-earning income. Remember that you must spread out fighters the turn before you need them for CAP use. Just keep earning those 4 VPs per turn as long as you can to make your end game easier. You can't stop the US's incredible industrial output, but you should be able to earn 22 VPs before the B-29s can start reducing your total. Use your Kamikazes to prevent the Allies from gaining any bomber bases (never target BBs with Kamikazes). Use your fleet to prevent the Philippines' liberation as long as possible - this is almost as important as defending Japan itself! Always make sure you can collect at least 10 IPCs at the end. You'll lose face (and the game!) if you end with 21 VPs and no way to get that last VP to your home islands!

New Game Store Opens

A new game store has opened in the area. Abington Game and Hobby is at 1562 Easton road in Roslyn, PA, Just a few blocks south of the Willow Grove Mall. Co-owner Bob Frantz is eager to be a "Friend of EPGS" and is offering a 10% discount to club members.

I have visited this store recently, and as Bob pointed out, it's "A work in progress". Nevertheless, the store already has plenty of Wargames, imports, RPGs and Minis in stock.