Submitted by Martin Hudson
I just got back from Historicon '98 (Historical Miniatures Gaming
Society [HMGS] East's con) which is the biggest miniatures con
(5,000+) and had a blast. Took along three Gamer's games: Semper
Fi, Tunisia, and Champion Hill for variety. Semper Fi's Fox Hill
scenario was played to death, including once in the car on the
way up. Shouts from the back seat players who had set up the game
on top of some miniatures boxes kept the front seat awake. The
Chicoms managing to get all of their troops next to the marines
somehow unsuppressed and the results were bloody.
This leads the marine player to figure he had the secret to winning
- Play as Chicoms! This led to a bit of surly posturing later
that resulted in a CHALLENGE at 2:00am to the winner of the Midnight
game that he was MEAT if he accepted to play the marines! (The
Chicom player in the midnight game, noticeably fatigued and with
twitching facial muscles, finally pushed away from the table after
realizing his well laid assault plans neglected to take into account
that the marines were on a tall hill and could shoot OVER the
guys in the valley, yelled "well....well.....well.....F*CK IT"
and stumbled off to fall in a ditch mumbling to himself). Having
been defeated by the (REALLY LUCKY) Chicom in the car, and witnessing
the complete unmanning of the Midnight player, gloves were thrown
by the car game Marine (soon to be Chicom) and the table reset.
Things were rough at first (Hey, how can EVERY Chicom piece be
Suppressed or Paralyzed! That would never happen in REAL life!)
bu began to come along nicely for the Chicom. Yet again, the marines
witness the Chicom DANCE-O-DEATH as the Chicom slowly circled
the hill (There must be a soft underbelly here somewhere, right?
RIGHT? Hey where did the Weapons Section go? Hep me! I be sup'ress'd!)
As the first outpost of the Marines was wiped out, the marines
moved out of one of the backside dug-in positions to take advantage
of a temporary situation (If I told you once, I've told you a
thousand time, NEVER fall for the wounded robin thing! Marine
player seen slapping himself for abandoning the backside dug-out
to kill an MG, with massive implications later [for the Chicom
that is]) The Chicom pushed their main assault through to the
top of the hill destroying the mortars, a platoon, and an MG (Ouch!),
but ending up with only three steps between three marine positions
and destroyed before the nearby Chicom could generate SunTzu's
"Three Hex Ho". After the marines were left with one strong dug-in
position on the backside and the mobile (if bloody) platoon slipping
back out of sight, the Chicom launched assault three which, after
the smoke cleared left NO Chicom within the VP hexes and four
steps of Marines left (1 Plt [-4], 1 Plt [-3], 1 MG [-1]).
The Chicom had two stacks left, one with assorted MG/Weapons and
one with two freshish platoons ([-1], [-2]). As the LAST turn
of the game (Yes, turn 18) began and the blurry clock on the wall
struck 4:00am, the Chicom won the initiative and obviously elated
with a small spot of drool at the corner of his mouth, declared
he would insist (via initiative die roll) that the marines go
first. He was no dummy, and damn your eyes man if you thought
he would let the marines win by using SFA/Assault in the second
part of the turn to eliminate whatever Chicom were in the VPs
(He is now playing for a draw since the marines are on the backside
and it costs to much to get to them since the Chicoms are in the
woods and the marines on the other side).
Much to the annoyance of the burned out Gamer's trying to sleep
in the dark corners of the hotel room, play-by-play began as the
end-game heated up. The marines were worried, sort of. With four
steps left the tension was incredible, yet they were staring at
a potential WIN, not just a draw which they have clinched, a WIN!
No Chicoms in the lane, the marines have the ball, the crowd go
wild (HHHHHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!, Semper Fi MF!) The marines abandon
the backside dug-in and move everyone (all 4 steps) onto the bald
top of the hill strewn with the blood of some 50 steps lie slippery
beneath the boots (Boy, this would be really great if the Gamers
shipped a bucket of pig blood with thegame and we could throw
handfuls at each other, yeah, yeah! Sleeping player: "Shut Up!")
Only the Chicom MGs have LOS to the top and MISS, they MISS! <Crowd
Noise> LADIES AND GENTLEMEN THIS IS AMAAAAZING! The marines, now
bare chested, thump their chests and emit THE PRIMAL SCREAM (Sleeping
player: "Shut Up!"). Three seconds on the clock, the Chicom SFA's
with the MGs and MISSES AGAIN! <crowd noise> As the Chicom player
feels even the chances of a draw begin to slip through his finger,
he decides to try to simply dwarf-toss his remaining platoons
onto the side of the hill and hope they stick (don't get pegged
in the single wooded hex he must cross before the VP hexes). They
step to the edge of the woods with the political officer on a
stick, roaring their defiance as they call for the Overwatch!
<Crowd Noise, they love this part> The senior marine, a 15 year
old from the Midwest, affectionately called "The un-DEAN", takes
out his 1911 .45 and plugs the Chicom mascot between the eyes
at 300 yards. A hush comes over the crowd as the Chicoms walk
sullenly back into the woods, suppressed. Quietly at first and
then louder and louder, the chanting begins! usa usa usA usA uSA
uSA USA USA! (Sleeping player: "Shut the F*CK Up!") Pillows fly,
bodies are trampled on the way to the head after 2 1/2 hours of
leg crossing, threats are made, bodies trampled on the way back
to bed. All is right with the world. Anybody want to play Tunisia?
Ahem, as the CarMarines/2amChicoms, I feel compelled to clear
up a few points.
At 03:30 AM 7/28/98 -0400, you wrote:
[snip]
>kept the front seat awake. The Chicoms managing to get all of
their
>troops next to the marines somehow unsuppressed and the results
were
>bloody.
Yes, the Chicoms managed to get stacks next to the Marines on
the first turn. (If you are driving on Rt 30 from Gettysburg
to Lancaster and notice one red die and one white die, please
crush those Cubes from Hell into the asphalt.) However, the first
close assault ended up with a big Chicom stack paralyzed and wiped
out by a platoon of Marines supported by MGs. The second assault
however...
[snip]
>(The Chicom player
>in the midnight game, noticeably fatigued and with twitching
facial
>muscles, finally pushed away from the table after realizing his
well
>laid assault plans neglected to take into account that the marines
were
>on a tall hill and could shoot OVER the guys in the valley, yelled
>"well....well.....well.....F*CK IT" and stumbled off to fall
in a ditch
>mumbling to himself).
Martin failed to point out that the midnight Chicom player had
his contacts in too long, so not only was he fatigued and doing
really funky things with his cheeks, his right eye was practically
swollen shut. The guy looked like he had gone three rounds in
the ring.
>Having been defeated by the (REALLY LUCKY) Chicom
The Chicom player had not achieved the victory hexes when the
game was called due to pulling into the convention and all pieces
sliding off the map into the lap of the CarMarine <VBG>.
[everything snipped here was correct information]
> The Chicom had two stacks left, one with assorted MG/Weapons
and one
>with two freshish platoons ([-1], [-2]). As the LAST turn of
the game
>(Yes, turn 18) began and the blurry clock on the wall struck
4:00am, the
>Chicom won the initiative and obviously elated with a small spot
of
>drool at the corner of his mouth, declared he would insist (via
That was not elation, I had actually fallen asleep waiting for
the Marine to decide how he was going to move his one stack.
He decided to keep them in their prepared positions. BTW, did
I mention that prepared positions are GOOD?
[snipping so much showboating that Dennis Rodman would be embarrassed]
>Semper Fi MF!) The marines abandon the backside dug-in and move
>everyone (all 4 steps) onto the bald top of the hill strewn with
the
>blood of some 50 steps lie slippery beneath the boots (Boy, this
would
At this point the Chicoms were flabbergasted. The Marines had
slithered out of their holes up to the open ground - within charge
range of the two fresh platoons. The only obstacle was the one
hex between us and them. However, the covering MGs had been handing
out morale checks and step losses to the Marines like condoms
at Madame Lee's Pleasure Shack. With two shots at the Marines,
well...
>be really great if the Gamers shipped a bucket of pig blood with
the
>game and we could throw handfuls at each other, yeah, yeah!
Sleeping
>player: "Shut Up!")
Good thing we didn't have the pig blood or I'd thrown it at the
Sleeping Player - "You shut up, don't you realize that not only
are the Chicoms gonna win, they have annilated every single Marine
on the board!! You can sleep when your dead - like these Marines
here."
[snipping parts that I'd much rather not remember like MGs missing
twice and platoons getting suppressed]
Of course, the Cubes from Hell were not in fact in the Marines
hands, they were (hopefully) turning into powder somewhere along
Rt 30.
[snipping parts about Tunisia being a blast which of course everyone
already knows is true]
> The con was jammed with dealers and flea marketeers and
the Gamer's
>games were flowing. Most miniatures players are also board gamers.
I
>picked up a copy of Semper Fi as a taunting gift to the Midnight
player.
> Maybe the Gamer's should show up at HMGS events. Talon-Soft
always
>does.
I second this (actually I firsted it <VBG>).
Tom Jenkins