AAR 2

From: Bruce Fiolek (fiolekd@mindspring.com)

I thought I'd better send along my "formal" thanks to the JodieCon staff for organizing the latest gaming event. I find setting up even a relatively small convention game to be a lot of work. The likes of the USMAPS events require considerable more effort, especially when logistics like food, etc. are factored in. Again, I find it a rare (unique?) opportunity to enjoy a both concentrated and lengthy scenario coupled with the advantage of many players and personalities.

I played Napoleon's Battles' Austerlitz scenario years ago and found this JodieCon every bit as good if not better. The 25mm figures were great. I'll have to remember to buy kneepads when crawling onto the middle of the table again to reach troops. (Those damned lichen and sticks along the edge of the Goldbach Stream - ouch!)

Before this event I always wrote off the possibility of mixing computers with miniatures as unnecessary, if not cumbersome and bothersome. Carnage & Glory, however, proved to be a surprisingly quick system in producing a realistic rendering of historical battles. As with any game being played by a bunch of first-timers, the game goes a little slower in the beginning but I'm sure that the system's players speed along in their "regular" battles quite swiftly as we began to do near the end. (Especially when all those units start getting tired and disappearing.)

As for not getting to roll any dice, it was only halfway through the game that I realized this latent desire. I'm sure this compulsion would disappear for me soon enough after several games. I'm sure glad, though, that we were each allowed to roll a fistful of dice to determine initiatives rather than adopting the rules 100% which, I'm told, would've meant going cold turkey on any dice-rolling at all(!)

Well done Tom, Frank, and Nigel.

-Bruce Fiolek