Saturday, December 6, 2025

Northern Front Gameday

Just got back from a small game day gathering up in Shoreline - about 30 minutes or so (without traffic) above Seattle. It was great to see old friends and make new ones - although there wasn't a big turn out possibly due to this being scheduled on the same day as the annual Christmas Rampant gathering at Bruce Meyer's place in Gig Harbor. In fact, this was first time I didn't attend the game day at Bruce's. I made the conscious choice to show support for our northern brethren who usually have to make the hour or more drive down to our area in Tacoma. Having so few players, GM's decided to play in each other's games. An unplanned benefit was being able to play in more games than usual. I not only hosted my own Lion Gate game, but also played in an L’Arte De La Guerre and What A Tanker game. It was first time playing ADLG, but the GM was very experienced and made the game quite enjoyable. Well, enough with the long intro, here are pics from the event.

My Lion Gate One Hour Ancient & Medieval Skirmish game set up for the first period. After playing in the ADLG game, the GM for that game and another player and I played in this game.
I ran an attacking/invading warband against to defending warbands. The HTH rules worked out really well - if the defender beats the attacker's initial "to hit" score, the defender makes a counter attack. I survived a lot of attacks this way, and inflicted hits on the attacker.
The Grave Circle worked out great for putting dead inside - to keep track when doing the end of turn unit morale tests.
The ADLG game was based upon a Punic War battle (forgot the name of the battle). I command a Roman force, and along with another Roman player, we ended up defeating the Carthaginians. According the GM and my co-Roman player, a lot of the rules, particularly movement, are similar to DBA. The GM also said it has elements similar to Armati. I am unfamiliar with both rulesets, and played maybe a game each many years ago.
I ran a Hetzer in the What A Tanker game in the afternoon period. I had very good saving rolls, but terrible hit rolls. Ended up having my Hetzer destroyed at close range by a Sherman.
The GM provided some really good gaming aids.
Here are some of the other games from the morning and afternoon periods. The Ravens Feast game set up was quite impressive.


Ancients, To the Strongest below.
WWII Air Combat using Wings of Glory below. It was based upon a Japanese resupply mission.
Flames of War North Africa game below.
All in all a great time, but it'll be interesting to hear how the NHMGS BOD will determine if this is something we'll want to do in the future. Mainly due to the cost of using the space, and the turn out. This was set up by Kevin Smyth (A Gamer's Tale) as he's our go-to events coordinator, and it was supposed to be a sort of replacement for our Museum of Flight game day - which was cancelled (indefinitely) by the museum. Thanks for stopping in, and wishing you all the best.

11 comments:

  1. Those are some quality looking games. Too bad about low turn out. Hopefully word of mouth will help have a few more show up next year.

    Why did the museum cancel, logistics etc?

    Cheers
    Kevin

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    1. Thanks for the great comment, Kevin. Might've been the distance for a lot of folks. I drove about an hour, but the traffic congestion is pretty bad in the Seattle area. Most folks, like me, live south of Seattle. As for the Museum of Flight, I think it might be new management, and since we got in free (about 40 or so gamers and GMs), it might also be financial. Kindest regards, Dean

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  2. Some great looking games, Dean. Looked like a fun day.

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    1. Thanks, Richard. In spite of the low player turnout and long drive I enjoyed it. Warmest regards, Dean

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  3. All the games look very impressive Dean, hopefully the event isn't a one off.

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    1. Thanks, Keith. We'll see how the NHMGS board reviews it. Nice place, but the cost to rent it might not be feasible, especially with the low turnout. We usually have a $10 attendance fee to help defray the cost. Warmest regards, Dean

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  4. Great looking games, pity about the low turnout, difficult this time of year as lots of other events get in the way I think, Christmas/family get togethers etc?
    Best Iain

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    1. Thanks a lot for the kind words, Iain. Yes, there were quite a few who canceled due to family commitments. Warmest regards, Dean

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  5. Some lovely looking games on display 👍

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  6. Good job in committing to support your Northern Brethren. Surprised you fellas were not all washed away. A lot of great looking games and nice to see your Bronze Age collection in action.

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