FOW at The Game Loft
Hi, Bill.
Sounds great! I'll see if I can talk my family into a trip to Belfast so that I can stop by and say hello even if I cant stay to push lead. At the moment its all convention prep all the time so its hard for me to add any more to the gaming calendar.
Hopefully you can snap some photos!
Hopefully you can make it. I will try and get some pictures in between GM duties. It is supposed to be nice weather Saturday. Good day for a drive.
So Bill - How'd it go at the Game Loft? They a got a great bunch of creative people up there. Bet it was fun . . .
Andy
Hi Andy,
We had a lot of fun and quite a few came to play. We made up a starter army and gave to them to hopefully spark some interest and some new players. One guy who came said he was going to come to our game tomorrow in Bangor he liked it so much. I will try and get some pictures up this weekend. This having to go back to work is really cutting into my gaming time <VBG>. 
Bill
Goooooooooooo Billlllllllllllll. What the hobby lacks is MORE young people . . . And the Game Loft is great place to recruit . . .
Andy
Hi Andy,
I agree with you we need more fresh blood (no pun intended). Without new players where is the hobby going to go. Here are a few pictures from the loft game:
The Germans dug in in St. Mere-Eglise
German Reinforements stuck in the ford and then bombed
The Americans paratroopers advance
American armor overruns an 88 flak battery
Finally the armor rolls past the bombed out tanks at the ford to capture the bridge in the distance
The Germans initially held the bridge, the town and a flak battery to the north. All had to be captured or knocked out by the Americans. The paratroopers jumped in two waves and both jumps missed the board entirely (pilot error). But due to amazing American perseverance and airborne spirit (and two rolls of 6 in a row) both units came on the board on the north end and overran the 88 with the armor that also showed up at that end of the map.
The German Stugs that came on decided to cross at the ford (rather than go the long way around by the bridge) and three of the four promptly got stuck. Then in the only successful air attack by the Americans for the day they got all three in one turn. It was all down hill for the Germans after that.
The last American tanks came on behind the other German Stugs, wiped them out and headed for the bridge while the paratroopers and earlier tanks took the town from the north. It was a total American victory with light casualties and all objectives captured. The Germans were pretty much routed. Not totally unexpected because the German Infantry were reluctant conscripts while the Airborne were fearless Veterans.
I though that would be balanced by being dug in and the fact that the Stugs were Confident Veterans while the American tanks were Confident Trained. Also I expected the Americans to be more shot up and scattered on landing. They really had some luck there.
We had about 8 - 10 people at the game and everyone seemed to have a great time. They want us to come back in May so they must like it.
Bill
Awesome - I'm glad it went so well. Perhaps this will set up a regular outlet for new recruits in the Belfast area - namely the kids! Nice job.
Andy
Ray is doing a great job with the Game Loft kids and it was really good of him to let us introduce it there in spite of some opposition. I hope it takes off.
Bill
Wow, that is a great turnout. Well done. You should contact Battlefront to let them know how you are spreading the word about Flames of War to young gamers. They might want to spotlight your efforts on their web page, which could be cool!
I'm running a 90mm Battle Lore game there on April 18th I think. Hope I get as good a trun out. Interestingly one could say Maine gaming began in the Belfast area and here we are now trying to rekindle it :)
Chris P.
Why the opposition?
Chris - I'm sure you'll do as well - medievals are so beautiful you should have plenty of interest!
Please say Hey to Ray and Patricia for us . . . we'll try to get up and see them while we're in Maine.
Andy
The local Peace and Justice League was not amused apparently after our frst game last fall but Ray talked them down off the ledge and I haven't heard anything lately.
Bummer - the Toy Soldier suffered the same back when D&D took off in Bath. Once explained they seemed to come around. It's all in the "marketing." If they understand that there's a great deal of education involved they may begin to see the light . . .
Andy
Ray took care of it and smoothed it over with something to that effect. But its probably been thirty years since I was called a warmonger, how 60's.
Bill
