Legends of Wargaming

Howdy All,


This is the most up-to-date listing of the Legends of Wargaming events. This should be one amazing convention!

The Collector's Trove and Gary Con would like to announce an ongoing series of events at Gary Con that pay special attention to the early days of wargaming prior to the introduction of Dungeons & Dragons. The special events will be gathered under the aegis: Legends of Wargaming. These events attempt to bring Gary Con attendees the classic board and miniature wargames that were a staple during the early days of the Lake Geneva Tactical Studies Association (LGTSA), International Federation of Wargaming (IFW), Castle & Crusade Society, Midwest Military Simulation Association (MMSA), and Gen Con. Each event will exhibit a history of the game and its significance to the hobby of wargaming and even role-playing games. Also displayed will be various memorabilia and photos and original rules, figures, and accessories used during play. When possible, the events will involve individuals who played, refereed, and authored the games during this golden age of wargaming. This is your chance to experience what it was like to play these games at the earliest Gen Cons and Gary Gygax’s own basement in Lake Geneva! The games will be taught and refereed so interest is all that is required by players. Even if you don’t sign up to play be sure to stop by to view the displays, ask questions, and watch the fun of classic wargaming!

The following are the returning Legends of Wargaming events currently scheduled for Gary Con VIII. To find these events in the registration catalog type "Legends of Wargaming" into the search field and all will be conveniently be pulled up for you!

Braunstein I (Dave Wesely)
Braunstein IV: Banania (Dave Wesely)
Cavaliers and Roundheads (Jeff Perren & Paul Stormberg)
Chainmail Fantasy Battle for the Moathouse (Stormberg)
Chainmail Fantasy The Battle of Brown Hills (Paul Stormberg)
Chainmail Historical Battle on the Ice (Mike Mornard)
Chainmail Jousting Tournament (Paul Stormberg)
Chainmail Man-to-man Viking Assault (Terry Kuntz)
Classic Warfare (Kevin Maurice)
Don't Give Up The Ship! (Mike Carr)
Dungeon! (Dave Megarry)
Fight in the Skies (Mike Carr/George Henion)
Giant Le Mans (Mike Carr)
Little Wars For Queen and Country (Paul Stormberg)
Remagen Bridgehead (Jon Pickens)
Siege of Bodenburg (Paul Stormberg)
Sturmgeschutz & Sorcery (Mike Reese & Terry Kuntz)
Tractics 1:87 Scale Russian Front '43 (Mike Reese & Terry Kuntz)

The Collector’s Trove is always working with Gary Con and its VIPs to bring you amazing Legends of Wargaming events. This year is no exception. In addition to our regular offerings Legends of Wargaming is proud to feature the following incredible new events:

Legions of the Petal Throne: Wow! A rare chance to play Dave Sutherland's miniatures rules published by TSR in 1977! Empire of the Petal Throne by Professor MAR Barker is one of the most lavishly conceived fantasy worlds of all time! Once the Professor was exposed to D&D (by Mike Mornard) he found the perfect venue for his fantasy creation. Not too long after that Professor Barker was introduced to Dave Sutherland III and Dave became the go-to artist and eventual TSR-liaison. TSR published Empire of the Petal Throne in 1975 and it was an natural success. Dave Sutherland III was eventually called upon to sculpt miniatures and ultimately create a set of miniature wargaming rules: Legions of the Petal Throne! The referee will be none other than Michael Mornard an early participant in LGTSA games, playtester of Dungeons & Dragons, and a participant in Gygax's, Arneson's, and Barker's D&D campaigns!

Tractics in three scales! Last year there were some 18 people crowded around the Legends of Wargaming sand table, playing and watching Mike Reese and Terry Kuntz run a game of Tractics, a set of miniature rules for WWII armor battles. Tractics was authored by Mike along with Professor Leon Tucker and Gary Gygax. This year we made room for more players and will have three games in three different scales!



Mike Reese (yellow lanyard) and a lot of people playing and watching Tractics

We are also proud to bring you Lou Zocchi in association with Gary Con. In addition to his entertaining presence in the dealer's hall he will be giving two fantastic seminars: How to get Your Game Design Published and How to Roll Winning Dice... and he should know! Colonel Zocchi has been involved with games since 1959. He play tested new Avalon Hill company game designs and later designed its Luftwaffe game, which remained for the next 20 years, on the company's top 10 best seller list. In l981, Zocchi's basic and Advanced Fighter combat game won the H.G. Wells award as the best air to air combat rules of all time. His Star Fleet Battle Manual won the British Games Day award and was nominated for an Origins award. In l986 Zocchi designed the 100 sided die and in l987, he was inducted into the Adventure Gaming Hall of fame. He has lectured at every Origins and Gen Con Since 1990. In 2009, he won another Origins award for co designing the D-Total die which generates the numbers for 18 different die shapes. It rolls like a 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 10, 20, 24, 30, 40, 50, 60, 70, 80 and 100 sided die. He also created the 3, 5, 14, 16 and 24 sided dice.

Finally Historical Miniature Gaming Society (HGMS) has been gracious enough to place one of their super-events, a Chainmail game of Orc's Drift by Kevin Cabai in the Legends of Wargaming room. Kevin puts on fantastic Chainmail games with an impressive collection of painted figures set in breathtaking battlefield dioramas. Check out his games in Legends of Wargaming and the HGMS room!

In addition to these fantastic events, The Collector's Trove has put up museum-quality displays featuring the history of the gaming hobby. Previous years have included 40th Anniversary of Dungeons & Dragons, featuring a display of Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson memorabilia, letters, and replicas, and last year's, 40th Anniversary of Dungeon! the boardgame with the original prototype, letters, memorabilia, and every printing of the game - 20 in all!

This year we bring you, the Dave Sutherland III, 10th Anniversary Memorial display in the Legends of Wargaming room. David as you know was a longtime artist in the gaming world working for TSR over a period of nearly 25 years. The seminal artist of the Dungeons & Dragons and Advanced Dungeons & Dragons game and the fantasy world of M.A.R. Barker's Tékumel, David helped shape the very roots of the roleplaying games we all know and love. His work is the canvas of our youth and fond sentiments. Indeed, many of the top designers and artists involved with the roleplaying games industry owe their inspiration and calling to him.

The Memorial Display will feature artwork, figures sculpted and painted by Dave, and memorabilia which tell the story of his love for art and games.

Each year, The Collector’s Trove seeks out new events to sponsor for Legends of Wargaming. Currently we are seeking referees to teach and demonstrate the following games: Diplomacy, Tactics I or II, Outdoor Survival, Alexander, Stratego, Afrika Korps, Panzerblitz, Stalingrad, Gettysburg, or just about any 1975 or earlier miniature or board wargame. Contact us at [email protected] if you are interested in being a part of this phenomenal program!


Futures Bright,

Paul

 

Hereafter are descriptions and images of the Legends of Wargaming events:

Event Title: Legends of Wargaming: Cavaliers and Roundheads
DM Name: Jeff Perren
Game Type: Miniature/War Game
If Other, System Name: Cavaliers and Roundheads
Required Skill Level: Beginner
Event Description: Wow! A chance to play the very first set of rules published by TSR in 1973! Jeff Perren, Gary Gygax’s co-author of both Chainmail and these rules, will referee this game on the Gary Con sand table. Command the Royalists or the Parliament in The Battle of Sandy Downs as they struggle to determine the future of England in the bloody English Civil War.


Event Title: Legends of Wargaming: Tractics 1:87 Scale Russian Front '43
DM Name: Mike Reese, Terry Kuntz
Game Type: Miniature/War Game
If Other, System Name: Tractics
Required Skill Level: Beginner
Event Description: This is your chance to learn to play one of Gary Gygax’s favorite games, Tractics by Mike Reese and Leon Tucker, a game Gary helped design, playtest, edit, type, and publish. This WWII armor battle will be conducted on the Gary Con Sand Table, that's right, just like the one in the basement of Gary Gygax’s home at 330 Center St. in Lake Geneva! The basement where Gary and his LGTSA wargaming club playtested Chainmail and Tractics and where Dungeons & Dragons and Castle Greyhawk were born! The event will be run by none other than Mike Reese, co-author of Tractics and member of Gary’s original LGTSA. The scenario will be the original battle designed by Mike Reese for Tractics debut at Gen Con in 1971 and use vintage Roco tanks and accessories just like the ones used on Gary’s sand table.



Mike Reese (seated at right) runs a game of Tactics on the Gary Con Sand Table a game he designed with Gary Gygax and Leon Tucker


Event Title: Legends of Wargaming: Tractics 1:48 Scale Russian Front '43
DM Name: Mike Reese
Game Type: Miniature/War Game
Game System: Other
If Other, System Name: Tractics
Required Skill Level: BeginnerEvent Description: This is your chance to learn to play one of Gary Gygax’s favorite games, Tractics by Mike Reese and Leon Tucker, a game Gary helped design, playtest, edit, type, and publish. This WWII armor battle will be conducted using huge 1:48 scale models se in an amazing battlefield diorama. The event will be run by none other than Mike Reese, co-author of Tractics and member of Gary’s original LGTSA. The scenario will be the original battle designed by Mike Reese for Tractics debut at Gen Con in 1971.

Event Title: Legends of Wargaming: Tractics 15mm Scale Falaise Pocket
DM Name: Tibor Ipavic
Game Type: Miniature/War Game
Game System: Other
If Other, System Name: Tractics
Required Skill Level: Beginner
Event Description: Tibor Ipavic presents a 15mm version of Tractics, The Germans are in an all out rout to escape the Falaise Pocket before the door closes to the East! This is a classic pincer movement being performed by the Allies. For the British/Canadian forces it's Operation Tractable struggling to break their bogged down attack in the city Falaise and rush southwards to the newly agreed rendezvous point with the Americans at Chambois. The Americans got the green light to rush northwards after holding fast in Argentan, where they were originally ordered to wait for the slowly progressing British forces to close the gap with them in Argentan. Between the cities of, the closest they Allies get of Trun and Chambois runs the River Dives. Only the Polish vanguard finds itself somewhere between the two Allied forces directly in the path of the onrushing Germans, frantically trying to escape their slaughter! The Germans must be stopped AT ALL COSTS and prevented from crossing this river and freedom beyond. This is an opportunity to give the Germans their deathblow and end the war a lot sooner!


Event Title: Legends of Wargaming: Legions of the Petal Throne
DM Name: Mike Mornard
Game Type: Miniature/War Game
If Other, System Name: Legions of the Petal Throne
Required Skill Level: Beginner
Event Description: Wow! A rare chance to play Dave Sutherland's miniatures rules published by TSR in 1977! Empire of the Petal Throne by Professor MAR Barker is one of the most lavishly conceived fantasy worlds of all time! Once the Professor was exposed to D&D (by Mike Mornard) he found the perfect venue for his fantasy creation. Not too long after that Professor Barker was introduced to Dave Sutherland III and Dave became the go-to artist and eventual TSR-liaison. TSR published Empire of the Petal Throne in 1975 and it was an natural success. Dave Sutherland III was eventually called upon to sculpt miniatures and ultimately create a set of miniature wargaming rules: Legions of the Petal Throne! The referee will be none other than Michael Mornard an early participant in LGTSA games, playtester of Dungeons & Dragons, and a participant in Gygax's, Arneson's, and Barker's D&D campaigns!


Event Title: Legends of Wargaming: How to Sell Your Game Design
DM Name: Lou Zocchi
Game Type: Seminar
Duration: 2 hours
Required Skill Level: Beginner
Event Description: Col. Zocchi provides 120 minutes of information about how to get your game design into print. He covers patents, copyrights, trademarks, royalties, finding the company who knows how to sell what you have designed, the name, phone number, address and fees charged by the only Agents who are authorized to present new designs to all HASBRO game companies, the names, e-mails, addresses and phone numbers of the only 47 distributors who specialize in selling Adventure games in the U.S. Canada, England, Australia and the world, and how to get your $25.00, unique 3 letter company identity, how to get your stock numbers, boxes, etc.
Event Title: Legends of Wargaming: How to Roll Winning Numbers
DM Name: Lou Zocchi
Game Type: Seminar
Required Skill Level: Beginner
Event Description: Col. Zocchi uses this 120 minute seminar to explain simple things every player can do to get better dice role outcomes. It also provides little known facts which explain why dice do what they do, how to identify those features, and what you can do to exploit them to your advantage, without cheating.


Event Title: Legends of Wargaming: The Battle for the Moathouse
DM Name: Paul J. Stormberg
Game Type: Miniature/War Game
Game System: Chainmail
Required Skill Level: Beginner
Event Description: Legends of Wargaming event. The Battle for the Moathouse is a Chainmail fantasy battle that revisits the famed ruins found in TSR's T1 The Village of Hommlet by Gary Gygax, some 9 years earlier before it fell to the forces of good. A lesser battle in the struggle against the rise of the Temple of Elemental Evil, but still of great importance to those subjugated by its vile Black Lord, a cleric of evil damnation. You and your team of three players control either the forces of weal or the antithesis of weal. This event was originally run as a reunion event for Gary Gygax's Castle & Crusade Society at Lake Geneva Gaming Convention in 2006 and has been run every year since in Lake Geneva!



Paul Stormberg (first white shirt from left) plays inaugural game of Battle for the Moathouse with Jeff Perren (second white shirt from left), Gary Gygax (third white shirt from left), and Ernie Gygax (striped shirt on far right)



Also playing, the side of chaos, from left to right: Bill Hoyer, John Bobek, and Rob Kuntz with referee Paul Stormberg (note the look of distress on the referee's face as they suggest a preposterous plan)


Futures Bright,

Paul

 

Event Title: Legends of Wargaming: Fury of the Celts
DM Name: Kevin Maurice
Game Type: Miniature/War Game
Game System: Classic Warfare
Required Skill Level: Beginner
Event Description: This is your chance to learn to play Gary Gygax’s magnum opus wargame, Classic Warfare! This battle will pit two teams playing either the invading Romans or the native Britons circa 50 A.D. The scenario begins with an advance legionnaire force of Quintus Ostorius Scapula trying to establish a new legionnaire fortress in the southeastern portion of Wales. En route, Caratacus, leader of the Celts in Wales and Gloucestershire, makes a guerilla attack with a force of foot, cavalry, and heavy chariots against the Roman detachment of four cohorts and a few native auxiliary forces. The Celts try to cut the Romans off and destroy them before reinforcements arrive from an already established legionnaire fortress nearby. The Romans can do naught but survive the fury of the Celts!



Tim Kask (on left), TSR alum, editor The Dragon, runs a session of TSR's Classic Warfare by Gary Gygax, a game Tim playtested and edited with Gary


Event Title: Legends of Wargaming: Dawn Patrol
DM Name: Mike Carr and George Henion
Game Type: Miniature/War Game
Game System: Dawn Patrol/Fight in the Skies
Required Skill Level: Beginner
Event Description: This is your chance to learn to play Fight in the Skies, one of the classic board wargames of the late 1960s and early 1970s. Fast and easy to learn, this WWI aerial combat game recaptures the excitement of dogfights as seen in such films as Blue Max. The event will be taught and refereed by game designer Mike Carr (assisted by George Henion) as he recreates the experience of many such games that he has personally run at every Gen Con from 1968 to the present!


Event Title: Legends of Wargaming: Giant Le Mans!
DM Name: Mike Carr
Game Type: Board Game
Game System: Le Mans
Required Skill Level: Beginner
Number of Players: 28

Event Description: This is your chance to learn to play Le Mans, one of the classic miniature wargames published by Avalon Hill in 1961 and played extensively throughout the 1970’s. This auto racing game recaptures the excitement and endurance of the 24 Hours of Le Mans in just 8 hours. The event will be taught and refereed by Mike Carr as he recreates the experience of many such games run at early Gen Cons with racing bibs, diecast cars, and a giant racecourse to play on thus, Giant Le Mans! First run by Mike at GEN CON IX in 1976, it proved highly popular, spawning an actual 24 hour event played at the Dungeon Hobby Shop in 1981! This has become a favorite Gary Con event and is a must play game for all attendees. For more info on this classic event, see the special page on the Gary Con web site.


Event Title: Legends of Wargaming: Don’t Give Up the Ship!
DM Name: Mike Carr
Game Type: Miniature/War Game
Game System: Don’t Give Up The Ship!
Required Skill Level: Beginner
Event Description: This is your chance to learn to play Don’t Give Up The Ship!, one of the classic miniature wargames of the early 1970’s. Co-authored by Gary Gygax, Dave Arneson, and Mike Carr, this Age of Sail, ship to ship combat game recaptures the excitement of the time period and such works of fiction as the Master and Commander and Horatio Hornblower novels. The event will be taught and refereed by co-author Mike Carr as he recreates the experience of many such games run at early Gen Cons.



Mike Carr (seated on floor w/black shirt) runs a game of Don't Give Up the Ship, a game he designed with Dave Arneson and Gary Gygax


Event Title: Legends of Wargaming: Dungeon!
DM Name: Dave Megarry
Game Type: Board Game
If Other, System Name: Dungeon!
Required Skill Level: Beginner (kids with adults welcome)
Event Description: This is your chance to learn to play Dungeon! from the original designer, Dave Megarry! After a brief introduction on the history of the game’s design by Dave Megarry, he will lead up to 20 players simultaneously on 4 boards! and if that wasn’t enough, all games will be played on the actual ping pong table from Dave Arneson’s basement where Blackmoor was played and where Dave Megarry first introduced his game of Dungeon!

Dave took part in playing in Dave Arneson’s original Blackmoor, a game that used the Fantasy Supplement of Gary Gygax and Jeff Perren’s Chainmail Medieval miniature warfare game. Dave codified these experiences into a dynamic, board game.

Gary Gygax loved to play this game, playtested, provided design input, wrote several articles, and variants for the game.



Dave Megarry (in plantation hat) runs four simultaneous sessions of Dungeon!, a game he designed in 1973 and later published through TSR in 1975 - TSR's most popular boardgame!

Event Title: Legends of Wargaming: The Battle of Brown Hills
DM Name: Paul J. Stormberg
Game Type: Miniature/War Game
Game System: Chainmail
Required Skill Level: Beginner
Event Description: This classic Chainmail fantasy scenario, originally designed by Gary Gygax, will be conducted on the Gary Con Sand Table just like the basement of Gary Gygax’s home at 330 Center St. in Lake Geneva! The basement where Gary and his LGTSA wargaming club playtested Chainmail and Tractics and where Dungeons & Dragons and Castle Greyhawk were born!

The Battle for the Brown Hills was first played by members of the Lake Geneva Tactical Studies Association and the Castle & Crusade Society in 1971. Test your tactical skills in this exciting miniatures game that is the roots of the original Dungeons & Dragons game.

This game will feature 40mm Elastolin figures by Hausser and dimestore conversions of vintage plastic figures for fantasy creatures – just like Gary used.




Event Title: Legends of Wargaming: For Queen and Country
DM Name: Paul Stormberg
Game Type: Miniature/War Game
Game System: Other
If Other, System Name: Little Wars
Required Skill Level: Beginner
Event Description: In 1913 H. G. Wells published Little Wars, a book about an amusing game he created using spring loaded, toy guns that fired dowels to knock down toy soldiers.

This book is the first set of commercially published military miniatures rules and is the ancestor of modern miniature wargaming. Indeed it influenced Gary Gygax to include catapult area of effect and the radius of fireballs in Chainmail and Dungeons & Dragons.

Test your skills in this exciting, live-fire, miniatures game on the 101st anniversary of the publication of Little Wars! John Bobek, former editor of IFW Monthly and author of The Games of War, will guide two teams of three players in a Little Wars battle between the vaunted Bengal Lancers as they fight Pashtun tribes under the command of the Mad Mullah!



John Bobek (far right) former editor of the IFW and author of Games of War runs H.G. Wells' Little Wars on the 100th Anniversary of its publication


Event Title: Legends of Wargaming: Viking Assault of Norman Seawatch Fort
DM Name: Terry Kuntz
Game Type: Miniature/War Game
Game System: Chainmail
If Other, System Name:
Required Skill Level: Beginner
Event Description: This classic Chainmail man-to-man scenario, originally designed by Gary Gygax, will be conducted on the Gary Con Sand Table, that's right, just like the one in the basement of Gary Gygax’s home at 330 Center St. in Lake Geneva! The basement where Gary and his LGTSA wargaming club playtested Chainmail and Tractics and where Dungeons & Dragons and Castle Greyhawk were born!

The Viking Assault of a Norman Seawatch Fort was first played by members of the Lake Geneva Tactical Studies Association and the Castle & Crusade Society and was part of an ongoing campaign in 1970. The referee will be none other than Terry Kuntz an LGTSA member and playtester of both Chainmail and D&D. Test your tactical skills in this exciting miniatures game that is the roots of the original D&D game.



The sand table is set for Viking Raid on a Norman Seawatch Fort, a 1970 scenario designed by Gary Gygax for Chainmail Man-to-man rules


Event Title: Legends of Wargaming: Sturmgeschutz & Sorcery
DM Name: Mike Reese, Terry Kuntz
Game Type: Miniature/War Game
Game System: Dungeons & Dragons
Required Skill Level: Beginner
Event Description: This classic Dungeons & Dragons fantasy battle, originally designed by Gary Gygax, will be conducted on the Gary Con Sand Table, that's right, just like the one in the basement of Gary Gygax’s home at 330 Center St. in Lake Geneva! The basement where Gary and his LGTSA wargaming club playtested Chainmail and Tractics and where Dungeons & Dragons and Castle Greyhawk were born!

The Sturmgeschutz & Sorcery fantasy battle was first played in the early 1970s and will be refereed by two if its original players, Mike Reese and Terry Kuntz! Test your tactical skills in this exciting miniatures game that uses the original Dungeons & Dragons rules, vintage Airfix 1/72 Sheriff of Nottingham and Robin Hood figures, and various custom monster figures.



Jim Ward (left), designer Gamma World, and Bill Hoyer (right), former President of the IFW, run the classic Sturmgeschutz & Sorcery as it appeared in the Strategic Review in 1975

 

Event Title: Legends of Wargaming: The Battle on the Ice
DM Name: Michael Mornard
Game Type: Miniature/War Game
Game System: Chainmail
Required Skill Level: Beginner
Event Description: This Chainmail historical scenario will be conducted on the Gary Con Sand Table, that's right, just like the one in the basement of Gary Gygax’s home at 330 Center St. in Lake Geneva! The basement where Gary and his LGTSA wargaming club playtested Chainmail and Tractics and where Dungeons & Dragons and Castle Greyhawk were born!

The Battle on the Ice recreates the historic battle fought by Prince Alexander Nevsky of Russia against the crusading Teutonic Knights! The referee will be none other than Michael Mornard an early participant in LGTSA games and the playtesting of Dungeons & Dragons. Indeed Michael played Chainmail on Gary Gygax’s own sand table! Test your tactical skills in this exciting historical Chainmail miniatures game with someone who was there at the beginning!



Mike Mornard (right), player in original Greyhawk, Blackmoor and Empire of the Petal Throne campaigns, runs Battle on the Ice, a historical Chainmail battle


Event Title: Legends of Wargaming: Siege of Bodenburg
DM Name: Paul J. Stormberg
Game Type: Miniature/War Game
If Other, System Name: Siege of Bodenburg
Required Skill Level: Beginner
Event Description: Wow! This is the game played by Gary Gygax in 1968 at Gen Con I. It was this game that inspired him to form the Castle & Crusade Society and later write Chainmail and Dungeons & Dragons. This game uses a set of rules created by Henry Bodenstedt for use with gorgeous 40mm Elastolin castle and miniatures. A fantastic and fun game with gaming history and nostalgia too!



Enemy invaders surround Bodenburg Castle while a force of Landsknechts attempt to offload their supply wagon full of rations for the besieged fortress


Event Title: Legends of Wargaming: Remagen Bridgehead
DM Name: Jon Pickens
Game Type: Miniature/War Game
Game System: Other
If Other, System Name: Remagen Bridgehead
Required Skill Level: Beginner
Event Description: This classic game, designed by Henry Bodenstedt, was first published in the fledgling Strategy & Tactics in 1967! It was the success of this game that encouraged Henry to create Siege of Bodenburg which arguably led Gary Gygax to the creation of Chainmail and, ultimately, Dungeons & Dragons.

This event, run by Jon Pickens, former TSR designer and editor, and member of the original Castle & Crusade Society, recreates the exciting capture of the Ludendorf Bridge during WWII. Americans rushed to capture the bridge intact while the desperate German defenders tried to repel them and blow-up the bridge. The scenario is a race against building German resistance and the inevitable collapse of the bridge! The scenario features vintage 1:87 Roco Minitanks and 1:72 Airfix miniatures.



Jon Pickens (second from left), TSR alum and member of the original Castle & Crusade Society runs Remagen Bridgehead game. Allen Hammack (third from left), TSR alum, author C2 Ghost Tower of Inverness plays on the side of the defending Germans

Event Title: Legends of Wargaming: Gary Con Jousting Tournament
DM Name: Paul J. Stormberg
Game Type: Miniature/War Game
Game System: Chainmail
Required Skill Level: Beginner
Event Description: Step up to the list and see how you fare in the third annual, Gary Con Chainmail Jousting Tourney! A dedicated gaming table will be set up with a beautiful diorama of vintage 70mm Elastolin figures and self-guided instructions to play. Face off with one of your friends or make a new one and challenge him to a tilt! The top, point-scoring competitors from jousts taking place prior to Saturday, noon, will enter into the second round of the tournament where the four best knights compete in an elimination round. The two finalists will then face of in the Grand Tournament! The winner of this final joust will have their name entered in the rolls of honor as they hold aloft the trophy helm!

In the sixth year of this event (2015) there were almost one hundred participants in the tournament!



A group of young convention goers use the Chainmail jousting rules by Gary Gygax as they participate in the annual Gary Con Jousting Tourney


Event Title: Legends of Wargaming: Braunstein (Braunstein I)
DM Name: Dave Wesley
Game Type: Role-Playing Game
Required Skill Level: Beginner
Event Description: A chance to experience a game that is at the roots of the roleplaying games: Braunstein! Nearly 45 years ago a remarkable thing happened when Dave Wesley refereed a game for his Napoleonic wargaming group, including Dave Arneson. As the players arrived they were each is given a role to play within the German town of Braunstein: mayor, banker, student, Prussian army scout, etc. Soon each became immersed in a dynamic roleplaying experience with more than two sides, more than one objective, cooperative and competitive play, without any clear winner or conclusion. Considered a failure by Wesley, his players didn’t care – it was fun! Thus the seed of roleplaying games had been sown and would later be cultivated by Dave Arneson and Gary Gygax into the game we all know and love – D&D!


Event Title: Legends of Wargaming: Banania (Braunstein IV)
DM Name: Dave Wesley
Game Type: Role-Playing Game
Required Skill Level: Beginner
Event Description: A chance to experience a game that is at the roots of the roleplaying games: Braunstein! Nearly 45 years ago a remarkable thing happened when Dave Wesley refereed a game for his Napoleonic wargaming group, including Dave Arneson. That game was Braunstein and allowed the individual players to roleplay individiual characters in the fictitious German town. After a few tweaks and failures, Dave created Braunstein IV: Banania. Players in the game take on the various roles of characters of this imaginary banana republic. Considered a success by players and Wesley himself – it was fun! Thus the seed of roleplaying games had been sown and would later be cultivated by Dave Arneson and Gary Gygax into the game we all know and love – D&D!


Other special events being sponsored by The Collector’s Trove:

Event Title: The Lost Crypts of the Fire Opal
DM Name: Paul J. Stormberg
Game Type: Role-Playing Game
Game System: AD&D (1st Edition)
Required Skill Level: Beginner
Event Description: The Lost Crypts of the Fire Opal is the fully fleshed out version of an unfinished module by Gary Gygax. Over two centuries ago a monastery was besieged by a large force of raiders that laid the place low. Rumors in the village persist that something strange and terrible lurks in the abandoned monastery and that fantastic treasures are still to be found within the ruins. One such rumor tells of a huge fire opal that the abbot of the place is said to have hidden when the monastery was under siege. The fellow died, according to legend, before revealing it to anyone, so somewhere within the ruins lies a fortune. Will you be able to find the fabled Fire Opal in the ruins of a lost monastery and live to tell about it?

Pregenerated characters will be provided, so just bring a pencil!


Futures Bright,

Paul

 

Thanks again for organizing these events. I'm really grateful I had the chance to play in the Moathouse adventure last year (despite my annoying habit of getting so excited that I repeatedly shouted out classified intel in the presence of the Enemy) and Remagen two years ago.

 

Paul,

Can't thank you enough for all that you do for GaryCon. These events are to me the heart and soul. Even though I was never really a war games kind of player, it brings me great joy to see my son playing along side these old guard folks who can really help nurture his skills and show him how this is done. He loves it.

Every year my family and I see it take its toll on you in terms of fatigue - and we always want to let you know, but never seem to have a chance, that it is greatly appreciated.

So Heartfelt Thanks,
The Skach Family.

 

Last year, I got to play Chainmail on a sand table for the first time in 30+ years of gaming, with Terry Kuntz, thanks to these events! I think I'm going to miss out on Cavaliers & Roundheads again this year, but am shooting for Braunstein and will have something to look forward to for next year. Thanks Paul and company for these great events!

 

Thanks for all of your hard work, Paul. These events are something special. You are a prince of a man, my friend.

 

Howdy,

Thanks so much for the kind words. Kind words and thanks are the currency that keeps me going, so thanks! Watching my peers and their children getting the chance to play Gary and Dave's favorite games with the Old Guard is priceless.


Futures bright,

Paul

 

Howdy Brendan,

You seem to be doing a lot of heavy lifting yourself (not sand-table heavy but just as important). So, you are welcome. Your thanks are the currency that keeps me going!

Watching my attendees getting the chance to play Gary and Dave's favorite games with the Old Guard is priceless.


Futures bright,

Paul

 

Oh, and being in the habit of shouting out classified intelligence and the enemy counting on that was essential to winning WWII. So you are in good company!


Futures Bright,

Paul

 

Howdy Jim,

Thanks so much for the kind words!

Watching your son playing Tractics and Fletcher Pratt was great! And the thanks is mine: Thanks for raising such a smart kid!

At one point there were about 18 people hovering around the sand table watching Tractics play out. This year Mike is expanding the scenario and fixing the armored vehicles as they, "were all wrong" according to Mike Reese.


Futures bright,

Paul

 

Howdy Jason,

The thanks is mine! I wouldn't be running these events if there weren't gamers interested in playing them.

The sand table is a great addition to Legends of Wargaming, I'm glad you got the chance to play at it. You'll love Braunstein, Dave Wesely is great at this event.

Last year 242* Gary Con attendees played in the Legends of Wargaming events, nearly 100 of those from the Jousting Tournament.

* Non-unique numbers of course


Futures bright,

Paul

 

Howdy,

Most welcome! Hopefully, each year Legends of Wargaming brings enough events to the table to keep things fresh and interesting for Gary Con attendees. I have had players play one side of a battle one year and switch sides for the next year. I really appreciate that sort of participation!


Futures Bright,

Paul

 

What a wonderful thread!

 

Highly recommend any Legends of Wargaming event.

Dave Wesley's Braunstein events are wonderful!

 

Paul,

The first year I came to Gary Con III with a friend to play RPGs and meet new people. The friends and camaraderie keep me coming back, but every year I find more and more Legends of Wargaming events on my gaming card. Many thanks to Mike Reese, Jeff Perren, and yourself for rolling out one game after another - some with tanks or horse cavalry, and some with Wizards and Giants - to keep it interesting and always entertaining. It's especially good to see the kids learning the basics of tactics and strategy without a game controller in their hand.

When I'm getting destroyed on the battlefield, at least I can admire the woodworking skills that went into that sand table.

All the best,

Dave "Elzaar" Proudfoot

 

I recommend everyone try to play one Legends event each year. History is important to remember and lessons learned are invalueable.

 

Paul,

Your games are a MUST PLAY at every Con! Looking forward to it again.

Greg