Recon in force

Had nothing better to do on Saturday so went on a trip to the land of Tykes and journeyed to Recon, one of the smaller conventions, and organised by the Wakefield and Ossett Wargamers, being held in (or rather outside) Pudsey. Went the scenic route via Settle before hitting the nightmare that is Bradford traffic system.

From Conventions

Uncharted Jabberwocky

A big multi-player game of Uncharted Seas on Saturday, hosted by Jabberwocky Games to celebrate 'International Talk Like A Pirate Day'. Starter fleets only due to the large number of first time players. A bit chaotic trying to keep things in sync as people wandered around and other spectators asking questions, plus a noisy kid shouting out the same things repeatedly as if you couldn't hear him the first time (why didn't the pirates keelhaul him?)

My elves were put on the left flank and given the job of taking out a Bone Griffon fleet. First time I've played against them but I had already heard about their perceived deadliness at range. Also no Star Cards in this game which knocked back the elves due to the negation of their magical trickery.

The sides line up
with the 'bad guys' winning initiative and moving first.

From Uncharted Seas

from bottom to top...

'Good Guys' (right)
Thaniras Elves
Iron Dwarfs
Thaniras Elves
Bone Griffon
Dragon Lords

vs

'Bad Guys' (left)
Bone Griffon
Shroud Mages
Shroud Mages
Bone Griffon
Imperials

Fortunately all the troublesome Orcas were placed on one side with an island separating them from the rest of the fleet, so I had a pretty much unobstructed path towards the cruisers and the rock chucking battleship with my own cruisers and frigates, and the bonus of a couple of isles to shield my battleship as it moved forward.

Split the Kipper
risking going out of control radius.


Didn't have to worry to much about being out of command as the lead cruiser soon slide beneath the waves. The other cruiser was soon decrewed as well.

After a disastorous ramming attempt by three Orcas, that resulted in them getting wiped out, I finally managed to get my battleship in close range of his. Since it was an all trebuchet layout I had only the plague gun to worry about. Even with some crew damage my ship was still able to put 14 dice of shots into the undeads ship. The opposing player was a bit disappointed that he didn't get both the trebuchet and broadside dice to play with, if he had known I don't think he would of been so keen to bring it so far forward. I don't recomend the Bones for a first time player, too many extras to take into account, best to get the basics nailed first.

Just before the rake
speed bump frigate to stop his turn.


Some how the opponent managed to get his battleship stuck against the edge of the world and my frigate effectively locked it in place for a turn. With his one remaining cruiser sailing away and being harassed by my other remaining frigates, and his other squadron of Orcas being dealt with by the neighbouring dwarfs there was no rescue for the big ship.

And with time running out and people having to run off, the game was declared as a narrow good guy victory, primarily due to the taking out two of the bad guys battleships in the final turn.
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Water Wings

A quick visit to Jabberwocky Games to check if they had the Thaniras War Dragon available for Uncharted Seas. Managed to purchase one; now I've got to work out how to paint it. Might co-ordinate it with the rest of my unconventional purple coloured elven fleet.

A beginners competition involving just starter sets and no cards is due to be held in the store in a couple of weeks. (from mid-day on Saturday 19th?)

Phil was involved in a big Flames of War eastern front game taking up the entire main table. Looks like the shelves are slowly filling up with stock as more new lines come in.
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First Fleet Fight

First Uncharted Seas battle for my almost completed Thaniras Elves. Verses Colin and some of Graeme's Orcs (Colin leaving his beloved Dwarfs at home.). Two other US games were also taking place.

Slightly smaller than the recommended 4ft by 4ft table size with an Island in the middle of the playing area to split things up. At least the Elves had the weather-gauge in their favour at the start with the wind directly behind them.

The massed squadron of six orc frigates was an awesome sight as the wall slowly advanced forward, devastating an elven frigate squadron with their linked forward fire. That was until they got frozen in place by the Elves magic and were encircled and picked off in place by the Cobra Cruisers. Did manage to get the cruisers and a couple of frigates behind the Orcs and out of their devastating forward fire zone, but the damage had already been done to the Elven Phoenix Battleship which ended up rammed and taken prize.

The Orcs started to get frustrated with the Elves magic which they were not able to counter effectively. The carefully lined up shot against a cruiser by the Orc battleship went to waste as the ship was magically transposed out of shot.

The Orcs did mange to have effective damage control as they repaired their Battleship from five damage down to one. This proved to be decisive as at the end of the game their was only the battleship and one elven frigate left on the table hiding behind the island. Even sailing into the wing the frigate is faster than the battleship so was able to escape eventually.
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Jabberwocky Jappers

Phil's games store has finally opened in Ulverston. Jabberwocky Games is no longer just a website, but is the first dedicated games shop in Furness since System Games in the early 90's. A bit of a brave thing to do given the economic climate.



Missed the grand opening and apparently a good job too as supposedly the store was packed. Things were still a bit sweaty when I turned up at 12.15.

The usual suspects turned up as can be seen above with Colin guarding the entrance. For some reason all the old dears walking past kept chatting to him asking him what's it all about.

They even had Morris Dancers and Folk Singers laid on, but I think that might of been something to do with the local Folk Festival.



Finally broke and went on a bit of a spree. Bought the Uncharted Seas revised rulebook and Thaniras Elves starter fleet (with free blister pack), and the Race for the Galaxy boardgame. Also got an opening day discount and a free pair of Jabberwocky dice!

The Uncharted Sea stuff was selling quick and along with Flames of War probably made up the majority of sales. Seas definitely seems to be the in thing at the moment. Graeme was demoing it at the back of the room in sauna like conditions.



Somehow, despite a poor fantasy round, the FW team managed to win the Sci-fi\Fantasy quiz gaining Jabberwocky tee-shirts in the process. I was surprised that I was the only one on the team who knew who Thulsa Doom was. And also the only one to recognise the funky first series theme tune for Space1999. What is this and other worlds coming to.
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