Historicon ’23 Recap

I’ve returned from Historicon ’23 in Lancaster, Pennsylvania alive and mostly well. I attended the convention from Friday through Saturday, and it was an awesome 2 days of gaming. Unfortunately, much like Adepticon – I was too busy with the events directly in front of me to remember to take very many photos! I’ll share what I’ve got, and credit a few others, and we’ll get the ball rolling on recaps.

The Last Gentleman Pirate

I ran my take on the ‘Battle of Cape Fear’ twice during the convention. Both times the game was full-up with newcomers, and both times I had multiple players head down into the vendor hall to pick up the starter.

The battle is also known as ‘The Battle of the Sand Bars’ – and they’re not wrong. In a similar fashion to Blackbeard’s last stand, the battle was marked by ships running aground against the sandy bottom of the Cape Fear River. During the first run of the scenario, one player could barely get his ship underway as he battled against wind and shoal! He was a good sport though, and his delay meant that he was in prime position to rescue Stede and get him away to safety. An ahistorical win for the pirates!

Revsionism won again in the second game. This time, the fighting stayed a lot more mobile, with ships engaging at very close range but hesitating to board. Stede managed to make a mad-dash for freedom, with both decks ablaze and a single hull point remaining! During the second game, Stede himself was played by an actor from the local dinner theater and renaissance fair, which added quite a bit of lighthearted fun to the entire proceeding.

Blood & Plunder Tournaments

Because both B&P tournaments were run on Friday, I was unable to attend the land tournament at all – I was running the first instance of ‘The Gentleman Pirate’. I wasn’t sure if I’d be in any shape to even play in the Sea Tournament – I’d pulled my usual pre-Convention All-Nighter cram session (painting up 11 cannon and a few figures) to get the scenario games ready.

I chugged a 5-hour Energy, slapped together a list that I could conceivably claim for France in the Summer of Plunder, and then got down to business.

My first-round game was against newcomer Luke Melia, running a loaned Brethren of the Coast list. The way my list is designed (poorly) it was never going to get a massive win during a game, but it was also very frustrating to play against – the strategy was to kite the opponent and use my Marksmen and cannons to pick them off from long range. Luke tolerated it well enough, and we ended 1-0 on strike points, for a round 1 win.

Round 2 was against Scott Roach, running a Danish Militia list of all things. He had a Sloop with a trio of medium guns aboard, compared to my battery of 5 lights. It was 9 shots to 10, respectively, but his good rolling quickly put him ahead on the damage race. We ended the game 1-3, and I lost my second round match up.

Last round I played against Chris and his French Buccaneers list. He made the gutsy decision to run Engages on a ship, and they took miraculously little Fatigue from their Timid special rule. Still, his Bark was shot to bits and my swivels were laying in shots faster than he could keep his men reloaded. I didn’t record the final Strike Points, but it was a victory for my list.

The Tales of the Sail guys will probably do their own recap of the event, but the standings were relatively close. Some odd drops going into Round 3 meant that only 1 or 2 players finished with a perfect record, and another 4 finished with my 2-1. I myself finished in 6th, just outside the top 5. Erich Goebel won the whole thing, bringing another “New Sloop” list loaded to the gills with upgrades and models.

The Big Fleet Game

The Big Fleet Game was nearly a bust. It was late on Saturday, and HMGS had allowed me 8 slots for signups. The folks who pre-registered unfortunately didn’t touch base about needing loaner lists, and so I was unprepared to accommodate them. I was actually expecting a much larger turnout for this game, and had actually set up a 12’x4′ table while worrying that it might not be enough for the amount of interest expressed in the game. But being Saturday night, a lot of folks were ready to go home and sleep for an early start on Sunday, or were out to dinner, participating in other events – and turnout was actually lower than I would have counted on. Oh well, c’est la guerre.

We managed to get 6 players, and split into teams for an 800pt battle. It was pure chaos, and I’m glad that we stuck it through to get the game on the table despite the low turnout. We brought another new player into the game and people who still had charge left in their phone batteries got some excellent photos of the action.

Other Firelock Events

Overall, Firelock has a very successful showing, and that’s always good for an HMGs convention. It seems that Firelock spreads a little more each year, with more games going in the exhibition hall, more folks showing up for tournaments, and more “buzz” around the vendor booth. I love to see it, because the Firelock community is among the best, and I think that we’re really showing the ‘old timers’ at HMGS that it is possible to keep the hobby young and fresh. Every one of the Exhibition games was full-up for the weekend, which is great.

The Plunder Land tournament in particular was a huge success, with over 20 players showing up (mostly unannounced) and throwing down on the tabletop. I cruised by the table and saw Natives, Cavalry, even Pikemen on the table, plus the usual cast of characters and a few new faces.

The ‘Blood & Valor’ tournament scene is growing. There are a few more players every time they run an event. This time out, a very solid Irish Volunteers list was pummeling the opposition, and took the win.

With so many games being run, tournaments, and demos – it was hard to do everything that Firelock had to offer at Historicon. So a special shout-out goes to Erich Goebel, who joined the ranks of the Ironmen by participating in every tournament, winning the sea tournament, and playing in the Big Fleet Game to cap things off.

What’s Next?

The next big convention for Firelock is going to be GenCon running from Aug 3-6, in Indianapolis, IN. Several community ‘Quartermasters’ are working on attending that event.

On a more local front, I’ll be at HAWKS BarrageCon to help run another Blood & Plunder land tournament on September 23 in Havre de Grace, Maryland.

Also in August? The long-awaited Kickstarter announcement for Blood & Crowns!

And don’t forget that the Dead Man’s Giveaway is still running in conjunction with Blood & Pigment’s Summer of Plunder. From the time of writing, there is still another full week to get in on the action!