Cold Wars 2017

I managed to get to Cold Wars for a day of wargaming. While only played a few games, I did manage to scope out a number of great tables, chat with gamers and raid the vendor hall. Check out my photo dump:

Games at the Host

The Eylau board.

Tiny men and horses and even tiny-er houses.

Really cool airstrike marker on this Pacific board

The fighter is removable to allow the rockets to be used by any aircraft type for various games. 

Ancients land/sea battle. Romans defending a town I believe.

The harbor was awesome. Loved the galleys.

Frozen Harbor Frostgrave board. Beyond the boats, the town was full of detail.

I spotted this Old West game in the tournament area, but what caught my eye...

... was the custom game kit for carrying rules, etc. Presentation is everything! 

7TV Oil Rig adventure

Caught this table in between games. Looked like a typical Middle East set up, but I loved the details.
Check out the dead horses in this shot...

... and nearby a Bedouin caravan.

I played in Pete Panzeri's huge "Custer" game. Hundreds of minis, 11? 13? players stretching across two huge tables. Glorious.

Looking down the table along the valley where Custer's cavalry will approach.

Natives preparing to to fall upon Custer

US Army taking the high ground.

Pete Panzeri's game was a lot of fun. He's written the book on the battle (literally), and is good game master that keeps things moving. I had a great time rushing my mounted Indians 24" per move, rolling buckets of dice, losing scores to enemy fire but then charging back with a fresh set of furious natives. Pete had two attendees who were spouses who initially didn't want to participate ("we'll just watch. We don't know how this works") who he encouraged and cajoled into playing. By the end of the night they were laying waste to US cavalry, shouting and hollering, waving imaginary tomahawks and having a blast. That's a great game.

Visiting the Vendor Hall

The vendor hall was light on demo games, but Wargames Illustrated
was sponsoring a WWII Pacific game near their booth.

Japanese troops had to cross a croc-infested swamp, while being attacked by
British artillery, poisonous snakes, disease and madness. A very unique scenario!

So much great jungle terrain. This temple was adapted from an aquarium piece,
with the molded tree roots extended with a full tree addition.

Crocs continually appeared from the underbrush, making their way to towards each group, snatching off the unlucky.

I lost several men to crocs and my section was bogged down in the middle of the board as my men succumbed to fatigue and dehydration. A fun game on great terrain!

I thought the playable game in the vendor hall was a good idea. The vendor hall is brighter, I could check out other vendors while I waited, and the foot traffic drew some interested bystanders. I also made the rounds to pick up some more stuff for my home games.

I wasn't familiar with Impudent Mortal (http://impudentmortal.com/), but I thought this sci-fi building looked neat. I picked one up to use as the basis for a larger structure.

The Hobby University was also in the vendor hall, creating terrain and providing tips. 

I was surprised to learn this wreck was made from insulation foam, with wood grain added with a wire brush.

I left the vendor hall with heavy packs, unable to pass up some out-of-print finds that I've been searching eBay for. All over a good trip, but I'm hoping that the Host isn't the future of HGMS conventions.