"USS IOWA tour, wargame and dinner" Topic

USS IOWA – General Quarters Game and Battleship tour

The HMGS-PSW is hosting a one day miniature wargame conventino at the Manhatten Beach Natinal Guard Armor on Marhc 23rd. On the day before that we are running a General Quarters game on the fantail of the USS IOWA right next to Port's O Call village in the Port of Los Angeles. This will make our March Forward convention a much more attractive destination for people who need to travel a bit to get here. I am meeting with their people on Saturday, March 2nd to work out the details. The plan is to set us up on the fantail where all of the visitors will walk past our game on their way off the ship. We are getting a group discount on admission. All HMGS members will have access to a code that will give them a discount on tickets that day. Seniors and Veterans will get an additional discount.
They are interested in doing this on other occasions as well.
The USS IOWA is in the process of procuring a tent for their fantail to allow larger gatherings to take place in a variety of weather conditions. It will probably not be in place for March but he is going to try to get it done in time for our event. The game will be General Quarters Rules and we post more details about that soon. I will make an amazing prediction that the scenario will include the USS IOWA.
The basic plan so far.
The Iowa opens at 10:00AM
Naval wargame on the fantail starts at Noon. This is the time that the first visitors will be concluding their tour.
Play from 12:00PM to 4:00PM
4:00PM – 6:00PM We tour the ship with the game players
6:00PM-8:00PM Dinner at Ports O Call Village (a short walk from the ship)
8:00PM home to rest up for March Forward!

Manhattan Beach is close by and for those in your family who don't want to spend the day playing wargames we have the beaches and all of the other Southern California attractions for them to enjoy. Disneyland comes to mind.

This is the complete post for now, but check out our website for additional information as it becomes available.
hmgspsw.com

Outstanding concept.

Ooooh we're USS Iowa members. Might have to come down for this.

We'll do it for the third time on the USS Texas this year.

Great, I hope to see you all there! I you can make it, please say hi! or something. I will be the guy in the HMGS-PSW t-shirt running hither and yon, shlepping stuff and taking photographs.

Please note the sit down dinner afterwards. There are some really great seafood restaurants at Ports O Call and there is something for everyone at the harbor.

Harmon

How did this turn out? Any pics and stories?

The event was great and we plan on doing it again. The fantail was a great location as all of the visitors exit the ship by that pathway. Lonnie Gill, the author, did show up and he signed my copy of the rules.

Here is am image of many of the players. We had a few dozen who stopped by to roll the dice for a turn or two.

We took the tour after the game and that was also great fun. Don't miss the arrow pointing to the band-aid sized scratch in the turret armor made by a 6" Japanese shell.

The view from the bridge.

Port's O Call Village is nearby and there were lots of places to spend the hours shopping in case someone in your family is not into wargaming. The dinner afterwards on the waterfront was great. I had the grilled salmon for about $10.50 USD. A fun day down by the water. When we do it again the game will be about a month before our convention as many of the visitors would have liked to attend our convention but needed more time to arrange their schedules. We will do a tour and dinner before or after our next event in October.