"Southern Front - Impressions ? " Topic

Attended for my sixth year in a row, I noted that there were several other TMP folks who made the trek, some I got to meet, some I did not. All in all, had a great time. Picked up some goodies, Phil from Outland brought me a care package of 20mm goodies and other cool odds and ends, got some nice Euro RR buildings from another vendor whose name I did not get.

Things I learned -

French Marines and Naval Infantry are not Prussians, and should not act like them.

Bolsheveks and armoured trains seem to be a volatile combination.

The Sudan is not a very good vacation spot for Englishmen.

No plan (at least not of mine) survives first contact – correction – my plans dont survive the first turn, period.

There are people who roll worse dice than I do :-)

Things I saw -

A really cool Pulp WWII game that my friend Mike played in. His Nazi uberman got the stuffing beat out of him by a super-GI and it made me wish I had read the @![ PEL so I would have seen that game on the schedule and maybe could have played in it…

A really cool RCW game featuring in 28mm featuring a horde of beautiful figures and terrain, and an awesome armoured train full of Reds. They blowed up real good. My side helped a bit.

A really cool game of Memoir '44 converted to minis. A bunch of kids played this one and they had a blast! We had several kids that played in several games throughout the weekend and that was pretty cool in and of itself.

Loads of other great-looking games and loads of gamers having fun. I spied one or two folks that seem to believe that pushing toy soldiers somehow affects their status as a human being (lighten up, dudes), but everyone else seemed well into the spirit of the event.

My experience may vary from yours, though. What did my fellow TMPers who attended think of the con?

I thought it was a great time, but I'm a bit biased! :)

I do think it was the single greatest concentration of good looking and great playing games ever created. It was the Center of the Gaming Universe for this weekend at least.

Looking forward to next year!

The pulp game was run by my buddy Marc Anderson aka (cromagman) here on TMP. I was one of the American G.I. players and it was the first time the Yanks had every keep the bomb toating Nazi Zombies from blowing the bridge. If you had asked Hacksaw, I would have gladly yielded my spot so you could have had a go at what is fast becoming one of my favorite game systems. Jerry ( Nazrat) Frazee painted all the figs for Marc's game and the terrain was a combination of things we have made over the years from our little club here in Charlotte, NC.

As to the convention itself I think Ed and the gang ran a fine convention indeed and it will now be a staple on my calender as a must attend. I had a blast as did my 10 year old son. I think that Southern Front has tons of potential to grow and the location is very nice with a large mall close by for food options and ease of access from a major highway. I plan to run a number of games next year myself. The convention mainly needs more space for games to be run and a snafu by the Hotel was part of the problem here as one of the spaces that was suppose to be for Southern Front was double booked. Ed was given another ( much smaller) room for free but it did make things a bit cramp at times.

I was amazed at how many regulars I normally see at the big HMGS cons were at this show. Now there is not even a 10th of the dealers that one is used to having at say Cold Wars or Fall In but the quality was high to say the least. Both Battle Field Terrain Concepts were there as was Chris Huges with his fine Sash and Sabre line. In fact I took the plunge into Chris' excellent 40mm lines and bought some of his 40 mm Vikings to use for Pig Wars. Chris is the man when it comes to 40mm and the periods and vastness of the eras he is expanding into is amazing.

Add this one to your calenders folks before it becomes too big. I will also add that the games being run were also of a high standard overall.

Things I learned at Southern Front:

Never assume you will not spend as much at a small con as a larger one.

Not only is it satisfing to repeat history and again have the Patriots win the Battle of Cowpens but is was very satisfiing to wack Bloody Ban.

Nazie Zomies are very hard to shoot in the head with an M1.

No matter how big and tough a Super Hero you are, a fall from a 10 story building will take you out.

My son is more of die hard wargamer than I am.

TSS is well known for some of the best quality games at HMGS conventions.
VR
James Mattes

And a great time was had by all. I even bought into a new scale, 40mm Nappies from Sash & Sabre. wooohoooooo!

A Tip 'o my Topper to: Byron Angel and Kevin Kinkaid,
who drove sommat more than 700 miles to attend ! Byron
ran two marvelous naval games. Hopefully, the rules
will be published!

John Read, who put together and ran Trafalgar (with
I think about 60 ships !), toting the game materials
from Chicago ! These were the Portsmouth models, NOT
1/2400 or 1/1200. And a GREAT looking game !

Edmuell2000, who showed everyone how it should be done
in 25mm Colonials, using the 'old legit's' – Ral Partha !
A gorgeous game, and well-run. Thanks !

And thanks to all who attended, many for the first time,
which helped us to grow for our fourth straight year !

Thanks for the nice comments on my Pulp WWII game. It was a lot of fun to run. Everyone really got into the spirit of it. The great thing about pulp is I've never known anyone to take it too seriously. There were laughs aplenty.

I thought it was a great con. Every game looked great and the people were all friendly.

I'm with Whitemanticore. I plan to make this an annual event.

Marc

I finally got the opportunity to head south (from the Wash DC metro area) to SF, which I had heard nothing but good things about. It did not disappoint: I second the above comments on the quality of the venue, the games, and the vendors, and would emphasize the welcoming atmosphere of the entire event. It was good to meet Ed Mohrhman and Neal Smith, and the other fine folks of the TSS (and the general population in attendance). I can recommend it both as a game master and as a player (excellent on both counts).

A few things I learned at Southern Front:

The French back-pedal is a progressive tactic when playing the Franco Prussian War.

Poles will stick to a unit of Spahis of the Porte like dust bunnies to a big, wet gumball.

Don't enter the raffle unless you can afford to spend some time with Madonna (you would have to attend in order to appreciate this point).

Always check out the "second tier" of boxes at the vendor tables.

Punching your way up I 95 on a Sunday afternoon/evening between Richmond and DC is like rolling 1s (when you need 6s) for about three hours, but worth the trip.

Excelsior!
Ed M

I had a great time as well! The general quality of the games run there was above average for what I usually see at HMGS cons up North. The folks were all nice, and as the guys above have said although there were just a few vendors they were almost all of exception caliber and I managed to spend a decent amount of dough.

Friday evening when I arrived I was a little nervous about helping run Cromag's Pulp WW II game and my Supersystem game because every single table had Historical games going on them. It made me feel like that was going to be the entire bent of the con. The next day there were a few fantasy/SF games going on, though, so my fears of offending discriminating Historical players were completely allayed. I know I shouldn't let that sort of thing bother me at all, but I have seen guys at other cons (and here on TMP as well) get into quite a lather about mixing the genres at conventions so I'm never sure if it's going to be an issue. I play practically everything out there so it makes no difference to me!

Kudos to Ed and company for puttingon the best local gaming Con I have ever been to!

I forgot to doff the topper to: Sturgis Payne.

Sturgis is a long-time TSS'er. He's generous. Sturgis
won the 'Mystery' prize (which just happened to be $200 USD
worth of certificates good for use at our attending
dealers) and GAVE THEM AWAY !

Applause !

Nazrat, don't sweat the non-Historical games. Almost
all of us play darn near anything you want to name,
and I trust you noticed the Wargods of Aegyptus games
which Pete Baxter ran (thank you, Pete.)

And thanks greatly to you and the rest of the folks from
Charlotte for coming. I'm glad you enjoyed yourselves and
we look forward to seeing you back !

SF is primarily a Historical Miniatures con, but that
doesn't rule-out other genres.

Why, some of us even think 'Historical Miniatures' doesn't
necessarily mean MILITARY miniatures…hehehehe…

As I said, I quickly got that feeling on Saturday. I plan on making SF an annual event along with as many of the group down here that we can drag along!

I, too, had a GREAT time at this con. Games were all good-looking, and played well. (Although I must learn to read the descriptions in advance----the 20 mm Napoleonic was an entry level [READ: VERY beginner level] game that had no attack columns or infantry squares!) And here's to my opponent in that game, who did everything correctly for regular Napoleonics, but found out this game didn't work that way. He never lost his cool, even when my dice turned exceptionally hot! I got to fly the Red's plane in the RCW and was able to gun down some WR artillerists which were giving the Red brothers a hard time. The whole setup on this game was outstanding! The train, the town, the figures, the fake fur steppe, etc.; it all worked to make a beautiful game. And it was fun, to boot! I got to have lunch with my son (a senior at Chapel Hill) twice, I did a little shopping, and I tried the local brew on tap at the hotel. I played ACW, RCW, Napoleonic, WW II, and wandered in to watch an OTHER game, (nudge, nudge, wink, wink, say no more) which was hilarious. These guys know how to have a good time. Don't miss the next one!

laroslav, careful 'bout those OTHER games…you might
get drafted to (ahem) 'play a role'…heheheheh

Glad you enjoyed yourself, and THANKS for coming !