[Midisfi]

Hello, tjänare!

Just discovered and joined this site (got a nudge from 3CG). "We" - Three Crowns Games (SE), Taktyka i Strategia (PL) and Flintlockgames (that's me in FI) - together decided to kick off a small con with a mighty name: Baltic Wargaming Convention. "Despite the name", we plan to tour around the Baltic Sea and take turns to arrange a meeting in each country. What we plan to do - and time will tell what we end up doing - is to demo new wargame designs, invite other designers to demo their designs, meet other crazy people, and of course play wargames!

We start in September 21-22, in Espoo (Esbo for you guys) at a local library. It's close to Helsinki, so if you happen to be on a cruise, care to visit us 

Next session will be planned in due time but you can follow us in the BWC Facebook group.

Cheers, Mikko

PS I hope I mentioned wargames often enough...

[Scipio]

Very cool!

Unfortunately it is a little bit to close in time for me to consider going but please share photos and updates here to make sure that we know what I missed!   

[Midisfi]

Some pics and info from the last weekend - while you all are packing up for the big local event! Our new minicon will be built around unpublished more or less wargaming-related projects; personal, commercial, whatever! While we had a late cancellation, we also got a surprise as one of the passionate players brought his pet project to the table!

I don't usually take pictures of the people, and we didn't exactly run out of chairs - but the couple of dozen who visited us over the weekend seemed to enjoy quite much. Or perhaps we are just nice and polite...

Let's start with Three Crown Games. I am a newly minted fan of the system, the team behind these games, and the whole experience! Obviously, learning the system as we played some of the critical battles of the Winter War adds to the whole experience. Stalin's Lost Chance was put on the table and it we took it through some trials. Stefan seemed to be taking notes frequently, but that's the idea! Get some fresh eye balls on the game to make it better.

The Red Army crossed the border all over the place. Luckily, the initial assault was contained by the master general himself (Stefan Ekström) and later we started to rotate players a bit. Jan played the Russians who got bogged down before the massive reinforcements started to arrive - which was only after the Finnish sudden death victory  



The chit pull system threw some curve balls and for example allowed the strong Russian army on the shores of Laatokka (Lake Ladoga) to activate three times before the Finnish opponent had a chance to react. Being new on the table, I took a little aggressive stand for the Finns and almost over-extended the line.



Once the time ran out at the venue, we tallied the casualties. Russian dead pile is quite a sight as they were wearing down the defenders via brutal attrition (sounds familiar...).



Next, there were some personal projects by Vesa-Matti Sarenius who traveled from the north. Finlandization is definitely a title that warrants some attention. I had no time to sit down as I was preoccupied with my own project or playing other games. His tables were full nearly the whole weekend and as I heard, a lot of comments and improvements were provided to him.



In Finlandization, the CIA and the KGB both try to make the Finnish government turn their way by influencing presidents, politicians and the elite. I hope he finds a publisher because this deserves to be on the table.

[Midisfi]

Second post for the BWC.

Cilicia
Continuing with the previous aspiring designer, his other title covers the end of the Cilician empire in the 14th century as the Mameluks invaded from the south, from modern day Syria. The Mameluks are strong thus the Cilicians must play smart to survive.



I have seen a demo of the game six months ago and didn't really have time to play it now either. It's card driven and should play relatively fast. Cards bring events and actions - a familiar mechanism to many, I presume. I hope someone who actually played these titles will write a report!



Kingdoms of England
This was a surprise to me, but definitely a fun project set around the Viking invasions of the British Isles. We started a four player game where one is the Viking invader and the other three local English kingdoms. At first, the English players need to cooperate to keep the invaders at bay, but ultimately it's a free for all.



Players have to balance between simple resource management and development, protecting the lands, attacking, clearing viking raiders out of the areas, donations to the church (giving VPs) etc. There are obviously endless options and the mechanism is quite simple but allows for many ways of playing. After a bit, I was drawn away to my own project on the other end of the table (!) and I was mainly asked "what do you want to do here - A or B?". I ended up winning the game thanks to my generous donations to the church!





1758 Fort Carillon
My own pet project went through some demo gaming and again, many helpful discussions with other gamers. I am at the stage of "de-overengineering" the game which is a fairly traditional hex and counter wargame set in the French and Indian Wars of North America. Carillon is today known as Ticonderoga, which probably most of us know from the US Navy missile cruisers.

As with 3CG, I took a lot of notes. There is always something to streamline or clarify. I think the two biggest outcomes for me - as I have no developer - was to receive additional feedback/ideas on some features, and a potential playtester who has been involved in Mikugames' projects back in the days. And he lives just around the corner!

I have decided to focus on streamlining the game mechanics and reduce the number of counters - esp. the ones that provide little additional gaming value. Thus de-overengineering 

The fort has a separate inset on the map where the French player can place the artillery. Each bastion will have a separate firing arc.



Although the audience wanted to see a big battle, a colleague of mine had just tested almost the same exact situation so I knew that would end up really badly for the British.



It was a bad decision to split the invading army of red coats - there was little offensive punch available, thus the light infantry enforced with some regulars was sent to go circumvent the far end of the French line. This had been left a bit too exposed by concentrating the main army fully in the middle.



I hope I didn't forget anyone! There were other tables with games being played, too. I am definitely looking forward to the next session, somewhere around the Baltic Sea!?