Post Genghis Con Sorta AAR

Genghis Con was over the President's Day weekend (Feb. 13 through 15) and it was a great time had by all. Even though I wasn't able to spend Valentine's Day with my sweetheart (she was working anyway) I did get to enjoy a lot of games, including two of my three planned Skirmish Sangin scenarios.

The first game was The Tulip and the Crescent (see the blog entry below) and I had only two players, a father and son. I joined the elder Lee (Scott) and took a four-man fireteam of DSI and his son played the roll of both cells of IS insurgents. I'd write up a proper AAR but frankly the action was so fast and furious that I quickly lost track.

Besides, the kid beat the crap out of us and I'm embarrassed to go into detail.

Me (the fat bastard) conferring with the kid who kicked my ass.

The short story made shorter is that the IS forces were expertly arrayed on rooftops and on the ground. The moment the DSI teams were on the board they fell under a hail of gunfire. The elder Lee did a good job of suppressing (killing) many of the initial shooters on the rooftops, but once we got to the street, we were hit by a deadly sniper, an RPG, and a well-situated suicide bomber. After just five action phases, the DSI teams were shattered and forced to retreat, leaving dead and wounded to be captured. We didn't even get close to rescuing the wounded police officer. I'm sure he starred in a beheading video later.

The second game was the Londonistan scenario, with four players and myself acting as referee. This was a much more balanced game but equally fierce and short. The British Paras surrounded the mosque containing the hostage Imam and laid down impressive suppression fire, Critically wounding one and making the rest suffer constant morale checks. However, the rescue force bulled their way through an obstacle and managed to make it to the side of the mosque. The technical with the .50 caliber MG on it was pretty useless as the initial shooter was quickly mowed down and every time another insurgent tried to reach it they were picked off. The second vehicle was also badly shot up and its driver killed.

For the insurgents, the RPG scored a Dead Right There kill of a Para and wounded another. Bad rolls on morale really hurt the Paras and kept them from moving effectively.

In the end, the only insurgent survivor of the debacle managed to escape off the board with the hostage Imam, thus earning IS a Pyrrhic victory. Still, a win is a win.

Lesson #1 Learned: Too many figures on either side bogs a con game down. It's better to have fewer figures for newbies.

Lesson #2 Learned: The Paras and the DSI did not move and maneuver in a coordinated manner. I think the outcomes of both games would have been different had players (myself included) spent more time focusing on getting to our objective.

I'd like to thank all the people who worked hard to make Genghis Con such an enjoyable convention, especially Mike Garland, who coordinated the more than 50 miniatures games. There were also 159 board games and 139 role-playing games, including many

As a final aside, I have to say how much it warmed my cold and merciless heart to see a father and son enjoy a hobby like wargaming together. My little man is turning twelve this year and I'm looking forward to years of him kicking my ass together.