Houston Beer and Pretzel
Wargaming

That's right, all you wargamers and beer aficionados out there, its our third annual year-in-review. We've recently celebrated the third anniversary of what Rob first conceived of three years ago, back when we started meeting occasionally in Asgard's back room, to drink beer and play a multiplayer, simple, fast, and fun wargame, and have a good laugh or three while doing it.

Some of our 2012/2013 gaming has been light hearted, some has been more serious. We've explored the what-ifs of managing a modern urban and industrial crisis, the frozen fjords of WWII Norway, tongue-firmly-in-cheek modern war-torn Africa, and a fair bit of far future science fiction gaming as well, plus a whole lot more.

So here it is, a brief recap of what we played over the last 12 months, with links to the full after-action reports and photos if you are interested in seeing more.

April 2012 - We're Not in Good Shape Anymore

Stephen provided us a rare treat back in April.  A chance to use a model of a real Texas port and surrounding industrial and residential areas, to run through the kinds of exercises real emergency management and homeland security officials run through.  Stephen created some threats and disasters, provided the players (who had each assumed  typical roles) limited intelligence and an evolving situation, and watched with glee as we muddled and mangled our way through, unwittingly, in trying to deal with the challenges and always insufficient resources and information at hand.  Not to mention the politicing and finger pointing.  All good fun.

The full blog post is here and more photos are here.

May 2012 - First Battle of Narvik

In May Daniel treated us to an operational recreation of the first battle of Narvik, when the British Admiralty sent a destroyer flotilla and small invasion force to recapture Narvik.  Without benefit of having read up on the real battle, those of us commanding the British ships weren't fully informed as to what to expect.  A German U-Boat and a mix of international shipping later, not to mention stronger German naval forces than expected, didn't result in too much success for us Brits.  Still, quite a bit of German shipping was hit and sunk or damaged in Narvik's harbor.

The full blog post is here and more photos are here.

June 2012 - Return to Elbonia

In June I brought the group back to fictitious modern-day west Africa, with Force on Force, where a very public meeting in the cosatal town of  Kamsar, between Elbonian President Wubaqi and officials from B'Eano and the US engineering firm Bellihurton, quickly led to bloodshed.  Quick thinking by Daniel Wubaqi, son of the President and commander of the Elbonian Army unit securing the coastal town of Kamsar, saved the day, in fiery and explosive fashion.  Needless to say new enemies and new friends were made in the streets of this Elbonian town.  We'll continue the tradition of celebratng Rob's birthday every June with an ongoing story arc in his adopted "home country".

The full blog post is here and here and more photos are here.

July 2012 - WWII Wings Over The Desert

Eagles flew over the sand in Check Your Six! action, hosted by Rob and Sandy, but no after-action report was ever filed, funny enough. Shame on you Robert!.

More photos can be found here.

August 2012 - They Have Another Plan

Having gone to Millenniumcon in the Fall of 2011, Rob came back with a new passion, and a lighter wallet.  Battlestar Galactica.  With he and Sandy launching a new "subsidiary" (Space Junk), what better way to advertize their new products than by running a game for a bunch of friends.  I'm personally sorry I missed this one, but it looked and sounded like a lot of fun,  While Galactica bit the big fiery dust ball in space, that gorgeous Commander Cain and her Pegasus are still out there...and so are the Cylons... 

The full blog post is here and more photos are here.

September 2012 - No Game

While Labor Day and other obstacles prevented us from gaming in September, our second annual convention, Texas BROADSIDE! 2012, did take place over a three day period aboard USS TEXAS in early October, and it was very successful!

More photos of the convention are here.

October 2012 - See What You Can Do, R2

Rob returned us to a science fiction theme when he brought out another recently acquired game, the new Star Wars space combat miniature game.  Simple, fast, and fun pretty much sums this one up and it makes another great Beer and Pretzels style game.  Rob and a couple of others spent the evening playing through two pretty basic games, but in so doing learned the rules well which paved the way for what happened in January...

The full blog post is here.

November 2012 - HG-84 Keeps Sailing (and Sinking)

Begun by me way back in May 2010, the saga of  British convoy HG-84, which historically sailed from Gibraltar to Liverpool way back in May 1942, has been an ongoing campaign, featuring six sessions now over the last few years as the convoy makes its way across the eastern Atlantic.  Episode six of this adventure was held this past November, using a slightly tweaked version of Mal Wright's Convoy tactical rules.  The u-boats of wolf pack Endrass continued to plague the convoy, as they sent MV EMPIRE CONRAD to the bottom and a sailing accident claimed the life of MV SHETLAND too.

The full blog post is here and more photos are here.

December 2012 - Buchholz Station

Another recurrng theme during the year is to hold a winter battle in... wait for it... winter!  That theme was revisited in December as we continued to move through the early hours and days of the Battle of the Bulge.  This year I hosted a recreation of the action around Buchholz Station, when German volksgrenadiers unexpectedly encountered some breakfast eating GIs and all hell broke loose.  This action seemed to center around killing or protecting a single M3 halftrack.  We used the increasingly popular Bolt Action rules to play this game, in 28mm, and the whole Christmas party was very well attended.

The full blog post is here and more photos are here.

January 2013 - Deposit Confirmed

In January Rob brought us back to a galaxy far far away.  Apparently short on Imperial Credits, Boba Fett was on a mission to deliver valuable intelligence to Imperial authorities in exchange for a huge payout.  In this Star Wars miniatures battle, Boba chose the oddest of places to make this transaction, the edge ot a remote asteroid field.  Needless to say, asteroids and TIE fighters don't really mix, however in this case apparently the Force was truly with the Dark Side as the Imperial players well and truly bested the Rebels.  No doubt we'll see plenty more Star Wars action in 2013, now that a certain Correlion transport, TIE interceptors, and TIE bombers have been released as new toys.

The full blog post is here and more photos are here.

February 2013 - Operation Menace

Daniel brought us back to the taffeta with a recreation of the 1940 battle for Dakar.  Using his own rules to guide us, we were presented with a British force of warships and support ships with orders to call for and then accept the surrender of the French fleet in the North African port of Dakar.  A rather proud French commander was going to have none of it.  With some British envoys held prisoner and the subsequent Brtish reprisal air strikes on the harbor only serving to embolden the French, the game pretty much followed historic lines with the British being unsuccessful in being able to carry out their orders and, in the end, sailing away pretty much unsatisfied.

The full blog post is here and more photos are here.

March 2013 - Rome is Not Burning

We followed a trip to WWII Africa in February with a visit to Rome in the far future in March.  Ogre miniatures is a system we visited in the first few months of our club's existence, so revisitng the system was long overdue.   This time it was Ed, who in his debut as club GM ran a futuristic battle, of ogreish proportions, which saw the Vatican Guard in action, defending the Eternal City against Combine aggresion.  After much carnage and a little bit of glory, the game was called a Pan European victory, for despite an absence of white smoke from the Vatican chimney, it was clear that Rome was safe for yet another day.  

The full blog post is here and more photos are here.

What's On The Horizon?

So there you have it.  Another year in the proverbial can, with new faces as well as old.  What do we have to look forward to?  Here is what's coming up in the next few months...

• This month Rob brings us back to the Sinai, to pick up where we left off in some desert jet action with Check Your Six!: Jet Age.
• In June we celebrate Rob's birthday with a return to Wubaqi's Africa.  A little Force on Force that will get the lion's share of attention at Stag's Head.
• In July Brian will return, after a year's absence as a GM, to run our first Bag the Hun game, as we return to the air for some East Front dogfight action.
• In August HG-84 will return for episode seven.  Maybe the convoy will get lucky this time, but I kind of doubt it...
• In September, rather than book the space for the end of the month, I have reserved the Oak Room for September 16th, the eve or Operation Market-Garden.  I'll be hosting a recreation of the fight for the Arnhem bridge, using Flames of War.
• The weekend of October 4-6 sees us running Texas BROADSIDE! 2013.  I invite you all to consider serving as a GM or attending as a gamer, to support our ongoing annual fund raising efforts, to help preserve Mighty T.  We also have a late October game night planned but currently do not have a particular game scheduled.
• In November we have an open game night as well, with no particular game planned as of yet.
• To wrap up the year, we'll return to Belgium and I'll use Bolt Action to recreate the work of Skorzeny's GI disguised commandos in the Battle of the Bulge.