Sunday, September 11, 2005

 

Orcs and Wargs and Gamers at Conquest SF

(Note: It's been over six months since I posted about miniatures wargaming. For those of you who have started reading since then, do not be alarmed. Baseball blogging will return eventually, and perhaps sooner than I indicated in my last post.)

Every Labor Day weekend for the last quarter century or so, a thousand or more gamers have gathered at a pre-arranged place, and performed geeky rituals that, when performed publicly, freak the hell out of relatively normal people. We're talking about Dungeons and Dragons. We're talking about boardgames from Europe that you have never seen at Toys R Us. Most of all, and closest to my heart, we're talking about miniatures wargaming. "Miniatures wargaming" is what we call it; the rest of you may continue to call it "grownups still playing with toy soldiers." Really, I don't mind.

This year, the Labor Day convention was Conquest, held at the San Francisco Airport Marriott. I spent most of it playing Lord of the Rings wargames. I refereed one battle on the first night. This was my "Meaning of Haste" scenario, for those of you who remember my posts from last winter. (And really, it's okay if you don't--you won't win any bar bets by remembering Skaldheim posts, trust me.) For four hours, the forces of the Kingdom of Rohan faced the Uruk-Hai and Wargs of Saruman the White. The forces of evil were commanded by a couple of gentlemen named Wyn and Ray. The Rohirrim were in the hands of gallant young men named Suchol and Eric. I was the referee, and I wielded a brand new Sony digital camera.

I was dangerous.

It was a tight battle, ending in a draw. I may describe it in more detail in another post. For now, I wanted to share my sheer ineptitude with digital photography. I really should read the freaking manual for my new camera, or something. So be warned that these photos are a bit off, but they'll give you some idea of what kind of toy soldiers grownups play with. (Click on the images to see the full-sized ones.)



The Riders of Rohan charge...



...opposed by the fighting Uruk-Hai...



...and eventually, all hell breaks loose.

Next post: pictures from Wyn's very interesting Battle for Dwarrowdelf event.

For now: Outside of baseball, what's your favorite geeky or "guilty pleasure" hobby?

Jefferson 1:55 PM

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