Rodtoberfest I - After Report

Rodtoberfest I has come and gone, and I have to say that I am happy with just about everything having to do with it. Turn out was great, good times were had, good food was eaten, and other than Brad having to run off because his wife had to go to the hospital for an kidney stone (she's feeling much better!), and a failed coffee grinder, it went off without a hitch. Good times indeed!

Early Friday night attendance was limited to Dave Reed, so we set up my new copy of Dust Tactics and played a couple of games. It pretty much sucks, so unless you really want the figures, save yourself some dough. It's another variation on the "shoot first to win" concept. The figures are nice, and you can have prepainted ones for only $300! Apparently, these guys haven't heard about Sir Lanka. Anyway, they have a long list of supplements planned, but I bet they go the way of AT-43 in nothing flat. Regardless, it was nice to hang out with Dave and get in some gaming time. Next time, we'll pick a better game - promise! :)

Dave and Thomas showed up a little after midnight. We had a cocktail and called it a night as we were all pretty exhausted.

Saturday dawned and we were off! Thomas made some steel cut oats with bacon in them (he called it "Roman style") while I got the battlefield ready for the 54mm ACW game. We refought First Manassas using my "Backyard Horse & Musket" rules. This was our second play through and it went very smoothly. The rules are only one-and-a-quarter pages long, so there's not too much that can go wrong with them, so there you go. Here are some shots from that most regal event.Here's a long range shot of the western half of the battlefield, looking north. The blue streak meandering through the center is the Bull Run. You can see the Union advanced guard approaching in the distance, and if you look really close you can see Shenk's Confederates behind the split rail fence just this side of the Run.

Here's a close up of Shenk's Brigade. They are in advance of the rest of the Confederate forces by a considerable distance, and will have to hold the Yankees for the first turn solo.


The Union advanced guard prepares to march against Shenk.


Here's one of the two bridges over Bull Run. The Yankees will have to use it to cross on this flank. It will be hotly contested, and ultimately, only a handful of Union troops will make it.

This was dubbed "Foss Farm", thanks to the carefully dug field next to the house by Mr. Foss himself. He also planted a forest made of pine cones. Next time I'll have green spray paint on hand so we can color them appropriately.


This is Henry House on Henry House Hill. The hill is made out of sawdust left over from the deck rebuild. The Confederates got a battery up here which ended up doing great execution on the Union crossing the bridge.



McGraw's men charge Shenk's brigade! Mike got his boys stuck right in, charging Shenk's position. They very nearly carried it too, as I am terrible at row-sham-bow!


Brad (aka "Our Ringer") takes careful aim at Dave Wilhelm's boys on the other side of the Bull Run. Brad had brought up a regiment to support Shenk's brigade at the split rail fence. Brad is pretty much a natural at anything that requires hand-eye coordination. I'm just glad that Billy's hootch didn't affect his eyesight.

The Union rally for another attempt to cross the bridge. Fortunately for the Confederates, Brad rolled a cannon ball fired from Henry House Hill right across the bridge, taking out almost all the Union troops forming up to cross.

Other incidents of note include: 1) Thomas' magnificent cannon shot across the battlefield that hit a Union and Confederate unit in melee, yet somehow managed to knock over only Confederate troops; 2) Several musket shots (made with very cheap airsoft pistols) which managed to take out 3+ troops with one pellet; 3) Billy's home made turnip and beet vodkas. I can state without hesitation that the turnip blend now has enough turnip.

After the game it was supper time. I made pulled pork that turned out okay, but next time I'll cook it for another couple of hours. The outer layers fell apart nice, but the inside was more a roast texture than pulled pork. I believe everyone contributed to the feeding frenzy, and I particularly enjoyed Robert's salad and Billy's sweet potato concoction.

We polished off the evening with Stalin Slalom. Bobby managed to win without even crossing the finish line. Communism!

Our next big event will be the CGC Xmas Game. We'll be settling on a date soon, and this year we'll be playing TrOY, a game using 54mm toy Trojans, Greeks, and a gigantic hollow horse...

Cheers!

- Rod