Siege of Augusta 2016: Great Times and Obviously, Miniature Warfare!

    

     Another weekend ended with a fantastic time at other round of this year's Siege of Augusta. Kalissa and I love going to conventions. They are always fun because you can meet up with fellow gamers and play new game systems you otherwise would not normally see. We love Siege of Augusta (SOA) because it is a smaller convention, so you really meet people. When I say small, it is more like 200 to 300 people attending. And for a weekend affair, SOA is not that much of a trek for us to travel to. It is roughly a three hour drive from Fayetteville, NC. I am sure it is suppose to be a longer drive, but I have what some would call a "lead foot."
     About Siege of Augusta: It is a historical gaming convention held in Augusta, Georgia every year in January on Martin Luther King, Jr. weekend. Even though it is listed as a historical themed event, it is still mixed with Sci-fi and Fantasy as well. This year's SOA was going to be a little different for us, since one of the main organizers recently pasted away.  For those you did not get a chance to meet Bryant McLaughlin, you missed out on a great guy. He was a very warm-hearted guy who was very encouraging to war gamers just starting. I first met Bryant at a Flames of War tournament in Fayetteville at the Hobbit 2011. We never played against each other, but we had some conversations. He was also at every convention Kalissa and I went to. If we saw Bryant, surely we would find some of our other war gaming friends. So when we went to SOA this year, it felt different without him. Bryant will be surely missed.
     Another thing that was going to different was that Kalissa was going to be running a tournament. So we had a busy December preparing. I honestly did not think that I could fit ten tables worth of 28mm terrain in a 2007 Jeep Liberty! But it happened. We went down a day early to make sure that we could get set up without being rushed. In the end, we really did not need ten tables worth. I just now know I can carry that much in one vehicle.
     Since the convention had such a loss in the organization, it had some rough patches. Most were things that people would not normally notice. Lots of people showed up to this convention. I got to see a lot of my friends that have been missing in action as well as a few Georgia gamers we have not seen, since we moved from Atlanta. There were several tournaments other than our Bolt Action one. There was DBA, two Flames of War, and Saga. We did not really get to try new games this year as much, which was fine. Kalissa and I spent a lot of time answering terrain questions and did some Bolt Action demo games on Friday. The same seemed to happen the next after the Bolt Action tournament. Kalissa also learned about new card games that some of our friends brought such as The Grizzled.
    As an overall review of this year's SOA: it was a great success. If there were any doubts about the future of Siege this year, it will definitely continue on. The place was busy and dice were cast down. Kalissa has already agreed to run the Bolt Action tournament next year, which we will look forward to. Most importantly, we had fun! If you are in the area in January, go to the Siege of Augusta. Here are some photos of this year's SOA XXV!

Vietnam Jungles.

This game reminded me of the old NES video game called the North and South. It is almost the exact set up.

This was an alien infestation game. The same board was used for the game THEM! based off the 1954 movie Them! with giant ants. I still love that movie.

Aliens

The soldiers.

I did not get to see this game played.

Naval warfare!

Terrain for a French and Indian War game.

Though, I make my own stuff, I always photo other people's ways they make stuff.

This was an French and Indian War game the next table over.

This was one of Ron Holden's games of Food Fight. No one ended up playing on it on Friday when it was set up. I probably would have played it just because I like corky, cheesy games. I think he would have had players for it on Saturday, since there was a middle school miniatures gamming club at came that day.

I just thought this was neat. The game master made everything out of household stuff he had laying around. I think he said that all he paid for it was time.

For all of you fort fans!

After the game of this island assault, I heard the game master say he was selling this for $600

The assault boats.

More Vietnam.

Air Cav!

So it drew me back like a magnet!

Just great stuff!

Flames of War

Aliens are restless.

Some Star Trek Attack Wing.

Star Wars Armada.

And where there is Armada, X-Wing is sure to follow.

Red Coats.

WW1 Dogfights.

Wild West games.

I love the different characters for this game.

Star Wars game. The Stormtroopers are coming!

The rest of the town. I actually threw away packaging at work the week before. Now, I know I can use it for Star Wars terrain!

Steers!

20mm WW2.

Civil War.

More Flames of War.

Flames of War Tournament.

Flames of War Tournament.

Flames of War Tournament.

Flames of War Tournament.

Tom Kearney told me about this T-Shirt. We have played Flames of War games where my tactics were sound, but my rolls were horrific!

I just love these.

I always liked elephants in armies.

Terrain for a modern warfare game.

I did not know what game it was, but hex games are not that common in the U.S. from what I have seen so far.

Naval Warfare with sails!

I can only guess the stormtrooper assault did not go well. Now, there are walkers incoming.

A pick up board game.

Again, this stuff rocks.

Flames of War Tournament.

Flames of War Tournament.

Flames of War Tournament.

The fact that there is a gaming club for kids is hopeful and rocks. I am kind of jealous that this was not available when I was in school.

More wilderness terrain.

There was a huge cheer in this game at the end. I can only imagine what happened.

I just played this one skirmish game, where the British were out to arrest someone who had militia and drunks to back him up. I decided to play the Indians. I just liked their names: Tubok and Oontas! I wanted to shoot the British commander on principle. As it turned out, his death gave the British leadership. If we'd known that earlier, I would have shot away!

The pennies were reload markers. It took two turns to reload. Tails was the first turn. Heads was the second, then fire!

Ants!

Vietnam game. The Game master ran multiple games throughout the weekend.

This was a random pick up game.

I was just photographing this house on my table to get an idea. This is a Foxhole Terrain building made of resin. I bought an unpainted house like this one, a shed, and a bunch of their stone walls. Danny makes great stuff.