San Diego Historical Games Convention (SDHistCon) 2024 Daily Debrief Series – Day 2

Day 2 here at SDHistCon started off with an early breakfast with several gamers. We had a blast discussing games, what everyone had been playing at the convention on the first day and their plans for the final few days.

I think that one of my favorite things about the wargaming community is that everyone is so welcoming and genuinely nice. We always meet people that we feel a real connection with and always come away knowing more about the hobby. I very much enjoyed seeing some of these guys again including Tom Blessing, Russ Wetli and others.

After breakfast, we got started with a full 6-player game of Virgin Queen from GMT Games. Playing were Andrew Heim (England), Maurice Suckling (France), Alexander (Protestants), Grant Linneberg (Holy Roman Empire), David Siskin (Ottomans) and me (Spain).

Several players were new to the game but Andrew did a fantastic job of printing out special player aides along with some strategy tips that made everyone’s adjustment to the game and system that much easier. He also modified his copy of the game to include magnet tape on the back of certain of the score keeping and tracking counters as well as the artists and scientists so they could be elevated for all to more easily see. This made the game a very special experience and I really appreciated the preparation he had put into the game.

We played our first round in about 2 hours and made it through round 2 in about 90 minutes and then took a lunch break. Well, the game was very interesting as I ended up winning with Spain by forcing an automatic victory by converting many locations to Catholicism. In fact this meant that I was able to get the Protestants spaces all the way down to just 9 and the game came to an end after about 7 hours at the end of Turn 3.

I literally love Virgin Queen! It is a fantastic experiential wargame and it is just so very fun. The game is a bit jam packed with outs of quirky additions and I still prefer playing Here I Stand but it is always a very good experience.

We then sat down with Florent Coupeau with Nuts! Publishing and played one of their new upcoming games called Guerre Eclair or Blitzkrieg. The game is volume 3 in the Combat Rations Series and is a very smart, quick playing wargame covering the German invasion of France in 1940 during World War II.

Yasushi Nakaguro is the designer and does such a fantastic job with these little wargames and created a very tight playing game. the game is card driven and uses events rather than the typical operations points. The Germans hide their intentions by choosing a conquest goal of either taking the Maginot Line, conquering France or controlling the ports at Dunkirk.

Dice are rolled for combat and the highest 2 dice totals determine the outcome and if doubles are rolled losses of units will be inflicted. The French and British really cannot afford to lose many units as they don’t have a lot but neither can the Germans. the game is literally but very meaty and we had a great time. My French rolled incredibly well and stopped the Germans from reaching Paris or even taking the Maginot Line. Great little game!

We then tried to play a game of Greek Tragedy from Blue Panther. The game recreates the Greek Civil War conflict in a strategy game form, leading players to compete against their ideological counterparts not only for military positioning, but for rebuilding the devastated country, political dominance and basic humanitarian aid. Players must be concerned about the position of their forces on the board, but the composition of a player’s hand will affect their success in combat more often than not. We really enjoyed the card play although the combat seems a bit daunting and too involved for the type of game this is. Players start with an equal valued 38 card deck that results in the use of your cards being more important than the luck of the draw. Victorious diceless combat is rewarded with bonus cards leading to more tactical abilities. The game is designed for 2-4 players and players will assume the role of the Monarchists EDES (National Republican Greek League) and Org X (Known as Chites) or Communists ELAS (The Greek People’s Liberation Army) and EAM (The National Liberation Front).

Frankly the rules needed some work and we struggled with getting this one played correctly. I think that there is something here but we didn’t find it in our 90 minute play.

The final game of the night was a huge celebrity game of John Company 2nd Edition. I was pretty tired and decide to now put gracefully and return to my room to get some rest.