Bayou Wars 2008

I attended our HMGS-Gulf South regional convention this past weekend (June 2o-22) at the Radisson Hotel in Kenner, Louisiana (a suburb of New Orleans). The games were very well attended, as these pictures indicate. I got to see a number of wargaming friends from Louisiana and Alabama and met several new wargamers. The following pictures are just a sampling of the convention. I'll be posting detailed reports on the two games in which I was involved, a Franco-Prussian War game and the George Carr, Sr. Memorial Colonial game, later.

This was a WW2 (I believe) naval game being fought on the floor Friday afternoon. The game master was using interlocking foam mats as his playing surface.

Another naval game (1:2400 WW2 in the Pacific) was run by a fellow Jackson wargamer. In the background of this and the next picture, you can see some of the furious tournament action, everything from ancients to War Machine.

This 15mm American Civil War game was also run by a fellow Jackson wargamer. He did a play test of it several weeks ago and a detailed battle report will soon be on our group's web site (www.angelfire.com/games3/jacksongamer).

This was also a 15mm American Civil War game of part of the Battle of Antietam. The game master had scanned in a topographic map of the Sharpsburg area, printed the contours out of a large plotter, and then transferred the contour lines to his blue foam board. He then used a rasp and other tools to carve out the various levels. It was a stunning set up!

And finally, my good friend, Ken Hafer of Metarie, Louisiana, ran his "Brain Dead Sunday Morning" game. This was a reprise of what he did last year - a fight among various factions in the Star Wars universe using the 5150 rules from Two Hour Wargames, the owner of which was at the convention. Ken always wears at least one costume at the convention - this one is his approved costume as a member of the 501st Legion.

Bayou Wars was a very nice regional convention and I would encourage all gamers in the south USA to plan on coming next year. The dates will be established shortly, I've been told. The convention web site is: http://www.bayouwars.org/ .