Old West games at Siege of Augusta 2023

[Elbows]

Last weekend I attended Siege of Augusta, a really nice "perfect size" (250-ish people) convention held in...*gasp* Augusta, Georgia.

Amusingly, while last year's theme was Old West, this year there were three Old West games being run concurrently.

While I failed to take (ANY!) pictures of my games I was running, I managed to steal some from people on the Facebook page and some of the guys who played.  I ran Shoot N' Skedaddle three or four times on Friday afternoon.  At the same time, someone was running a large Fistful of Lead game, and another table was running a big Empire of the Dead(?) game.  The other two games were larger con-games (6-8 players), while I ran a small 4'x4' table with up to four players.  More of a demo game.









It may be one of the last con outings for my current town, as I've decided to re-do it with some newer TT Combat stuff.  Just in the mood to re-do everything and give it a different vibe.

I snagged one picture of the larger Empire of the Dead game:

[Kelly_]

Congratulations on the successful games, and I really like the frame building under construction on your table, it adds to the realism of the town.

[FifteensAway]

Both nice looking games.  I rather like that the larger game had a lot of larger and greener trees.  I suspect, thanks to those "spaghetti" westerns, too many Old West games are based in deserts.  But most of the action was Texas to Kansas (grass prairie), or Colorado and a lot of it in California (mountains and trees or just high altitude mountains) - and not so much in the desert (southern California's Sonora desert and Death Valley varieties).  Of course, there was action in New Mexico and Arizona (not all but A LOT of greenery far more than the typical Sahara images), too, but those 'verdant' deserts were rarely as sparse as so much game terrain is depicted.  Impact of cinema far outweighs the real history - or Monument Valley wouldn't be very popular with gamers.  Kind of funny for a hobby called "historical" miniatures. 

Will look forward to Elbows new town. 

[Elbows]

Yep, having worked in the desert in Arizona...it's plenty drab, but has more greenery than "most" people think (and I agree it has a lot to do with the spaghetti western styling).  Until you get north around Flagstaff, Arizona is still limited to small robust trees, mainly mesquite, etc. Plenty of brush and the stereotypical cactus (which only exists in the sajuaro desert, a very small area).

My "town" is in New Mexico, so I keep to mesquite trees for my own tables. 

[FifteensAway]

Elbows,

I did notice the trees in your town and their sparseness.  And your town is cool - though a might sparse on wagons and even sparser on horse flesh!  . Maybe just pregame photos before the action got rolling?

I know it is "just a game" but it seems gamers forget that, for the most part, towns exist because there is a way to survive in a place.  The glaring exceptions are generally mining towns which can be in some pretty desolate places - but they still supplies to exist.  So, I guess if you have a town for mining it can be really sparse or maybe a railroad stop that exists because there is a source for water to fuel the steam locomotives but beyond the water there is desert (places like that in Nevada and Utah for sure - or were).

Even remote army posts needed supplies to survive in place - and sometimes that was the spur for a town to come into being, folks settling to create and sell supplies to the fort.

The one that really gets me are the teeny-tiny gaming towns that might scrape together a few dollars for deposit in a safe in the semi-general store's semi-safe that, if robbed - and the robbers not shot down straight away - might yield enough of "a take" to buy the robber a drink or too.  Hardly worth risking one's life for.  Then again, criminals rarely exhibit much in the brains department - and those that do are the hardest to catch. 

Now, ignore my blather and go enjoy your Old West town and have a fun game! 

[CapnJim]

I for one, like your little corner of Heaven.  Or maybe Hell, depending on your fate once there...well done!

[MaleGriffin]

Absolutely FANTASTIC towns! Brilliant looking games!

[Khusru2]

Who? What? This was a secret meeting? I'm in Atlanta and would have loved to attend.
Let's have a little notice!

[Patrice]

  Superb towns and tables!

[Galloping Major]

Superb towns and tables!

I very much agree 


www.gallopingmajorwargames.co.uk

[Militia Pete]

Sad that I missed it. Right across the river. Had to attend Cowpens that weekend.