Morgan Comes to Porto Bello Wins Theme Award

[Operator5]

Pete Murray's Gloire game on Friday afternoon won the Friday PM theme award for Cold Wars 2008. The theme happened to be pirates and Pete had his best "salty dog" impersonation going.

Pete was thrilled with the award and even more surprised when he received the Overall Cold Wars Theme award on Saturday evening.

If you have not gotten a chance to play in any of Pete's Gloire games, you should try to at Historicon 2008.

Congratulations Pete.

And here are a couple of photos from the game.









We'll get more pictures up of all the Rattrap games within the next day or two. Everything from .45 Adventure to Fantastic Worlds.

[Malamute]

Great looking game, lovely table. I especially like the sea effects. Well done Pete.

[Westfalia Chris]

Hear hear!

Jolly well done, Captain Pete, I say! Avast! Arrr! ::

[Hammers]

Congratulations, Pete! I can't say it comes as a great surprise given how well you do this era.

[Plynkes]

I suspect gerrymandering or some other form of jiggery-pokery was involved. But until it is proven, a provisional 'well done, Pete' is called for.

So well done, Pete.

[Operator5]

I told Pete that the only reason he got it was because the power went out at the convention center and the better games could not be run.  

That was of course not the case (the power did go out but must gamers ran with flashlights over their boards until it returned---now that is hard core gaming!) and Pete's game was as deserving as the rest of the excellent competition he faced.

[twrchtrwyth]

Nice.

[PeteMurray]

Thanks very much, ladies and gentlemen (this is the first time I've been online since last week and thus am late to my own party.)

I have to say that a game is ultimately only as successful as the players make it. I was lucky enough to have amazingly enthusiastic players, who managed to have a good time even when the dice were breaking badly for them.

Winning Friday's award was an unexpected honor, and the Overall Theme Prize was something I never anticipated.  But thank you for your felicitations. Without Lead Adventurers goading me to better and better work, I suspect I would not have placed. Thanks to you all for inspirational work of your own!

[PeteMurray]

I will share stories: Saturday morning's game went well for the pirates, despite a forceful attempt by the Spanish to wrest control away (the die were merciless against the Spanish, though). The Pirate faction in that game made off easily with the Skull, with Randy the Buccaneer player screening Young William, whose models had recovered the skull and kept Don Armando at arm's length.

Then Randy, sensing the importance of the moment, turned on his partner, attempting to steal the skull and win on his own!

The game came down to a single Brawn test, with Young William succeeding and having only 1/4" movement to spare to reach the exit and win the game! That was dramatic. The silence was palpable as that die was cast.

On Saturday afternoon's game, the Spanish had found the Black Skull, but were down to only Don Armando and I think a wounded Grade 1 character. Young Paul, who was at most 12 or 13, decided that the situation was thus unwinnable for the Spanish, and the sensible course of action was to hurl the Black Skull into the lagoon. It was certainly the dramatic gesture - I declared the game over at that point, unwinnable to any side (the point had been to exit the board with the Skull.)

I then proposed to distribute the prize money among the players in equal shares. Two of my players gave their shares to Young Paul, out of the generosity of their hearts and the desire to see people stay in the game. I was deeply touched, and when I offered to replace the donated funds, they declined. Such virtue! Such players! This is why I love to run games at the cons.

[Aaron]

Congrats Pete. I wish I could have gotten out of the dealer hall for long enough to see it in person!

[Driscoles]

I´ll make my congrats a bit more international.

Herzlichen Glückwunsch aus Deutschland lieber Pete.
Das ist eine ausgezeichnete Spielplatte.

Beste Grüße
Björn

[Yggdrasil]

I could only say:

Herzlichen Glückwunsch aus Deutschland lieber Pete.
Das ist eine ausgezeichnete Spielplatte.

Dem kann ich mir nur voll und ganz anschließen

It´s a very nice gaming table with much of atmosphere!

[Aaron]

By the way, are those the resin buildings Brigade sells? They look like very nice kits. Chris hughes picked one up for his Mexican-American War gaming and I saw them in use at Cold Wars in a Penninsular War game. Very versatile buildings!

[Operator5]

They are indeed Brigade's buildings. Excellent pieces and there are more planned.

[PeteMurray]

Buildings: (with the exception of the gray stable, made by Conflix) are all Brigade. Painting directions:
1. Spray paint building white.
2. Brush on walnut-colored wood stain.
3. Wipe off walnut-colored wood stain.
4. Paint roof Burnt Sienna.
5. Drybrush roof.
6. Sealant coat.

Total elapsed time painting buildings: 3 hours.
Total elapsed time waiting for building paint to dry: 12 hours.

Water: Envirotex Lite, faintly stained blue. I poured it too thick, it got too hot, and if I hadn't had it outside to cure, I'm sure I would have gassed myself out of the house, or set the house on fire. Consequently the rippled effect and the shimmery finish in the liquid is completely unintentional. ALWAYS READ THE DIRECTIONS ON ENVIROTEX LITE FOR GOD'S SAKE.

Bridges: Craft sticks and basswood.

Flagstones: Wallpaper! A gift from Deathwing, leftover from one of his projects. Cobblestones are lentils glued into place. I didn't have enough flagstone to completely cover the board.

The Statue: A Dreamblade prepaint, Dremel'd off its base and glued to a painted laundry detergent cap. I painted it a patina of bronze, and it looks pretty nice.

Vegetation: One Grimmtschungel based on a CD.

Encounter Markers: Wooden "Mini Apple Barrels" from the craft store, now no longer stocked.

Figures: Brigade buccaneers and swashbucklers.

Mr. Murray's wardrobe courtesy of Mo, marking the first time in nearly a year and a half where I didn't wear my blue Gloire polo shirt.

I also nearly wrote about the Copplestones on the board. This would be the miniatures equivalent of rap video-style conspicuous consumption.