Report from the Con:
Command Con IX, St. Louis, Missouri
By Doug McNair
November 2007

This weekend I had the opportunity to enjoy some of the last nice weather of the year by driving down to St. Louis for Command Con IX. I went to my first Command Con a year ago, and since then the members of Big Muddy Historical Gaming Alliance have been strong supporters of 119694_avalanche Press. Big Muddy presents three cons each year: Barracks Battles in March, August Spearhead and Command Con in November. In all cases the gaming is overwhelmingly historical, but they’re not doctrinaire about it, and if a game of Star Wars minis gets more kids in the door, so much the better.

This year’s command con kicked off the Battle of Lutzen, which ran in phases for the entire weekend:

Then there was “The Whitecoats are Coming,” a fictional encounter during the 1809 Campaign that has the Austrians invading Poland in an effort to prevent Russia from entering the war. Napoleon responds by sending Marshal Massena’s IV Corps, plus the IX (Saxon) and Polish Corps to stop them.

For more alternative history, Rich Wright broke out the power tools to set up “The Battle for Pratt’s Farm,” in which well-led Confederates try to hold off superior Union forces in winter:

The next morning, Rich returned with “Pappy Boyington’s Last Flight,” in which the Americans got badly shot up but Pappy got away:

And then I had the pleasure of meeting 119694_avalanche playtester Martin Gallo (at left, below), who ably ran demos of Panzer Grenadier and Third Reich for the crowd:

The evening rounded out with two very different raids on local insurgent leaders. Rich ran “Tal-a-Far Snatch and Grab,” in which Strykers try to root out Jihadi leaders in Iraq:

And then we had “Battle for the Belgian Congo” in which the Belgian Force Publique tries to capture a local shaman who is fomenting rebellion while Colgolese and Pygmy warriors come to his rescue. It was easily the most entertaining game of the evening, with the guy playing the shaman adding some very impressive war whoops and incantations as he led the Africans to a crushing victory against the hated colonists.

Overall, Command Con IX was a lot of fun, and I enjoyed meeting longstanding 119694_avalanche fans and creating a few more by running demos and getting people great deals on 119694_avalanche Press games.

I’m in need of an extended road trip, so next up you’ll be seeing reports from the west end of Missouri. Stay tuned!