Report from the Con
Barracks Battles, 2008
By Doug McNair
May 2008

Barracks Battles came late this year, but it was well worth the wait. The hotel which had been hosting all conventions for Big Muddy Historical Gaming Alliance had become too expensive, and that put the con on hold for a couple months. But the con organizers found a fantastic new site in an unused store space at the St. Louis Mills Mall, for far less than what they’d been paying before!

All of a sudden we had a beautiful location with plenty of food options and a steady stream of passers-by looking in through the storefront windows. Many of them walked in to watch the games, pick up 119694_avalanche Press catalogs and get acquainted or re-acquainted with the hobby. This increased public awareness should hopefully generate increased attendance in November at Command Con, which the group plans to hold in the same space.

Big Muddy has always been very accommodating to me for the two years I’ve been running booths at their cons. They did not disappoint this time, giving me the store’s center island counterspace as my vendor booth (I think it was the most table space I’ve ever had at any con). As for the gaming, there was plenty, with Mark Johnson running his never-ending Napoleonics game for the entire duration of the con as usual:

Gold Club member Rich Wright ran several World War II air battles, including a raid over Germany and the one that got Yamamoto:

Jerry Merrell brought in some very impressive custom-made terrain for 82nd Airborne’s attack across the Waal River at Nijmegen:

And Third Reich 3rd Edition contributor Chris Fawcett ran several naval games, including the Battle of the River Plate . . .

. . . and a missile-boat campaign from the 1973 Arab-Israeli War, and finally the defense of Convoy OB-293. As for myself, I had a chance to participate in the latter, winning the first time we ran the scenario by sinking Otto Kretschmer and Gunther Prien, but losing the second time with three merchants and an escort sunk.

I also had a great time teaching Panzer Grenadier to new Gold Club member Larry Freeman and his wife, and then playing a nice long scenario from Road to Berlin with longtime Gold Club member Kevin Weber.

Barracks Battles was a great time as usual, and I’m very much looking forward to Big Muddy’s fall convention Command Con. I strongly encourage anyone within range of St. Louis to come and join us on November 14th and 15th.