A Weekend of Stars and Glory! Nashcon 2026

In my case, the “stars” were three space combat games I ran on Friday, and the “Glory” was my Wings of Glory (aka “Wings of War”) game on Saturday.

Never Mind the Asteroid, Full Speed Ahead!

The first star was Star Captain, my own rules for ship vs, ship captain’s duels in a not-Star Trek universe. Each player commands one ship, and makes all the decisions on what the ship does. It’s based on a very simple power allocation system, involving assigning dice (generated by the power plant) to various combat, maneuvering, and support systems— and of course, there’s never enough power to charge everything!
Depending on the ship system, the dice are either rolled and totaled, or just represent 1 point of action for whatever that system does. My scenario was a tongue-in-cheek riff on the classic “Balance of Terror” episode of classic ST (guest starring Mark Leonard). In my scenario the “Romanulian” frigate Guileas is sent into the Neutral Zone to destroy the obligatory listening posts, and the cruiser USS “Gambit” is ordered to protect them. And of course, being the Neutral Zone which no one is supposed to enter, everybody else is there, too.

Designer’s luck proved true as I wound up smacking the Gambit front-first into an asteroid (which my own rules state, “Don’t do that.”). Despite my own clumsy helmsmanship, the game was a hit with the players (including some old SFB hands), and people appreciated seeing my old collection of ‘90s Micro-Machine Star Trek ships. “Clever and a lot of fun,” was the consensus. (Alas, I forgot to take photos of this game, but there was a lot of picture-taking going on, so if you were at the con and have a photo, let me know.)

The Search for… Solo?

I followed up with two different scenarios for the classic Star Wars X-Wing Miniatures Game (alas, now OOP). The first involved a Rebel mission to disable and retrieve data from Boba Fett’s Slave-1 starship, only to find they’ve flown into a nasty trap. 1 Fire-spray, 5 TIE Interceptors, and 8 TIE fighters vs. the Millennium Falcon (Lando as pilot), 4 Y-Wings, and 3 X-Wings (including Luke Skywalker), in a point spread that actually favored the Rebels by 5. However, they had to get 4 ion blasts cumulative on the Slave-1, and then have the Falcon spend a Target Lock at range 2 (or 1) to “scan” Slave-1 for data on the location of Han Solo. 

Where did all those TIEs come from? Wait… can you say “It’s a trap!”?

Gettin’ hairy in the rocks!

It turned into quite a scrum. The Rebs were only half-way to their required ion blast total when the Falcon took her last hit, ending the battle. Boba Fett claimed that kill, and wound up with enough Victory Points to beat out the Empire (who had to destroy all 4 Y-Wings, and took out only two).

Close, but not enough. Gonna have to look for Solo somewhere else. Hey, ya don’t think Jabba has him?

Take Out the Secret Space Station— Wait, Didn’t We Do This Already?

The second X-Wing scenario was another Parzival original, an Imperial bombing raid against an orbiting space dock— Shantipole Star-fighter Construction Station, which was prepping the proto-type of the new B-Wing. (Any resemblance to a reverse Death Star assault is entirely coincidental.)

Shantipole Station is in distress! Where are our A-wings?!?

The Empire had three TIE-Bombers, who had to put 12 hits on the station to destroy it— and all of those hits had to be “explosive” attacks— that is, torpedoes or missiles, not beam weapons. The Rebs— 2 A-Wings, 2 Y-Wings, and maybe eventually a B-Wing— had to take ‘em out. Throw in a dense asteroid field and some TIE Interceptors as bomber escort, and things got pretty hairy. At the end the bombers had managed 11 hits when the final bomber got taken out by the Rebel fighters. (One “Direct Hit” crit on the station would have made a big difference.) The B-Wing did launch (barely) for a couple of rounds of combat, but made no real difference. A good, tight ending for a solid fight!

And Then for Something Not Entirely Different

Saturday I largely took it easy, wandering the con floor (and all the side rooms I could find), until my afternoon session of Wings of Glory WWI aerial dogfighting. We played two scenarios, a bomber raid over Mannheim featuring the enormous Handley Page O/400, and a four-player dogfight including the Red Baron’s Fokker Dr1, a DVa, Eddie Rickenbacker’s Spad XIII, and… a flying beagle-hund?!? Silly, but fun!

Alas, no photos for this one either (I wound up controlling the bomber and Snoopy, so had to set my camera down.)

Of course, no con is complete without vendors, and I perused a number of ‘em, finally walking away with a small lot including one rule book (Hordes of the Things), one resin bridge wide enough for Warmaster bases to cross or occupy without looking silly, and a new game, Dragonstrike, which is a fantasy aerial game much resembling Wings of Glory and X-Wing. Only with dragons. I will of course review this purchase in a later post.

In the meantime, if you’re a convention sort, consider adding Nashcon to your list. It’s a fabulous time.

Nashcon.org for details! (Also on Facebook, with links to con photos not taken by me.)

— Parzival

A Day (or Two) at the Con

This past weekend was the annual Nashcon wargaming convention, hosted by the Historical Miniatures Gaming Society— MidSouth chapter. Nashcon.org Held at the “Music City Sheraton” in Nashville, this convention has been going on several years, though the location and dates have changed. The events formally last for three days (or two-and-a-half), from Friday through Sunday morning, though this year opening gaming was offered on Thursday night as well. 

I could only do two days, despite the location being about an hour’s drive. Typically I drive in/drive back (arrive early morning, back way too late). But my wife and I had some credit card rewards built up, and used it to spring for Friday night stay— she got a relaxing hotel room with no pressing household necessities, and I got to sleep in a little later and not fight Nashville traffic (which is horrible). But y’all don’t care about that— y’all care about the games! 

 SO without further ado… 

A FIGHT SO NICE I RAN IT TWICE

 As in previous years, I ran the classic Games Workshop game The Battle of Five Armies. It is, of course. based on the eponymous concluding clash in the world’s greatest novel ever— The Hobbit by JRR Tolkien. (I will die on that hill.) (And yes, fellow fans of the book will note that it’s not “The Battle of Five Armies,” but “The Battle of the Five Armies.” For whatever reason, GW left off the second “the.” Frankly, it’s the one mistake in the game, and we can ignore it.) 

 The figures are 10mm, molded as strips, and mounted on 20mm x 40mm bases. And they are fantastic. From a dragon’s eye view looking down over the battlefield, you will see two armies maneuvering about, not just a handful of men. My personal collection, consisting of two of the original game boxed sets, totals around 2,000 individual figures on over 200 stands. Yeah, baby, that’s a battle. I ran this twice, divided over the two days. Next time I think I’ll try to back-to-back this sort of game over two sessions in the same day— 200 elements (not counting terrain, dice, etc.) takes a lot of clean up and repacking— by the time I was finished with the take down, I was too late (and too beat) to join in any last session gaming. 

And the eye candy:

The Battle of Five Armies: Wargs and Warg Riders advance on the eastern mountain spur, where the Dwarves and the Men of the Long Lake prepare their defense. To the west, the Goblin Infantry is entering the battle, piece meal, to approach the ruins of Dale and the Elven host on the western spur.

Same scene, from the east.

The fearsome warg cavalry advance!

On the east, the Dwarves and Men have taken a beating, but still hold the spur. To the west, elven archers have moved to protect the ford, while the goblin horde has moved into combat range.

Beorn arrives on the goblin flank! The elves join in with a massive assault on the goblin forward line. Elven archers block the ford to the east— and Thorin has joined the fight.

Ouch. The goblin line is hard pressed, with heavy casualties,

On the east, the Dwarves charge the wargs— the archers hold the hill.

There are a lot of wargs on this side… who will win?

The penultimate turn (battle ends on turn 8): The goblin horde is crumbling, and the dwarves and men still hold the heights. The battle has tipped towards the Army of the West. On the next round, the Eagles arrive on their World Tour. The Free Folk triumph.

NEVER SHOOT THE BEER TRUCK, aka LESSONS LEARNED FROM FULL THRUST

Despite being wiped for the evening games, I did play in other morning games. The first was a Full Thrust game of spaceship combat. Now, obviously, I prefer G.O.B.S.! (My own spacefleet game https://thegobspage.com/ ), but I know of FT as a classic in the genre, and have read the rules. So I thought it would be fun to give it a whirl. 

Finding the table, I was impressed. There was a nifty little collection of ships— some from the defunct Cold Navy line, some from Brigade Models, I believe (I didn’t ask), and others I recognized but couldn’t place a manufacturer. All were terrifically painted, making for a stunning array. The host had created some excellent space terrain bits, including a massive asteroid complete with mining structures, and a “MI6” “listening post” consisting of a converted golf ball (you really had to look closely to realize that’s what it was). The most impressive element, however, was the space station. Awe-inspiring enough on its own, it was mounted on a motorized base that slowly spun the station throughout the game— an effect reflected in the scenario as a difficulty for the attacker in aiming on any specific system. 

The end of the battle. My forces and allies circled in blue, enemy in red.

And so began the Attack on Redback Station. As a somewhat latecomer, I entered the battle in command of a rag-tag fleet of Not Supposed To Be In This Fight craft consisting of “Hef’s Seventh Heaven” (a pleasure yacht), a cargo hauler, a tug manning the Shell Fueling Station, and two luxury cruise liners just passing through. I also had command of the HMS York, a battle cruiser who could be summoned later to the fight by the listening post (enters on a die roll— I lucked out, and it entered fairly early). 

The scenario involved some angry German vessels (“Neu Swabian League,” aka NSL), swooping in to take out the central “Redback Station,” a quasi British station built in a galactic “no go” zone. 

 The battle got bloody quickly— my freighter was promptly destroyed, which angered the station as this ship carried their much longed-for beer supply (bonus for defender attacks). The Germans followed up by going after a cruise liner— though the latter surprised its attackers by shooting back with a forward torpedo system! (Alas, to little avail; she got obliterated the next turn.) You’d think Germans would remember the repercussions of attacking a passenger vessel, but it appears historical habits die hard.)

Much shooting back and forth, and the fortuitous arrival of the HMS York and three destroyers, set the Germans on their back feet, with some smaller ships destroyed and one of their heavy cruisers forced to withdraw (pursued by the remaining cruise liner!) The game ended for time, but the victory was awarded to the station defenders, as the Germans were rapidly becoming outgunned, despite inflicting damage on the station. 

I thoroughly enjoyed the scenario— lots of Love Boat themed jokes got made when the cruise ships wound up in the fight! 

 MARTIANS AT THE… MARNE? 

My second outing occurred on Saturday morning, where I joined a game of All Quiet On the Martian Front (modified first edition in a second edition European Great War setting). Another impressive table, this one featured a long battlefield with German and French entrenchments/fieldworks facing each other across one half, while a suitable tri-division force of Martian tripods arriving to attack them both. This was purported to be an “early war” battle, despite the presence of French and German tanks!(?) But hey, there are giant Martian walking machines, so it would be a bit hypocritical to play the “real life”card on the tanks…

Hang on… somebody is “doctoring” our completely made up history! Will the abuses ever stop?

 I joined the Martian forces, in command of several unusual tripods and an assortment of “lobotorans” (or something like that), which are essentially zombies controlled by a tripod— some had short range blasters, some had nothing but giant blades for arms. (How these were supposed to fare against the approaching line of German armor, I have no idea— I never got to find out, as they either got blown up or had their controlling tripod destroyed before they could shoot. So “not well,” I guess…) 

The Martian forces, including, uh, zombies? That’ll make up for German tanks…

Hey, here’s an idea… why don’t you and him fight? We’ll just clean up after you? Deal?

Okay, that is waaay too many tanks.

This one turned out to be quite an interesting fight, especially with the arrival of an Apparatus of the Kwalish (a D&D armored submersible mechanical crab), recast as an American submersible, and the French getting a number of lucky strikes on the Martians approaching their side. (One caused the tripod to explode, taking out fellow nearby tripod).

Mmm… wiener schnitzel in convenient cans!

KABOOM! Oh no! Those French canned hams took out a buddy! We’re supposed to be cooking THEM!

All lined up— let’s cook some Germans!

Another Martian commander and I teamed up on the Germans, with far better luck. Again, time ran out on the game, but the French commander was awarded the victory. (The French and Germans were not considered allies, and would have won points for kills against their opposite, but instead ignored each other and went after the tripods. Not that one blames them… primates before aliens, as it were.)

MY IMPRESSIONS 

(In which I ramble on about rule systems) 

I came away from Full Thrust with mixed feelings. The scenario and set up were fantastic, but the game itself I found overly complicated in how combat was conducted. Too many things to determine, especially in how damage is conducted. The threshold checks across multiple systems I found tedious. Roll, roll, roll, roll, roll, roll, roll, mark off, roll, roll… it just took too long. But that may be a curse of tabletop wargames.

I never did quite figure out how the order and movement system were supposed to work, and as far as I could tell, everyone pretty much ignored it and just moved their ships without referring to the control sheets at all. 

 Nevertheless, I enjoyed the feel of the evening, despite not really having a satisfying conclusion to it all. A fun element (which I don’t recall from the rules) was the introduction of special fleet cards that could be played at points during the game to alter what was happening. I played “Traitor” to steal a card from an opponent, followed by a card that let me repeat the Traitor card and steal another one, and then a “Picard Maneuver” to bring the York in more quickly, and lastly a card that let me randomly move ships a random distance— it turned out to just be one, so I advanced the York into missile salvo range. I think these cards were homemade, or found on the Internet, as the images were all stills from Star Trek or Star Wars films (hardly licensed). Official or not, these were a fun addition. 

 

The Martian game was more straightforward on movement— just measure the distance and move. Easy. Initiative was from drawing random chits out of a bag, which could be boosted by a side giving up special tokens for a turn. Slip a token into the bag to increase your chances of winning initiative, or keep it for an opportunity to move again after shooting (or for the Germans and French, rally a routed unit). 

Combat was again too complicated. Roll to hit. Roll to damage. Roll to see result of damage (if Martian). Roll morale (if German or French). It doesn’t sound too bad, until you consider that the German and French forces each had about two or three dozen individual units shooting at the Martian foes. Sit back and wait while they roll, roll, roll… I felt this could be simplified considerably.* 

Compared to the novel (or any movie based on it), the military forces were far more effective against the tripods than one might expect… but then, it wouldn’t be much of a game if they couldn’t win, would it? Despite these minor grumbles, it was a hoot to see and command the tripods. 

( *Yes, I know. Nothing says “roll lots of dice, over and over again” like a Rick Priestley game, which Warmaster/Battle of Five Armies are. But I still feel that Warmaster offers more player involvement— both sides are rolling dice for combat at the same time, which removes the “wait and see” aspect which I think hampers AQotMF— or at least the 1st edition. 2nd may have changed things, so I can’t comment on that.)

FINAL THOUGHTS

Rule critiques not withstanding, I had a great convention. Nashcon is extremely well run, and keeps growing every year (I have heard that attendees topped 600– pretty awesome for a local convention!). There is always a variety of games, and I am forced to pick and choose between some fun sounding games, as well as some old favorites. The tables were impressive throughout— I saw a 6mm Roman game featuring a full scale Mediterranean fortified city— alas, I did not recognize the battle, and it wasn’t listed in the PEL, nor was the system, but what an absolutely gorgeous board! Likewise there were battles from all eras (and genres), too many for me to even cover.

So a hearty “Thank you and well done!” to our convention organizers and HMGS-Midsouth.

Now, time to plan for next year…

— Parzival

What I Did This Summer, or at least last weekend

 Just a brief moment to share some photos from the local gaming convention, Nashcon.

A Battle for the Ages

The Lonely Mountain and the armies awaiting deployment.

Once again, I ran my Battle of Five Armies 10mm game, which went over well-- despite one player experiencing an incredible series of failed common rolls (he began the game rolling boxcars! But I had already decided to take pity on the players, and did not apply the blunder rule).

Maybe if you switch dice,
oh mighty Goblin Lord David?

You may notice a difference between this year's scenery and last years-- with the inclusion of the lower mountain wall and the Great Gate.

I also shortened the field slightly, which brought the Ruins of Dale closer to the mountain, and resulted in considerably more conflict going on within the rubble, making the ruins a bigger factor in the game.

The Elf King abandons the mountain spur to confront the goblins in the ruins,
and block the ford— a good strategy, as it turned out.
(The gold dragon is but the memory of Smaug, used as an Active Player token.)

Early in the game (Turn 2), the Elf King and Bolg share taunts, 
while Bard and Dain hold to confront the East assault of the wargs and warg riders.

As was fitting, the battle's results were not decided until the 8th and final turn of the game, when Bolg's horde reached its breaking point. In a surprising twist, Beorn and the Eagles barely entered the game, and had no impact on the outcome. Instead the Elves, Men and Dwarves did the job, virtually unaided except by a single Elf cavalry unit (hey, the Professor never said they weren't there). Said cavalry wrecked havoc in a suicidal death ride through the goblin rear— they were eventually sent to the Halls of Manwe, but many slain goblins paved the road.

The Men and Dwarves slaughter their furry foes, while the Elves at the ford harry their flanks with missile fire. Note the Eagles have entered on the far west... but their only act was to drive the goblin ambush from atop the mountain's eastern and western heights.

The fight is all but done; Bolg's forces break, and flee. The West will be safe for many a year.

So a good, desperate fight, well enjoyed by all.

A Pirate's Life for Me (or a few hours of it)!

Yo ho, yo ho— it be pirate time!

After running that game, on Saturday I took part in David Raybin's always entertaining Pirate extravaganza.

Behold me fine ship, me hearties!

Nay, not that ship... this one!
(When the tavern is closing, ye take the wench ye find.)

Some broadsides are exchanged.

What be I doing, waffling about between two vessels set on blasting each other to Davy Jones' Locker?
Avast ye, there! Loosen the boom! Ready about! Helm's alee! And other nautical things!

Avast, you scurvy lubbers! Come back and fight like sea dogs!
Ah, and well— best be turning with the wind.

Alas, being limited in my speed and facing on-coming winds, I got in only a handful of licks before the main battle slipped me by-- but in an attempt to turn to join the defense of the Red fleet's home base, I was able to fire my tiny broadside into none other than the Black Pearl herself (flagship of the vile Black fleet), and scored a critical hit that jammed her rudder for a while.

Ah hah! I have ye now, ye big black bastion of blazing broadsides. Take that!

With my own vessel heavily damaged, and the Black feet fighting to return with their stolen treasure, I opted to ram their speediest vessel, and then got rammed in turn (by accident) by me own allies. Bit of a traffic jam there. 

If ye go down, go down fighting! Sing me a hymn, my lads—
 maybe the Devil will think me the chaplain.

The whole contest ended in a draw, to which I like to think my heroic sacrifice helped force. (I like to think that, and therefore I shall. "It be me truth, matey, and I'll keel-haul the lubber who says against it!")

Yes, clearly I have carried the day for my side.

A fun day, a good convention... can't wait 'til next year!

--- Howard, aka Parzival

Bilbo Comes to Nashcon (Along with a Few Friends & Enemies)

 The quest was epic, the journey was (almost) short, and the results were... a fun time.

Or to put it another way, this weekend I traveled about 40 minute north to Nashcon, the annual Nashville wargaming convention put on by the grand people of the Historical Miniatures Game Society Midsouth. There I was proud to present The Battle of Five Armies, Games Workshop's 10mm masterpiece based on the final epic battle of Tolkien's classic novel, The Hobbit.

I've discussed this battle and game before here, so I won't repeat that (but feel free to read at your leisure).

In a twist, I allowed some additional units to enter the game (one the principle that while the good professor did not mention such forces, they "could" have been present in small numbers unlikely to have been discerned by our diminutive narrator). These forces included:

A unit of elf cavalry (ithe Elfking travelled to Erebor on horseback, so a relatively small guard is fitting)

A unit of dwarven archers (implied in the battle's description and the behavior of Thorin & Co. throughout the book), a unit of giant bats (actually mentioned, at least as carrion creatures)

And a unit of hill trolls (okay, a stretch... but the sun was hidden by the massive cloud of bats, so why not?).

As it turned out, all four did next to nothing in the battle, and all but one were wiped out early on rather handily.

This battle took an early dark turn for the Armies of the Free Folk, with the Men of the Long Lake being obliterated by a charge of wargs and goblin warg-riders on the eastern side of the ford, and the elves stalling while the warg-riders seized the ford and crossed to charge the suspiciously combat-averse elves.

As the battle progressed the Free Folk struggled to make headway. Thorin attempted to rally the elves, but after initial success was overwhelmed and killed by the foe (as in the book, or close enough).

At that point, with a roll of a die, Beorn entered the fray, doing damage but not turning the tide.

The Free Folk were close to the point of breaking— one unit more lost, and they would be done.

And at that point, in true Tolkien fashion, the eagles arrived, and the battle turned. The goblins were scattered and the Free Folk had won a costly victory.

Behold the aftermath below:

The fields before Erebor, as the battle ended.

A grand fight and a fun time.

A note on my Lonely Mountain. I had carved a large piece of styrofoam, suitably painted, to be my backdrop mountain, but alas the heat and humidity of August does not allow for the spraying of even suitably foam-safe primer! 90°+F, 75%+ humidity = No foam mountain.

So inspiration hit— I would mimic Tolkien's illustrations of the Lonely Mountain. One piece of black poster board, rolled into a cone, one suitably "snowscaped" piece of white felt, some glue, and a silver Sharpie marker, et voila— Erebor, the Lonely Mountain, in the style of the master himself. (I felt that black would be more dramatic than white, and better suited for the daytime scene of the battle.)

My inspiration: Tolkien's illustration of the Lonely Mountain.

The rest of the convention I spent as a player (and shopper). But the above was my contribution this year— and who knows; this battle (or another) may well appear again.

— Howard Shirley, aka Parzival