Wintercon 2017 summary AAR

[Zoe Brain]

Wintercon this year was extraordinarily subdued, with at most 2/3 of the attendance of the previous year. Perhaps it was the previous week of subzero temperatures that kept the visitors away, or perhaps the lack of organisation. The same organisers have been involved for the last 40 years, and while the enthusiasm we all had in our late teens and early twenties is still there, the physical abilities we had then are not.

Despite that, the Wings of Glory participation games on Saturday went well. While there were few visitors to Wintercon, what visitors there were often had a game or two. Whether they were women of a certain age - like me - but who unlike me had never played any form of wargame before, or fathers with young (4+) children. Plus the Usual Suspects.



Games included a German vs American fight - Fokker D.VII and SSW D.III vs Spad 13 and Nieuport 28 - and an 8 player game of UFAG C.Is vs an Italian Spad 13, Hanriot HD1, and a pair of Nieuport 11s.



Multiple 2 seaters that stay close together are nasty. You can get behind and below your target, but all too often you find yourself being peppered by the front or rear guns from his friends.



Sunday we only had the one game. But what a game! A marathon 4 1/2 hour one.

Having such a sparse attendance had one advantage: there were plenty of spare tables, and lots of room . Usually we're very cramped. Not this year though.. which meant there was enough room and table space for a bomber scenario. The 4 giant raid of 16 February 1918 - one of the 5 that took off that night had to return immediately with 3 of it's 4 engines not working. Unlike historical events though, this time there was an ever replenishing cloud of interceptors they had to fight their way through - mostly specialised night fighting Camel or Strutter Comics, Brisfits or DH4s, with the occasional Pup from one of the many training squadrons in Home Establishment crewed by a night fighting instructor.

As night fighters were shot down, retired hurt, or lost contact in the darkness, more would join in. There was a constantly replenishing supply of complete beginners who had never played before, plus a handful of experts. There were always at least 3 night fighters on the table, and once as many as 6.

The Giants came in one at a time, in a bomber stream. As one would leave the first mat, another would arrive. First the weather recon aircraft at a low and constant altitude, then the rest at progressively higher altitudes to evade the interceptors.

"It's a long way to the balloon barrage and AA line before the target"



"A VERY long way...."



HOW many Giants????



I think this might be some kind of record. Most Giant aircraft being played on a table simultaneously. 3 Zeppelin Staaken R.VI and an R.IV.