The Wargamer

The Best Wargaming Convention On The Planet Returns

One year ago a small wargaming convention was hosted by the National World War II Museum in New Orleans.  I called Heat of Battle (http://www.wargamer.com/article/2480/heat-of-battle-2007) “…the best gaming convention on the planet. Period.”  This year the second Heat of Battle convention was hosted and it has done nothing  but improve.  Starting on Friday August 22, and ending on Sunday the 24^th, Heat of Battle II is three of the best days of wargaming I can imagine.  The thing that separates it from every other gaming convention held is where it’s held.  Heat of Battle II isn’t the largest convention; it’s probably one of the smallest (though it’s growing).  The fact that attendees can both wargame and wander freely through the museum means that the convention is a perfect blend of honoring history and enjoying wargaming. 

As with last year there is a hefty goodie bag awaiting pre-registered attendees.  Most of it is information about New Orleans and Louisiana points of interest, but there are flyers for regional upcoming conventions.  Also included are goodies from Wizards of the Coast: a booster pack of Axis & Allies miniatures from both their land and sea games.  I also received a copy of John Tiller’s Campaign Series from Matrix games.  Other gamers received various boardgames.  Donations from the various sponsors makes getting these goodie bags quite enjoyable and it’s a great incentive to pre-register.

Day 1

After catching up with friends I hadn’t seen in some time Friday morning, I started Friday not with gaming but with Kenneth Hoffman’s noon lecture on 1066: That Other Cross Channel Invasion.  Kenneth’s lecture was very informative and enjoyable.  He covered some interesting facts that I hadn’t known before.  Perhaps the most interesting thing he shared was a question at the end.  He asked us if we had chosen any sides during the lecture, if any of us had started rooting for one side or the other.  About half of the audience had an opinion, the other half, like me, we fairly indifferent.  Kenneth then asked, “How long do you think it will be before no one cares which side won World War II?”  It was a startling question, and a situation that the museum intends to hold off for a very long time.

After listening to the lecture and grabbing some lunch, I got the opportunity to speak with one of the World War II vets who volunteers at the museum.  The guys who served in the war are legendary for their humility.  Getting a vet to open up for more than a couple of minutes is unusual.  Most have extraordinary stories to share, but few ever do.  We are losing our World War II vets at over a thousand a day now; they aren’t getting any younger.  So when I struck up a conversation with Bert Stoler I figured that I would hear something new.  I hadn’t figured just how much I was about to find out.  Bert told me that he joined the Marines in February 1940 after being kicked out of school for being too rowdy.  Prior to joining the Marines he had stint as a Western Union bicycle delivery boy, but he figured that was a dead end career.  Graduating boot camp at the top of his class, Bert was sent to C-School for training to become an aide to a general or the like.  He was attached as an aide to Admiral Spruance because at Midway Admiral Halsey was sick. 

Bert related that he is the only person he ever met who was present at both Pearl Harbor and the signing of the peace treaty on the Missouri.  Stationed aboard the cruiser Northampton, just prior to the attack at Pearl the Northampton was escorting the Enterprise to Rabaul on a secret mission to deliver some planes to Allied forces at the airbase.  They then continued on to Brisbane where a parade where they participated in a parade as apparently a cover story for being so far away from home.  On December 7^th the Enterprise was steaming east toward the US mainland while the Northampton was sailing toward Pearl Harbor.  Arriving at about 1 PM on the 7^th, Bert was in charge of five 5” anti-aircraft guns, which opened up on the Japanese as they came into range. 

Bert was another witness to history when the Northampton escorted the Hornet on the legendary Doolittle raid.  Eventually the Northampton was sunk, and he and the Captain were the last two men off the ship.  Bert went on to serve at Iwo Jima and Tarawa.  He was serving with the 5^th Marines and was about four miles away when the flag was raised at Mt. Suribachi.  After the peace treaty with Japan was signed on the Missouri, Bert reflects his thoughts.  “I made it.  Been through Hell and back but I made it.”  After the war was over his thoughts turned to his family, of seeing his wife and his newborn baby that he’d never met.  It was an honor to speak with him and to be present to help record some of his history. 

The opportunity to speak with Bert is itself worth the trip to the museum and it was the highlight of my convention.  However anti-climactic the rest of the convention might be, I still had three full days of gaming ahead of me…this was just the beginning.  Last year Game Master Tim Broome hosted an enormous game of Command Decision on Sword Beach.  This year I walked up to a mass of tables as Tim was setting up for Operation Goodwood (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Goodwood).  Between preparing for a scenario, setting it up, and taking it down, the time playing is actually only a fraction.  Fortunately the phrase “many hands make light work” can be applied here and Tim had several of us to help lay out the table and pick it up.  A nice crowd also hung around to actually play the game.  With a full armored division available to us, our task was rather simple:  roll across the map as quickly as possible.    My role was to take the lead element of a battalion of armor and make as much progress as possible.  Historically, the Allies had bombed the heck out of this ground, with the assumption that “nothing could survive that” the Brits then proceeded with all haste.  The trouble was, a number of German units did survive the bombing run, and had orders not to fire until further notice.  The result was the British armored division was strung across the map when the Germans started shooting into their flanks.  The British players have a choice: they can stop to engage the German field positions or they can suck it up and move.  I quickly realized that the key to this scenario would be to move as rapidly as possible across the map, but there is a balance.  The lead elements should move without hesitation, attempting to draw the German’s fire so that follow on units can be broken off to disengage and destroy German resistance. 

In the end, we (the Brits) lost the engagement and the Germans managed to squeak by with a minor victory.  Everyone agreed that, as players, we had done better than any previous British showing, but I am convinced that the Brits can win this scenario.  The interesting thing about Command Decision is that, unlike Flames of War, the two sides aren’t intended to be even.  In Flames of War both sides are given an equal number of points to play; in Command Decision the sides are replicated according to historical OOBs.  So it is that an entire armored division can face off against a few PaK 40s and a couple of companies of Panzers and Tigers.  Regardless of the loss, this was a fun scenario.  By the time it was over, we were looking at 8 o’clock and dinner time.  After carrying out all the units and terrain to Tim’s car, we headed over to Mulatte’s for some Cajun cuisine and Zydeco music.  Then I headed back home.

We'll have more coverage of the weekend in our following article.  And now, some pictures from the convention.