Summer of Gaming, Part 2

Living History

I created this camp because Kansas City has a lot of great military history. The camp features a trip to an American Civil War (ACW) and the WWI memorial museums, with wargaming sandwiched in between.

This year, I focused on the Battle of Westport (Brush Creek) from the ACW and we always end our week with WWI aerial combat. If you haven't been to the Battle of Westport museum, it's a nice visit. The Docents really know their stuff and they'll tailor their presentation to your needs.

For those not familiar with the Battle of Westport, it was the largest ACW battle west of the Mississippi and spelled the formal end of Confederate presence in Missouri.

The campers enjoyed the museum visit and were excited to wargame the battle. I used Junior General rules, but created the scenario myself. Ironically, history did not repeat itself, as Union infantry forces were eliminated by the Confederates. However, Union artillery chose not to retreat and used grapeshot to devastating effect. At the end of the day, it was acknowledged that the artillery would have withdrawn and the Rebs would have won the day.

The forces around Brush Creek

The Rebs thwart the Yanks from crossing the creek

The following day, we journeyed to the WWI memorial and museum. Always a great time. Always informative. Always shocking how similar conditions were then when compared to now.

The final day was WWI dogfighting. I made my own planes and map, as I'm too cheap to spring for the "real" toys. Again, I used Junior General rules, but added a lot of pilot information to the pilot cards. 

The opening pass, guns blazing!

The Flying Circus in the house!

A great camp! Next year, I want to try to head to the Battle of Lone Jack museum and fight that fight.

Strategic Gaming

I ran this camp twice this summer. Every time I run it, it's different. I give the kids free choice as to what we play. This year, Pirate Dice and Stratego were the big winners. 

Having said that, I made a point of exposing the kids to an upcoming game, Dice Legions. This little gem of a game will be released by Modiphius Games later this year. Until then, a special edition was released to earn money for "frontline aid efforts" in Ukraine. I can get behind that.

For those not familiar with the game, here's the official blurb:

Dice Legions is a fantasy style tabletop top battle game, where vast armies of every day gaming dice, are transformed by its lightning fast rule set, into vast legions of fantasy battle units. Dice Legions is designed by Australian writer and game designer Adam L Dobbyns and published by UK based Modiphius Entertainment. The game is part of the “dice as models” genre of hobby play whereby brightly coloured everyday dice from 4 sided, right up to 20 sided dice, are used to represent various combative game Units, in both solo and oppositional play.

I can't wait for the full game's release! I've included pics of the four maps I made for the game. Most are 1v1, but the largest (A Bridge Too Far) accommodates 2v2. The actual game features terrain cards that you can put on literally any flat surface, so your games fit your needs.

A Bridge Too Far

The Crossroads

Swamp of Death

You Shall Not Pass!