Between Two Conventions

By S. Craig Taylor, Jr.
July 21, 2004

I’m a very busy man who needs to get packed and I wish that I could say that the column this week will be very brief but there are too many matters of urgent import on which I must report. I’ll just rush through and report on them in as brief and concise a manner as possible by one as windy as myself. As you read this, most of us here at Lost Battalion Games will once again take advantage of our liberal work release programs to drive to Lancaster, Pennsylvania for the annual HISTORICON historical miniatures convention. We are leaving Becky at home for this one, until she calms down from her foray to Columbus, Ohio and the ORIGINS Convention. Last year at HISTORICON, we were the odd company out—demonstrating our BATTLELINES card game in a hotel full of miniatures fanatics and with our sales display located on a fraction of a table in Ed Phillips’ Wargames booth.

This year we have our own booth and more card games but we also have our PANZER Miniatures Rules, which we introduced back in March at COLD WARS. Hey, if you like World War II tanks, this is the game for you. Plus, new this year at HISTORICON, we are introducing our first module for the PANZER Miniatures Rules which contains an impressive array of additional orders of battle for the Eastern Front as well as 32 more unit data cards for your playing enjoyment. Bill Frye and designer Jim Day will be running several games using the PANZER Miniatures Rules over the weekend. We’ll also be demonstrating BATTLELINES and BRAWLING BATTLESHIPS (using our new BRAWLING BATTLESHIPS Expansion Deck) and our own Katrina Koniev will be there trying to extend her unbeaten streak defending the Tractor Works. There is a free t-shirt, if you can capture the Tractor Works, but no one ever has. On a more personal note, Five Forks has finally published my NAPOLEON’S BATTLES miniatures rules, Second Edition (we did the printing here at Lost Battalion) and the rules will be on sale there and co-designer Bob Coggins will be running his own specially-designed and diabolically sneaky scenario using these rules at least twice during the convention.

What’s that you say? Do I hear a clamor, oh noisy ones? Will I stop talking about the upcoming HISTORICON and please tell you about the ORIGINS convention last month? Well, my, my. I didn’t go to ORIGINS, so what could I possibly have to report? One writes on what one knows. I’ll just rough in a few details for your information.

Jeff and I were just too busy to make it to ORIGINS but Lost Battalion did send an ace all-girl crew; the ever-dangerous Becky Mauder and the ever-mysterious partisan leader Katrina Koniev. They sold our fantastic product line from a table leased to us by the ever-amiable Andy Lewis and the gang from GMT. The young ladies apparently batted their eyelashes and got further help from George “Bud” Sauer of CABS (Columbus Area Boardgames Society). We extend many thanks to you all.

Katrina played BATTLELINES and successfully and repeatedly defended the Tractor Works just outside of the sold-out WAR ROOM area. She played so many times over the long weekend that after the convention was over, she “zoned out” and was playing games in her sleep. She refuses to tell me what her won-loss record was in those games. We may have to let her play a little more BRAWLING BATTLESHIPS until she completely returns to her senses. Becky manned the booth for the most part (but not every minute, as the final paragraph reveals), selling games to fearful passers-by who begged her not to throw her mighty tire at them .

That’s a very nice account, you say, but it’s not the word on the streets about what really happened there. Well. OK, I guess the tale must be told. Yes, the rumors that you may have heard are true, and this article includes the pictures to prove it. The story begins, as so many war game convention stories do, with the fun-loving Society for Creative Anachronisms. They offered to fight for our fair ladies? honor as they were passing by one of their demonstrations of what passed for entertainment in the Dark Ages. As you may have gathered from earlier Publisher’s Corners, Becky is a smallish and attractive young woman who can move with deceptive strength and speed, sort of like a rabid wildcat awakened from a sound sleep. Ah, is this what you have been waiting to hear? Becky told them that she didn’t need anyone to fight for her and volunteered that she could fight for herself. On Friday, she ended up in the arena with one Jeremy Vigil. She quickly got him where it hurts and the duel was soon over. The Beckster refused to give me any more details than that and, you know me, I hate (and am a little fearful) to ask. By Saturday, they were billing her as “Belligerent Becky” and she was back in action against a certain “Mark” (sorry, she couldn’t remember the full name). This time, apparently, she killed a man just to watch him die, and decapitated her opponent (I’ll bet that really, really smarts). The medicine is gradually calming her down.