Consimworld Expo 2022
The Watchman towers over the Zion NP Visitor Center
Consimworld Expo is my biggest wargame convention each year. Since I started going in 2010, I think that I only missed one. Until COVID-19 hit, that is. In 2020, CSWE was cancelled. It was held in 2021 but that was still too soon for me to be traveling. After missing two years in a row, I was determined to go this year. It was going to be a little different than past years though. Usually I go for the entire con and set up a heavy schedule of games for the whole week. This year my main goal was to promote my Second Fallujah game design. Because Sandy and I did a trip to Washington just a few days before, I delayed my departure and missed a couple days at the front end. The Brewers were also in town to play the Diamondbacks so I had arranged to meet my son Mickey and go to some of the games. That meant I would miss a few days at the back end. I only had a couple of days in the middle of the week, but I figured that would be enough to give some visibility to my game. Other than that, I had only scheduled one game, Colonial Twilight, which is an old favorite.
I got a special tag on my name badge this year
Although setup for the con was Friday, I didn't even leave Boise till Sunday. Usually I try to do a hike on the way down. This time I had to settle for a quick stop at the Visitor Center at Zion National Park to buy a tshirt. I reached Page Arizona, my overnight stop, in time to have dinner at my favorite spot in town, Stromboli's Italian Reataurant and Pizzeria.
When I got back to the hotel, I discovered that the charger I had brought along for my phone had the wrong cable. It was an old USB micro-B connector and I needed a USB-C. No problem though since there was a WalMart only a block away. An easy walk, or so I thought.
My hotel was set back from the street, behind another hotel and a Sonic drive in. It was dark by now but the parking lot was brightly lit. As I walked past the driveway a car turned in. It was a double driveway, with separate lanes to enter and leave the parking lot. I was watching this guy carefully because he turned into the exit. Obviously a dork. He was going slowly after turning but I quickened my pace to get off the pavement faster. But not fast enough. He came right at me and at the last second I had to jump out of the way. He came so close I'm surprised he still didn't clip me as he went past. I just turned and glared at him, giving him my best Evil Eye. He stopped, rolled down his window and mumbled "Hey man, sorry." I just kept glaring. Unusual for me but I was speechless. After my close call, I was able to get my cable and get back to the hotel without further incident.
Second Fallujah set up and ready to demo
The next day I got to Tempe early in the afternoon. After checking in at the Hampton Inn (where I have been staying for years), I went to the con. I found a table right in the middle of the main gaming hall and set up my Second Fallujah game. I also set out a bunch of games on the flea market tables. Usually I buy rather than sell, but this year I was determined to get rid of a bunch of old games. I had brought two Xerox boxes full.
Once that was done, I did what I always do on the day that I arrive. I went to Gus's New York Pizza for a late lunch. After that it was back to the con where I wandered around the gaming hall, saying hi to lots of old wargaming buddies that I hadn't seen for a couple of years. In the evening I went to a seminar on the current Russia-Ukraine War. Since I have agreed to do a game on it for Compass, I was eager to go and learn as much as I could. It turned out to be excellent. It lasted two hours and the only reason it ended was that someone else had the room. I learned a lot. I followed up the next day and introduced myself to one of the guys who gave the seminar. I explained that I was doing a game on the conflict. He gave me some excellent info sources and offered to help. I will probably take him up on it in a few months when I get into playtesting the new design.
Jeff kibitzes during the game between Steve and Brian
The next morning was my first and only arranged game. It was a game of Colonial Twilight with Jeff Carroll. We hadn't met before but arranged the game online. He had played several times before so it promised to be a tough game. He took the French while I played the FLN and it did indeed turn out to be a hard fight. I got off to a pretty good start but he staged a coup early on and won the roll, which set me back quite a bit. Rather than build bases I went after French units and got enough of them that he felt that he needed to play the DeGaulle pivotal during the third campaign. After that I played OAS which left him with no choice but to do another coup. He lost this one badly which really put him in a hole. He wasn't able to recover and resigned a few turns later. It was a good game. Often when I play CT my opponents are inexperienced and make the standard noob mistakes. Not in this game. It swung back and forth and was hard fought right to the end. I felt pretty good after winning.
The Coalition drives into the city
Later that day Brian Scott and Steve Dworschack started a game of Second Fallujah. They didn't have a chance to read the rules thoroughly so I ended up helping them quite a bit. It wasn't a good playtest but that didn't matter. The game had already gone to the printer so playtesting wasn't what I was looking for. It was good to have a game going because while they were playing a lot of people stopped by to watch and sometimes to ask about the game. Mark Simonitch of GMT fame was playtesting his new North Africa game at the next table, and he came over and spent quite a bit of time asking questions about the game. Since he has designed some of my favorite games of all time, that was pretty exciting. Jeff, my opponent from the day before, stayed most of the time and kibitzed. Brian and Steve got through about the first two turns before they broke for the evening so they could attend another seminar.
I was pretty open on the last day. I hung around the game and answered questions when people came by. I played a game of Campaign Trail with Jeff and Steve, a euro game on a presidential election. I managed to come in second out of three. It was fun, but I would rather play a wargame if I am going to take the time to learn and play a game.
The next day Mickey was arriving in the afternoon, so I went in and picked up my Fallujah game. I also collected my games from the flea market that hadn't sold. I did pretty well, selling about ten games. I only bought one magazine game in the flea market (Vae Victus Stalingrad) but I did buy five new games in the vendor room. Still, I had one les Xerox box going home than I did coming out. I had only a few days at CSWE but it was fun and I got some good exposure for my Fallujah game. I also had a good, long talk with John Kranz about my first game and future games that I might design. Now it was time to pick up Mickey and focus on baseball.
