DayCon

This weekend I attended my first DayCon - a multi-gaming convention held in Dayton, Ohio. I usually avoid conventions - it is daft for me to pay a fee to play games with the same guys I can game with for free at local shops - but I decided to give DayCon a try and by hosting a game I received a reduced fee badge (yes, I am a frugal git). Plus, I knew that I-94 would be present and having that sort of access to their wares might lead to a few impulse purchases.

I left work early on a Friday afternoon in order to arrive at the convention to play in two Check Your 6! games. The theme for the weekend seemed to be World War II, although there was an Indo-Pak game on Friday evening as well. My first game was set in the Pacific, a scenario from the Road to Rabaul book (Something New). I wasn't expecting to do well, having three early model Oscars, but I did not take a scratch and helped put a few Americans into the jungle.

Not going to end well for the Yanks

The second game moved to Malta, and the British players did not fare well (my sole Gladiator being blasted from the sky).

On Saturday I got into another Pacific game (Stopping the Tokyo Express from Battles Above 2) and once again the Japanese players were overwhelmingly successful. Hot dice from destroyer anti-aircraft guns did the trick.

In the afternoon I hosted my Neutrality Patrol scenario. As with most of the games over the weekend, we always seemed to be a player or two short, so I played in this one, while also reducing the amount of German Bf 110s to adjust to the number of available players. The Swiss Me 109 DBs had some issues with one player losing his rotte early and the other Swiss player having great success. It was the same on the German side with one German player losing his Messerschmitts in rapid succession. We allowed players to bring on additional planes just to get some playing time in, straying away from the scenario parameters. 

Swiss Me 109 DBs

Initial German setup

Strangers passing

A random blue on blue die roll here could have been interesting

This...

...led to this.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch, Germans putting the squeeze on the Swiss

But then the other pesky pair showed up

I think it's time we said goodbye

DayCon is a good game convention - a movie theater converted to a church with plenty of parking, food options onsite, food and brewery options nearby, large and small gaming rooms (the tabletop minis were usually in the small classrooms which worked great for lighting and noise control). Staffers stopped by several times to make sure the game hosts were good to go. It was a friendly environment overall.

Oh, and yes I spent some dollars with I-94, picking up three scenario books, a pair of painted F8F Bearcats (which I will add to my Balls of Fury scenario), and a half dozen Raiden P-40Fs, which for some reason I had no idea that these Merlin-engined miniatures existed!