I was Mustered this weekend...and I relished it!

 Dad Jokes about condiments notwithstanding, I had the opportunity to attend the Williamsburg Muster for the first time. The Muster, as it's called, is run by the Old Dominion Miniature Society. The vibe here is electric and very friendly and positive. It reminds me of the Seven Years War Association convention, but with more periods. 

The Muster is held at the Clarion Hotel in, you guessed it, Williamsburg, Virginia. The drive from my hotel where I am staying for my course to the Clarion is just under an hour. Traffic wasn't an issue, although driving in Virginia is always...interesting. 

Friday and Saturday have scheduled games, with pick up games Thursday night and Sunday. Sunday is really dedicated to the flea market. There were a few dealers present as well, like Miniature Building Authority and Age of Glory. 

For the whopping price of $30 USD, I was able to register for the entire weekend. The format doesn't exactly have pre-registration for games, like the large HMGS conventions, but that works. You literally find the game you want to play in from a large chart posted on the wall, walk up to the GM, and if there is a slot, you are in. And if not, you can find another one just as easily. I played in all four games I was hoping for. I was looking forward to a fifth, but a circumstance required my attention. More of that anon. 

Not knowing what time to show up (as this was my first Muster), I opted to travel early and eat breakfast close by. I poked around the Inter Webs a bit and found this place. 

The Astronomical Pancake House lives up to its billing. It's a breakfast and lunch operation and the food was bonkers good. I wanted to go back for every meal, since it's a short distance from the hotel. 

Clean, bright, airy and at eight in the morning there was exactly myself and a small party of Navy personnel who were having a group breakfast. 

Why is it called the Astronomical Pancake House? I'm glad you asked that question.... 

That's my standard size baseball cap for reference... It's about two or three times what I normally eat with a whole banana on top. I was able to finish half. 

But I needed that feed for the games I played in...  

First up was the Battle of Germantown from the American War of Independence, played in 15mm with Live Free or Die rules written by the Little Wars TV crew. 

Units are regiments, made up into brigades. I played the role of Major General Knyphausen. As Old Knip, I had a force of three decent sized brigades of British and Hessian infantry and a company of 6pdr guns. 

I was placed on the left flank and we were told that we had to hold the terrain, but the Yankee Doodles had a victory condition and we weren't allowed to know until the end of the game what that was. 

Well, it was a hard-fought battle on the table. There was fog and other bits built into the scenario to add confusion. Both sides had reinforcements coming in at various times. The Rebels had traffic control issues with maneuvering their brigades, but pushed forward and pressed us hard. We lost the Chew House and were slowly giving way when we finally were able to prevent Washington and his men from reaching their victory condition, which turned out to be a terrain-based requirement, occupying a road junction. 

Overall, a very satisfying game. I would recommend these rules for large, multi-player battles like Germantown or Brandywine. 

Other games I played in:

Bill Molyneaux ran another one of his super-sized 54mm extravaganzas. In this case, French Foreign Legion versus Arabs. Buckets of dice, and one page simple rules, made this a real hoot. Whilst the French lost, it was a great time for everyone. 

Saturday morning I was able to get into Robert Durst's game of Trent's Reach. I've been fascinated with this January 1865 battle on the James River. This game found me with half of the Confederate Navy, two ironclads and a gunboat. 

Long story short, while we did not win, my fellow Confederate and I managed to make it much farther down the James River towards the Federal supply depot at City Point than the real CSN did. 

The rules were The Portable Ironclad rules. I'm not quite sold on them. I have a copy, but I think I still prefer Beer and Pretzels Ironclads. I'll try the scenario at home and see, since I've got the ships in my collection. 

Saturday afternoon saw me try a game of Muskets and Tomahawks set in the Early Republic with Wayne's Legion fighting the Shawnee. 

I liked the minimalist terrain and the GM was very knowledgeable about the period. The figures are the Old Glory range for Wayne's Legion, which in my opinion, are some of their best. That being said, the GM had a fair amount of looking up to do for morale rules and effects and similar. Apparently the rules don't have a Quick Reference Sheet, which would have been a massive help. In the end, The Clock ran out and we had a very unsatisfying draw. 

For small skirmishes, I'll stick to Song of Drums and Tomahawks. For bigger skirmishes, the Gettysburg Area Gamers (GAG) Rules work just fine. I think it may have been a case of too many players for the scenario. But everyone was a gentleman and it was a good time. 

Other great games I saw:

The Battle of Trenton in 28mm using Sharp Practice 2

A 15mm Battle of Chippewa using SHAKO Rules and run by the irrepressible Cliff Brunken. Cliff is one of the jolliest gamers I know and he organizes and run Del-Val Gamers Game Days once a month. 

One very interesting game I saw was a macro-game for Operation Overlord. Run by Pete Panzeri, it looked like an Axis & Allies mod and I thought it pretty clever. Sadly, I did not get to play this one. 

This game of the German attack on the Granary in Stalingrad was a massive spectacle. I was impressed by the sheer modeling required. 

And speaking of spectacles, this was a huge What A Tanker game set in Stalingrad. I do love these rules, especially for big convention-style games. This game ran multiple session and every time I looked over, all the players seemed to have a good time. 

One of the pick up games that popped up was run by Society of Daisy Grand Poobah, Tracy Johnson. A staple of OttoCon, Divine Right is a great strategic boardgame set in a fantasy world. I've played it and although it's not normally something I would play, I do enjoy it when Tracy or George Deppner are the GMs. 

Finally, there was a gentleman putting on a game about the Battle of Bennington. Being a member of the Vermont Army National Guard, I simply could NOT pass up a chance to take a picture. However, the GM was using Black Powder for the rules, and I just cannot play them. But the figures and the table were wonderful. 

And yes, I have my "Vermont Militia" flag travelling with me as well.... 😁

And last, but not least, the gratuitous Loot Pictures... 

Well, it seems I need to learn how to edit photos... But I picked up some books from Steve at Age of Glory, some Highland cows and sheep from Silver Eagle, and this lovely croft from Adora Belle's for my 1745 Project. 

Overall, I found the Muster to be an outstanding convention. I would put this on my list over Historicon or Fall-In, that's how much fun I had. 

Thank you to all the Game Masters, vendors, organizers, and staff who put on this event. Well done.