GothCon 2016 - First Indochina War

Easter Holiday 2016 was celebrated by attending GothCon in Gothenburg once again. Last year, I had the flu and was running a fever throughout the event. This year I was in good health, and a damned good thing it was too, since we got in two very long but very good days of gaming.

The view from my room. The boardgame café I noticed last year is still there but I did not manage to fit in a visit this time either, sadly.

 Most of the crew assembled. From the left Henrik, me, Joakim and Koen. Laffe was stuck on the train, poor man.

We went up the hill to the school where GothCon takes place only to find that entry had been delayed and we had 2 hours to kill. Last year I backed a Kickstarter to start an esport bar in Gothenburg and I had planned to visit to see the place and pick up my Backer pin. As it was right across the street from the school we set up camp there for a while. GG Bar is a very nice place with friendly staff and as you can see, very gamery interior. Highly suggested if you find yourself in Gothenburg.  

 In keeping with the theme, playing the 6th Colonial Parachute Battalion, we had bought Bigeard caps, designed by Marcel Bigeard, then commander of that famous unit. It's not pretty (nor am I), but it worked fine as a conversation starter when engaging with onlookers.

Here is our set-up. The scenario requires the French to leave their own trenches, off the far table end, pass through the Viet Minh trench, the forest beyond it and past the rice paddies at the near end with the tank or at least one section of 50% strength. The VM just had to prevent this.

 Our presentation table contained some TFL info, a few books, some left-over terrain pieces and Koens cap, which was too small for him despite being tagged as being the right size. If you read this, http://doursoux.com/fr/, please answer your emails about that.

 Each scenario started with a small "speed bump" force of Viet Minh deployed in the trench and the rest off table, to be deployed from the Jump Off point (the Buddha at the end of the communications trench) or from the edge of the table. The French deployed 12" in from their table edge.

 All five games followed a similar pattern. The French came on the table, shot up the Viets and overran the trench.

 Sometimes the Viets were killed where they stood, sometimes driven back.

 The important difference was how many troops the Viet player could get on the table before the French came over the trench and into the forest...

 ...and how he used his troops once they were deployed.

 Every time the game was decided in a fire-fight in the forest. Once the French managed to bypass the VM forces, three times they broke the VM force morale, routing them off the table and one time the VM smashed up the French force so badly it could not win, thereby securing a Viet victory.

After the first day, we treated ourselves to a nice Indian meal...

 On the second day, we shared the room with an an official Bolt Action demo team, Damon and Joachim from http://tabletopbattle.com/. Top blokes who were also demoing Frostgrave. Sadly I did not have time to try either of their games.

Nothing says gaming convention like a mug of coffee at 2200. Well, we had players who wanted to play and five hours on the train to sleep the next day. Onwards to glory!

All in all it was a brilliant weekend of gaming fun with friends old and new. In the best Lardy tradition, the theme for next year was decided on the train home. It will be Big CoC in Finland with all the participants playing Finnish troops in action against umpire-controlled Soviets along the Raate Road. I hope I will see some of you next Easter!