Shedcon 2020

Shedcon 2020 with Garry Wait For the first time since COVID 19 locked down our community, we held a games day here in Sunny Brisbane, Australia on 10th October 2020. Hosted by the Shed, a four car garage converted into a gaming heaven, we decided to simplify the day and hosted two rounds of a potential three round event.  This would be a 120pt Team Yankee list restricted to no more than two formations.  As a way of reducing “spam” effects, this worked very very well with no one put out for the limit.

Although COVID and real life stuff got in the way, we had six very enthusiastic players, one who even travelled 2.5 hours to attend. Who says “historical gaming” is on the wane?

As a fantastic way to introduce two players who hadn’t played serious games, we extended time as needed and had a barbecue lunch put on. This part definitely went down well with the guys! The only thing we did differently was that we allowed for the Australian list to swap one M113 LRV in the Cavalry Troop for a second M113 MRV.

In the interests of keeping it simple and easy to approach, I chose three missions to vary things. These were Into the Unknown, Dust Up and Encounter. The reason for this was to encourage tank forces and give all players a choice of having 40% or more reserves (affecting each player equally) while all missions could finish with no time limit issues. As the games played, we only used Into The Unknown and Dust Up which were very well received.

Some highlights for me personally : Seeing our current Australian champion Nick running his tank-less Soviet infantry horde and relying on  his flying tanks of six Hinds and Four Frogfoot (Frogfeet ?). The whole time complaining bitterly how unreliable air support was, yet this was what dealt with ROMOR Challengers in one game. Convincingly too, without loss to the flyboys. Swirling tank fights between Leopard II and Challengers of various upgrades, with the big cats coming out on top, to the immense surprise of new guy Craig who loves his Leopards! I was stunned to see someone finally running a Challenger formation in partnership with a Rifle company.  Very tough but a brittle hammer to wield.  Having Terence playing his first games with a beautifully painted full strength Bundeswehr Panzergrenadier force. Terrifying to try to break through the thin grey line of MG3 and Milan!  Best of all, seeing William and his full strength squadron of the Australian 1 Armoured  and full company of 5/7th Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment holding off a determined Soviet Battalion attack was absolutely priceless. The look on Nick’s face as Australian and Qld state Champion from trying to punch through the Aussie defence was worth it. Many a local player has been trampled by the horde of soviet infantry and Nick is a brilliant player. All this and most rewarding for it being his birthday, this was William’s first win of a Team Yankee event.

Apologies that I didn’t realise it was William’s birthday til afterwards. I heartily recommend Phil Yates' idea of having two formations maximum to enable 120pts. This worked very well with most players finishing inside 2.5 hours. Attached are some photos and the winning list from William. Results noted below, however as this was a friendly teaching event, I arranged for each player to walk away with some prize and I acted as a playing umpire, providing teaching where possible. Looking forward to the rematch. ~Garry Wait

Player List Result William Warne-Jones ANZAC Mech/Tank 2 Wins  Craig Miller  WG Panzerkompanie  2 Wins Nick Ashby Soviet Mech Infantry 1 Win, 1 Draw Terrance Trudgett WG Mech Infantry 1 Draw  Neal Barton British Tank/ British Mech   Garry Wait Iranian Tank/Soviet Tank