The Battles of Labor Day

It originally started as a means to clear out the garage and get my wife's car washed: I would host a multi-day wargame in my garage. I rounded up all of the usual suspects, and we cleaned out the garage. We laid out where the troops would go, and on the day, deployed multiple Napoleonic army corps from their carrying cases. Then, with everything set, off we went. Several hours later the battle was over. It would be the first of many.

In succeeding years we went to tables in the garage (a giant Age of Reason game, followed by a giant Little Big Battles game), in large part because our knees couldn't take the cement. Then we moved inside to my game room and had a series of games. We traveled south to Oregon at least twice, and later migrated to a different house where we could game on the patio. But overall we've enjoyed multiple days of gaming.

This year (2006) was typical. When I arrived there was a galley game (Little Greek Rowboats) going full blast (that lasted all day). The rest of us kibitzed for a bit, and then set up a Little Big Battles game that was supposed to be a division/player, and somehow ended up in a larger action with a corps of cavalry and ~45 battalions on each side. I am told the Austrians and Allies won. The next day featured a larger than average King's War game that lasted most of the day. Day 3 featured an Age of Reason game, and, later, a double-sized non-fantasy Hordes of the Things ancients battle (I say non-fantasy as Hotts is the fantasy version of De Bellis Antiquitatis). And finally, the fourth day, having shed most everybody, we got in a game of the Marlburian version of Volley & Bayonet.

We've done this every year to the point where it is something we look forward to on the calendar. It's a time of stories, games, eating, drinking, good luck, bad luck, and so on, a lot of the things that make gaming a fun hobby.