Throwback Thursday – The Wachtmeister goes to A Call to Arms

This post was originally published on the HMGS site on October 25, 2019.

The boys and I attended A Call to Arms October 11-13, hosted by the Old Dominion Military Society in Williamsburg Virginia. ODMS holds three events a year: Williamsburg Muster in February, Guns of August in, well, August, and A Call to Arms in October. I haven’t attended Guns of August but I have now attended the other two. These are good local events with a variety of gaming.

This year A Call to Arms had a Bolt Action tournament and a Horus Heresy tournament. There were a number of historical, fantasy and pulp games as well as Gaslands games running throughout the con. There were about six vendors, one of my favorites being the Phalanx Consortium. The Phalanx Consortium is run by a nice couple, and conveniently they brought their daughter so the boys had someone else to play with! I managed to buy a few post apocalypse terrain pieces which I’m sure I’ll share in another blog post sometime. Old Dominion GameWorks had an excellent showing with a few of their games being run, including a great looking Mein Zombie game set in a prison. Speaking of which the boys once again played in Brian Whittakers Limey’s and Slimeys with a great group of pirate Captains who all seemed to have a good time. We also played Arena Games gladiators, which I brought with me. We played both in the gaming hall and had a few late night games in our hotel room. We made good use of the hospitality room for snacks throughout the convention which is a great feature.

Sunday we went to the flea market and I picked up a few pieces of scatter terrain.

All in all we had a great time. Going down Friday afternoon through Sunday morning may have been a bit longer than needed with my two traveling companions but between the convention and Williamsburg we found plenty to do. It appeared to me that A Call to Arms was less attended than Williamsburg Muster. There were a few less vendors and the Sunday flea market was fairly barren. I’d be happy to hear from people who regularly attend these shows about this. I’m wondering if A Call to Arms is normally slower than Muster or if that’s just the way it shook out. Either way I had an excellent time and have already planned to attend the next ODMS show, Muster, in February.

Williamsburg has a nice food scene from the growing restaurant scene in the historic district to some hidden gems throughout. We enjoyed stuffing our faces between games that’s for sure!

When driving through Fredericksburg a stop at Paul’s Bakery is a must! This is an afternoon snack, it was pajama day at school!

Officially registered!

Negative Ghost Rider, Daddy needs a drink! Dinner and a drink at Amber Ox in the historic district. It’s actually Steven’s favorite restaurant. No, I’m not kidding!

Chicken and waffles at Southern Pancake and Waffle House.

This cute little thief glommed one of my chicken wings and lost a wiggly tooth in the process!

Sometimes one breakfast just isn’t enough. . . .

What do you mean this isn’t a food blog? You want pictures from the actual con? Well, ok then. This is the Saturday game schedule, I didn’t get around to taking Friday’s before it was taken down.

Yarrrghhhh, avast ye lubbers, here by pirates!

Some pictures of a great looking Bolt Action game. If you look VERY carefully you can see some of the stands of trees have tunnel entrances. I’m sure the Marines wish they had found them earlier!

A view of the Gaslands tables and the Horus Heresy tournament.

It’s not a trip to Williamsburg without a trip to Sonic!

After lunch there was some down time so I finally got to go Copper Fox distillery. It’s well worth taking an hour or so out of your day. Ignore the fact that it’s housed in a creepy old motel. . . .