On May 24th and 25th 2014 the first Dices & Bayonets Con was hosted in Speyer.

For that reason, our Journey began early on saturday, with chequered weather. The dear sirs Christian/Fritz and Martin/Cidster attended with me the journey towards Speyer. Roughly one and a half hour later, along the A61 towards Palatinate we arrived at the event location and documented (as the proud journalist that i am) the given parking.

On site the action began at 10 a.m. Last preparations were done, terrain positioned and tables brought inline. We were welcomed by a cheerful Noel, who was noticeable reliefed that everything went well so far. The first looks to the left and right, pass the broad proud chest, showed that they worked hard on this event. And it must have been tough to gather all these fine tables and get them without damage through the weather into the hall.

Around 11 am was a short speech and thanksgiving toward the local club Dices & Bayonets as well as the other clubs and guests from the region, that supported to make this event happen.

At such a convention, Warlord Games isn't fair. So it is no surprise that all three big systems from their range were represented.

A very nice participation table for Bolt Action covered a small 500 points szenario, Brits vs. Germans, with a crashed squad of Brits that tries to liberate a french inn from german troops. The terrain is from Noels collection, with selfmade houses and bocage, along with products from the 15mm range of Gale Force Nine, that works great with Bolt Action and other 28mm ranges, like the streets, craters and small bocages.

Pike & Shotte was hosted as well. Beside the 4Ground houses, again the Gale Force Nine Rural Roads, and some cocos doormats, that were used as fields.

Rounded up by the Zulu Wars Black Powder table, that was based on the Battle for Rorke's Drift using the szenario box with the same name.

My personal highlight was this force on force table in 20mm / 1:72 scale. If you are interested in modern combat, take a look at Sgt Screams project on sweetwater. He even made a small tutorial to get some basic knowledge about Force on Force.

Then there was this huuuge Field of Glory Renaissance table by the Kurpfalz Feldherren.

From the studio that brought us SAGA, comes Muskets & Tomahawks, that covers the french-indian war. This is - beside the Ronin table further down - one of Noels favorite rule sets.

Really into detail went Noel with the Ronin table. The rules come from Osprey, the terrain is made by 4Ground and PlastCraft (for Kensei from spain).

By now the weather got better and bright sunshine covered palatinate.

SAGA, now available in german as well, is becoming more and more popular. The gaming table was well attended. Multiple players brought their norsemen into battle simultaneously. Of course, in stil, with bearded men and a sip of mead.

Flames of War as offered as well, hosted by the Dark Eyes from Heidelberg/Heilbronn. Classic setting with a landing scenario at a french coast with small village. The terrain pieces are from the 15mm of 4Ground.

Really nice was the flames of war vietnam table, with lots and lots of aquarium plants.

And even if historic settings were very present, there was fantasy and sci-fi as well. For example Freebooters Fate, with two tables. That was a welcome invitation for Christian/Fritz, who immediately joined a round.

On this nice space gaming matt including display, X-Wing was offered. Impressive, especially the larger models.

In a side room Check your Six was hosted, along with Fire & Fury in 6mm, covering the american civil war.

And you could play a game of Infinity and Level 2.

Around 6 p.m. we headed back to Koblenz. This was a really great convention, and not only as debut. The support by the regional club was amazing and they offered an impressive, broad amount of games with above average quality tables. We met a few familiar faces from the Sweetwater board, had some chats about different rules and current events in tabletop and did a bit of shopping at the trade booth.

The chosen location is a good spot, lot of space, along with an attached restaurant - so the needs for food and drinks were covered. Speyer is well-connected via A61 and quickly reached from the middle rhine, Rhine-Main and Rhine-Neckar areas.

Are there still wishes for the next time? Of course! We want to be there again. At this point, again, a big thank you to Noel and his crew for the great event and the invitation. Respect to all the supports, who made this great weekend reality.

Link: Dices & Bayonets