First Annual Pea Bowl Recap

Story and photos By Justin Rodriguez

The first Annual Pea Bowl was held at Pea Soup Anderson’s Restaurant in the heart of Santa Barbara Wine Country; the restaurant is located in the city of Buellton, California just a short drive north of the city of Santa Barbara. The event was originally imagined as a Team Yankee tournament and evolved into a general games day. Games of DBA, Flames of War and HG Wells’ Little Wars were hosted in addition to the Team Yankee tournament. The event was a success and I am glad to have accomplished hosting an event in my local area as I normally have to travel substantial distances to attend any gaming events.

The Pea Bowl event was conceived one evening over a bowl of pea soup at the famous roadside restaurant . Fellow war-gamers Kevin Morris and Johnny Vasquez were in town for a brewery event hosted at Figueroa Mountain Brewery. After having our fill of beer, we headed to Pea Soup Anderson’s restaurant for dinner.  I suggested that I would like to host an event in my area as the closest Flames of War and Team Yankee events are held in the greater Los Angeles area. The drive from Buellton to Los Angeles is usually a two-and-a-half hour drive without traffic.

Kevin was very enthusiastic about the potential event at Pea Soup Anderson’s and he quickly came up with the name and idea of the Pea Bowl where the winner would hoist a cup and the following year the next winner would acquire the cup and it was to be displayed in the winners local game store for a year until the next event.

I too was enthusiastic about this idea but not only for the gaming event but that there were others who were genuinely interested in helping to promote the idea. After dinner, the manager showed us a large banquet space above the main dining room that he said we could use for free as long as the attendees would order food for lunch and dinner. We had found our location.

In the coming months, Kevin and I discussed timing and logistics for the event. I had always wanted to play in a doubles gaming tournament of some sort and none had been hosted recently so we chose a doubles format. We reached out to fellow Team Yankee enthusiasts on the various internet forums and facebook groups for the best date to schedule the event. November 3rd was the date.

I decided to make a small run of T-shirts for the event and I had ordered a trophy and ribbons. I also contacted Brian from to see if he could donate some prize support which he generously did. Game Ogre is the closest store to the Buellton area that offers miniatures games including Team Yankee and Flames of War.

I also reached out to our local (of which I am a member) to see if anyone was interested in sharing the event space as we had it reserved all day. The space is large enough to accommodate other games besides the Team Yankee event. Three HMGS members agreed to host games at the event. Adam Hammer would host Flames of War demo games, Ken Spaar would host HG Wells Little Wars and Danny Weitz would host DBA demo games.

The day arrived and all those who said that they would attend showed up. We had a good mix of locals interested in miniatures games and die-hard players attend the event. The Team Yankee tournament started after 10 AM. I would sit out most of the Team Yankee games as we had unexpected attendees arrive and we needed an even number of teams for the doubles tournament. Most people drove significant distances to attend so I was glad to accommodate.

Igor Torgeson and Chad McElhiney came out on top to be the First Annual Pea Bowl Champions. Hyato Tukakosi and Christian Sorensen took second place and Johnny Vasquez and his brother Andre took third.

In addition to the Team Yankee tournament, Ken Spaar hosted a very entertaining and original HG Wells little wars table with his incredible collection of toy soldiers that had been collected for many years. Adam Hammer and Danny Weitz enjoyed games of DBA and then played Flames of War. Danny was very intrigued by Team Yankee and has since started collecting a force. We had a few area locals show up as well to check out what miniature wargaming is all about; so I hope the hobby grows in this region.

All players in attendance enjoyed the day. We are planning the second annual Pea Bowl in 2019. If you are in the Los Angeles or surrounding area please consider joining us next year. I will make an announcement for the next years date on the and the various local (California) Flames of War and HMGS Facebook groups. Next year rumor has it that there will be a pea soup eating contest…

Justin is a resident of Wine Country north of Los Angeles California. When he’s not hosting events involving pea soup, he plays a variety of games, including historical WWII, WW3, and Fantasy/Space Opera games. His secret dream is to host a Gate of Antares mega battle at next year’s Pea Soup event.