Rumble on the Rivers Coming to Ft Wayne

By Troy Hill

For the first time in almost a decade, North East Indiana in the USA seeing the return of a weekend-long gaming convention in November. With the demise of PentaCon earlier this century, the pre-Thanksgiving game con slot has been empty in this part of Indiana.

True, Ft. Wayne Indiana is still home to the Winter Fantasy role-playing convention every winter (WF now run by Baldman Games), but, in my humble opinion, the Fort needs a late fall convention focussed on tabletop miniatures.

And the Death or Glory (DoG) club is hosting just such an event in the same time slot, and at the same location as the now-defunct PentaCon. They’re hosting Rumble on the Rivers at the Grand Wayne Center in downtown Fort Wayne November 10-12, 2023.

DoG has hosted three successful Motor City Mayhem tournaments so far in the greater Detroit area. Their first was in 2021 at the height of the pandemic. Rolling with the state of the world then, they instituted social distancing among tables, and performed temperature checks by on-site medical personnel.

No Dice No Glory is happy to be a part of the event and is sponsoring two of the historical tournaments. What tourneys are going to be hosted?

For the historical gamer, I’ll be running two beginner-friendly tourneys.

Starting on Friday, we’ll have a Blood Red Skies event loosely billed as a tourney. This is really a learn-to-play event if you need to learn the game. But, we’ll also keep score, and pass out a certificate or three if the case arises. And prizes! Warlord was great enough to send out a prize pack. I tried to order a bunch of ace boxes in hopes that every player takes one home. The tourney is for wings of 500 points, no named aces. Doctrine and theatre cards will not be used.

On Saturday, we’ll also have It’s a StuG Life Bolt Action Tourney. This will be a 1200 pt tourney, single “generic” reinforced platoon (the first platoon listed in each Armies of … Books, The one that is not a theatre selector. AND participants are encouraged to bring their nation’s version of a StuG (assault gun or tank destroyer). Limits are NO Heavy Howitzers. I mean, it’s a beginner-friendly tournament. Let’s not drop a building on their squads on turn one. That will just make an ex-player of the game.

Also, no vehicle-mounted flamethrowers. Full rules are in the player pack linked on the Rumble event site. And, again, Warlord was awesome enough to donate prizes. As well as a box of goodies from Rubicon USA. They’ve sent along several Assault Gun model kits.

In addition to the normal “podium” of awards, we’ll award a “choice of” the Rubicon models to the player who receives the Best StuG vote from your fellow players. The rest of the prize pack, supplied by Warlord Games, Rubicon USA, and Things from the Basement, will be either a random draw amongst tournament participants, or a reverse placement order if there are enough prizes for each player to take one home. As I said earlier, this is a beginner-friendly tourney, and decoupling the prize pack from the podium of awards removes the impetus to compete for loot.

Historical gamers also have the opportunity to participate in a three-round SAGA tournament on Saturday.

This tourney is an Age of Melee tourney, with access to forces from the Age of Hannibal, Age of Alexander, Age of Invasions, Age of Vikings, and Age of Crusades. Players should bring lists of 8 points for their warbands, with one point of mercenaries allowed. Games will be of 6-pt warbands.

Games will be played with 6 point warbands chosen from an 8 point list. Players must list their faction and how their 8 points are spent on their roster when checking in before the tournament. The 8 point list should be shared with the TO at check-in and your opponent before the game. Mercenary unit type must be specific and listed on the roster, but other units do not need to be listed or their equipment specified. Equipment options and unit types and sizes may be chosen in each game during deployment. In other words, if your faction allows different variants of Warriors (horse, foot, bow, etc.), you do not have to specify which and may choose at deployment. You specify only points spent on Hearthguard, Warriors, Levy, and Mercenary. You also decide at deployment which 6 points of the 8 on your roster you will use. (Source: from the event page)

In addition to the full complement of GW games (40K, Age of Sigmar, and a doubles event), players also have the opportunity to join a Star Wars Legion tournament. More details on the website.

I’m thrilled to see a gaming convention return to Fort Wayne. Especially on the weekend formerly held by PentaCon. My only wish had been that they’d been able to get a Role Play area set up and bring back some of that old nostalgia I remember from PentaCons past. Oh well. They’re always next year.