Williamsburg Muster 2020 – A review
by Dennis Jensen
Williamsburg Muster 2020 was on February 14-16 at the Clarion Hotel in Williamsburg Virginia. This is the second year I attended this excellent small convention. Once again, I gave my wife the gift of silence and I went down with my two boys. This year we also went down with my friend Todd, a fellow WNPG member, and Hobby University teacher.
We made it down to Williamsburg without traffic, checked in our room, bought our badges and then went to dinner. There were a number of games on Friday night, some planned, and some ad hoc. I continued my tradition of allowing the boys to stay up late and we all played the Arena Games gladiator game.
On Saturday, we had breakfast and the boys played in Brian Whitaker’s excellent Buccaneer Wars. As always, Brian ran a great game. The people who played in the game were also excellent and did a great job battling two eight-year-old boys. The boys ran two large ships as pirate hunters versus three small ships of pirates. Steven took on one ship and Nicholas took on the other two. Both boys took out their enemies and were declared the winners. Huzzah!
Meanwhile, Todd and I played Blood Bowl on the adjacent table where my Skaven triumphed over the Norse. We then spent some time wandering the tournament room, where Bolt Action, Horus Heresy and The 9th Age were being played.
One of the highlights of the day was when the boys walked over to a group of guys playing Gaslands, The Carnage City Times. You could not walk past the group without being asked to join in the fun. They even enlisted the boys to play. The boys had a great time and we left the show with templates, starting gates and a promise to make some cars when we got home.
This type of involvement is exactly what the hobby needs. This is exactly how the boys got into gaming in the first place when Brian Whittaker saw my wife and boys walking around Historicon a few years back and press-ganged them into a game. Last year these people were off in the tournament room, good call by the Muster team to put them somewhere more visible; guys like this are the future of our hobby.
After this, we went to lunch and a local distillery before heading back to the convention. (It is OK; we played Trivial Pursuit while we were there. It is a board game at least!) We wandered around for a while, checked out some games, talked to some friends and headed out to dinner. There were a ton of great games going on and Todd opted to play Saga. When the boys and I got back from dinner, we played our traditional game of Arena Games in the hotel room before going to bed.
Sunday morning we went out to breakfast and then came back for the flea market and the boys picked up a few random things. I was talking with a few friends getting ready to leave when I saw the boys watching a game of 40k with a pair of 11-year-olds who then invited them to play. Turns out it, was a homebrew game but the 11-year-old running the game was consistent with the rules application and did an excellent job with the boys. This was another great “future of the game” to watch.
Unfortunately, this was an hour after I foolishly passed up on a great deal on a large lot of Primaris Space Marines. I went back 20 minutes after passing it up but they were gone. Darn you painting challenge! Oh well, every trip needs to have something go less than perfect, right?
Once again, ODMS put on a great show and should be proud of their hard work. If you are in a reasonable driving distance, I strongly encourage you to attend next year. Unfortunately, the ODMS A Call to Arms is being canceled this year so I need to wait until the 2021 Williamsburg Muster for another awesome boy’s weekend.
Williamsburg Muster:
Williamsburg Muster Facebook:
The Carnage City Times Facebook:
-Wachtmeister