CanGames 2026 - Sunday May 17th

 11:30 AM Sunday morning. View of Ottawa from the Quebec side of the Ottawa River.

2PM Sunday afternoon I signed up for the every popular Doctor Who Skirmish game, Brian Hearnden has been hosting a Doctor Who game at Cangames since 2008. It was the first year I played. This year he was using Pulp Alley to run the game. It was my second game for this system.

The fourth Doctor and campanions.

Each league begins equidistant from the centre.

Join Doctor Who and his allies or play his enemies as they fight to control the course of time and events. Each player controls 3 figures in an interactive Pulp alley skirmish game trying to win victory by achieving plot points and foiling opponents.  As the newbie to the Doctor Who game, I was given the Doctor to play.

The scenario is Horror at Fang Rock

The creepy-crawlies are the Rutan. 

The Rutan have taken control of the lighthouse.

They seek to use the genearator to power a beacon 

for an invasion fleet to home in on.

The Doctor soon amasses a fist full of cards

Storming the generator room

I had a great time. It was the first time I played in the Doctor Who game, I don't think it will be the last.

7PM 15mm Sunday night is the time slot reserved for the hard core gamers. The site is emptying out as fellow participates pack it in and head home. I stayed for the Art de la Guerre 100 point, 3 rounds, single list tournament. This year if was the Mesopotamian Empires and their enemies. Last year it was 200 points played over two seesions. I once again made use of a loaner army, Thank you Todd. 

I played using a Oman and Gulf States (Army List 19). First round I went up against Martin Roweland and his Sumerian List 1 force. He wiped the board with me. Second round I played against Mike Ireland and his Achaemenid Persian (Army List 64). In the final match I played against Robert Hanks who also ran with a Sumerian Army.  Both my second and third match we ran out of time but I won by points, enough so that I didn't return home with my third wooden spoon in as many years.

Art de la Guerre is not a game set we play at the Montreal club. Our focus tends towards SAGA, next year the plan is for 100 points late medieval. I have an army and I will pull it out out storage and start moving figures on my own tabletop.

CanGames 2026 - Saturday May 16th

9AM   My first game of the day was a game of Silver Bayonet hosted by Duncan Martelock. It was a six player game and I joined two fellow Montreal Gamers to play the British contingent in this archological dustup titled Raiders of the 18th century. Napoleon's troops have landed in Egypt and heard rumors of a large gold object hidden in the desert. These rumors have attracted a variety of parties to investigate. Some say it is cursed, others that is blessed and others just care it's gold.

Looking across the desert at the French ( and standing GM)

My faction is in the Southwest cornor. My rifleman is lagging behind.

I picked up some minis.

I have heard good things about the game and I was fortuate that a spot opened up. I have noticed over the past couple of years that this game system seems to be popular and always has a full table. I enjoyed the game enough to invest in the rulebook and pick up some Spanish minis. I already have a collection of North Star figures MTB06 - Spanish Irregulars (Napoleonic Wars) and figured that they will provide a backdrop for my Silver Bayonet unit.

2PM As  I wrote in my previous post I do not have the stamina to do three four hour sessions and I went back to my room for an afternoon nap. I then went for an early supper and took in two periods of the game between the Ottawa Charge and Montreal Victoire. The Montréal Victoire are the 2026 PWHL Walter Cup Champions.

7PM Saturday evening I played on the Soviet side in a Rapid Fire game hosted by Andrew Carr and Ed. They drove up from Nova Scotia for the weekend. The game was titled Road to Minsk 1944 and was part of Operation Bagration on the Northern Flank. 

3rd Byelorussian Front was order to drive to the Moscow to Minsk Highway. While the German 78th Sturm Division was well dug in and support by STuG III assault guns and Nashorn self-propelled guns was order to stop the Soviet advance. 11th Guards Army was order to break thru the German line and exit the far edge of the table. 

The Germans await the coming storm.

My command with 4 T34-85s with tank riders and two supporting AT guns.

As well as  2 ISU-122 heavy tanks and their infantry.

The troops of my associate on the right side of the highway.

German smoke arrives and helps screen our advance.

I close to assault the town on the right side of the table,

The drive along the road continues to receive enemy artillery fire.

The Assault goes in. Casualities are heavy. German Infantry is destroyed.

The view from the far side of the table.

Na Berlin. 

Reaching the German line.

The Soviet Advance continued. Game declared a draw.

 I very much enjoyed the game. Andrew and Ed had everything in order and the game flowed quickly. It is almost midnight before I reach my bed. Sunday morning I will sleep in and meet up with a friend for brunch and a walk along the Ottawa River. I will miss the 9AM session.

CanGames 2026 - Friday May 15th

 The Cangames 2026 edition was held over the long Victoria Day weekend. The covention covers all gabits of the gaming spectrum, including miniatures, boardgames and RPGs, with I am sure other genres of which I am not clearly aware of. I usually go for the miniatures. Over the course of three days, 8 four hour gaming sessions are available. The Friday has two with a one hour break between sessions. Saturday and Sunday both offer three gaming seeions, 9AM, 2PM and finally 7PM. I am afraid I can no longer handle three sessions in a day. Non the less I tried to get my fill of moving minis androlling dice in five and a half sessions.

Friday aftrenoon after registration I played an intro game of Rivet Wars in a 2 hour slot. This is a boardgame with lots of great looking minis. Glen kindly explained the rules to me and walked me through two quick games. Rivet Wars was described as WWI meets Steam Punk meets Minions. Fight for every inch of ground in this grueling miniatures/boardgame crossover game of trench warfare.

Rivet Wars

Friday Night I took part in a game of Xenos Rampant hosted by Shawn Unger. The game was advertzed as Weird War II - Dungeon Destruction. The Allies are attempting to locate the entrance to the Nazi's secret lab in the rubble of a minor city that is reportedly on the verge of creating undead soldiers (totenkorps).  I was on the wrong side of history. This was my introduction to  the  Xenos Rampant rules and I would play it again. No exactly historical but I had an enjoyable evening.

The Allies Move forward, Our secret lab is located on their side of the river to the right of the bridge.

A fierce hand to hand melee takes place in the ruins across from the bunker.

The Allies achieve their goal. They have seccured the lab and are exiting the board with the captured data. 

Soldiers of the Queen - Lancers

 Last weekend at Cangames 49 in Ottawa I picked up a group of Indian Army lancers that are destined for the NW frontier. It seems somewhat fitting they were obtained during the long Victoria Day weekend. 

Previous Basing

The figures were painted to a high standard and looked fantstic. Their basing upon cut cardboard was less desired, The following photos show the figures after my rebasing exercise.