Fall In 2009 - Random Games I Saw

Hey all! Just got back from Fall In 2009! Good times! Over the next few days, I'll put up four posts: one of pictures from random games I saw... one of pictures from games I played... one of pictures from the game I ran... and finally, one about all my purchases! First up... random games I saw!

Here is a 15mm (I believe) Napoleonic game that was being played on Thursday evening... I believe it ran again a few times during the convention. I like the foam table, and that they simply pushed the trees into the table, which got rid of the artificial "trees standing around" feel that many games tables have.
This one above is not "my thing," as it is a space game, but it was a neat table. Behind the big fortress entrance there was a labyrinth of underground passages and rooms, in which lurked lots of aliens... players had to duke it out in there without often knowing what was around the next corner!
There were a few nice naval games that I saw, my favorite maybe being this one... the fort and the surrounding camp were really fantastic looking!
Here is a Zulu game from Friday... done on a larger scale it didn't have quite the "packed in" feeling of smaller scales, but was still good to look at.Here is one table of a double-blind game. There were two completely identical tables, separated by a sheet. On your own table you only saw your own men, and any enemies you spotted. This makes for a very neat game! I have to admit I don't love the huge scale, but the overall concept and execution were great.
In this slightly red picture, you can see a nice WWI game. There were a decent amount of troops on the field, although you can't see them all in this picture!
I am not totally sure what this game is... it looked French and Indian War, but I think it was more a role-playing type frontier game. I did like the rocky outcrop in the back corner of the table, and anything with this many trees always gets my approval!
Here is a Flames of War picture... there are always loads of nice Flames of War tables in the FOW tournament, so they were nice to see.
This was another 15mm WWII game, that I think was a Flames of War game... but what really caught my eye were the modeled dust clouds behind moving vehicles... very cool, especially in a desert game, which has so little eye candy by its very nature!
Another World War 2 game... while it was not fancy (the bocage was just ripped lichen) visually from a few feet away it was an effective presentation.
Awww yeah! Third edition Space Hulk! The figures are AMAZING... I honestly want to buy it JUST to paint the figures, but I could never afford it.
And finally, a WWII 25mm game... I was happy to see another fully flocked table out there, as it seems like there were just way too many half-finished tables.Here is another 15mm ACW game that looked nice, a Prairie Grove game, Federals attacking a Confederate position.And finally, here is a good looking WWII beach invasion... not sure if it is Normandy, but it certainly looked sharp enough!

I must say, that touches on one of my huge pet peeves of Fall In, other than the body odor and gnomes... there were far too many half-assed tables. A few chaps who flew in from Michigan were commenting about how the general standard of table at Fall In simply was not high enough. I am not sure if it is just that people don't know the easy, cheap tricks for making a table look nice? Or do they just not care? Either way, I really do hope that people continue to make their tables look nicer, and avoid the old "cut out swatches of felt represents woods, and marsh, towns, rough terrain, and hills" wargaming, which is just such a visual let down that it seems to undermine our entire hobby... let's face it, inside we are all still kids staring at dioramas, so lets not mess that up!

Anyway, enough ranting... coming up soon, some more Fall In photos, including from Dave Bonk's AWI game and Sam Mustafa's LaSalle game (both of which I was lucky enough to play in, and are pictured at the start and end of this entry) and from my own 10mm Napoleonic game!