Trumpeter Salute 2026

This past weekend was the annual Trumpeter Salute wargaming convention.  Arthur and I attended the full weekend, including hosting our Hunt for the Mad Trapper game on Friday night and a game of 02h00 on Saturday morning. I'm going to do a separate report for the Mad Trapper game as there is a bit more background to go with it.

Here is the table layout.  I almost always forget something - this time it was the game mat.  Fortunately, I was able to set the village up directly on the table. As we playtested several times, once again the game was the Capture scenario with Partisans as the attacker.

Germans on patrol in the village plaza.

German feldgendarmerie on patrol.  02h00 gives feldgendarmes a slightly different profile than regular Wehrmacht sentries.  In order to make a simple distinction between the two types, I've put all my feldgendarmes in greatcoats.

Partisans approach stealthily.

Including Odette who stays hidden behind the patrolling Germans.

Feldgendarmes engage one of the partisans in a firefight.

The feldgendarmes fare poorly in the exchange, but the alarm is most definitely raised!

Meanwhile the partisan leader has located the German officer inside the building with the green shutters.

German sergeant gets into a close-range firefight with the partisan sergeant.

Sneaky partisans are sneaky.

German reinforcements rush into the village, but they are too late!

By this point in the game, all the partisans had fled except this one.  The German dog handler pinned him as his comrades came up to assist him.

Lisa also ran 02h00 - this time it was an LRDG raid to try to assassinate Rommel.

The designer of Close Quarter Battle was on hand to demo his game.  It's based on 1980s-style Hollywood action flicks. This scenario featured the heroes breaking up a drug-smuggling ring on the docks.

Some Napoleonic-era naval action with Wooden Ships and Iron Men.

Chris Leach showed off his ECW Control to Catastrophe game.

Cameron hosted a two-part Pegasus Bridge game using Force on Force.

The North Shore Gamers had a very beautiful WWI game based on a 'what if' British attack on Aqaba.

Sam and Owen had a two-part (afternoon and evening) big Chain of Command game.

And finally I got to play in Legion's Crystal City Galactic Heroes game.  I led the crew of the Swinetrek (from the Muppet Show) to victory over the mutated chickens.

All in all, a great weekend!