San Marino ConventionMurray CowlesIn mid May Barri, Ruby, Peter Eldridge and I were at the games Con in San Marino. We enjoyed it hugely and need to thank all the locals who made us so welcome and looked after us so well. The Con is organised by the San Marino Association of Historic Games, and paricularly by the President of the Society, Giancarlo Ceccoli. Importantly, the Association is supported by the Office of the Secretary of State for Tourism. This helps ensure that the Conference facilities were top of the range. We stayed at a comfortable hotel 15 minutes walk from the Con, but a lot of our Italian friends were there also, so we were never short of a lift. The Con was held in a modern Commercial Centre. Three floors, escalators, offices, shops large and small, an excellent cafe and an even better restaurant. So if you are there for the games you did not need to move out the building. Plenty of free gaming. Big Eastern Front game went on all weekend, I was well duffed up at BKN by Paolo Cariolato, but also had a good game of Caesar Alesia, thank you to Marco and Federico. Tournaments were Diplomacy, 18xx, Risk and Colony of Catan. Peter Eldridge came a very close Second place in the 18xx. Only 11 points behind the winner in 6383 points. He still won a very large Cup which must have caused him some difficulty on his train journey home. Barri, Ruby and I flew in two days earlier through Rimini. Here we hired a car for the short drive to the Republic of San Marino. We spent two days touring in this fascinating place, and could have spent much longer. Certainly I would enjoy going back there next year. There is so much to see, and May is a good time of year to go. Will I be back next year? Certainly! |