Williamburg Muster is a historical wargaming convention held in . . . Williamsburg, VA. It was an absolute blast, and the best convention I’ve been to yet. No official numbers, but I heard that we broke 350 attendees this year, which is great news to me. It was the best wargaming convention I’ve been to yet, it was an absolute blast. In this article I wanted to tell you about the venue, the games, the vendors, what I played, and everything else you need to know about the con!
The Venue
Muster is held each year in February at the Clarion hotel in Williamsburg, Virginia. I have not stayed in the hotel, but the rooms where the convention is held are nice. The hotel is clean, the bathrooms are good, and there’s lots of space, my only complaint is that the lighting is bad. There is lots of awesome food options and a Hampton Inn nearby for those who don’t want to stay on-site. I think the venue is great.
The Games
There was a good variety of games at Muster this year. Something very interesting was that AWI had a very solid presence of 5-6 seperate games, including my Guildford Courthouse game. Notably missing was any big Napoleonics games, but the other mainstays, like WW2 and ACW made their appearances. There was some games from interesting periods you don’t see a ton of, like Great Northern War, the Suez Crises, and the French Foreign Legion in Africa. I saw games in lots of scales, from 54mm to 6mm, and overall there was something for almost anyone.
The Vendors
I don’t know about you, but I’m a little old-school and like to shop in person. That’s something we rarely get to do in our hobby, as stores that carry what we need are few and far between. Muster offers a great variety of sellers for the size of the con. Tons of minis for all different periods are available, both new and used. I avoided spending too much money this year, but I hope to see all of the vendors back next year to tempt me.
What I played
I played 7 games over the weekend, and it didn’t feel like enough. First up was a game of Sharp Practice game set during the American Civil War, it was a fun game overall, and I like the rules with the exception of a few gripes. My brothers in arms led the beautiful boys of the south to glorious victory on the field of battle against the Damned Yankees.
After that I played my first game of Volley and Bayonet, yet another ACW game. Playing the role of John Bell Hood at the battle of Franklin, I was defeated even worse than my historical counterpart by the union. I really enjoyed the rules, and thought they made for a great simple convention game. After getting in a quick game of SAGA before the evening session I hopped in to a beautiful Great Northern War game using 40mm figures. This game used the computer moderated rules Carnage & Glory, which are very interested, but that’s a conversation for another time.
On Saturday I ran my Guilford Courthouse game, which I’ll circle back to in a minute. In the afternoon, I played a game of What a Tanker! with a friend, and even though I have some problems with the rules, it was still a good group of people and an amazing table. My last game of the convention was a sprawling English Civil War game with over 800 28mm miniatures on a 12′ long table. It was a great game to end the con on, our brains were all fried and everyone charged right across the field at each other.
My Guilford Courthouse Game
I was incredibly please with how my game went, I believe it was the best game I’ve ever run. The table was one of my best looking, and so many people were interested that I had to turn away someone for the first time ever. The slight rules and scenario modifications I made worked really well, and added to the game a lot. I got 6 players, 4 of which who had never played the rules, up to speed in less than 10 minutes, and we got 12 turns done in 3 hours.
The game was very engaging, and had us holding our breaths till the last turn. My games don’t always turn out the best, but this one was really great. The part that made my weekend was that it was one of the player’s first wargame ever, and he seemed to really enjoy it. Another convert!!!
Conclusion
I hope any of you Mid-Atlantic readers will join us next year, as Muster is an absolute blast and we’d love to have you.
Thanks for reading, comment down below to let me know your feedback as it means the world to me. Stay tuned, we’ve got more quality, entertaining wargaming content coming your way. Please tell EVERYONE you know about the blog.
Make sure to stay informed with email notifications when there is a new blog post by filling out this form.
or consider supporting the blog at https://www.patreon.com/user?u=48406313
Until next time- Joshua, The Napoleon of the West
