COW 2025

COW 2025

COW was held for the third (and last) time at Missenden Abbey in Great Missenden in Buckinghamshire, unfortunately the owner has put it up for sale so we've had to arrange for a different venue for 2026 - watch this space. A pity since it's a wonderful venue, and had even arranged to have some decent beer on for us, and we got to play games on its main lawn and in one of the smaller gardens.

Just under 50 members attended for the weekend. There were about 48 sessions (almost all games, with just a few "illustrated" discussions), with up to 7 games running simultaneously!

View the COW 2025 Programme to get a fuller idea of the range of games on offer.

 

Missenden Abbey

Friday Evening Games

On Friday there is traditionally a plenary game to act as an ice-breaker. This time it was called Apocalypse Dilemmas and was (topically) World War 3 (worrying given how prescient last year's Papal Conclave was).  The game was designed by and inspired by SPI's classic boardgame of the same name. Attendees played different command and staff positions from NATO and the Warsaw Pact and each team was faced with a variety of global incidents (typically military) to which they had to decide whether they would deal with them by conventional or nuclear means. As it was everyone kept their head and no nuclear weapons were used by either side. Quite a sobering game. After dinner there were half a dozen smaller and more informal/fun games run, some pictures of those below.

Russel King kicking off the plenary game
An impromptu sci-fi card game - "The Game is KILLER"
Texas Tower of Terror - storytelling/RPG lite
Mixed Reality Wargaming demo - subsea and butterfly?
Urban wargaming in Mixed Reality
The Mixed Reality Wargaming taster session

 Saturday Games

Thirty-three games were available on Saturday. There may even have been a few more as COW as a bit of an "unconference" vibe and if there's a spare slot you can just add a game for it onto the big wall planner. Most games have a sign-up sheet which people use on arrival and throughout the weekend to get signed up for a game. Pictures of some of the games below. Of particular note were the two "lawn games" - "It's a Fair Kop" on the Boer War done HG Wells/Little Wars style with 54mm using Britain's style figures, matchstick firing guns and party-popper cannister, and "Recce II" using a battalion's worth (!) of genuine Soviet foam AFV tactical training models in about 1/35th scale.

It's A Fair Kop - the British advance
It's A Fair Kop - the Boer defenders
It's A Fair Kop- matchsticks firing!
It's A Fair Kop - the general and his drinks cabinet
The British gun line in It's A Fair Kop
It's A Fair Kop - the British assault a conveniently placed tree stump!
It's A Fair Kop - grown men at play!
It's A Fair Kop - now where did that matchstick go?
It's A Fair Kop - lining up a shot
Recce II - players stand by their Challengers and Warriors
Recce II - the Soviet hoards in the long grass!
Recce II - everyone dumb-founded at how many vehicles were hiding out there
Seastrike - a classic game, but have you every seen so many in one place?
Panther in the Mist - run by its author
Panthers in the Mist - a scenario for Mission Command Normandy
Close up of Pratzen Heights
Passing It On - the Middle East in the 1930s
Passing It On - the Middle East in the 1930s
Setting up Take That Little Bit of Aachen - Not Quite ASL (Warning: Contains Toy Soldiers)
Peter Perla's Pratzen Heights game
Seastrike in play
Recce II - now where are those BMPs?
Warfighter 3 - multi-domain operations planning
Warfighter 3
Warfighter 3
Warfighter 3
Warfighter 3
Strike from Space - space and counter-space operations
Strike from Space - player aids
Gough in China - using the Taiping Era rules - and run by the author
Gough in China - the East India Company in 1839
City & CEMA - fighting over Johvi in Estonia, 2029
Strike from Space
Strike from Space
Strike from Space
Gough in China
Gough in China
Gough in China
Gough in China
Gough in China - the assault ladders go in
City & CEMA - modern urban combat at battalion scale
City & CEMA
City & CEMA - blocks to keep the enemy guessing
A Little Bit of Aachen in mid-flow

Sunday Morning Games

Games usually only run on Sunday morning, so that we can hold the AGM immediately after lunch and people can make a reasonable getaway. Eight games were played, and the AGM managed to finish before its scheduled start-time due to our ever efficient Secretary and Chair.

OPUC/Estonia 2029
OPUC/Estonia 2029 - the fight for Voru
OPUC/Estonia 2029 - Voru "beermat"

Blog Posts

Several WD members run their own blogs. Here are links to their reports on COW2025 which are likely to have more detail of the particular games:

We'll add photos of more games as we receive them. In accordance with the WD privacy policy, if you object to your face being shown in any photo then please advise the webmaster and he'll remove the photo. Please also let him know if there are any errors in the captions!