Falmurth Article 6

Falmurth GameDays and Players: Falmurth 1978 & 1979

By Jeff Martin  06/13/2024

 

Falmurth V, 1978

 

[Above: Chuck Crain & Greg Hopper]

 

The 1978 Falmurth game day was held in Terre Haute IN at Triangle Fraternity house on the campus of Rose-Hulman. This was a nice facility for the games but a long drive for the Ohio folks and the only Falmurth ever held there.

 

The 4 game tables were scenarios in far eastern Misflin (Vyka), northern Oligrar in Vyka, eastern Meneldor between the Linthmor hills and the Menel forest, and in northern Devendor just south of Jyllaran. The Evil side took advantage of the Forthing win and followed it up with a decisive victory in east Misflin but Vyka managed a moderate victory in Oligrar. Evil handily won the overall game day by adding a decisive win in Meneldor and a marginal win in Devendor / Vraltor.

 

[Above:  Howard A. & Ron Haas]

 

Participants –

Playing the same roles as 1978 were the following attendees:

Tom Meir,

Glenn Kidd,

Greg Hopper,

John Melby,

Ron Haas,

Roger Rhodes,

and Larry Connor.

Chuck Crain focused on Sutherkrein this year.

 

New players included:

Jack Hasselbrock as the King of Syrtax

John Winkler Royal Gov. of the Satraps

Gilberto Benitez as the Warchief of Malkosha

Terry Howie as the Viscount of Jyllaran

Dave Liebmutha as the Savages and Orcs

Alan Carson as the Thain of Shirland

Kevin Barrer temporarily commanding Scandia

and my records missed who commanded Donizar

 

[Above:  Tom Meier & John Winkler]

 

I didn’t find a write-up about the games from this year but I do recall that at this time we still had magic users raising elementals on the boards and Evil used this with great impact in the Meneldor game. Eventually we relegated Elementals to Wizards only (who only appear in special games) and substituted the much less powerful sorcerous creature for lesser MUs.

 

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Falmurth VI, 1979

 

[Above:  Players Not Yet Unidentified]

 

The 1979 game day returned to Ohio and was held in Columbus. Strategic moves were made by each side and the resulting 6 battles reduced to 4 for the game day. The battles were in Dersor (southern Vyka from Donizar), central Misflin (Vyka), northern Shirland and around Castle Jylla in Jyllaran.

 

The first several years of Falmurth included many very powerful Fantasy creatures but over time we sought some more balance between the Fantasy and the troops. In 1979 two of the boards (Dersor and Shirland) were designated Low Fantasy only and the other two games included High Fantasy. Low Fantasy boards not only greatly lessened the dominance of Fantasy creatures in the game they also allowed lower level player characters a more reasonable starting point.

 

[Above: Howard Anderson, Benny Benitez, Alan Carson]

 

 

I have a commander list for Falmurth VI and since it has results listed in terms of player promotions I think it represents pretty well who played.

It included:

Rich Smethurst as Xindurbil,

Terry Hauk as Jyllaran,

Tom Meir as the Black Prince,

Frank Suchar as Donizar,

Chuck Crain as both Malkosha and Sutherkrein,

Larry Connor as Golas,

Vic Harpley as Lassarand,

Neil Rinehart as Scandia,

Ron ‘Doc’ Haas as Khaldir,

Jim Rush as Dalvar,

Jeff Bundy as Vyka,

Bob Smith as Regalio,

Roger Rhodes as Rhada,

Howard Anderson as Meneldor,

Gilberto ‘Bennie’ Benitez also played one of the countries on the Evil side.

Alan Carson also played probably on the Good side.

 

[Above: Players Not Yet Identified]

 

 

Evil won a decisive victory on the Dersor table, Good won decisively on the largest table in Misflin, the Shirland table was a Tie and Good won a marginal victory on the Jylla table giving Good an overall 58 to 41 victory.

 

 

To be continued in Falmurth Article 7