Bayou Wars
This gaming convention was previously held in Metaire LA

A little thing named Katrina, Hurricane Katrina has disrupted 'Big Easy' and forced the cancellation of Bayou Wars in Metaire Louisiana for 2006.

But Bayou Wars has many friends, and they have banded together to relocate this fun gaming convention to Vicksburg Mississippi for the year 2006.

"Why not somewhere closer to New Orleans?" - you ask. Baton Rouge Louisiana, is a large city and Louisiana's capitol. It would be a good site, but it is full of refugees. Hotel rooms cannot be had. The Mississippi Gulf Coast is close to "The Big Easy" and full of hotels. But Mississippi's coast was devastated even more than New Orleans. Frankly, Vicksburg was the closest place that we could find that had the hotel space to host a gaming convention.

A statement of how this came came to be
By: John Switzer

The Jackson Gamers of Jackson Mississippi made an offer to the Bayou Wars board to host the convention in 2006. We made this offer three weeks after Hurricane Katrina hit. The Bayou Wars board made a decision in the middle of December regarding our offer.

They decided since New Orleans and South Mississippi were so devastated by the storm and many of the board members lost their homes and needed to spend all their free time rebuilding their lives, they decided to take us up on our offer.

Working with Chris Johnston, members of the Jackson Wargamers, and the Bayou Wars Board of Directors, we considered our options. Hattiesburg and Baton Rouge were out of consideration because of all the evacuees, and we do not know if the situation will be any better by June. Jackson, Mississippi, was considered, but the hotel prices were too high, and there are still around 2,000 evacuees in the Jackson area.

Another option was Vicksburg, and many individuals expressed an interest in having the convention there.

With so much support for Vicksburg, we started looking for an area where you could stay and play. We believed that combination is what made Bayou Wars so successful. Other considerations also included the dates. We needed to keep the dates close to the normal dates of Bayou Wars.

With all those factors taken into consideration, the end decision was to hold the convention at the Battlefield Inn, just outside the National Park entrance. We were able to secure 4,336 square feet for gaming and vendor space at the hotel; so that you will be able to stay and play.

The hotel room rates are as follows:

The cost will be $66 USD a night for double occupancy, and $40 USD a night for single occupancy. The single rooms are limited, and we need to book a certain number of doubles to secure this rate. This price also includes free evening cocktails at the lounge and a free buffet breakfast for the adults (children under age 16 will eat for $2.50 USD).

So, if you are planning on coming, please stay at this hotel. To reserve your room, please call 1-800-359-9363 and mention that you are coming for the Bayou Wars convention. You can also email them at gotitall@vicksburg.com.

The dates for the convention are June 16th thru June 18th. We know that this is Father's Day weekend, but what better gift can you give a wargaming dad then a wargaming convention? Besides, there is plenty for the family to do in Vicksburg. There is an outlet mall for the wife, casinos for all, and many tourist attractions - including the Vicksburg National Park.

All the details have not been worked out, but we are going to call the convention the Bayou Wars Special Edition/I> (War on the Bluffs). This title is for 2006 only, because we hope to move the convention back to New Orleans in 2007.

Of course, being at Vicksburg, a Civil War theme would be nice - but all periods will be gamed (especially Colonial and Wild West). Tony Curtis out of Jackson has agreed to run a DBM tournament. We are also looking for someone to run a Rogue Trader tournament. If any one is interested, please contact us.

Our contact persons are Larry Reeves (lreeves@sfbli.com) and John Switzer (jswitzer@netdoor.com).

Anyone who is interested in running a game (regardless of period), please contact us.

Dealers, please contact us!!!!

If you never been to Vicksburg, this is just another great reason to come - and if you have, it is another reason to come back.

Photo by Ed Sansing