LOTNA Review of 2019

by Dave Baseley

January - We started with a board game afternoon followed by a busy night with a quiz starting the year with the traditional "Ray's first quiz of the year."

The second meeting was preceded by the Annual General Meeting where we discussed all the upcoming plans for the year. We then had a very enjoyable night with the traditional "Jason's second quiz of the year."

February - The first meeting saw a board game afternoon followed by a quiz from Jossman. The second meeting had Emmett's quiz having us shout KHAAAAAAN!

We also went to see Alita Battle Angel at the Tottenham Court Road Odeon.

March - a quiet month event-wise, in the meetings we had a second quiz from Jason but no record of who ran the first.

April - outside of the usual meetings (first meeting was by me and thank you second meeting quizmaster whomever you are) we had cinema trips to see the excellent Indy Sci Fi film Prospect. We also were part of a test audience screening of GLIA which had less favourable reviews. A group also attended Starlore's Babylon 5 Live action Role-Playing Game weekend where we took on characters such as Narns, Mimbari and Earth Force.

May - a very busy month. On the 4th of May we had the Star Wars /Star Trek Party which was well received.

A group of us attended the Sci Fi London Film Festival with some members coming to films they liked the look of but others like myself saw the whole 20 features.

May also saw the start of the Battlestar Manticore series of Live Action Role-playing Games from Kelly and Emmett. A harvest festival is interrupted by the Cylon's destruction of the colonies. Can ex colonial commander Betty and Senator Clayton lead the survivors to the half working ship? Can it be fixed? Is the town mayor in fact a humanoid Cylon? Can Costa's Viper piloting help the players get away? Can we join the nearby Battlestar's rag tag fugitive fleet? And what about the Space Scouts?

On top of all this we had our regular meetings, thanks to the quiz runners.

June - we moved location to The Walrus and Carpenter.

The second game on Battlestar Manticore featured the crew sent on a mission for scientific equipment. They find instead Professor Hector Vector who is using cloning technology and mind transference to offer immortality. This seems to go very wrong during a demonstration and then a faction of Cylons arrive looking for the Cylon impersonating the mayor. Can the Colonials escape?

The second meeting was of course LOTNACON! We hosted an appearance from Colin Baker. Big thank you to Victoria and Cyrus for organising and Pete for his exceptional interview. We also put together a multi-genre comedy radio play. A big thank you to the writers/organisers especially Victoria, Jen, Sian, Emmett, Alan and Pete for all the evenings at a pub it took to put it all together. Thank you also to those who agreed to play a part.

We also took a trip to see What we left behind a documentary looking back at Star Trek Deep Space 9.

July - we went to a Matrix screening at the Prince Charles Cinema organised by Tony and a Science Museum Lates on the Apollo Moon Landing.

For our first meeting we announced the winner of the LOTNA Vision music in Sci Fi as voted for by LOTNA. This was organised by Ed and the countdown for the top 10 was presented very well by Mark Doney.

Meanwhile on The Manticore the election has taken place and Senator Clayton was deemed president of the colonies. After a surprise attack by the Cylons the fleet jump away leaving the Manticore to look for survivors and salvage what they can from the destroyed colonial ships.

Our last meeting of July had a quiz form our American friend Jeff Billenger.

August - we had our first meeting as normal however the last meeting was put back to the 5th Saturday due to Invasion, our weekend LARP event.

At Invasion we had a marooned school trip seeing off a ghost. The meddling kids managed to unmask the baddies and save the day. We then had the full day game, where looking for the Hawkins Scientist, fighting off Russians, Americans, Monsters and genetic test subjects the player must venture to the Upside down. Day 3 saw Avon and Villa escape from the Federation, the Battle Royal and the Battlestar Manticore prequel game Special Sugar.

LOTNA' Verse based around The Moon was released in August with thanks to editors Jen and Emmett and all who contributed.

September - Richard run the first quiz and Emmett the second and we had our annual fundraiser the LOTNA auction. Items for sale included a diorama of the Millennium Falcon which Marcus didn't buy and a Game of Thrones medallion which was hard fought between Jackson and Tai.

Back on The Manticore resources are wearing thin. A desperate attack on a Cylon stronghold is planned and completion is a must so whatever you do don't try shooting the force field... Oh well! Once the medics earn their pay we find a strange Cylon box which is heavily guarded.

October -we had a group attend the Stargate Con Cal Mah in Telford.

Jossman lead us in an art class style quiz to draw episodes of our favourite shows for the 1st meeting.

The final trip on the Manticore saw a mission to New Caprica to get items to make the box which seems to be part of Dr Hector Vector's resurrection work. After a long battle the colonials jump back to the fleet to find it destroyed by Cylon forces. There the colonials are confronted by Cavil who wants the resurrection box. Which brave colonial will try the technology and will it help them survive?

Jason ran a quiz on the Halloween party which showed a great amount of scary costumes.

November - we had a double booking with the Tavisode Fandorica group and I ran a quiz.

We celebrated Doctor Who's anniversary Dave P ran a Doctor Who quiz.

Sian organised and ran the first LARP planning meeting at a pub. Much drinking took place.

A group from LOTNA went back to the 1980's by attending the Secret Cinema at Star Court Mall.

December - Our Christmas party and the unveiling of the 2020 LOTNA Calendar.

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