I had a very good COLD WARS this year. The first one I've been to since I stopped being a CD in fact. I had taken a break from wargaming for a while; honestly, a person can burn out after so much exposure to it. So it was good to get away and reconnect with the things I like about this hobby; friends, good company, moving lead around, having fun.

I was very fortunate to be allowed into Chuck Turnitsa's Red vs. White 15mm Russian Civil War game on Friday morning, which worked out really well-- I had a night shift on the Events desk. It was Chuck's home system, a mix of many things. The outcome was a draw.

Quick gulp-down of dinner, and a long shift slinging tags. I haven't done that in a while. And I thought it would be slow! HA!

I was a bit beat to get into a night game, no great loss. I went out and played ILLUMINATI with some friends I know locally-- that game still has it!

Saturday, worked an earlier shift, but it was pretty inconvenient being midday. Missed out on a few games I had a jones to play. So it goes. Did some frantic shopping. Invested in UNCHARTED WATERS, which looks highly amusing.

got some dinner, came back and played in a Howard Whitehouse game, his new COMBAT! system for Wargames Factory. A great time.

Met up with John and Dewey at the end of that. We broke out 54mm gladiators and had a quick game with Patrick from the HAWKS. I noticed a game of WEREWOLF going on in the corner and jumped into it.. man, I'm a target for these things. Why is that?

Loved the game, it was fueled by booze.

Overslept Sunday, tried to flea market sold almost nothing. Did a quick pass around the vendors, and then I was heading homeward.

Great Show, Frank Preziosi and crew! You deserve every bit of the compliments you will have showered upon you for your hard work and dedication.

Battle of Lovcha at Cold Wars 2007

Donald Hauser, aka, "The White General", aka "Poruchik" threw another, bigger game at Cold Wars, and he has posted his replay over at his website. I don't leech another feller's text, so GO TO HIS BLOG to read up on it. Donald's approach is to paint his soldiers in the traditional "H.G. Wells" method, and I think they have tremendous visual and tactile appeal, especially to a younger generation of gamers.

The Legion Dies Hard

Some pictures from Jeff Simpson and Ed Watt's great Friday night game of THE SWORD AND THE FLAME. I was a French Foreign Legion commander, extracting civilians from an archeological dig site. In the end, we managed the extraction but the Arabs got to loot the site. Both sides claimed victory!!

Cool Slideshows

The Lord of War

Cold Wars Main AAR

Well, the day had come at last, for my last show as CW Director (in name). In truth, I was relieved. It hardly seemed like "my convention" for the last three months, and poor Frank Preziosi had to shoulder quite a burden stepping in to virtually run things as my new job had me working long hours incommunicado. Talk about learning under fire. Frank, your efforts were appreciated. I nosed my truck into the parking lot Thursday morning after picking up the shirts late Wednesday night.

The tables were already setup out front and downstairs. Rich Wright was running around making last minute adjustments. Frank and Mrs. Prez were very competently shooing people about hither and yon as all the little last minute things were getting done. Shirts out and sorted by size, pre-reg shirts pulled for the people who ordered them. Program books arrived on time and addendum being stuff as we speak. Rutherford busy making sure the machines and label makers were working. Our seed money already distributed.



Over at the tennis barn, Neil Schlaffer was honchoing vendors into position with effortless ease. The peg board crew (The Crouches) were busy ratcheting away at assembly points down near the Help and Events desk. It looked like chaos but it all made sense. Things were happening.



I dropped into a pre-convention meeting with the hotel staff and met some of the new faces and names. I was sad that "Big John" the night manager had moved on, as well as Gloria, the front desk lady that made counting out relatively easy. The new folks, including Medium-Sized Carl (Big John's replacement) and Patty, are quite good at what they do, and very personable.

At six we started taking registrations, selling shirts, and handing out pre-reg. We had some lines but we really handled it efficiently, due to the layout. The homemade stanchions the Preziosis made for FALL IN came in very handy for line control.

The Flea Market and Tournament area were laid out in an unusual configuration for COLD WARS but I approved it. Traffic was great and for once, ALL PARTIES WERE HAPPY! Hooray! It can be done. I might add, that Bob, Neil, and many tournament luminaries had a meeting at this con and resolved a game plan for HISTORICON that seems to be amicable to all parties. Well done, gentlemen.



Look at that happy Tournament GM!!



I should mention the weather. I was wearing shorts on the way up. By the end of the day I was bundling up-- the temperature had taken a plunge. Snow.. and ice! were expected, and the reports were varying everywhere from 2 inches to a foot in places. Oh the joy.



Well, they don't call it COLD WARS for nothing.

The mood in the bar (for people who had showed up on Thursday) was restrained and pleasant. Chances were we would be stuck here over the weekend, but could you imagine a better place to be stuck (that's rhetorical). The restraunt and food services department from the Host were not complaining.



Nothing like having a naturally hungry crowd as a captive audience.

Naturally, there was 'talk' about the impending referendum at Saturday's membership meeting. I went to bed (early, for me at a con) at 1 AM.

Friday sprang up but I did not. Somewhere during the night, my nemesis, arthritis, set in.. and I could hardly stand up. My knee joint had locked up during the night and I felt awful. The only meds I take for an attack are ibuprofen and I didn't even have that. Or even a winter coat and gloves! And it was now icing and sleeting. As you can see, things were NOW looking ominous:



So I hobbled to the reg area, bummed an Aleve and drove over to K-Mart to buy some Ibuprofen, a cheap disposable coat and gloves. Friday's games were in full swing when I got back around 9. Some of them were vastly impressive. Phil Vevrito's massive SIEGE OF CARTHAGE was a shoe-in for best thematic game, in my opinion. HMGS President Pete Panzeri had gone out of his way for COLD WARS, both in suggesting Phil as a Guest of Honor and contacting the WOMAN'S ARMY MUSEUM to provide little statues as awards. Thanks, Pete, you done good!

I was very bummed that I could not get my stuff together to run a game on Del Stover's table on Friday. I had planned on a nice four hour slot to run RED ACTIONS in, but the fact is we had got the game to being about 80% ready for public play but had not had time to complete it. Sorry, Del, didn't meant to let you down. Thanks for the great work on the newsletter!

WHAT WE PLAYED The entire convention featured many OUTSTANDING games being played Here are but a few..

(For reasons of blogger.com compatibility, I have to host the slideshow offsite. Click on the Pig's Head to start the show)



I managed to get in to a game of THE SWORD AND THE FLAME (French Foreign Legion) run by Ed Watts. Details elsewhere.

The best part of an HMGS convention is meeting people in the flesh you only get to talk to on the phone or via email during the course of the year. Some things you don't WANT to see... of course. Here's John Camarano, doing his yearly Frodo at the Crack of Doom pose.



I was so annoyed at his hijinks, I banished him and Dewey to the kids table.



Heather's painting program gang showed up and got right to it on Friday. They are located in the "Lancaster Room" (read: the old Gift Shop). This proved to be a great location. Lots of bright light, and natural light filtering in from the glass walls. Hard to miss, too!





I was impressed by the sheer number of board and card games at this convention. Seems like anywhere there was a free table or little nook in the lobby, there were a gang of gamers playing a Euro, wargame or boardgame of some sort. I event got in at the tail end of a game of ARKHAM HORROR very late Saturday Night with such luminaries as John Drye, Dudley Garidel, Frank Chadwick and Bill Rutherford. I only regret that they wussed out and halted the game early. What a pity! I love Arkham Horror. Apparently the complexity factor really sells this one to wargamers. I also saw another favorite, DESCENT (also from FFG) being run by Mike Lorenzo (Goldwyrm from TMP). There's never enough time to play EVERYTHING you want at a convention.

Cool Slideshows

I did my bit for wargaming commerce, and in an act unlike me, spent every dime but five bucks for lunch on the way home at the Vendor's hall. I got (finally!!!) my Japanese Yalu fleet from Outland Games (former Lyzard's Grin). Some more huge-ass 54mm gladiators (must get around to building a stadia one of these years!). Some buildings for 20mm Red Actions (farmhouse and stone country house). A "Jack the Ripper" tableau and rules kit from Old Glory. Various dits and dots here and there, including some serious poundage from Iron Wind Metals, who were doing my favorite thing, selling old Rals by the pound. Sure wish they would do that with historicals!!!







Saturday dawned with a thick crust of ice on it covered by a light powder. Day trippers were up from the day before, but weekend passes waaaay down. Sigh. What can you do?



I went to the Membership meeting expecting fireworks due to the recent proposal to trim the board of directors down to a certain amount plus three con directors. The proposal, by an HMGS Member, had been withdrawn from the floor via phone call. I was pleased to hear this-- we avoided another implosion!! Nominations for the BOD were heard.. and I was very pleased to see Mike Pierce, Gunner Garidel (who did a bang up job as Pre-Registrar for this con and previous Historicons), and John Drye on the ballot. This is a great group of candidates to choose from!!! None of them are particularly political, all of them are hard working and concietionous. Heather Blush was also nominated, and I also think she can do great things-- as she has proven. So it will be a hard choice this year!



REMEMBER, CHECK YOUR MEMBERSHIP STATUS, HMGS MEMBERS! (vote! it's important!)

the rest of the meeting was remarkably civil and pro forma. They got me to painfully stand up and say nice things. During which, I acknowledged the huge debt I had to Frank for helping with this convention, and had HIM read the numbers. He gave a short speech about plans for CW08, and the theme, which is GOLDEN AGE OF PIRACY. Fantastic idea!

At this stage in any convention, it's all over but the screaming (and count out). So I limped around, trying to be helpful here and there, and staying out of the way of those folks who knew their job. A person, who shall remain nameless, gave me a little topical something for my knee that had it feeling loads better in short order.

I flitted here and there and all seemd to be going well. Saturday afternoon and night was more (and bigger) games, including the awards ceremonies. Phil "Classical Hack" Vevrito won for SIEGE OF CARTHAGE, which deserved it. His report on CW07, and the Siege of Carthage game, is HERE. Much better shot photos of the game, too!



The Peking game got the PELA. Did I mention Ilove those statues? I also presided over the judging of the COLD WARS MILITARY ENGINEERING CHALLENGE,and even built my own contraption. Saturday night, I avoided the bar for once and got in a very interesting game of RUGGED ADVENTURES run by Jeff Simpson and Ed Watts (details elsewhere).

Had a nice (unvirtual) beer, and off to bed.



Sunday dawned and so did the sun, doing its best to melt off two days of ice. Numbers were given, count outs were done, and expenses recorded. I will not have the final report until all the expenses are recorded and paid out, but my SENSE is we did as well as we could with the bad weather. People made an effort to come, as evidenced by the all time high for day passes. And the vendors were happy. those that DID come, spent money (I know I did). I won't reveal the final totals here as that is the business of the BOD (and we truthfully don't know all yet).

And so, I nosed my truck into the traffic and headed home after chipping it out of the ice. We had done well. Things had come together in spite of my new job, the weather, and the Host's always changing construction schedule. I have to thank Frank Preziosi for being a hard worker and virtually the REAL con director from January onward, Neil Schlaffer for the Vendor support, Pat Shields, Sandra & Ann Marie Bennecke, Kathy Higbee at the front desk, Dudley Garidel for the pre-registration work, Richard Wright for the Events management, Jim and the Flea Market gang for one more year's effort, Heather and the Painting Gang, Geoff Graff for the Cold Wars Military Engineering Challenge and the various other staff members I haven't mentioned. Your efforts paid off handsomely.

In closing, it's been a fun four years. Some of them were better than others, but I wouldn't have traded it for anything. I will now go back to the many projects I have let linger over the last few years... (grinning).

Other Galleries:

Bill Gray's AGE OF EAGLES Dennewitz game at CW07

Chris Vaughn from TMP posted a rather comprehensive CW07 photo album on the web. Mostly .45 Caliber Adventures stuff.

"Yeah, I saw the Lieutenant, hanging from a tree about a mile back"

This one was put on by Jeff Simpson and Ed Watts on Saturday night. Jeff came trying to recruit players (see lousy weather in the general report post). I was happy to oblige as I was looking for a game to get in.

The Rules were RUGGED ADVENTURES, the setting WW2, Western Front, D-Day, during the airborne landing phase. The setup was pretty simple. The players were all American sergeants, leading a squad in from the edge of the board to the other edge. Some of us had some specialists along with like a heavy weapons squad. All seargeants had s "RPG attribute" we had to play off of during the game. My guy (the first sergeant) was a dithering ass that could never make up his mind and so had to spend a lot of time rolling 1D6 to overcome his "fieldcraft" score in Rugged Adventures. Other sergeants, like the one played by Harry Morris, were smart in most things and probably should have been put in charge.



One of the interesting aspects of this game was that EVERY SQUAD possessed imperfect information. We were all working off of a ripped and torn piece of map that was all that was left of the titular dead lieutenant's map case after he took a mortar round. We had a piece of a tactical map plus some vague instructions about taking a bridge, plus one wider scale Airborne landing map.

The game moved along briskly, the map building itself as we went... and always the feeling that there was a German around every corner... very atmospheric stuff. At one point, a group of 2 US Jeeps drive up and confer with my 1st Sgt. and the other leaders. They are recon units from the 441st Glider regiment. They'll be happy to scout ahead, they say, and then they zoom off ahead, never to be seen again.

Slideshow:

click on here for direct link to the Slideshow hosted at ImageShack

Along the way, My squad encounters some fire as well.. Germans keep popping in, engaging, both sides take a few casulaties, and the Germans bug out. We encounter some Anti-Aircraft prime movers and oddly enough, for once we're positioned correctly to support each other in the attack. Harry (the smart sergeant) takes out the lead track with bazooka fire, and I jump up and fire up the following track from behind, killing the driver and making the vehicle crash into a tree.

What appeared to be our objective (as small village with a bridge we had to take) was around the corner. we engaged in a sharp firefight with the Germans and both sides were taking casaulties quickly. At this point, Jeff called the game, citing that the game was really about our reactions under fire with imperfect information and an unknown hostile force popping in on either side of us. The game, he said, was based upon the movie A WALK IN THE SUN (1945) which featured an American platoon caught up in an almost identical situation. We didn't know it, but our sergeant RPG characters were drawn from this movie.

I had a fantastic time, myself, and thought it was a unique and innovative idea for a game.

Lords of Siege

It all started with an innocuous conversation with Geoff Graff at FALL IN 06. Geoff was tired of schlepping events for Cold Wars, but wanted to contribute.. SOMETHING of note to the convention as a whole. He didn't (at the time) wish to be a con director, but wouldn't mind being named Assistant Con Director in charge of something... Just improvising, I said why not try heading up a theme event of some sort? "What sort of theme event" "Oh, I don't know, something goofy and not so serious... like a siege engine contest". "Brilliant! Let's do this..." and the conversation evolved into the highly technical as I could see Geoff had taken the bit and was pulling hard.


What emerged was inspired. I knew that I didn't have the time to chase this one home (or for much of anything else), so Geoff would have to take that ball and run with it. Being Geoff, he ran pretty hard. I did what *I* could, which wasn't much-- getting him a budget for awards and expenditures and such, but just about all of what evolved was pure Geoff.

The Cold Wars 2007 Military Engineering Challenge:

1) Assemble a team of 1-3 individuals.
2) Design a Projectile throwing device, out of parts we provide.
3) Assemble & fine tune a projectile throwing device, in one hour.
4) Compete against other teams for distance, accuracy and wackiness.

The Flyer Text:

Cold Wars 2007 Military Engineering Challenge

Measure yourself against the finest military engineers in our time (and location).

You’ve heard of this type competition from some of the finest engineering schools in the country, and maybe even viewed a version on TV. Now YOU can join in the fun.

Assemble a team of 1 to 3 participants, and assemble a projectile throwing devise from the box of useful and not-so-useful parts provided. Then fire your devise, competing against other teams for distance and accuracy. And all in indoor comfort!

Yes, you too can test your engineering skills against other gamers, by building a devise to propel a ‘stone’ for distance and accuracy. We provide all the parts and tools, you provide the labor and genius.

Each team will have 2 hours to plan, assemble, test and fire their catapult, or onager, or ballista, or mangonel or trebuchet or whatever projectile throwing engine you can devise. The choice of design is up to you!

And there are prizes! Plaques for first, second and third place both for distance and for accuracy, and a special award for Extra-Ordinary Engineering.

There will be space and parts for twelve competing teams, four each at 10 AM, 2 PM and 6 PM on Saturday.

Don’t be shy, form your team or compete as an individual (Hey, why share the glory, or the prize?). Remember, this is being done in the spirit of fellowship and fun. Sign up in the convention registration room.


Sound easy? Well, I for one, can tell you it wasn't! I entered in the two pm slot on Saturday. I had in mind a long, graceful trebuchet style flinger... something like THIS. What I ended up making would have made Vauban wince. We ended up using every available second of the time alloted, and had to fine tune the trigger and basket on the firing line. Meanwhile, the family entry (from the Woman's Army Museum) was thoroughly kicking our butts in solidity of design and speey execution.

The boxes were full of stuff-- some standard wood lengths that everyone had, some standard bits and fasteners and screws and rubber bands and piping and such. Plus some non-standard items unique to each box.

I didn't take a picture of it, but I should mention one of Geoff's special rules about tool use. He brought a static set of tools-- drills, hammers, rulers, pliers. Teams were given chips that turn in for tools. If you want another tool, you have to provide the chip for it, or return a tool to get a chip back.

The other entries in the event were all very solid. The Engineering Buccaneers made a short treb with rubber band assist, and they recommended that I add elastics to the rocker bar of my design (The Lady Go Diver) to increase the whipping action of the bar. The Tower of the Sun was the catapault to beat, with a distance record of 20+ feet. Alas, the Lady only managed 9.8 feet. Fortuitously, she was a good performer in other respects, and did give us the best accuracy score of the day.

I ended up awarding the director's plaque to the Family Entry, as it showed rapid improvisation and creativity. Their enthusiasm was a joy to behold! Seriously!

In summary, I'm very glad we have guys like Geoff Graff around to honcho ideas like this. EVEN WITH A SNOWSTORM RESTRICTING ATTENDANCE, we had 8 entries. I loved it! I think the Military Engineering Challenge is an event that could stand some repeating in future cons. Geoff has already been approached to think something up for COLD WARS 08. Fantastic. Geoff, if your'e reading this, Thanks so much for your energy, creativity and hard work. You really added value to Cold Wars 2007.

More Pictures:

The Cold Wars Shirt!!!

Will look like this:



Pretty nifty, eh?

Cold Wars T-Shirts

Will be done by Sun Dog this year.

the theme for COLD WARS is "The Road and the Wall, greatest feats of military engineers throughout history"

"Vauban"
http://www.abeedle.com/img/CW2007back1-copy.jpg

"Python"
http://www.abeedle.com/img/CW2007back2-copy.jpg

Ignoring the fact that everyone likes Python, of course...

Let me know which you would choose!

Who would have seen this coming?

In the email yesterday:

Dear Cold Wars Director,

We've noticed that Cold Wars 2007 is coming up this March.
(Congratulations!)

We were wondering if you would be interested in receiving materials
from the SciFi channel promoting the national auditions for the upcoming
season of Stan Lee's Who Wants To Be A Superhero. Among the items are
postcards and posters publicizing the auditions and promoting the
series.

If you are interested, please reply with the name, address and phone
number of where these should be sent (no PO Boxes please), along with the
number of attendees you're expecting.

In order to ensure that you get the materials you want, please respond
as soon as possible so we can order the correct amount. Hope to hear
from you soon!

Sincerely,
Jennifer Johnson, NBC Television

How the staff of a reality TV show discovered HMGS East conventions, I'll never know. But any publicity is good publicity, and I responded:

Jennifer:

Not only yeah, but heck yeah. What a pity you couldn't film this-- I think I can virtually guarantee outtakes that would be nothing less than comedy gold. :-D

COLD WARS is a miniatures gaming convention. That means we reenact historical battles with little metal soldiers. We get between 1800 and 2000 attendees give or take a few. The typical Cold Wars attendee is very educated, probably ex-military, working in a technical or government field, male, between 20 and 50. He probably is in the demographic you are aiming at with your show.

Is there a little chatch or something you could put in our little goodie bag we're putting together? Wouldn't have to be anything special..

I'll store the stuff--
(contact info)

It could be a big steaming pile of crap, or it could be a missed opportunity. I'm taking no chances. Based on my own experience with the television industry, about 90% of what gets promises gets ignored or forgotten, but you never know. It would be cake, primo, WONDERFUL if we could get a camera crew at Cold Wars (what a promotional coup that would be!) but I'll not be holding my breath in anticipation.

My Shopping Haul

All things being equal, I think I got away light. It's almost bad form to NOT mention what you spent money on, so here goes:

From Lon Weiss at Brigade Games:

Some discounted Shadowforge female gunfighter figures (and maybe a naughty nun or two, you never know when that will come in handy). Four singles and a three pack. For use in Wild West and VSF games.

In the Flea Market:

I got some large scale grotesque monsters for a 54mm Wizards game I'm contemplating. From a series called DREAMBLADE by the WotC.





Also Age of Rifles (again) on CD (never can have enough copies), and a couple of interesting post-apocolyptic figures.

From Bob Bowling at RLBPS:

Copplestones - Xmas2 and Xmas1 (Father Christmas and Evil Snowmen) for our TNGG annual Christmas game, and FW36, because they are so cool.

From Wargames Inc of Tridelphia, WV:

The latest WARGAMES ILLUSTRATED and 1 15mm South African armored vehicle from QRF (for my AK 47 force I'm building) and 1 hovels 15mm structure for various games.

From the HOBBY BUNKER:

Four packs of AK47 figs from Peter Pig: 37, 119, 41, and 24 (for AK47) and 1 box Strelets WWI era Cossacks in 20mm (plastic) for Red Actions! Russo Polish War project.

From Jeff Hobbs' booth, several dice, punch drill and bits.

From Paroom Station aka Bob Charette: Theodore Roosevelt, A masked Minion with diaobolical weapon, a Landships crew, and a smiling anarchist.

From the Book guy in the center, another copy of the Ospery books on Russian Civil War, red armies.

That should cover it!

FI 06: A great, albeit exhausting, weekend

FALL IN! 2006 TRAVELOGUE


I pointed my aging Thunderbird north rather late after losing the classic man (using logic)/woman (totally ignoring logic) argument and headed up to Gettysburg. Traffic was vile on 495 at 630 PM (vice the 3 PM I was trying to leave at, instead of taking my daughter to Girl Scouts..) so it was past 9PM when I arrived atthe Ike. Almost immediately, I had to dump my stuff in the hotel room and jump into a BOD meeting where we would finalize and fix some items in the CW07 budget. I though my portion of the meeting went well-- perhaps they were all tired at that point and didn't wish to argue.

Afterward, I bumped into Del at the bar, working on John Drye's French and Indian rules on his laptop. We had a few beers, but I was exhausted and so was he, and I had a CONOPS breakfast meeting first thing next day, so no hanging out until 3AM for
me.

The next day (Friday) opened with a CONOPS breakfast with Pete and James. We discussed HMGS shirts for staffers and convention leads. I've been a big fan of this idea for a long time, and tried to put it together for CW06 but it ultimately would have had to come out of my budget and I didn't have the money for it. Anyhow, we're taking steps to implement it and I like the idea, esp. the color scheme that Bob and I agreed upon in advance-- blackshirts for CDs, blueshirts for staff leads, redshirts for staff (following the Star Trek theme). Having Bob be such a strong proponent of this idea really helps. I think the cons will look much more professional with staff shirts and it's not a waste of money to spruce up the look and feel of the cons. We also talked about a three con table rental contract that looks to save us about a buck less per table than our previous vendor. I'm all for that.

Stopped in at the Painting area and chatted with Heather for a bit, to get numbers for CW07. Once again, a resounding success. WHO was the genius that started this at his convention? WHOOOOOOOO?






Did the bulk of my shopping in the morning on Friday, since most of Saturday would be caught up running errands for COLD WARS. I picked up some plastic cossacks from Strelets for my Russo Polish War Red Army. I got a QRF South African armored car for AK47 Republic. I looked long and hard at FAA's WWI Germans to make up my Freikorps a little bit down the road but decided against it for now. Ditto for the awesome new 40mm musketeer package produced by EUREKA. I have too many projects going right now. I picked up some Shadowforge cow girls on sale from Brigade,and found some large scale spooky figures for my 54mm Wizards game. I also picked up AGE OF RIFLES on CD (again) and few less than serious items in the Flea.

FAIR WARNING ON THE SLIDESHOWS (you will need to have a Flash Player installed. Seems not to work too well with Firefox).





A little slideshow of the tournament area..


Failed to get into an early game Friday (lost the ticket and he put in an alternative), so hung out a bit and took a nap, then sallied forth with dinner in mind, and the notion to be back in time to get in an 8PM game. Went to a truly wretched Chinese buffett right next to General Pickett's. It wasn't the absolute worst chinese food I've ever had, but it was in the neighborhood. Since I went to dinner with Howard Whitehouse and Mitch Osborne, at least the company was pleasant and we could joke about the food.




"Even More Friday Pictures.."

Got back in time to play CLASSICAL HACK (Game F046 "Play the Author") hosted by Phil Viverito. This was a Romans versus barbarian field battle, and I had a blast. I own Classical Hack but this was the first time I had played it. I found the battle damage a bit confusing at first but once Phil took me through a few combats it was tres simple. Unfortunately the dice weren't with me on this one. I rolled miserably, although our side one by the timely arrival of reinforcements. I quite enjoyed talking with Phil and got him to run a lecture and big theme game for CW07: THE ROAD AND THE WALL theme. I'd definitely play Classical Hack again. Here's some piccies:




Another day, another horde...



CHARGE distance?? Why are you measuring that again?



I suppose a parlay isn't acceptable at this stage.



Son, when playing Romans, do NOT, repeat NOT, emulate this man's example...



Uh, Phil? That seems like an awful lot of Casualty Caps...



After that, hung out a bit and kibbitzed on some games winding down and then we got the idea to go watch BATTLESTAR GALACTICA up in the hotel room. With some beer. So our group went from Rich Low, Mitch Osborne and myself to include Andy Turlington, Otto Schmidt, Patrick Berekebile and a couple other guys. (Recap is elsewhere). I started getting sleepy when Doctor Who came on, so headed back to bed.

I slept through the "Sense of the Membership" meeting and got up and about late (for a con). I drove up to the post office and bought some postage for Neil to mail out vendor packages with (that is, if the vendor didn't wish to take his/her packet directly at FALLIN). Then I schmoozed some exhibitors with the COLD WARS 06 flyers.

Mike Hillsgrove went to the Lincoln Diner for dinner, which is worth visiting. I had the archtype diner meal-- meatloaf, mashed potatoes, apple pie ala mode. Drey's meatloaf can kick their ass any day of the week, but it was still one of the best meals I had up there.





"Mostly Saturday Games.."

Got back in time to participate in Bob Leibel and Cleo Hanlon's 55 DAYS AT PEKING, and really enjoyed it. I will break this out separately as a pictorial, as there really is too much. Afterward dropped in on Ed Watts and Jeff and talked for bit until I was mumbling. Took off and went to schmooze Duncan MacFarland to get a Cold Wars advert in Wargames Illustrated-- which turned out to be an easy task after I purchased a few beers. Rick Etvedt relieved me of that pressure and obligation as it was his unofficial wetting down-- he will soon be a bird colonel. We all congratulated him resoundingly (all the beer helped too!).



This being SATURDAY night at an HMGS con, we couldn't take being thrown out of the bar at closing time lightly, so Del, Mitch, John Snead, Andy Turlington, Pete P. and myself hung out a bit until I was on the verge of nodding off. And so to bed, to oversleep hideously the next morning.

I packed my crap, checked out, and did some budget cleaning up on my laptop in the lobby (they actually do have a wireless zone in that hotel, btw). Clarified a few items with Bob and Heather, and then ran over to do a final walkabout in the Exhibitor area at the All-Star. And thus, homeward.. I always feel like a HMGS convention is a series of opportunity costs wasted when I'm driving away.. Well, if I had been done with this a little early I could have sweet talked my way into that, or if I'd gotten my lazy ass up an hour earlier I could have gotten into THAT.. etc.

OBSERVATIONS:

Don't let anyone snow you with that "attendance was light" crap. Parking was at a premium all Friday and Saturday, and I saw VERY FEW unplayed games. There were fewer games in evidence but almost every single one had an audience.

Hotel comparison: I love the Gettysburg location, but there's definitely a different vibe at the Ike than the Host. The rooms are far nicer at the Ike than at the (unrefurbished part of) the Host, which is nice. There are far more nearby eateries at the Host than at the Ike, and many more nearby hotels. There also seems to be more to do with families at the Host than the Ike. My opinions only.

Onsite Food is far more plentiful, affordable, and available at the Host than it is at the Ike, no matter what we tell them. It routinely puzzles me that the hotel won't take the hint so they could take more of our money. I'm used to food being available until 11PM any given night at the Host, and the bar closing when the last gamer falls down. Not so at the Ike.

I (for one) don't mind the hike to the ALL STAR complex, it serves a purpose right now. However, I wonder if we really need to include the extra 10K in facility cost to FI after they added all that space to the main building. I think FI would be far more financially healthy if we 86'd the ALL-Star (which several exhibitors complained to me as being "dead after 4PM") and just moved everything up to the main building. It might be more crowded but I think it would save a lot of money.

In general, it's the people that make a convention great, no matter where it is or whatever amenities are present or absent. I had a great time meeting with old friends I rarely get to see, and that's what made FALL IN a great time for this wargamer.

Finally... "nothing says 'I belong' MORE than when you get stuck with Judging duty!"





Postscript: For excellent, zoomy detail shots, I recommend THE ALBUM MITCH OSBORNE MADE of Fall IN! miniatures games.

Another Postscript: For my Fall IN! Shopping list, go HERE.

AARs of John Camarano's and Dewey LaRochelle's FI06 games. See the slideshows, above, for a couple of pictures.