4. Historicon '93 will be held from Thursday July 22 to Sunday July 25, 1993 at the Lancaster Host Resort in Lancaster, PA. This year's event will include over 60 dealers and 250 historical miniatures games. The convention's guests of honor will include Dr. Christopher Duffy and Don Featherstone. Professor Duffy is scheduled to present two lectures, the first one on Friday at 10:00 A.M.: "Frederick Reassessed" and the second one on Saturday at 10:00 A.M. relating to Borodino. Jim Arnold is also slated to present a lecture and slide show on Austerlitz on Friday at 6:00 P.M.

On the gaming side of things, the pre-registration flyer reveals that Tod Kershner will be hosting three games (Saratoga, Lobositz and Prague) using his popular Age of Reason rules. SYWA members Michael Montemarano (Battles of Frederick the Great) and Bruce MacFarlane (Carillon Heights) are also scheduled to host games. Your editor plans to host a 15mm re-enactment of the Battle of Dettingen using Age of Reason rules. This event did not make it into the pre-registration flyer, but I plan to run the game on Friday afternoon and Saturday afternoon so as not to conflict with the Duffy lectures.

The SYWA will be hosting a reception for Christopher Duffy on Thursday evening at 8:30 RM in the Fulton Suite in the hotel. This is an excellent opportunity to meet Professor Duffy and to ask him questions in an informal atmosphere. Please feel free to bring along copies of Duffy's books for autographs. HMGS will also host a banquet on Saturday night at $20.00 per person. Messers Duffy and Featherstone will undoubtedly share a few words of wisdom with the audience and both gentlemen are highly entertaining speakers.

Tickets for the banquet can be ordered by contacting Mr. Bob Coggins at 4208 Kelway Road, Baltimore, MD 21218. You may also preregister for the convention through Bob by mailing him a check for $7.00 (HMGS member) or $12.00 (non-member). Banquet tickets are extra and there is no charge for attending the reception on Thursday.

Historicon is the pre-eminent historical miniature wargaming convention in the United States. The quality and standard of the games is always top-notch and one can invariably pick up some good tips on wargame terrain and rules. The convention also represents the largest single gathering of product dealers, many of whom hold new products for introduction at Historicon. So if you want to see the best games and the latest ideas and products in wargaming, then this is one event that you should not miss. I'll see you at Lancaster!

5. Christopher Duffy sent us the following update on his proposed "SYW Battlefield Tour" :

"...after planning for the SYW tour reached a very advanced stage, Holts Battlefield Tours suddenly cut it out of their program... I was in touch with the official Czech travel agency, CEDOK, and they say it is technically possible for them to put on a group tour to special requirements. What I have in mind is a five or six day tour based on somewhere like Melnik and taking in Kolin, Prague city, Lobositz, Hochkirch, Maxen and possibly Dresden - and the Konigstein fortress as well. It is far too early to have any idea of price, but if you can help to collect non-committal expressions of interest I will go back to CEDOK later in the year for their quotation, then return to our people to see if we have enough "takers" to put together a party. The date for such a tour would have to be August or early September 1994, to fit in with my (vacation) leave. "

So what do people think about this proposed trip? What a marvelous opportunity it would be to visit these sites in Eastern Europe and to have Christopher Duffy there to explain what happened on the battlefield. Let me be the first to say that I'm ready to sign up for such a tour. If anyone else is interested, then please let me hear from you by September 15, l993. I will then let Prof. Duffy know how many people would be interested in the tour. Remember, you are not making any financial commitment at this time, but do be realistic as to whether or not you can afford the time and cost of such a trip. I have done some informal research of airfare costs from Chicago to Vienna or Prague and would expect the roundtrip cost to fall within a range of $680 to $850.

I have no idea as to the cost of accommodations in the Czech Republic, but in planning a trip to Western Europe I generally estimate $100.00 per day for a bed and another $100.00 per day for meals and expenses. This comes in at about $2250 for airfare and seven days of touring. Who knows what the actual cost would be? It could be higher or lower, but in any event, you should be prepared to spend at least this much if you are willing to go on such a tour. Obviously, the cost would be much less for our members who live in Europe. Again, these are only my estimates of cost, but if you think that you can handle the expense and want to go on this tour, then please let me hear from you so that I can give an indication of the level of interest to Christopher Duffy.

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