What we are seeing on the new group is just mirroring what happens in the hobby as a whole. The process that occurs is a follows:

1)We are alone in the garage and recruit someone we know into the hobby.

2) A wargaming group forms and all work together to recruit and grow the hobby. (HMGS was formed because they were getting shouldered out of conventions, i.e. the hobby was dying.)

3) Once the group gets large enough (and we don't have to get along and don't need each other as much) The group splits on personalities, periods or the quest for 'who is the leader and gets the credit and the control.' (Although usually the ego who wants the credit does not want to do the work)

This is what happened to National HMGS. You can see this all the time, the little fish that wants to be a big fish in a small pond rather than just a worker among workers, a friend among friends and a part of something rather than apart from the group. Natural human behavior, and hopefully most everyone can see that balkanizing the hobby instead of working together will eventually mean that we end up back in the garage with no one to game with and a dying hobby. Come on, put you egos on hold and work together. I don't have to like you, but we at least need to remember that with each member that leaves we are all diminished.

I feel that it is critical to have corporate organizations like HMGS because without them over the long run any club or group formed around a few friends will break up due to some one moving,leaving the hobby or the hobby shop closing. With an organization, the long term success of the group is not dependant on any one (or few) persons. Organizations having shows and meeting regularly increase size of the hobby almost as effectively as one to one recruiting.