There is more to a wargame convention than manufacturers and business, and the gaming part was no letdown. I had signed up for The Russian Campaign and Air Force, but had to give my entries to others as I had things to take care of. My episodes from 0-77 Air Force came back to haunt me. I was the only participant to go through four rounds without shooting down an airplane and I won three of them. Two of my opponents exceeded limits on damaged aircraft and therefore self-destructed. The third did an excellent kamikaze attack on a bomber . . . his own. The first thing Craig Taylor said to me this year was, "Have you managed to shoot anything down yet?" It brought to mind the game I had against Mike Binder when I couldn't hit anything but wings and fuselage. I lost by one point; however, not before I shot the wings off someone. I also came across the kamikaze who was still embarrassed about it. Young Richard Hom was also in that tournament and was one of the bus riders, picking it up at New York. He was surprised that I remembered him. Young gentlemen make lasting impressions when they're good natured.

Bob Kazee found himself with an AH 500 ticket because he had purchased a pre-reg package from another wargamer, Derry Bailey, at The Citadel, who had entered it. Now Bob is a first rate wargamer, but it was ten years since he played a classic and he forgot what a soak-off attack was. He said he was embarrassed. He went into Chickamauga to salvage his reputation and did so handily in the first two rounds. The third round, however, found him face to face with another Citadel Wargamer, Frank Hollo.

"Hi Frank."
"Hi Bob."
"Do you wish to surrender?"
"No."
"We'll have to play it out."

At the time, I was the "King of The Citadel Wargamers." This was a self-proclaimed title designed to induce the gang into some sort of organization. Bob and Frank were two of the key instigators in the insurrection that left me a "de facto" president. There was no election. I do not wish to go deeper into my organizational problems; someday we'll have an elected President. Till then, we're stuck with a capitalist dictator for our group - reluctant, I might add. At any rate, in my position I had high hopes for our group in this tourney. Half these hopes were dashed when our two heavies draw each other as opponents in the third round. After a well-fought game, Bob found himself 8 points behind in the last turn. There was one possible attack for him at 1-2 which he passed up and conceded the game to Frank. Afterwards, Frank suggested they roll the die to see what the result of the 1-2 attack would have been. Bob rolled a "1" defender retreat - no retreat possible - 9 points. Bob, a big bear of a man with a full beard, looked at Frank; Bob's mouth hung open in shock.

Frank, average height and skinny as a post, was grinning merrily. Bob looked from Frank to the die, to the CRT, then at the map. It was a safe bet that he could easily subtract 8 from 9 with something left over, and in those few moments of shook probably had done so many times. He put his hands on the table, got up to his feet, excused himself to the others present in the room, let out one very loud profane word, and danced on his hat. After he put his hat back on, he again excused himself and congratulated Frank on a good game. Frank went on to lose in the semi-final round.

Apparently not everyone on the bus was going to Ann Arbor because Charles Cottle found Waterloo. It's hard to compare someone in dungaree cutoffs, tee shirt, and camouflaged bush hat to Napoleon, but when he takes the same Origins trophy home three years in a row . . . Who was it that beat him? Did you say Wellington?

Speaking of Napoleon, Bill Ponder handled a regiment of second-rate Spanish troops smartly against some of Napoleon's best in a miniatures match. The Spanish (Bill) beat back two elite Swiss regiments from their hilltop position; a bit of a surprise. Bill had suffered heavy losses but didn't move as the French formed up two fresh regiments. They came up the hill a second time and this time it was a different story. The Spanish retreated and as the French reached the crest, they found two British regiments who fired a volley in their faces and drove them off the hill in a bayonet charge. No commander in his right mind would leave such an important position in the hands of second-rate troops, even if they were well lead. Bill got on the winning side in a miniature ships tournament also.

Bill also had a problem. His bridge fell on Saturday and he bit it, which broke the thing. The exposed nerves left him very uncomfortable. Bill Somer's wife drove him to the medical center for which we were very grateful.

Tom Griffith maintained the reputation of New Englanders everywhere by winning the Monopoly tournament. Being a New England businessman, this of course cheered me, but if our group was to win only one board game tournament, I'd rather it had been something else.

While waiting for the SPI Roast, Geoff Barnard of Perfidious Albion and I played Source of the Nile. The result was that Geoff never made it to the roast and I brought back a bunch for the store. This game is good. The designer wandered by and we had a good conversation with him also.

I came access Will Neibling. He is a member of MDG, and I know him because we're playing D-Day by mail. He has been slow due to work on the con. We've been fighting on the Seine line for about 12 game turns (weeks) which is O.K. by me as I'm the German. Unfortunately, Will hasn't used any SAC yet. He was a bit perturbed with himself because he had misplotted a unit which allowed me to retake Paris. It was his misfortune that the plotting error looked more like a tactical one. The Panzers counterattacked Paris at 3-1 while an infantry did a 1-3 soak. Fortunes of war were with me as the 4th U.S. Inf. Div. died without German losses. My elation about getting a second position on the south bank was soon dashed when Will told me where he retreated my soak-off unit - Mantes, the other position on the south bank. It seems that the 3-1 with a 1-3 soak game can be played by two. Ah, well, shift the panzers, "that's another fire brewing," but don't stack them or one SAC will get 'em all.

I attended the 0-79 meeting and found a few things different from the 0-78. There were only two manufacturers on the panel instead of nine. Don Greenwood and Howie Barasch represented AH and SPI. The others apparently had some reason or other to be off, though many of them were present. There were notably fewer people in attendance. Paul Wood of MDG acted as a third on the panel to break a possible deadlock. Initial discussion concerned rules and bylaws, the most important of which was the list of things the panel wants to know about in a potential convention site. None existed and John Mansfield was adamant about its necessity. He had many supporters, including Al MacIntyre of Cincinnati Gamers. I don't think the issue was resolved. Another topic was who should have a vote on the location of Origins. Scott Bizar was vocal on this one as he believed that anyone who has designed a game and shows up should have a vote. For a moment I wondered if Scott was of the "you've got to design one before you can critisize em" school but decided he probably wasn't. His concern is for the producers who stand to win or lose at cons. However, it appears that they did not consider a vital group of people: the convention people. These are the groups that run conventions regularly and plan to continue doing so. It does not include AH, who has washed its hands after two, nor does it include SPI who washed its hands before its first.

They went on to determine who will run 0-79. Them was a silence in the room when the bids were asked for. The silence seamed to have lasted quite awhile when Jay Hadley said, "well." Don and Howie seemed to trip over themselves while Paul - nothing seems to bother Paul.

"You got it."
"But I haven't described anything yet."
"You're with 'Penn Con, 'right?"
"That's good enough; no one else is submitting a bid."

The wording was not exact, but such is the way a great con site was selected. Or was it? Why were there only two of the initial nine panelists and why only one bid? Is it possible that the site was chosen beforehand without the knowledge of the big two? Maybe the convention people realized that they have a great deal of pull when they get together. After all, they're all Diplomacy trained; are they not?

Remember Jay: air conditioning, lower food prices, and shorter distances. Always more for improvement.

I was a panelist in the "Manufacturer and Dealer" seminar. The first thing we did was to introduce ourselves. I introduced myself as the owner of a "Two-bit" war game store in Connecticut; this drew an immediate response from Lou Zocchi.

"What did you say?"
"Two-bit war game store."
"That's what I thought you said."

When the Wargame store with the best selection of wargames in New England belongs to you, you can say that sort of thing. I was waving the red flag and ready for an argument. Unfortunately, the manufacturers were more interested in giving a sales pitch and most attendees were more interested in how to open a store. We did hear about the problems of being a dealer in Canada. Any American dealer who's got problems should write John Mansfield about his, because his will make yours seem trivial.

One dealer present got into an area of interest to me when he asked Tom Shaw why AH has a mail-order-only line.

"That's to protect you dealers from turkeys," was Tom's reply.

You could tell who the dealers were; they were the ones booing. I fired off a cheap shot, "Why do you protect us from Jutland but not from Kriegspiel?" Since Tom was the designer of Kriegspiel, the question automatically alluded to favoritism. As with all cheap shots this one was said with a smile and Tom took it well. He's probably taken shots about Kriegspiel at every Origins.

Everyone got along well in the seminar; the gripes were made in a friendly way. It was unfortunate that some of the manufactures left after their sales pitch, but Tom Shaw and Howie Barasch stayed for awhile. After they left, a lot of questions came up on how to open a war game store. Actually they wanted to know what lines they should stock. Bill Ponder was on hand as a representative of the people who really call the shots at The Citadel: the wargamers. It seems I can't even go to a business seminar without my organizational problems following.

When the convention was over, we got back aboard the buss for the return trip. Some of the New York riders swapped rides and there were a couple of new faces. Phil Kosnett was one of these. I expected a debate on Panzer Leader and Panzer 44, as it appeared ol' Phil was ready when he asked if I really believed PL was better than P44.. Bill Watkins and Steve List were with us and agreed with me that PL was better. With these two heavies on my side, Phil did not continue after the opening probes. He probably decided to wait till when he could get me one on one and then hammer me.

I had the bus driver land at the first airport so we could have dinner and get fresh ice for our coolers. We had enough Coca Cola and lemonade left from the trip up to last all the way back; not bad considering I charged only a quarter a can.

Bill Ponder and Tom Griffith both ran dungeons on the return trip, and Tom's lasted al the way to New London. At new York we parted company with the "SPI refugees," saying goodbye to some new-found friends which we'll be seeing again at Hadley's Origins 79.

When we got back to New London, I learned that I had lost my keys and had to wait at the train station for my wife to drop off the other set for the car. I passed the time while waiting watching Alan Chiras, Joe Geer, Mark Kolenski, and Finley (forgot his first name) play Ourdoor Survival.

After I got keys for the car, I picked up the store keys at my employee's home. Furtunately, Sharon was at home. I have only good things to say about Sharon Prewitt, who labors diligently at The Citadel; she is also the one who will be typing this article and would leave out anything else. (Cheap shot. SP)

When I got to the story, I found Gary Defore, James Morgan, Steve Morgan, Don Baker, Charles Cottle, Reid Biletz, and Ray Clark waiting. Needless to say, I opened early. There was a feeling of comradeship before they left as we stood around talking and drinking coffee. I'll be looking forward to meeting these also again at 0-79. There was an hour of quiet before anyone else came, and in that time I thought about the past year. The Citadel opened after Origins 77 using the new releases brought back from it to start things off. Now it's after 0-78, a year later.

To Ann Arbor and Back With the Citadel Wargamers, Part 1