The convention, held on March 16, 17 and 18 2001 was the annual show for the Trumpeter Tabletop Gaming Society. I was part of the organizing committee, so if this account sounds biased, it is, because I am!

The Friday night started well with a large crowd of attendees. They were waiting for us as we arrived at 17:00 hours and continued to come in throughout the evening. Steve Knight was running the "Quest for the Menu from the Last Supper" 25mm skirmish game. This Late Roman set-to is strictly tongue in cheek. He has been building his Roman village structures for a while now and the setting and miniatures were excellent. The menu was eventually taken after a great struggle and was awarded, suitable for framing, to Sean Shenfield.

There were 15mm Napoleonics, WW2 Battlefront in 20mm and Steve A's popular Formula De games going on as well. I was still basing my 25mm minis for my Saturday game and was limited in my perusal of the other game offerings Friday.

Saturday we played Hanau 1813 in 25mm with Shako rules. The game came off well with the results going pretty well as historical. The French washed over the Bavarian - Austrian army and punched through the Frankfurt road with Laurie McIlvena's, (Sebastiani's) cavalry leading the way. MacDonald's Corps, ably handled by a gentleman I know, but cannot name, (tell me at Enfilade), mauled Steve's Bavarian infantry to it's front. Terry Griner, one of our US guests, was chomping at the bit as the Guard Cavalry Corps commander. When finally released by Napoleon he helped mop any remaining resistance. Mike MacKenzie, running Beckmanns Bavarian division in the south, routed Victor and did not lose a unit, but was too far south to affect the battle for the Frankfurt road. Shawn, who normally specializes in rolling 6s' could not, and was thumped in the north center. His grand battery was not grand in the least. Bruce suffered as the Allied Cavalry Corps, with the Guard and Sebastiani's cavalry, took it to him!!

The Russian WW1 air force took to the skies in an always popular ongoing Canvas Eagles game. The WW1 Russian bombers were amazing! Lisa Smedman had special hardware made to keep them in flight! A Battletech Campaign run by Wayne Dan involving acres of charts kept all who participated busy throughout. The White Rock boys Zulued their way through Africa in another well presented game. George Barnard's Sci Fi game gave me retinal damage with the highly unusual bright red and orange terrain. ACW, Wild West, War of 1812 starring Kevin "why is it so cold in Canada" Smythe and other games, including a room full of 25mm Warhammer 40K tournament players, were all well attended with over 140 attendees for Saturday alone.

I played in a Spanish Civil War air game and succeeded in getting shot down about 15 minutes into combat. Only one tip, do not fly a HE 51, my underwear has better maneuverability! Eric tells me he has revised the abilities for that aircraft. Not enough to save it I say. Historically, the Russian aircraft gooned them so I guess it was realistic, if painful.

Sunday was our Siege game day with the wind up "Siege of Castle Neubierstein". The Bubble gum recipe was hidden in the tower keep and a good 900 or so 25mm figures fought for the rights to obtain it. Brian from Bremerton came north just to have his troops chuck rocks and bathe in boiling oil: his troops had their desires fulfilled. Suffice to say the carnage was incredible with 3 flaming siege towers and 50% casualties to vouch for the intensity of the battle. The besiegers took the castle in the end and had their way with the occupants, and their bubble gum.

American War of Independence 15mm action raged on with Terry Sawchenko. More Canvas Eagles, under Eric, filled the skies with buzzing biplanes spitting death. Jim Lingenfelter had more AWI action in 15mm, using Age of Reason. Huge dust clouds arose behind the armor of both sides as the British and Germans clashed in Western Desert WW2 action (I borrowed some of his dust for a burning siege tower).

This was the best attended Salute yet. If we can recover, we will do it all again next year. Thank you to all that attended and all of those that helped out. We welcome all NMHGS members to come up for some good gaming, massive exchange rate benefits, and Canadian hospitality. We will see you at Enfilade in June!