Enfilade! was held June 1, 2, and 3 at the Executive Inn in Fife, and it was a success. As a first-time director I was able to enjoy all of the stomachchurning, stress-laden, anxietyproducing preparations that Tim McNulty always used to mutter about under his breath. People did put on games, and gamers did show up to play them, and that's what Enfilade is about! The response to the convention was largely positive, though some interesting questions have arisen since across the NHMGS Yahoo group. These include:

1. How can flea market tables be more a part of the convention without alienating the dealers? (Don't know yet, but we're working on it.)

2. How did the non-Memorial Day date affect attendance? (More on that below)

3. What was with the dealers? We had the same number of dealer tables, just different dealers.

4. Did attendance, or the number of games, suffer? (More below)

5. How can we change the table arrangement to better accommodate large games? (Consider it done.)

The questions on attendance are good ones. We don't do a very good job of tracking attendees. I tried to do that by numbering badges, but I didn't number enough of them. We know that there were over 250 paid 1, 2, and 3 day admissions. I believe that is slightly in excess of recent Enfilades but I can't be sure. The number of games was down. We didn't have enough games on Friday night and Sunday, but Steve Allen's Formula Duh and the block game tables from Columbia Games really bailed us out.

There was also a big increase in the number of folks participating in the Squad Leader tournament, but we didn't see many of them in the ballroom. Fewer games on Sunday could be attributed to the lack of a Monday recovery day. There were too many good-looking games to name without doing somebody an injustice. Nobody complained that there wasn't enough to do. Comparisons were raised shortly after Enflade about the Memorial Day dates versus the nonMemorial Day date. This issue is not new. Everything that critics of the Memorial Day dates is true:

• It is a family weekend
• Re-enactors are involved in the Encampment
• It is the start of camping season.

These are valid points, but are overshadowed by our economic bottom line. The deal we get from the hotel for the convention space is absolutely the best we could find, and we only get it for Memorial Day weekend. To change the weekend or the venue would require a raise in admission fees that I am reluctant to make. I don't believe there is a weekend that works for everyone, and for those we cannot accommodate, I am truly sorry.

Enfilade is a lot of work and requires the effort of lots of others. My name happens to be on the flyer, but I don't do much. Dave Schuler was the firstyear game coordinator, replacing Russ Bauder after many years of great service. - He was magnificent and tried to keep us regularly updated on scheduled games, accepting them literally until the last minute. Eric Stiern did a great job of filling in dealers when old timers Fantastic Games and Toys and Geo-Hex could not come. Phil Bardsley again ordered and picked up all of the t-shirts, mugs and assorted Enfilade paraphernalia, and barely managed to squeeze them into his Explorer.

Our faithful president Norris Hazelton was a great sounding board and worked the desk. However the true hero of convention volunteers was Greg Maggard, who never seemed to leave the registration desk-from the bottom of my heart, thank you Greg. Tim McNufty managed the painting competition, offered lots of experienced advice, and bailed me out on Saturday morning when my half- finished roofing job leaked like a sieve and kept me from getting back to the hotel on time.

Dave Sullivan regularly updated the website to keep us all abreast of games, put flyers and event forms on the web. Mark Serafin, faithful scribe and treasurer put on games, wrote the checks, worked the desk, and came to meetings from the middle of nowhere (okay, Langley just seems like the middle of nowhere.) Dick Larsen, Bruce Meyer, and hopefully I am not forgetting others also gave their time to plan and serve the convention.

The volunteers are important, and we can use more of you. Just let me know and I will happily plug you into the convention desk or give you some other sort of task. The most important people at the convention, of course are you. You put on the games, you pay the admission, you play the games, and you also spread the word that Enfilade is a decent little convention. If you have a desire to really help the convention be thinking now of a game you would like to run next year- Memorial Day weekend 2002. Games came in really late this year, and in addition to leaving me with a few more gray hairs, it really did leave us short.

There were lots of people who stepped up and ran more than their share Dave Sullivan ran five games in six periods, Eric Hotz never stopped running his air games once they started, Paul Hannah had air games running as long as he could stay on his feet, Doug Hamm and I did all of the battles of the War of 1812 in one weekend (I think). When all of the evening games were done Steve Allen pulled out his race cars and entertained piles of people. We need your contributions, I know you have something to share, and we want to hear from you early. We will post an event form to the website (www.nhmgs.org) this summer, and supply some to local hobby shops too.

I have some great memories of the convention. Kelly Jones ably fulfilled his role of Pirate Captain on Friday night. My students visited me then too, and that was great. There were more kids at the convention playing games than I can ever remember. The prime rib all-you-can-eat was pretty darned entertaining. I met John Stafford from University Place, my neck of the woods, and I've got to figure out a way to game with him on not-a-Saturday. I saw Steve Walker for the first time in years, and managed to play a game with Scott Abbott for the first time in years, and it was great. I missed out on the annual Saturday night beerfest with my friends from Canada and that was sad. Ed Texeira came all the way from Arizona to run a dealer table and games, and kept his record of supporting every Enrilade since the first. I left on Sunday thinking that we did well, and that next year will be better.