Another Enfilade has come and gone. Unlike last year’s event, my inaugural sailing as convention coordinator, I left this affair feeling certain that we had done well, and that everyone had a good time. Even I had fun, and I’m usually doing my best Chicken Little impression, waiting for the sky to fall. In this wrap-up I’ll share some important numbers with you, some stuff we tried, and some great memories of the conventions. Finally there are some important thank-yous to be said.

Strictly by the numbers, this year’s convention was more successful than last year’s. We had 239 paid admissions versus about 225 the year before. We worked very hard, maybe a little too hard to keep track of entries. I made a dizzying array of convention badges that made it difficult for those at the registration desk. Simpler categories, larger badges, and lighter colors will be in order for next year. We tried creating a survey, but we had difficulty roping attendees into completing it. Financially, the convention was a success. We were in the plus column for revenues. We had more than 80 games—probably 90 if one counts the unscheduled pick-up games, and very few cancellations. That is about ten games more than last year. Tables were full all the time. We actually took three tables off the floor this year, which made the ballroom more navigable—and kept the room looking full.

We tried some new things this year too. We introduced the convention buffet. It was a success, though I would add that there are still a few bugs to work out. It kept gamers in the ballroom, and the price was right. We raffled off prizes this year. That was fun until someone took the microphone away from me! We changed the categories for the painting competition, and promoted it a lot and got a lot of entries in every category. There were some great, close votes and some wonderful entries. We recognized outstanding games in every game period. I thought this was a great success for everyone, except those stuck with the task of grading the games. We tried to let you know the activities scheduled for the convention by updating a Preliminary Events List on the NHMGS website. We are regularly updating that site and I encourage you to go there at www.nhmgs.org/.

There are some things we are considering as changes for next year. One of these is offering some sort of incentive for those who host at least two games. It will probably be simple and inexpensive, but a sign of our deep appreciation for those of you who work so hard to put on games at Enfilade. The flea-market table format did not light our fire, and we did have space free in the other break-out room. We may have an incentive to encourage pre-registration. We have established a prize committee and hope to have more extensive goodies to raffle off á la Salute.

If you have ideas to add to Enfilade, we are always looking for additional members for the Enfilade committee. I encourage every Citadel reader to join Yahoo!groups, specifically the NHMGS group to get the latest news about NHMGS and its activities, including Enfilade. The Yahoo!Groups website is at groups.yahoo.com/, and our group can be found by searching for ‘NHMGS.’

I had two favorite moments at Enfilade. The first occurred on Saturday night when we handed out the big best of show award. The prize is an expense-paid weekend at Enfilade in a suite and a nice plaque. This year it went to Game Matrix for their Normandy Beach game. Chris Ewick is the worthy owner of that shop, and a recent arrival to historical gaming. The game was gorgeous and fun for the participants. Chris didn’t know we even gave such a prize and was truly appreciative. The second moment was when 10-year old Kelly Forbis, daughter of Games Plus owner Don Forbis, beat all the old guys in the Schneider Cup seaplane racing in the last game period. There was a lot of laughing and a lot of red faces.

Team Effort

Enfilade is such a team effort. There are so many people to thank from game presenters to registration desk volunteers to everybody on the Enfilade design team. Without them there is no convention. Without the convention I truly believe the hobby, in this area at least, would be like a secret society—gamers playing in basements, blissfully unaware of the activities of others. That said, we had many game presenters from Canada to Salem to Spokane, many of them putting on two, three, four, six games. I cannot thank you enough for your efforts. The volunteers at the registration desk have a difficult job. They give up their game time to get y’all in the door. Often there is a big rush, which makes things stressful, or they have to fight boredom with little to do. They do an important job, and I thank them for it.

Finally, there are a number of guys who do most of the planning for the convention. Everybody takes a little piece of the work, and makes the convention happen. Dave Schueler had the thankless, gigantic job of scheduling events and organizing the ballroom. Phil Bardsley was in charge of getting t-shirts and other Enfilade merchandising. David Sullivan regularly updated the NHMGS website, and helped to organize the painting competition. Norris Hazleton managed the dealers this year. Greg Maggard managed the registration desk. Mark Serafin came all the way from Whidbey Island to attend every meeting, created the convention booklet, and managed our fiscal affairs at the convention. Bryan Shein, Bill Stewart, Dick Larsen, and Tim McNulty attended Enfilade meetings, offering ideas, shaking their heads at the right moment, and gently offering common sense when it was needed. Thank you, thank you. Last, thanks to my wife Lorri who has come to understand after 23 years of marriage to a miniature wargamer what a wonderful hobby this is, how much it means to me, and forgives my bouts of insanity while preparing for this convention.

Bigger, and better in ’03!