Leo Cronin and Larry Brom

Inducted into
HMGS East Legion of Honor

By Dick Bryant

The legion is an organization within HMGS East that recognizes, by appointment to membership, a person's continuing dedication to the improvement and promulgation of the hobby. Scruby Award winners are automatically members. The members of the Legion choose the Scruby Award Winner every other year and up to two members every year. A person need not be a member of HMGS East to be appointed.

Other members include: Don Featherstone, Phil Barker, Duke Siefried, Wally Simon, Dick Bryant, Pat Condray, Scott Bowden, Frank Chadwick, Charles Sweet Bob Coggins, Todd Fisher, Jim Getz, Jay Hadley, Johnson Hood, Ed Mohrmann, and. Dick Sossi. Most of the names above will be known to the wargaming public because of their many publications, rule sets and highly visible contributions to the hobby. Others were instrumental in establishing HMGS in the first place and continuing extra-ordinary effort to nurture the organization and thus, the hobby.

Leo is the Business manager of The Courier and as such has been both a guiding light and rudder for us over the years. Always working behind the scenes, Leo was first recognized for his efforts by an "Unsung Hero Award" by HMGS a few years back. Leo has been contributing to the hobby since the late 50's, writing articles for Jack Scruby's and Don Featherstone's early magazines. Leo wrote what was probably the first set of skirmish rules in the early 60's, Irish Rebellion. It won best of show at the Philadelphia Convention in 1969 - Leo reprised the scenario on its 29th anniversary at this past Historicon. Leo was one of the initial 3 or 4 writers of the round robin letters that resulted in the "Meeting in Wally's Basement" that organized HMGS. Leo was a member of the HMGS Board of Directors for many years, writing one of its first set of bylaws and generally working behind the scenes for the betterment of the hobby with little fanfare.

Larry Brom, one of the gentlemen of the hobby, is famous for his rules The Sword and The Flame. These colonial rules have been modified for everything from the AMR to Vietnam. Almost single handily TSATF generated the Colonial Period in wargaming. His Chassepot and Needlegun rules were amoung the first for the Franco Prussian war and other wars of Napoleon III. Larry's rules were the first published that used a card system of moving and firing units.

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