The following HMGS-Great Lakes members are running for the BoD. The inside back cover of this issue is your ballot for the election. You may vote for as many candidates as you wish. Please return the ballots to Chuck Kennedy, P.O. Box 1177, Bowling Green, FL 33834.

J. Matthew Davidson

Born: 1964, Manchester, Connecticut.
'Education: Miami University, double majoring in Political Science/History.
Personal: Single, Present address: 193 Rosemarie Dr. Lebanon, Ohio 450361239, e-mail: jmd©your-net.com.
Profession: Division of Parks and Cemeteries, City of Lebanon.

Wargaming:

First miniatures game in 1981: been hooked ever since.
Favorite Periods- ACW, AWI, WW II, Naval(WW II and ACW). One of the founding members and President of Lebanon Military Strategist Association(Lebanon High School).
One of the founding members, and served a term as Vice President and later a term as President of Historical Simulation Club Miami University Middletown Campus. Also sat on the Miami University Student Advisory Council, as a liason between the University and the aforementioned dub.
Member for many years of Greater Dayton Wargame Club.
Member of Wayne's Legion Historical Gamers. Member of HMGS-E
Member of HMGS-GL
Member of BoD and Vice President of HMGS-GL
Official point of contact for HMGS-GL on the internet

I have run miniatures games of various periods at a variety of conventions including, COGA-CON, CAP-CON, Kettering Game Con., Rally Round The Flag, Advance the Colors, Origins and Cold Wars. I have also run many games for the various clubs to which I have belonged over the years, and continue to do so. I have also written articles for several club newsletters including GDWC,WLHG,and HMGS-GL Herald and I have been published in Command Post Quarterly(CPQ) magazine.

As a member of the BoD and Vice President of HMGS-GL, I have attended all of the BoD, membership, and convention planning meetings in the past two years. I have been directly involved in the Advance the Colors'96, and currently the Advance the Colors '97 conventions, by organizing the raffle, working at the "gate" and other related organizational tasks, as well as running games. Also, I am currently the HMGS-GL official point of contact on the Internet. Therefore I have experience on how HMGS works and have established contacts on-line with many of the various other HMGS chapters.

Platform:

I will continue to strive to make HMGS-GL a regional chapter. We need to continue to attract new members from all areas of our region, not just Ohio. We have been making definite progress in this area since my term on the BoD began. We need to get the members involved in organizing events in all these areas, so no area will feel isolated.

I will continue to urge the National HMGS BoD to do more for it's chapters.

I will continue to to encourage the membership to organize HMGS-GL game days in their local areas at shops or where ever they can. I have been directly involved as well as several other HMGS-GL members in my local area, with organizing and running HMGS-GL game days at the Tin Soldier hobby shop in Centerville OH. I am pleased to announce that as of August 22nd '97 HMGSGL ran it's 34th consecutive game day at the Tin Soldier since the first one on April 14th '96. We have the rest of the year just about planned out and we will reach the 46th at the end of this year. I would also like to congradulate Eric Adamaszek for his efforts in organizing the HMGS-GL game days at the Soldiery hobby shops in Columbus, and Cleveland OH. That is exactly the type of membership participation we need. The HMGS-GL game days are very valuable in getting the word out about HMGS and it is something tangible that the membership and the general public can see HMGS-GL doing. Not to mention the benefits for the game shops. I know we have gotten many new members as a result and will, continue to do so.

I will continue to seek to add hobby shops to the friends of HMGS-GL list, being a benefit not only to the member but the shops as well.

I will continue to develop HMGS-GL's presence on the Internet. Since I started as the POC, the response has been great. For those with access, information can been found much easier and faster than by conventional means. The other chapters are also developing a presence as well. Communication and cooperation between chapters has already been realized to a degree and will undoubtedly improve.

I will continue to work to make Advance the Colors the best convention we can. We need to keep things STRICTLY HISTORICAL MINIATURES RELATED. That is what we are about and that is what we should concentrate on at the exclusion of all else. So far we have done very well in keeping this focus and I will continue to work to keep it that way. At a consistent location, if possible. HMGS-Great Lakes has grown considerably since the current BoD was elected and continues to do so. The current BoD has put much effort into making HMGS-GL what it has become, through much personal effort, many times at our own personal expense(time and money). It wasn't that long ago that HMGS-GL was struggling to survive, facing disbanding by the NBoD, and was struggling to scrape together 50 members and lost it's shirt at the first Rally Round the Flag convention. Now we have in the neighborhood of 150 members and climbing at a steady rate and have had a successful convention(AtC '96), sponsoring game days, producing a fine newsletter, and now on the web, and continue to do more for the membership than ever before. I'd say the current BoD deserves a big round of applause. Much work still lay ahead and if you see fit to vote for me, I will continue to do my part in seeing that HMGS-GL doesn't rest on it's laurels, but continues to improve and serve you, the Historical Miniature Gamer.

Darryl Smith

Born: 1 August, 1963. Trenton, OH.
Education: Attended Miami University. Major: History.
Professional: Supervisor, Credit Customer Service, Financial and Credit Services, Mason, OH.

Wargaming History:

Introduced to hobby through a love of military history. Started boardgaming at age ten. Participated in first miniatures game in college.
Was a founding member of the Historical Simulations Club at Miami University Middletown.
Served as Vice-President and President of the Greater Dayton Wargaming Club, as well as editor of the newsletter.
Am a founding member of the Wayne's Legion Historical Gamers.
Member of HMGS Great Lakes since 1993. Currently serving as President of HMGS Great Lakes and as a member of the Board of Directors.
Have written articles for MWAN, Command Post Quarterly, as well as numerous pieces for The Herald.
Have ran events at Rally 'Round the Flag, Capcon, Kettering Game Convention, Cogacon, and Advance the Colors.
I have worked on the convention staff for the last three HMGS Great Lakes conventions.

Why run again? I have asked myself the same question. I have served as president since 1994, and have been a member of the Board of Directors since early 1995. 1 have spent a lot of time in trying to convince gamers in our region that Great Lakes is worth joining and supporting. I have supported our hobby by running events, helping plan our conventions, and doing what I could to increase awareness throughout our region. If you look at my bio from the elections held In 1996, I think you'll find that most of the things I set out to do have been done. For those of you who may not know what those items where, I will recap that platform: 

1. To keep first time membership dues at $10.00 per year, and to make renewals $5.00 per year. Well, this is half done. We have not increased the membership dues, but based on the cost of the newsletter it seems that we cannot afford to reduce renewals.

2. To continue to contact gamers In our region to recruit more members to our standard. Mostly successful. Looking at the chart below you'll see what expansion that our chapter has had since the last election:

State	Jan. 1996 Members	State	Oct. 1997 Members	New Members	% increase
Indiana	2	Indiana	14	12	85.71%
Kentucky	0	Kentucky	4	4	100.00%
Michigan	3	Michigan	18	15	83.33%
New York	1	New York	1	0	0.00%
Pennsylvania	3	Pennsylvania	5	2	40.00%
Ohio	63	Ohio	130	67	51.54%
West Virginia	1	West Virginia	1	0	0.00%
Others	0	Others	7	7	100.00%
Totals	73	-	180	107	59.44%

Yes, we are growing, and we are growing outside of Ohio, but we do have a long way to go in becoming a truly regional chapter.

3. To continue to seek the support of hobby shops in our region to obtain discounts for our members. In January of 1996 we had four hobby shops who honored a discount to our organization. Currently we have nine (seven in the last newsletter, but add Games Galore in Cincinnati and the Dayton Painting Consortium since then), including one shop in Michigan. Again, this is an area which we are growing in, but we still need to be more regional.

4. To ensure that Rally 'Round the Flag continues as a yearly event which won't cost the members excess funds to support and to make improvements to the convention. Well, although we now call our flagship convention Advance the Colors, we have made improvements and have not saddled members with any extra financial burden along the way. I will continue to work towards improving our convention.

5. To listen to the members who provide suggestions for improvement and act on those suggestions. I think that we are working consistently here. We have done what we can to improve the chapter. More hobby shops, more regionalization, a better site for the convention are just some of the ways we have listened and improved.

6. To ensure that HMGS Great Lakes stands on its own two feet without having to rely on outside sources to provide monetary input. This chapter runs on its own finances. No longer to we have to worry about anyone holding the proverbial gun to our heads because we have had to rely on their money. Our chapter is fully self-sustaining.

7. To pay of ALL past debts. DONE!

8. To make sure that financial reports are regularly published in the newsletter. DONE!

9. To help establish HMGS Game Days at shops in our region which will promote both Great Lakes and the hobby. I cannot take the credit here, but look at the games days that are listed in The Herald.

10. To establish regularly scheduled BOD meetings. The current BOD has met more times than any previous Great Lakes BOD, but this area still needs to be improved upon.

As you can see, I do try to accomplish those things that I set out to do. But, without the membership's support, and without the collective workings of the Board of Directors, Great Lakes would not be as successful as it is today. Why run again? We are not finished on the things we have started. I still feel that we need to represent our region, not just central and southwestern Ohio. I will work to continue to bring these gamers into HMGS Great Lakes. I will work to add more hobby shops as Friends of our chapter. I will work on improving Advance the Colors, as well as encourage additional HMGS Great Lakes conventions across our region. It is not time to rest on what we have achieved, it is time to work even harder to make Great Lakes one of the best HMGS chapters in the country. I hope that you will take the time to send in your ballot, and that you will vote for me as one of your Board of Directors. 

Ray Garbee

HMGS-Great Lakes is only as effective as its participating members. Though the BOD has done a great job over the past few years, a new perspective never hurts. Therefore, I feel its time to throw my hat into the ring for the HMGS-Great Lakes Board of Directors. So, its only fair you know something about me, my past contributions to 'the hobby' and why I feel Fm a qualified candidate for the BOD.

First off, I've been involved with historical miniature gaming since 1982. Over the past 15 years I've worked with a number of gaming groups, foremost of which my work with the Greater Dayton Wargamers Club. In the early 90's I was active with the GDWC as their membership secretary and editor of the monthly newsletter - Dispatches.

In 1992 I moved to North Carolina and my focus on the hobby changed from growing a local group to historical research and scenario design. Much of my work from this period ends up in publications such as The Courier or the Command Post Quarterly.

In '96 I returned to Ohio and to a more 'hands on' role in our hobby, though I continue writing scenarios for the gaming magazines. In addition, I've been providing games at HMGS-GL Game Days at the Tin Soldier for the past year.

So why elect me to the BOD? Good question: My formal training is as a geographer, so I realize that 'Great Lakes' means different things to different folks. However, HMGS-Great Lakes was formed by people tired of driving to 9, hours to attend a game convention. Its geographic center - Ohio - is a great hub of transportation lines from all neighboring states. So lets work on building the links within our region. If elected to the BOD, my goals would be 1.) continue to improve on our flagship historical gaming convention; 2.) Membership, membership, and membership; 3.) Promoting historical gaming in our region and 4.) mobilizing our membership. The first two go hand in hand - some of the best advertising for members we can get is to make our flagship convention the best it can be. A quality newsletter like The Herald is another great vehicle to demonstrate the value of membership in HMGS-GL.

The third issue is my pet project for '98. HMGS-GL has the manpower, resources and the ability to host several mini-cons in additionto Advance. the Colors. rdlike to work with others to provide a series of one day events throughout the region focusing on providing a number of quality games and access to a small number of dealers. These should have the primary goal of being cheap, and be located to draw the maximum number of gamers, with the shortest travel costs.

Lastly the issue of mobilizations ties directly into the heart of all these previous issues. Each and every one of you are the best assets HMGS-GL has available. Its obvious that we need to work on mobilizing our membership - in many cases just coordinating or publicizing their present efforts - to promote our hobby. Its a goal worthy of the attention of our board.

Going into this election, I bring 15 years of gaming experience, and a solid knowledge of the depth and breadth of our hobby. I believe my goals are achievable and I hope I reflect the goals of the membership of HMGS-GREAT LAKES. Vote - it matters!

Ferkin Doyle

"Sometimes I feel like a US Congressman" sung to the tune of Motherless Child

I can't believe that two years has gone by but that's what the calender tells me so it's time to hold another election; I've seriously considered not running again so I can get some personal things done (like painting my ton and a half of lead for instance), but then I look at the halffinished jobs that I've been working' on and I say to myself, "Damn, Doyle the national BOD just got working on display booths at non-HMGS conventions and you're looking into advertising HMGS in national magazines and what about the second Great Lakes convention up north that you've been looking into, let alone Advance the Colors itself, after all ATC' 98, will be a national convention and you want to be there to make sure that goes off all right, let alone having an excuse to go to all those other conventions as the Great Lakes national represehtative, you have to see what everybody else is doing, of course then there is..." and on and on it goes.

I was going to try to keep this to one sentence but I just don't have the skill. Sorry about that. But they are some of my excuses to run for the BOD, again. For those fortunate few that don't know me, I'm a combing-impaired, bifocaled, beer-enhanced fifty-one-year-old that has never been accused of being political correct (just ask my wife) but the only real nasty bone in my body is called DIPLOMACY (any version). I've been gaming since 1958, actually earlier then that if you count playing with my toy soldiers as a kid. Wait a minute? That's what I do now! Weird!

I put more time into this "hobby" then I (or anyone else) should, but that seems to be the nature of the job. The only thing I have not been able to do in the past two years is find outside funding of The Herald but I'm still looking into that. Meanwhile Brian O'Leary and I have continued to publish it at our own expense (and he's not running this time, folks).

So, unless you have plenty of time and money to throw away on your "hobby" or you're just plain out of your mind and want to mail out all of the Heralds, be a coordinator for a convention or two and spend your hard-earned money to fly out to Seattle next spring for their national board meeting (should be a good time, nudge-nudge, wink-wink, say no more) then you should vote for me.

A paid political mes;f;age by the "Look, There Goes a Sucker" Party.
Pssst! Don't worry, the elections are all rigged anyway.
"Diplomacy, anyone?" (maniacle laughter)

Scott M. Savory, Treasurer, HMGS Great Lakes

As my first term on the Board of Directors draws to a close, I look back with some satisfaction at the course the chapter has taken over the past two years. I recall being somewhat reluctant to run for the BOD two years ago, as I knew even before I became a BOD member that to do so would require no little investment of personal time and effort. My good friend, Darryl Smith, had already been the Great Lakes President for the previous term, and I had seen first hand his commitment and willingness to. undertake the thankless administrative tasks associated with the position. I had decided to run then largely as a result of Darryl's urging, and it has been a rewarding, if sometimes frustrating, experience. After being elected, I was selected by the board to be treasurer; this is a position I still hold. However, it often seems that most of the time I've spent as a BOD member has been spent on our flagship conventions, Advance the Colors '96 and `97. In particular, I worked very hard in the search for possible convention sites; I made the initial contacts with both of the locations of our '96 and `97 conventions (the Radisson and the Holiday Inn, respectively), so I guess I share at least part of the credit (or blame) for how both shows turned out. The planning for this year's convention was especially stressful and frustrating, largely because of the problems we had with the Radisson and the resulting need to change venues a scant three months before the event.

My duties as treasurer have consisted primarily of maintaining the chapter account and preparing the treasury reports for the Herald (which is something I would like to see continue even if I'm not re-elected). And so far we've been able to run the chapter without a negative cash flow. I will admit, however, that there is much more that needs to be done. Although the BOD has discussed the need to establish an operating budget, this has not yet happened. Similarly, for several months I've been trying to motivate myself to complete the IRS forms necessary to obtain recognition as a tax exempt organization. However, it seems that much of my attention has been diverted by non-treasury-related activities (such as convention planning). Like the other BOD members, I must work a full time job in order to make a living, which of course includes having money to buy little toy soldiers, and I sometimes remind myself that this is a hobby, that it's supposed to be fun, that I'm sure not getting rich from being a BOD member, etc. I guess I share a bit of the burn-out which many of the other current BOD members are suffering from.

Nevertheless, I decided to run for re-election to the BOD, largely because of the personal stake I feel I have in the chapter. During the past two years, chapter membership has grown steadily, with more and more new members from areas besides central and southwestern Ohio. We've run two successful conventions during the past two years, and I've made many new friends as a result of my association with Great Lakes, so to that extent I feel that my efforts over the past two years have been rewarded. Having read fellow BOD member Matt Davidson's biography, I largely share his views as to what direction the chapter should take. Like Matt, I am gratified that many fellow Great Lakes members are taking an active role in supporting the chapter. I especially think that those members who have worked hard to schedule and run the HMGS-GL game days at area hobby shops deserve a big thanks. By the way, several friends/HMGS members helped out immensely at Advance the Colors '97 by staffing the front desk; to you guys I offer my personal "Thank youl" It was also gratifying to see several members turn out for the membership meeting which was held on Sunday morning at the con. This is precisely the type of membership involvement that the chapter needs. Like Matt, I think the BOD has done a good job over the past two years, and I agree that there is much more yet to be done. I ask for your vote; in exchange I will continue to work to make HMGS Great Lakes a successful HMGS chapter.