Late last year I decided that it was time to start supporting some of the HMGS sponsored conventions other than the ones out east, There are seven HMGS conventions that are about 400 miles from where I live, and I chose to try out Border Wars.

Border Wars X was held at the Carpenters Union Hall in St. Louis, MO, Oct. 9-11, and was sponsored by the Heart of America chapter. The trip out (from Columbus, OH) was great. Time and miles flew by and upon arriving in St. Louis, I got to see the world's largest McDonalds. The Arch, seriously, really awesome. Finding the convention site was no problem -- we hopped off of Rt. 64, and boom, there it was. We arrived a little early on Friday and were greeted by Brian Beal. He helped us get our bearings and we were off.

The hall had a wealth of room for gaming, was very well lit, and had a kitchen with very affordable burgers (good stuff) and dogs run by the guys from Big Muddy. Gaming wasn't to start for a few hours, but the dealers were mostly set up. There were about seven dealers with a great selection of miniatures and publications, some of which I had never seen at Historicon.

After helping some of the dealers cover their weekend expenses, we went off to check on the games that were being set up. This was easy to do since the dealers were set up around the perimeter of the main gaming area. There were about nine events scheduled to run on Friday and all ran -- except the one I decided on playing. By the time I realized this, the backup game was full.

Saturday we rushed across town (I chose the wrong hotel ) to the convention and I hurriedly set up my 1940 Battle of Stonne game, which was to run twice during the day. The hall opened a little late, so my first game started about a half hour late. It ran smoothly, though, with everybody seeming to have a good time. The game ended due to time limitations, but the French looked to have succeeded in achieving a Pyrrhic victory.

My 2:00 game was bounced to the 7:00 block due to the late start and end of the first game. This was no problem, though, since there was no evening game scheduled on the table. The late game started more or less on time with the French making an aggressive attack with Char Bs that could not miss. Three turns into the game the Germans were finished. Funny thing was that the Germans didn't realize this, and battled frantically to hold the town. With the great French success early in the game, the Char B commander decided to continue to pound the Germans from a distance. Unfortunately, his dice didn't go along with the plan, and in the end, both sides were annihilated with the Germans still holding Stonne. In any event, everyone seemed to have a good time.

Unfortunately, I didn't get to see any of the evening games, but there was some cool stuff during the morning and day. There was a feast of naval stuff in a variety of scales and periods. An English Civil War game with tons of beautiful 25mrn figs and Chris von Fahnstock's massive WWII game were highlights that stick in my mind. Additionally Bob Stusse's WWII game on Friday had some gorgeous figs, and Friday's medieval game had a nice layout.

All things considered, I had a great time. The people were fantasticl Everybody was friendly, helpful, and just seemed to be into having a good time. I've never been to a con where everybody was so into the spirit of the game. Those who stayed away because of the leadership issue within HAHMGS missed a great time. By the way, all of those issues seem to have been settled without an explosion at the membership meeting.