(Here are more replies and Darryl's responses to his e-amil survey on Advance the Colors '98. / hope to print the last of the responses next issue. -- Editor).

The questions I posed are as follows.

1. We are always looking for ways to improve the variety of events at ATC. What period/era would you like to see more/less of?

2. If you were a part of the ATC staff, how would you go about advertising the con draw more gamers?

3. Would you like to see lectures or a trips to the Air Force Museum as part of the ATC weekend?

Shannon Worner - Ohio

1. A theme is great if you can get enough games. Maybe, at this stage, you can advertise a theme, but take what you get.

2. To advertise, can you get lists of persons attending other regional/related events? Get something into the Origins book, if possible, but also get lists from Little Wars, NashCon, and HMGS East conventions.

3. A suggestion that I would like to see is to move the flea market to Saturday night, after the dealers close. Most folks like to sell stuff to get money to buy more stuff. Sunday morning is almost too late. I got a couple of great buys on Sunday, but as a seller, I would have wanted a lot more buyers.

4. I really like the raffle -- it's a great idea.

5. What if all HMGS Cons would carry a listing of upcoming HMGS Cons in the events book? This would take some coordination, but it would speak to the flock, so to speakI I hope this helps. I really did enjoy the con this year and do plan to make it an annual event.

We have contacted the other chapters (particularly East and Midsouth) who have members in our region for their mailing lists, and have been using those addresses for quite awhile. We directly mail ATC info to nearly 1,000 gamers in our region (western NY, western PA, West Virginia, southern Ontario, Ohio, Kentucky, Michigan, and Indiana) every year, and are constantly searching for other gamers we may have missed. Those of you who are a-part of a local club are encouraged to send me your members' addresses so that we can add them to our mailing list (if they want).

The flea market was an experiment this year ATC98 was the first HMGS Great Lakes convention to hold a flea market, and it is something I think the con staff will continue to pursue. My was it held on Sunday? First, our dealers are a special group, we didn't want to have the flea market during theirpeak selling hours. We want to keep our dealers happyl Secondly, we are trying to build attendance on what is traditionally a slow day at conventions. We would like to see more folks make A TC a full weekend experience, and we can game on Sunday as long as we want Folks seem to trickle out early on Sunday, the flea market was a way to entice them to stay, get some great deals (thank you Joe Cairo, Jack Shaw, and Bart Redmon), and maybe hang around and play in a game . Habving it to Saturday night is possible as we can use the Holidome area without taking up gaming space, but we are trying to offer guys an additional incentive to get them to stay on Sunday.

The idea of having lists of other HMGS cons on our on-site booklet is a good one, but the on-site booklet is prime advertising space for our own programs. However, I will contact the other chapters to see if we can network this idea into fruition.

Irv Horowitz - Ohio

1. This year I got a motel room, came up Friday afternoon, stayed through Sunday. There was really more gaming than I could handlel I'm an old man these days (44), I can't go at it all day and all night like when I was a kid. I could ask for more gaming, but I couldn't deal with it!

2. More advertising in hobby shops. Fliers, posters. In Cincinnati, the local hobby shops ignored you. Of course, for more support from the local hobby shops, you need more liaison with the shops from local gamers. I'm working on that...

3. Not particularly. I know where Wright-Pat is, visit it when I choose. I stayed in a cheap motel up the road and that was a mistake. It was a hole. I shoulda sprung for a room at the Holiday Inn, but that's not such a great motel either. Better food wou d be nice -- I can't live on a steady diet of crap like I could when I was In my 20s. Then again, I was too cheap to pay for a sit- down meal in the motel restaurant -- it didn't look very appealing. The motel needed more public bathrooms. Amenities, amenities, amenities! The flea-market was a fizzle. Shoulda brought some of my own stuff, I guess, but I didn't want to spend a day sitting behind a table. The dealer area was great, the best I've seen. We have an amazing bunch of dedicated, hardworking guys running HMGS-GL. Make me feel like a fuggin' parasite. You guys run a great chapter and a great con!

We DID advertise in the hobby shops! Well, we sent a packet of info to every hobby in the region that we have an address for (30+1). if the shop didn't put up our flyers, then there ties the problem. How to solve this? VOLUNTEERS' Members who are interested can contact me and I will send them membership forms and convention flyers that they can take into the hobby shops and speak to someone face-to-face about posting our info in a visible place.

Food, hotel, amenities. I'd make a flyer to show folks where good restaurants were within a few minutes of the hotel, which was something that we should have done last year I made 100 copies and less than 20 were left on Sunday, so I hope they were useful. The hotel food is a bit pricey, but that is typical. As for the Holiday Inn not being a great hotel, I cannot attest to. I only live a half an hour away and therefore have driven back and forth the last two years. There is a restroom in the hall near the registration desk -- other than that I couldn't tell you!

Robert Lohman - Ohio

1. You had a fairly good coverage in all areas except, perhaps fantasy (which you may or may not want to add).

2. Buy a few ads in the ANDON convention books. Ask members to spread the word. I got one more for you when I met an old friend at ORIGINS and told him about ATC, which he had never heard about, and was 60 miles closer to his home.

3. Yes, I always liked the lectures and panels origins. However, it might be interesting to have people from our group talk about their ideas and thoughts. It's hard to compete with the guests at a big con, and local ideas can have a grassroot appeal. Perhaps a SPECIAL GAME event that awakens that certain little boy (or girl) that's inside all of us. What this event might be, I haven't a clue.

Although the fantasy idea may be attractive to some, ATC will continue to be 100% historical. This is not snobbery. Simply, we are an historical gaming society, the other genres of gaming already have their own convention venues. Agreed, we MIGHT attract some cross-over gamers, but I don I think so. Folks seem to go to what is catered to them. A few fantasy/sci-fi games wouldn't increase attendance and would only use up space for historicals.

Special Game: Look around at the other conventions you go to, and then look at the exceptional events we have atATC. Game for game, I honestly believe the events we have are the best in the country. We are very lucky to have some great game hosts for our show Now, there has been a large Zulu game on Sunday, which I hope Rich Smethurst will continue to do every year. And we have started the DBA tourney (thanks, Dennis)) which will return next year. Any other ideas folks might want to see?

Robin Miller - Michigan

1. I didn't do any gaming, so I couldn't make-a call on this one.

2. Ask everyone with an e-mail address to broadcast to all their friends. Take a booth at Cold Wars and Historicon with the express purpose of advertising HMGS- GL and the ATC show. I know there are a lot of Midwest gamers who don't even know about ATC or Great Lakes.

3. Lectures on different subjects of interest would be fine. Field trips away from the convention site, in my opinion as a dealer, would be detrimental to sales.

Jamie Williamson - Ohio

1. Since I play Napoleonics, I would like to see more Naps. But having said that, I don't think I should push my period in relations to others. The con is ultimately up to the gamers and those people willing to put on games. I don't think seeing less of any period is a good thing.

2. I can only suggest advertising in wargame magazines and hobby shops.

3. I have always enjoyed lectures about periods or rules authors, so that would be nice. A trip to the air museum sounds interesting, but I think it takes away from the gaming. Everyone is thereto game and buy "stuff," so aside trip may not be well attended. I know it Is hard to get more dealers, and the dealer area was nice, but part of any convention is to see what is new. Perhaps trying to attract more dealers.

C.J. Suchyta - Ohio

1. I have no complaints about the selection.

2. Hmmm. This is tough since this is an area that I have little insight. Here are some ideas that you may already know about or try:

Flyers to hand out at the big and/or other cons.
Flyers/announcements at all the hobby stores in the region and even beyond (OH, MI, IN, IL, PA, etc.). I know "The Herald" has ads from some stores, but there must be more stores in these states.
You seem to have the Net covered well.

3. This would be of little interest to me. I come to game, and since I live here, I already know the museum pretty well. Out-of-towners may have a different view.

CJ: thanks for the Red Baron game you ran late Saturday. It was a great timel Those of you who haven T played Red Baron, it's easier than it looks.

(I hope to be able to print the last batch of responses to Darryl's survey in the next issue. Thank you for your patience with me on this project. Your opinions are very important to the members of the board, that is why we are taking the space to print all viewpoints that we received. -- Editor)