Well, it's past Halloween again and we've had another fine year of conventions and shows in our area -- none of which could have happened without you. I love going to historical gaming conventions and having the same problem all the time, what to play. It's like being a kid in the toy store when mom or dad says, "Ok, you can only get one toy..." Arrgh! What to pick?

I feel that way at every historical miniatures gaming event I've been at. It sure beats the alternative, though, and a lot of that is due to you fine folks. The excellent events that are put on in our area are due to you, the referees and game masters, who design, research and put on these events. The hours you spend poring over books and magazines getting inspiration and ideas for your work. You folks also put equal or greater amounts of time into preparing the scenery, painting the miniatures and preparing the terrain for the battles you present with style and flair at every convention. I am grateful to have a problem choosing between excellent events, and not the other way around. I hope this problem becomes a common one for HMGS Great Lakes.

We also have the upcoming board elections. I'm hoping that we have a large slate this year. I'm going to run again and I would like to see more folks participate on the board. In the end, what is truly important is the participation at conventions and games days put on all over our area. It is heartening to see and hear of the number of people who go to these events on a regular basis and bring back glowing reports of a fun time had by all. As long as this trend continues it will be onward and upward for HMGS Great Lakes.

It is also time to start painting those piles of lead and stacks of terrain we've accumulated on our wanderings over the year. When I went downstairs a couple of weeks ago, I resolved to finish painting all of my minis over the winter, (yeah right, who am I kidding?). Actually, I've done some prioritizing and I've decided that I'd at least be happy to get those unpainted 15mm ACW troops, that I mounted and primed for painting four years ago, done and out of the way. I also decided to come up with a method to help guide me and keep me on track to complete some of my goals for this winter. I'm going to have some of my suggestions printed here, both to help you out and to help keep me working on this stuff.

It's been another great year folks and I'm glad to have folks like you in the chapter. You are the folks that make HMGS Great Lakes one of the best chapters out there. Good Luck and good Gaming.