The emperor's war on the West is over. After two and a half years, my Justinian's Wars campaign at The Soldiery has drawn to a close.

The Byzantines, played by Great Lakes member Paul Westermeyer and local gamer Mark Canter, would have pleased the Emperor Justinian. They knocked out the Sassanid Persian empire, scattered the Hun tribes, conquered the Alans and Arabs, and checked and rolled back the tide of Slavic conquest in northern Europe. They crowned their achievements on the final turn of the campaign by seizing Carthage from the Vandals.

Other "barbarian" nations did well, too. The Vandals at times single-handedly fought off half the Mediterranean world, and were expertly played by Great Lakes members Tom Graves and Paul Price (who took over when Tom relocated). Long time readers of The Herald may remember Tim Donovan's "Visigothic Saga," which recorded the victories his Spanish Visigoths piled up.

It was a fun two and a half years. The players got along well and developed strong rivalries that were as enjoyable to watch as the rise and fall of their kingdoms. Running a campaign at a gaming store was a new experience for me. I consider Justinian's Wars to have been a rousing success. Eric, Kent, and Robert from The Soldiery were extremely helpful, and I thank them sincerely. Table space was often short there, and it seemed at times we'd be elbowed aside by Warhammer 40K players. We persevered, though, and carried the banner of historical miniatures to the public for two and a half years.

'Send me your rules...'

With the board's approval, I have started a new recruiting project that will hopefully entice prospective members. I am assembling "Herald style" booklets of miniatures or campaign rules written by Great Lakes members. These will be taken to cons and dangled in front of the noses of recruits, saying, "Join Great Lakes today and you can choose one of these rules sets as a bonus." The idea is it might be just the thing to tip the scales and get the person to plunk down $12 that day, rather than taking a membership form and "thinking about it." They will also be made available to members at cons for a nominal fee. So far, Darryl Smith has donated his Ohio frontier rules "Our Moccasins Trickled Blood" and Rich Smethurst his English Civil War, "Declare Thee, Sir!" I have pitched in my campaign rules to "Friends, Romans, Countrymen." So, if members out there have a set of home miniatures or campaign rules they'd like to donate to the project, please contact me.