August 8th marked a new chapter in the history of HMGS Great Lakes. For the first time in several years, an organized historical miniatures gaming presence was brought to Gencon. In the final Gencon in Milwaukee for a few years, HMGS Great Lakes, in conjunction with HMGS Midwest, hosted Historicals at Gencon (HAG). The effort started about six weeks before the convention in mid June.

At that time, we contacted the folks at Gencon about the possibility of doing something for this year, but with an eye to building a program for next year. We were delighted to hear that they had an interest in helping us run events this year! It meant a lot of scuffling and rushing, but we managed to pull together more than 30 events across the four days of the convention. I showed up on Thursday afternoon and got my badge. From there, I set out for the exhibit hall and the HAG desk. When I got there, I saw Chris Van Fahnestock sitting there and keeping things under control. Steve Winter's Chain Reaction game was going on, as well as a few smaller events hosted by Chris. I manned the desk for a while, then hit the dealer's area. I was surprised at how empty it appeared. I had been to Gencon 99 and there were a lot more folks there. Friday turned out to be a better day for us. Steve was back with Chain Reaction, as well as Paul Wellner's Gettysburg scenario, and Jeff Grossman's Piquet game. My first two events were also up: Savo Island and Java Sea. Of those, only Savo Island didn't go because of a lack of players. My Java sea game was a little better as I had talked a couple of guys into playing in the game. It was trimmed a little bit, but still loads of fun.

Saturday brought in more events, including another round of Piquet, some more of Chris' wonderful games (my buddy John and I had a chance to play in Chris's excellent World War II game). Good job again, Chris! Terry Cabak brought out his innovative system, Hex Command, on Saturday. I also re-ran Java Sea, but missed out again on running Savo Island, again. Sunday provided an end to the events for HAG as well as Gencon proper. I packed up and left a little before 1 pm after having a fabulous weekend and feeling proud and happy to have been a part of the effort.

In the final analysis, we didn't do too badly. I estimate that we had about 60% to 75% of all the slots filled. Part of the reason was that the numbers of attendees appeared to be down from previous years. My friend John, who was a dealer at the show, confirmed this suspicion. Another part of the reason was that we pulled this together in six weeks time. I'm not complaining, though. I think we did a fine job and we will be back in force next year. We will be looking for more GMs and players.

This is a great event for us, in the same league as Origins and Gamefest Indy. It provides a wonderful venue to showcase our hobby, as well a fun time for the attendees. This also helps in that age-old dilemma that I'm sure some of you have if your kids, spouse or "significant other" games, but don't play historicals. They follow you to Historicon, Advance the Colors or Little Wars understandingly, if not a little bored because there appears to be "nothing for them" at those events. Well, here is a golden opportunity to let them have fun and for you to have fun as well. If you enjoy other, non-historical types of games, or like boardgames, Gencon is a fine venue for you, as well. I encourage everyone to come on out and play or run some games, next year.