"Drums along the Maumee Number Two" was held last month at Fort Meigs. This event (of similar name to our GL convention) is held by the fort, hosting local and Great Lakes 1812 Reenacters and their bands with period music. I rode by on my bike that weekend and spotted a unit from Fort York (near Toronto). Good stuff, and no, we're not sending a lawyer after them for "using" our con name. It's cool.

We are hoping to use the fort next year for two separate one day shows. They would benefit the Ohio Historical Society's showpiece fort, and give us a chance to do some extra gaming in the new Visitor Center there. The site should be free, much like Great Lakes' War Party shows have been. We hope to run around a dozen games on these days and all admission charged would go right into the coffers of the fort for upkeep. We figure that if we run for free and charge $2-3 per player to have fun all day, then the fort makes a few bucks. No Dealers, but a nice Gift Shop with period books and such. More later.

Also, Jim has made contact with the Hayes Center people and hopefully, this year, we will have a better place to run demos than their nice, but out of the way, basement this coming October. For any GMs that care to run, again, please make the demos simple and fun enough that people new to the hobby would maybe take an interest in for a turn or two. Too often a game is demonstrated with all the complexity of an Advanced Squad Leader Battle and the folks just keep walking...

Meanwhile, for our own Drums Along the Maumee, plans are rolling along well for Drums #5 this coming May 14-15. We have already rented two more rooms for our Saturday convention schedule, so we will have more space between the tables for the X-LG gamers we all know. And we will be be able to accept more Dealers and GMs/events than in the previous four years. We can now possibly do the large Naval Floor battles that everyone likes, or more, smaller games. Variety and quality,as always, will be our guide. We have already been contacted by two Dealers about next year (one is brand new to Drums). A reminder to all who wondered how Drums #4 ended up "in the wallet." We had a PROFIT this year of more than $800 -- not bad for a two day convention north of the Ohio River!