Have you ever drank a beer with a hobbit? That's one of the many goals of a bunch of us Great Lakes members at Origins, this month. You see, the Media Guest of Honor for 2004 is Sean Astin, who plays Samwise Gamgee in the academy- award winning The Lord of the Rings films. And as one of Origins' featured clubs, Great Lakes members have been promised a special reception with him. Board Member Steve Smith and I dreamed up the idea of using this reception to convince Astin to join us at our nightly Origin watering hole, "The Big Bar on Two." Knowing what a blast it is up there -- backs to the bar and watching (and commenting on) the strange, convention folk parading by -- we figured he'd enjoy himself as much as at the Inn of the Prancing Pony. And then, that is when we'd go for the kill: Sign Astin up to Great Lakes! What other HMGS chapters could boast a member of "The Fellowship?" Sure, East may have grander cons and more members, and Midwest's flagship con may boast more attendees than ours, but WE would have the only hobbit on the society's membership rolls! So, are we dreaming? Perhaps, but promise you we're going to try. We figure, what else will the Guest of Honor want to do when the evening begins to wind down in Columbus, OH? Wouldn't you need a beer after hours of signing autographs? Although we can't promise we'll deliver Astin, we can promise hundreds of exciting historical miniatures events at Origins. Some of HMGS' best game masters are staging battles in virtually every period -- Ancients, Medievals, Renaissance, Horse & Musket, Colonials, 20th Century -- you name it! We can guarantee that you'll be able to play games for hours and have more choices than the proverbial kid in a candy store. Most of all, though, we guarantee the camaraderie of fellow Great Lakes members, hoisting a few after the day's battles, recounting war stories and what could have been if they hadn't flubbed that roll of the dice. And maybe, just maybe, a beer with a hobbit... Cover Art I had received some complaints that cover photos were being smeared by handling during mailing. After last issue, I saw first hand what was meant when I received returned copies. For now, I'll be discontinuing photos on the covers in favor of line art until I can discover a remedy for this problem. Back to The Herald 59 Table of Contents Back to The Herald List of Issues Back to MagWeb Master Magazine List © Copyright 2004 by HMGS-GL. This article appears in MagWeb.com (Magazine Web) on the Internet World Wide Web. Other articles from military history and related magazines are available at http://www.magweb.com