As mentioned in the news section off The Herald, the BOD election will be held in January. Biographies for all of those running will be printed in the January/February issue of The Herald. As I understand at this time, a ballot will be mailed with the newsletter on January 6th. If you wish to run, you must send in a biography by January 3rd or your name will not be on the ballot; the address is on the inside cover, the GL News section , and the back cover of this newsletter. If you don't received the January/ February issue of the newsletter by January 16th, call me at 614-363-9541 and I will verify your address and mail you another.

Richard W. Hartley

Personal: 37 years old, married to Joyce, three daughters; Shauna, Jayne, and Kelsey.

Professional: Currently working as a locomotive engineer for Norfolk Southern Railroad. Military experience includes intelligence analysis for the U.S. Army, as well as, having served in the U.S. Air Force, and the U.S. Marine Corps.

Education: Studied computer science for two years at Ohio University; while in the U.S. Army, attended Security Manager Course, Soviet Weapons School, and Photo Interpretation course.

Gaming: Started playing Panzer Blitz at age 17. My 1st Miniatures game was run by George Koncar at a convention at Ohio University in 1977; 1 have been playing miniatures ever since. I have played Empires, Angriff, DBM, Age of Reason and recently Shako. My preference is to play simple and playable games, not simulations. I have run numerous campaigns for many different periods and have run several DBM and DBA tournaments in central Ohio. I have served as an officer in the Central Ohio Gaming Association (COGA) and am currently a member. I am also a member of the North American Society of Ancient and Medieval Warfare (NASAMW), for which I serve on the regional rules committee for DBA and DBM.

Platform: I would have dues be reduced and stay at $10.00 a year. I would try to increase membership by; 1) Helping Great Lakes run at least 20 games during Origins '96 (Origins will be held in Columbus in '96 and'97). 2) By getting Great Lakes members to run games at other local conventions (i.e. CAPCON or COGACON). 3) By getting Great Lakes members more involved in the organization through bi-monthly scheduled meetings (maybe even some meetings outside of Columbus ... like Dayton). 4) By improving and building on Rally 'Round the Flag so the Rally '96 is even better than Rally'95. I would also want the Board of Directors to be run by gainers that are for gainers.

Darryl R Smith

Born: 1 August, 1963. Trenton, OH.

Education: Attended Miami University. Major: History

Personal: Currently engaged. One daughter. two years old.

Profession: Customer Service, Financial and Credit Services, Mason, OH.

Wargaming History: Introduced to hobby through a love of military history. Started boardgaming at age ten. Participated in first miniatures game in college. Have written articles for MWAN and Command Post Quarterly. Was a founding member of the Historical Simulations Club at Miami University Middletown. Served as Vice-President and President of Greater Dayton Wargaming Club. Member of HMGS East for two years. Currently serving as President of HMGS Great Lakes and as member of the Board of Directors.

There is no question that WAGS Great Lakes has had a very shaky start and a rocky road since its inception. It has always been my understanding that the Board of Directors is responsible for the continued growth of the Great Lakes chapter and is responsible to its members to provide this growth through the establishment of a newsletter, holding a flagship convention, and doing the things necessary to promote the hobby. It has never been my understanding that HMGS Great Lakes be a puppet guided by the hands of those who are more interested in increasing the size of their pocketbooks at the expense of this organization.

Therefore I have always taken the stand that the Board provide a user-friendly atmosphere for its current and future members, making it easy for a person to want to join Great Lakes. I voted against raising the dues to $15.00 per year as I felt it was unfair to saddle the members (both past and present) with the monetary failure of Rally 'Round the Flag 1993. 1 recently voted for lowering them to $10.00 per year and will continue to support the idea that membership renewal shall be even less. 1, unlike most current BOD members, have attended EVERY BOD meeting, although I live two hours away from Columbus. I think that it is important that the BOD gets together regularly to direct Great Lakes instead of letting issues go undecided for months at a time. I feel that I also have started the process of expanding Great Lakes into more of a regional chapter by recruiting members who live outside the central Ohio area. Since January of 1995, I have mailed over 150 membership forms (at my own expense) to gamers from New York, Pennsylvania. West Virginia, Kentucky, Indiana, and Michigan in an effort to bring together gainers who live within our region into a collective group. I am in the process of getting game shops in those states to honor a discount to our members. I have also supported the newsletter by providing direction and articles to ensure that the members have something viable coming from this organization.

Platform: To continue to keep membership dues at $10.00 per year, and work to make renewals for current members $5.00 per year. To continue to contact gainers in our region to recruit more members to our standard. To continue to seek the support of hobby shops in our region to obtain discounts for our members. To ensure that Rally 'Round the Flag continues as a yearly event which won't cost the members excess funds to support and to make improvements to the convention. To listen to the members who provide suggestions for improvement and act on those suggestions. To ensure that HMGS Great Lakes stands on its own two feet without having to rely on outside sources to provide monetary input. To pay off ALL past debts. To make sure that financial reports are regularly published in the newsletter. To help establish HMGS Game Days at shops in our region which will promote both Great Lakes and the hobby. To establish regularly scheduled BOD meetings. To add an amendment to the By-Laws that states that a BOD member must attend nine out of twelve meetings a year or they are removed from the BOD and replaced by someone committed to HMGS Great Lakes.

My performance in the past has been one of performance. I hope the membership will continue to give me both the opportunity to serve and improve Great Lakes.

Scott Savory

I have been gaming with historical miniatures for nearly 20 years. I game many different periods, and I enjoy trying different sets of rules. I've run games at several conventions, most recently at Rally Round the Flag '95, where I ran an ACW naval game and an Age of Sail naval game. I've contributed articles to a few wargaming publications, most notably the Midwest Wargamer's Association Newsletter (MWAN). I've been a member of HMGS Great Lakes since 1993, and I've decided to run for the Board of Directors; because, I want to see the organization continue to grow and move in a direction which will promote historical gaming. To let you know where I stand, here are some of my views on a couple of issues.

(1) HMGS-GL needs to achieve financial independence. That is, it should not have to depend on any privately owned business for its funding. By being closely associated with any such private enterprise, the chapter could be viewed as existing merely to serve the goals of that business. Don't get me wrong; I feel that l-IMGS-GL can and should work with Commercial enterprises (i.e., the hobby stores) where the goals will benefit both groups. For instance, the chapter can encourage hobby stores to offer discounts to HMGSGL members, in exchange for a commitment to run games at the stores. Similarly, the chapter can work with dealers to encourage their participation in future conventions. However, I feel that there should be a clear separation between the chapter and the hobby stores when it comes to the chapter's finances.

(2) Planning for any future chapter conventions should continue with the tradition set at Rally `95. That is, it should be restricted to historical gaming. I strongly believe that the most basic premise of HMGS, both as national organization and as a regional chapter, is that the organization exists to promote historical gaming. I applaud everyone who worked on Rally '95, and I agree with their decision to make it a historical convention. Although I have heard a few complaints about the con, I have to say that from my point of view as an attendee and as a game master, it was a pretty successful convention. A good number of historical games were run, and from what I saw, most of the players seemed to enjoy themselves. If there is to be a Rally `96 (and I certainly hope that there will be) it should be on the successes of Rally '95 by continuing to be a historical convention. If HMGS-GL can establish Rally as its annual flagship convention, its reputation will go a long way to bring in more historical gainers, both as new attendees and as new members.

J. Matthew Davidson

Born: 13 January 1964, Manchester Connecticut.

Education: Junior, Miami University, double majoring in Political Science/History

Personal: Single, Present address: 193 Rosemarie DR., Lebanon, Ohio 450361239.

Profession: Department of Cemetery and Parks, City of Lebanon.

Wargaming: First miniatures game in 198; have been hooked ever since. Favorite Periods; ACW. AWI, WW II, Naval WW II, and ACW Naval.

One of the founding members and president of the Lebanon Military Strategist Association (Lebanon High School). One of the founding members, and served a term as Vice President and also a term as President of the Historical Simulation Club. Miami University. Middletown Campus. Also sat on the Miami University Student Advisory Council as a liaison between the University and the aforementioned club. Member for many years of the Greater Dayton Wargaming Club. Member of Waynes Legion Historical Gamers Member of HMGS-East. Member of HMGS-GL.

I have run miniatures games of various periods at a variety of conventions including, COGA-CON, CAP-CON, Kettering Game Con., Rally Round the Flag, and have assisted in running games at Cold Wars. I have also run many games for the various clubs to which I have belonged over the years, and continue to do so.

As a member of HMGS-GL, I have attended most of the BOD, membership, and convention planning meetings in the past year. I have been directly involved in Rally '95, by working at the gate, and by running two games. Therefore, I have been able to observe the activities of this organization, and I have formed some definite opinions on what works and what does not.

I will start with some of the items that do not. Firstly, I would wholeheartedly support a motion to limit the number of BOD seats that a store, company, or corporation may occupy to ONE. As many of the membership are aware. a monopoly by a certain group can cause no end to problems from financial to recruiting.

Secondly, I would like to see the focus of the Great Lakes Chapter shift away from the Columbus area. The Great Lakes Chapter is a regional chapter. What I mean by chapter is that we must, in order to continue to grow, get the entire region involved. So far, the BOD has Focused this chapter on the Columbus area. The region is not just Ohio, but also includes Western Pennsylvania, Western West Virginia, Northern Kentucky, Eastern Indiana, and Southern Michigan, and even Ontario, Canada as well. I would like to get the rest of the region involved by doings things like, sponsoring mini-cons at, a National Guard Armory or the like, in the "four corners" of the region. Also, to contact the local hobby shops in all areas of the region about honoring a discount for HMGS-GL members.

Thirdly, the membership dues in the past have been confusing, an as a result driven away many who might have joined or rejoined. I would push for lower rate such as $10.00 initial and $5.00 renewal or simply $5.00 across the board.

And now, some things that work. The idea of holding a raffle at the conventions to help cover the costs of putting out the newsletter is a brilliant one. Not only do those who wrestle with the newsletter get some return on their own investment, but the convention goers get some nicely painted miniatures or the like for a bargain price. This is another way that the membership can get involved. If working at the con is not your thing, then maybe painting some miniatures for the raffle is.

There has been an effort by myself and others to show up at other conventions in our region to run HMGS-GL events. This is a very good idea, as it increases our visibility, helps to promote good will with other groups, and can, as has already been demonstrated at Fallcon in Cincinnati this year, put us in contact with new members.

I joined HMGS-GL; because, it caters exclusively to Historical Miniatures Gaming and has a regional as well as national affiliation. If I am elected to the Board of Directors of HMGS-GL, I will strive to help make this chapter better than it has been by promoting the hobby in such a way as to attract as many new members from as many areas of our region as possible.