Blowing into Eau Claire on the I-94, we learned the difference between a CD-Rom street atlas and reality. But I get ahead of myself.

Europa maps laid out--an awe-inspiring sight when counters are included. Spain, North Africa, and eastern portions of USSR couldn't fit on a single photo! Pardon the flash-starved tinting of the map.

Eau Claire boasts two Holiday Inns, the first by the Interstate, the other downtown. We rolled into the parking lot of the first, and were immediately met with a quizzical look by the desk clerk when we inquired about E2000...wrong Holiday Inn. Here's where it gets interesting.

We headed down Rt. 12, counting off the streets until State street, the main thoroughfare into downtown. And it wasn't there. We turned around and out of the corner of my eye I saw a sign for State Street pointing in the wrong direction. I took the turnoff and rolled through the equivalent of a cloverleaf onto State Street, which plunges down a hill under Rt. 12. Bloody maps.

If there's a theme to this trip, it was "we'll find it, eventually." Having found, then lost, State Street, we pulled into Eau Claire's somewhat traumatized downtown, and in front of the Holiday Inn. After checking in, I asked the desk clerk where E2000 was. The answer? Not here.

What? Oh, the clerk replied there were plenty of hotel guests for Europa festivities, but the show is not at the hotel. On the web, we failed to locate any info, as Yahoo had an old page. I took a recon walk, hoping to find a nearby structure that might look available, and found plenty: opera house, theater, library, and Civic Center. All clean misses.

Back at temporary Magweb.com HQ, aka Room 312, Tibor scoured the web to no avail. In the lobby, I started asking the pair of desk clerks about any other locations. We tried calling the "Europa" block of rooms, but no one was in the hotel--of course not, they're at the convention.

Then Tibor remembers that it was in a lodge or something last time it was held in Eau Claire. Back to the hotel desk. Any Elk Lodge, Moose Lodge, VFW Hall, Masonic Lodge, nearby? Nope, nope, nope, nope, although there's a YMCA nearby. The desk clerk called and reported E2000 wasn't there either.

Tibor stayed in the lobby. I headed back and worked the phone. I called back to Magweb.com and had Susan check the last two years of e-mail. Aha! A clue! Wherever E2000 is being held, it's within five blocks of the Holiday Inn.

Back to the desk. O.K., what's within 5 blocks? Nuthin. Then, another clue. And you thought we were clueless...When I left Tibor in the car and went to check in, there was a fellow with a "Grossdeutchland" T-shirt heading out of the hotel and up the street. So, in recon mode, we headed up the street five blocks. At the fifth, we stopped, and saw the YMCA, which we knew didn't have anything because the desk clerks called. But, a block to the west there stood a Masonic lodge, a big one, and technically, six blocks away.

Sure enough, this indeed was the location. We headed inside to Europa-land. It only took two web-literate, map-literate, and at this point in time, experienced convention dunderheads two and a half hours to find E2000 in a small city. It's a good thing this wasn't held in Chicago! We found it...eventually, and it was worth the effort.

Europa games were spread all around the inside of the cavernous Masonic building. A full schedule of lectures were available also. Some dealers, MagWeb.com included, lined the main hall. We brought a projector and used the main screen--nuthin' lke MagWeb.com on a 6-foot screen! It was a toss-up whether to plop down and play or attend the lectures. Most attendees did a little of both.

Heavy duty Russian front action in the foreground, and Spanish Civil War to the left rear. At the far right rear, the fellow on the left in the trio of folks with their heads cut off is convention director and sponsor, Tom Johnson.

A tremendous Spanish Civil War game was going like gangbusters all extended weekend long. A Russian front game of Scorched Earth, with modified rules from a game club, was spread out center stage. Of note, this game was a continuation from Origins 1999, and the four players enthusiastically showed up several days in advance to set it up again. Talk about your week's vacation. A play test for Total War, the next evolution in Europa, was also in the center. A couple of miniatures games were off to the side. There was even a three-sided board game of Victory from Columbia Games going, although why you'd come to a Europa convention and play something else is a bit of a surprise.

Of course, the lectures...those marvelous lectures...really made the convention an enjoyable treat. And better yet, because it was small (a good marketing person would call it "intimate") --about 30 people or so--you could mingle with the lecturers, ask questions, and enjoy trading knowledge broad and narrow for a good long time. incidently, all the lectures were videotaped for posterity and future sales.

Lecturers (from left to right): Walter Dunn and Jonathan House.

The banquet fare was good and everyone enjoyed sitting together and exchanging information on a wide variety of WWII and other topics. A small video library, VCR, and TV was also available, and I admit, I got hooked on a three-tape set of some USSR WWII documentary which I neglected to jot down the name. But then again, I watched pretty much all of it over the course of a couple days, so I really don't need to...

Lecturers (from left to right): Col. David Glantz, game designer Jason Long, and author Charles Sharp.

On the downside, it would have been better with more attendees, so that you could float in and out of more games. I was disappointed that convention director Tom Johnson didn't set up his grand WWII Europa game, with three fronts (USSR, Normandy, and Italy) going at once. I played in that at a GenCon and enjoyed seeing the fronts move over the course of three days. But hey, Tom couldn't be everywhere.

Sidebar: What's the two most thankless jobs? Editor for a magazine and Convention Director. No matter what you do, you'll never please everyone, and they'll probably complain about it...like I just did about the grand Europa game...And now I want to note that everything I observed flowed smoothly. I suspect reality was more chaotic, but give Tom credit where credit's due! End sidebar.

Part of the low attendence, which I found out only later, was due to a bit of rift between GR/D, the company that owns Europa, and Tom, who sells a series of add-on set of rules (you need the game to play). As an enthusiastic Europa fan since DNO came out oh too many years ago, and a playtester for War of Resistance (Japan vs. China 1937-41), I hate to see such things happen. I'm not privy to the whats and whys and I don't want to be. But I hope they'll come to an understanding, so that another Europa-centric convention will be a cooperative effect.

As usual with good conventions, the end occurred all too soon, and it came time for Tibor and me to head back to the airport.

Lectures

WWII Soviet Units Raised by Charles Sharp
Panel Discussion: 1944-45 by all
Sedan, France 1940 by Jon House