The month of May seems to be a great time to hold a quality convention, and the Colby Street Irregulars, in conjunction with HMGS Great Lakes, held their second rendition of Drums Along the Maumee this past May at the Clarion Westgate in Toledo, Ohio. Drums (for short) is one of those small cons that seem bring out the best in our hobby ... a comfortable hotel setting, with quality events, with a small number of great dealers, with the best of friends. To me, this is what the hobby is all about. So let me take a few moments of your time and give you a bit of an "after action report". Let me give you a little background before getting to the con itself. Having been in the hobby in a variety of capacities (including convention director for Advance the Colors), I know first hand the difficulties in the planning and execution of a successful convention. The Colby Street Irregulars is one of those gaming groups (probably like yours) who decided to help their local HMGS chapter expand. From an idea that was first talked about in 1998, Drums Along the Maumee was born. The money came from HMGS Great Lakes, but the hard work, sweat, and toil came from the Colbys. The first Drums Along the Maumee was a moderate success, and the Colbys worked even harder to improve the second edition. They succeeded. I think the concept that the Colbys want for Drums is similar to the fine Seven Year's War convention held each year in South Bend, Indiana. An intimate setting, with great events, with some focus on a certain theme. With the amount of history that can be found close to Toledo (Fallen Timbers, Fort Meigs, River Raisin, Put-in-Bay), they want to recognize the local history, while still offering a variety of events. The convention is held on Friday and Saturday, and on Sunday we have been treated for the last two years to a guided tour of Fort Meigs (the largest wooden fort in North America, or so they claim). Each year there is a game or two that captures the flavor of the local history; this year the Toledo War of 1835 and a 1790's Ohio Frontier game were present. I think in the future they would like to see more of this theme idea expanded, while still having many periods of history represented. But I digress. This year, many periods of history were represented, none more than the ever popular Second World War. There was a very nice 25mm Battle of Kadesh, a Pirate action, an American Rev game, the Battle of New Orleans, several Civil War games (of the American variety), colonials, and others. For a small con, there was a pretty decent selection of historical periods to choose from. Unfortunately, after running my event on Friday night, I took ill and did not participate in any gaming, but I did get a chance to walk around and see the gaming. As for dealers, how about these fine folks: Glass City Games, Imperialist Enterprises, The Light Trading Company, The Nafziger Collection, RLBPS, The Soldiery, and Stellar Systems. It was nice to see that each dealer really had something different to offer, without much overlap of product lines. Attendance improved roughly 33% over the first year, making most of the game hosts and dealers happy. I foresee that as the word gets out about this quality con, the attendance will continue to grow, but I think the plan is to keep the con fairly small so that gamers feel like they are a part of something, and not just a number. There were attendees present who made the trip from Ontario, Pennsylvania, Michigan, Indiana, and of course Ohio. As far as I could tell, they all seemed to be having a great time. The Fort Meigs tour on Sunday morning capped off a wonderful weekend. Fort Meigs (a War of 1812 structure) was taken under siege twice, and successfully fought off both sieges. The fort was rebuilt in the late 1960s, and is a part of the Ohio Historical Society's network of sites. Also, planned for 2003, will be a new visitor's center with a focus on the War of 1812. I hope that anyone who takes the time to attend Drums will stay the extra day for the tour. It's over by noon, allowing you time to grab lunch, and still be home to spend quality time with the better half. Drums 2002 will move to a Holiday Inn a few miles closer to the fort, which will allow for a little more growth in future years. I plan to be there, and I hope that any of you who like a well-organized and friendly convention will attend Drums as well. For more information about Drums Along the Maumee, please visit their web site (http://drumsalongthemaumee.homestead.com) or write The Colby Street Irregulars at 1217 Birch Avenue, Maumee, OH 43537. By the way, the title is how the head Colby described my event (dog toys were the Miniature Worldmaker streams, tofu was the Woodland Scenics foilage clumps, and bacon strips were the Scenic Effects roads). Maybe he was hungry! Back to MWAN #112 Table of Contents Back to MWAN List of Issues Back to MagWeb Magazine List © Copyright 2001 Hal Thinglum This article appears in MagWeb (Magazine Web) on the Internet World Wide Web. Other military history articles and gaming articles are available at http://www.magweb.com