This was my first Historicon, but not my first show. I've been to South and MidSouth shows before, and also a GenCon. I was convention director for a few shows, too, so I think I have a pretty good perspective on shows, but still, Historicon is completely unique in its size, scale, and the phenomenal effort put into it by the staff. Before anything else, I give my heartiest congratulations and my sincere appreciation for all that the staff did to pull off the show, Your incredible efforts do not go unnoticed. I am so glad that there are people in the hobby willing to go to these extremes year in and year out to give all of us a great show. Construction is ongoing on through Lancaster and as I found out later, this construction has been ongoing for the last five years! Consider it something you will have to terminally deal with when driving to the show. The Lancaster Host is on the south side of 30E and has a series of parking lots that look like they will handle all the cars the show can throw at them. The facilities are large, but Historicon is larger. I spent the first day talking with folks and getting the lay of the land. In the dealer area (Mecca for the historical miniature gamer), every square inch of space was filled. Allegedly, half again as many dealer tables could have been sold. Garners and Historians always come here with money to spend on the hobby. They must be given every venue to do this! However, the space is limited. Splitting the dealers into different areas is not the best answer as then dealers in a second area would lose the heavy foot traffic of the main dealer area. I personally walked through there at least full circuits in the four days of the show. I hope that an answer is found to get more dealers into the show in order to present the widest range of products to the gamer. Competition helps keep prices down (simple rule of business). The Lancaster Host was a superb host! Food, beverages, bathrooms, etc were always available when needed and were all conveniently located. The staff was always pleasant and they had an incredible amount of space scattered hither and yon throughout the convention center. All space was used at some point or another for games, meetings, and sales. Welldone all the way around! Games Now it's time for a look at some games. There were truly hundreds of games. The tournaments alone consisted of DBA, DBM, Warrior, Armati, Medieval Warfare, Warhammer Ancients, and of course my favorite - Richard Borg's ACW Battle Cry! A game from nearly every era found its way onto one of the many Historicon tables. I walked around constantly to watch games in progress. Since I didn't want to miss anything, I only played in one late night game with GAJO Enterprises (Thanks to George Johnson for the invite to play) put on by Chris Trimble. More about that game later... I arrived on Thursday morning. Even then, there were a few games underway. I first walked through the Ancients area to see the begins of NASAMW's events. A number of folks were already laying out their armies for play before the tournament. Such detail and effort put into these armies. A great amount of list research and point counting to make sure everything is in order for tournament play. I also noticed that both 15's and 25s were used. Give everyone an outlet for their armies! I am starting to have problems seeing the 15's and there is no way I can paint anything that small anymore. I only use 28s and am even considering going to 54's since I only really play skirmish... Back to the Ancients area. When you walk into the main entrance of the Host, it was immediately to your left in the large area down there. I liked the balcony to look over everything that was going on. Although all the tables were never completely full, it seemed appropriate for these NASAMW games to be in this area. I'm sure a number of gamers found old friends lurking close by and made a number of new friends, too. Again, the staff expertise from years of running the Historicon shows comes through. To the immediate right of the Host's main entrance was the flea market. Although I only bought a few things from this area, there was plenty for everyone. I didn't see anyone who was too disappointed and very few people left empty handed. In the center of the main lobby was the staircase leading to the most distinguished Distelfink Ball Room. This is the primary gaming area for Open games. It is also the area where some of the biggest games are held, although some of the side rooms hosted games bursting at the seams! At the bottom of this main staircase is the ballroom foyer. Even as early as Thursday morning, Duke Seifried's convention headliner game was already set up. Babylon I covered a table about 40 feet in length with an ancient wall, ziggernaut (pyramid), sand, and 25mm figures. Duke's attack on the ancient city of Babylon was a usual Duke game plenty of enthusiasm from the players, plenty of fun, quick playing, and very visual. I did not have the chance to steal away any of Duke's time for a short interview, but it was not needed. I'll see him next time as I hope he continues to return for another 20 years of great gaming. In the foyer area, I also had the pleasure of meeting Rich Hasenauer (Fire and Fury author), who was running games using his new rules set Battlefront WWII. These games started out by Rich explaining the rules then the games proceeded as he gamemastered a scenario. These were some nicely visual 15mm games that seemed to run well. Plenty of action for the WWII gamer. Since there seemed to be a large number of WWII games, I tried to judge which period had the most representation at the show, but it was impossible. The quantity of WWII games was immense and covered all scales from MicroArmor to 54mm skirmish. But the sheer quantity of figures on the table of some of the Napoleonic games easily matched the number of tanks in five or six WWII skirmish games combined. Then there was the naval combat games. The age of sail was well represented and had some truly grand scale games. I saw one table covering about 16 feet by 32 feet with maybe 25 ships on each side and about 20 players. They all were completely involved in the action and things seemed to flow fairly smoothly. I give my appreciation to all the gamemasters who put on the grand scale games like these and I also give my apologies that I did not note your names individually to properly thank you in this article. You all did a great job and by volunteering to run games, you provided the most important thing to the pilgrims coming to Historicon - the learning of this piece of history through the historical miniature game. ACW and AWI were both well-represented at the show. Since AWI was the theme, there were probably more AWI games than usual, but the ones I saw were well staged, very visual, and well-attended. The ACW games were portrayed in 6mm, 10mm, 15mm, and 25/28mm. I am a big fan of ACW so of course, I spent more time watching ACW contests. And of course, there were some big names in the hobby doing their usual to bolster ACW gaming: Rich Hasenauer, John Hill, Mitru Costeau, MiGs, Courier, Herb Gundt, the Mingus brothers, Jim Brokaw, TSS, HAWKS, and so many more (please don't take offense if I left your name off this list. I was completely overwhelmed at the show. Days later, I am just recovering from sensory overload). Colonials!! I have little to no experience in Colonial gaming and didn't realize what a huge following it had. I was made aware of this by a room (the New Holland Room) dedicated solely to Colonial gaming. A number of games were run here that were always eye-popping. I saw some good Northwest Frontier and Zulu games, all in 25/28mm. The terrain and buildings were all top notch and the game-masters seemed really well-versed in the subject. The New Holland Room was located at the end of the food/beverage line off the Distelfink foyer. It was simple to get a cup of coffee, walk through the Colonial room, loiter, look, talk, and play or move on. My congratulations to the Colonial gamers for putting on a stellar exhibition at the show! The Mein Panzer room, the HAWKS room, and the Courier's gaming room rounded out the rooms dedicated to a single group or theme. The Mein Panzer room was dedicated solely to WWII and their new rules set, sold by nearly every vendor at the show. Everything looked like it worked well and there was a veritable army of Mein Panzer guys running games and ready to answer questions. HAWKS bore the brunt of the children's games, making sure that there was always at least one going at any point in time. They also ran adult games. I really liked the way their room was setup and run. The games were run under control, which didn't distract from more serious games being run on the next table. They ran games from almost all periods of interest and they ran them well. Finally, the Courier room was a stellar example of how a magazine can support the hobby. There was a large number of games run by some of the most well-respected names in the hobby. I visited the room repeatedly in order to talk with Dr. Jim Birdseye, whom I met a few years ago at a Mid-South show, but Jim was always running games. Maybe next time, Jim... The Courier sponsored games from all eras and I hope that the gamers support the Courier with continued articles and subscriptions (but of course, keep your subs to MWAN up to date, too!). Let me take a break from Historical games and talk about some of the other games that were run at the show. Star Wars and Star Trek both had games represented. They were well-attended and the space ships were very well done. The Terminus V game was set up on one table for the duration of the show. This was another very visual and fine set up, So many other futuristic games were run and each kept a number of the younger crowd completely engaged, along with a number of older gamers taking a break from History. Howard Whitehouse, a stalwart and esteemed figure in the historical miniature community ran an epic game called Return to the Lost World (sponsored by MIGS). This game played truly to a full house in the Strasburg Room. Dinosaurs and Mexican Banditos? Cavemen and a Victorian Princess? This was a great game that all players enjoyed to the fullest. Howard maintained control of the game and kept it flowing despite the numerous opportunities for one liners and jibes between the players. Walter O'Hara ran an epic race game, also with the Victorian flavor. Racers had all sorts of strange vehicles in which to make the requisite number of laps around the city's track. Walter kept everything running smoothly in this game of role-playing, bravado, strategy, and tactics. The flying flaming pigs also caused the racers to always maintain vigilance... The way Walt ran the game, along with the superb player participation, and the attention to detail of the terrain and figures, makes me want to give Walt the best of show game for other genres. This shouldn't detract from the other great games that were run, but it is my personal feelings based on a number of tangible and intangible features. Walt's focus on the game shown through quite well in the way the sweat ran down his forward during play (although that may have been from the spotlights focused on the game ... ). Back to historical games. As I was walking by the Business Center, I saw a ten table epic game called Raid on Entebbe. This game replayed the famous Israeli raid to rescue hostages from a hijacked flight. This was a huge game with a large number of gamers and actions going on everywhere on the board at the same time. It was very well attended and I had to keep maneuvering around the crowd in order to see what was going on at any point in time. The players were having a great time and the action was fast and furious. The game I played in was a 1942 North Africa contest run by Chris Trimble for the annual GAJO Enterprises Board of Directors game. It started at 9PM on Saturday night after an ample Prime Rib buffet in the Vistas Restaurant. Since George and his crew are not some of the younger men in the hobby, the dinner did some folks in, leaving space in the game for a guest like me. I sided with George, not knowing that George is the commander of the traditional losing side. However, George put me in charge and the plan we devised was based on some faulty assumptions on my part. Call it bad intelligence, but we oriented our defending British forces in a manner that best protected us against the raging Italian diversionary attack (and we really poured it on the poor Italians, too!!), but the main attack by the Germans met little resistance as they flooded into our flank and rear areas. George put up a valiant struggle, but was decimated. My Battalion of Matildas had an extremely difficult time changing orders from the Defense into the Attack and by the time I succeeded in responding to the flank attack, George's forces no longer existed and the tanks rolled right into the gap between the hammer and anvil attack. I don't think I've ever seen a tank battalion crumble before massed infantry but my boys succeeded quite well in their penultimate failure. If only they would have responded to the orders change about five turns earlier. We used Spearhead rules and they worked very well. The action was quick, thanks to Chris' knowledge and mastery of running the game. My thanks to George for letting me play. Hopefully next year, I can run a game for GA10 Enterprises, but it would be ACW skirmish. Let me talk about some of the fine people I was able to talk with during the show. It was my pleasure to enjoy the good company of superb individuals and Supporters of the hobby: Russ & Susan Lockwood (MAGWEB), Vince & Sharon Clyant (The London War Room), Joe Kelly (Combined Arms, Inc), Dennis Shorthouse (On Military Matters), Ed Phillips (Wargames, Inc), Pat Condray & Jim Brokaw (EB/HPQ, Herb Gundt (HG Walls), Mark Fenlon (Mark Fenlon Miniatures), Ivor Janci (Zouave), Tom Wirsing (Tommy Gunner 15mm's), Jeff Lista (Wargames Accessories), George Johnson & Rick Caras (GAJO), and so many more that took such good care of me in the dealer area. I hope that I did at least my small part in financially supporting the hobby! I did not spend a mint during the show, but I did spend a fair amount in all venues. It was my pleasure to talk with members of the Historicon staff: Jay Hadley, JT Thomas, Mike Lavigne, and David Bonk. I applaud David's efforts in that he ran a number of games during the show in addition to running events, such as the painting contest. David, you are a true IRONMAN!! I shamelessly donated a figure for the winner of Best of Show for the painting contest, so David asked if I would like to help judge the painting contest. It was indeed my pleasure to look through the figures and rate them all. There was a pretty good variety of figures and my congratulations to all who submitted figures for the judging. Your efforts were not unappreciated. The best of show figures were Medievals. Phenomenal. The figure I donated was a Napoleonic figure. This is a place where your incredible painting talent will be challenged in matching the details that French Napoleonic uniforms demand. I also donated a lithograph of Frederick the Great to HMGS East to be given to the Best of Show game. I had to leave the show before this award was given, but hopefully I'll find out before I submit this article for publication. In any case, there were so many games that looked incredible. Were run in a professional manner. Looked fun to play in and met all the criteria for best of show game. This reminds me, Pete Panzeri's game looked phenomenal again this year. The players were almost as excited as the game master. I have to say that Pete threw me for a loop (I didn't get a chance to introduce myself offline). I didn't expect an active duty major to have a full beard. Maybe the rules in the Army are a little more lax than in the Marine Corps (never, ever think that the rivalry between the services will recede)... All kidding aside, I'd like to thank Pete personally for his contributions to the hobby and his continued drive to run great games and produce great materials for use in gaming. How can I thank everyone who went all out to make Historicon the mecca of historical miniature gaming? It simply is not possible, beyond shaking their hand at the show and thanking them personally. E-mail is another great venue to let them know. Drop these folks a line and let them know how much you appreciated playing in their games or how much you appreciated simply watching their games. Everyone was so nice to me during the show, and of course, the Marines stand out! Lee, Dudley, Mike, Scott, and many more who wear the Eagle, Globe, and Anchor. In closing, if you can only make it to one show during the year, do your best to make that show Historicon. I hope that everyone will make it to at least their local smaller show in addition to making the yearly pilgrimage to Mecca (located conveniently in Lancaster, PA). There is so much to do for your family in the immediate area that if they don't game, then they will be able to shop or play as they desire. Historicon can be a big part of a successful family vacation. Back to MWAN #113 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