Many have asked how we succeeded in restoring Historical Miniatures to Origins, from a few games in 1996 to over 300 in 2003. The key is that Historical Origins Team, or HOT, has been a Team effort, dependent on countless devoted hours from historical Game Masters and gamers from around the world and especially the local Great Lakes HMGS Chapter. For 2004 Jodie became the Origins "War Wing" Director (HOT, alt.minis, Origins War Room Boardgames, NSDM, Origins War College, Rising Sun Project) and Pete focused on directing the Origins War College. We have since entrusted the HOT Directorship to HMGS Great Lakes Board-member Steve Smith. As the Team continues to support HOT, we are confident it will continue to grow. THE "HOT" SUCCESS STORY In July 1996, I attended Origins when it first came to Columbus, Ohio. The boardgaming events and War College were active, and Frank Chadwick, Chris von Fahnestock and Dave Doty (HMGS Great Lakes GM) ran Historical Miniatures games. However, we were disappointed that, out of thousands other alt.gaming events so few historical games were available. We identified an abundance of historical enthusiasts present. Both historical boardgame events, War College and the few Historical Miniatures events scheduled were sold, out. It was very discouraging to see such a poor historical turn out for such a huge "International Gaming Expo" like Origins. INITIAL HMGS ORIGINS PROJECT The following spring I noted that the Origins '97 Pre-Registration Program was also very weak. I called Origins and offered my own events, inquiring as to who was running in Historical Miniatures? They responded by inviting ME to coordinate their entire miniatures program. I declined that job, wanting to focus on Historical Miniatures. I then told Origins the minimum resources I needed from them (a title, a desk, and free badges for my GM's) to succeed. They were more than generous. At that late hour (8 weeks before the convention), I began recruiting Game Masters local and nationwide. Having traveled the USA and run events for years and by use of the internet, telephone, and HMGS Chapter Newsletters, I built a team of Game Masters able to attend. Perhaps only 1 in 100 contacted participated, but we still managed to get well over 50 quality Historical Miniatures events into the program. This generated hundreds of historical gamers! Origins was ecstatic with our success and again gave us carte blanch for future planning. LOCAL SUPPORT I soon discovered resistance from some HMGS factions who, with understandable cause, saw Origins as "outside competition" with their own local events, rather than the great opportunity it is to grow Historical Miniatures both locally and internationally. However, with support from local and world wide Game Masters and gamers, HOT saw rapid growth. When the HMGS Great Lakes Chapter provided their full support the results were astounding. By drawing from both local and non-local attendees and Game Masters, we built a much stronger program over the years. Also, by drawing on so many varied factions, the overall program content was very unique and diversified. Also, Origins transitioned during this time period. In 2002 Origins changed hands from a for-profit convention under Wizards (It actually lost money as a promotional tool for Wizards) and returned to control of the Game Manufacturer's Association (GAMA), which, like HMGS, is a Chapter 501© Non-Profit Organization for promoting gaming. STEADY HEALTHY GROWTH After our initial successful year, we began working hard to build a strong team of contributing GMs. This took a lot of effort: extensive posting and recruiting on Internet wargame newsgroups and lists; flyers at all HMGS conventions, and HOT Articles in HMGS Chapters' and other gaming club newsletters. From 1997 until the present the program grew steadily - topping 100 total events in 1998 and nearly 200 events in 2000. Some years we've had more games than gamers, and other years the games were overfull but we never ceased to grow in both gamers and GM's annually. We brought other gaming groups in under the HOT banner along the way, each with their own type of events to promote and run. Origins continued to provided us with excellent responsiveness to our needs and extensive support, and virtually no restrictions or requirements. While some gaming organizations struggled to pay for hotel facilities for their event, HOT had a "blank check" to promote the hobby and experience growth exponentially on a year-to-year basis. HOT surpassed 300 Historical Miniatures events for Origins 2002, 2003 and is expected to exceed 350 in 2004. Here are some of the HOT Principles we applied: 1. Unity of Command: We had no rule or debate by committee. Input and advice were invaluable, but when it came time to produce, ONE leader whom others are willing and able to trust and follow must take charge, and assume responsibility. We got things done and were successful because saw our success and met our needs. We were far-removed from any club/group bureaucracy and politics, keeping our internal direction focused, decisive and productive. We maintained three stated goals from the start: a. Recruit NEW Historical gamers from ALT.GAMERS at ORIGINS b. Feature more Historical GAME MASTERS at HMGS Origins c. Attract more Historical GAMERS to HMGS-Origins. 2. Responsiveness: We take care of our GMs and they take care of us. We ensured that Origins compensated each with a 4-day badge for running two or three events, recognizing the extensive effort and great expense it takes to GM a historical game. When GMs badges weren't ready for them, we did not send them on a wild goose chase. We had a designated person to WALK WITH THE GM to the Origins main office. We conducted After Action Reviews and extensive 1-1 post-event questioning with GMs and gamers. We did short surveys and solicited online feedback as much as possible to insure we missed no good idea and eliminated anything that was holding us back. We learned from our mistakes. 3. Presence: We had visibility. From the start we established our HOT GM DESK where we could be seen, at the forefront of our gaming location, and where we could see our events. We hung a huge 10'x10' HMGS Banner over our HOT GM Desk. We didn't wait for someone to do any of this for us or tell us where to put it. We just did it. We took charge, set up, and began helping people as if God himself had ordained us to do so. At first some non-historical GM's (spaceship games) complained at our overbearing presence, but when we made a concerted effort to cooperate and assist them too, we build rapport with them. Once they saw that we clearly helped them and many of their own lost people, we all got along very well. (Besides, our purpose was to promote Historical Miniatures, and that included making friends with everyone else.) (CAVEAT: Those same spaceship games are a weak shadow of their 1996 presence, while HOT is stronger than ever. 4. Ownership: We required all GMs getting HOT a free badge to also come work the GM Desk with us for 2 hours. This not only increased our staff and ability to provide service, it also induced bonding, teamwork, and ownership by GMs with whom we'd otherwise have never interacted with. Some of those "volunteers" are now HMGS Chapter Board Members. 5. Mission First: The Prime Directive is "Recruit New Gamers by Producing Quality Games." We learned quickly that it reflected on us when a GM failed to appear. After the first time this happened, we got proactive. We identified cancellations as far in advance as possible, noted it from the schedule, or had a "Quick Reaction Force" of substitute GMs standing by. (Sometimes more popular than the original!) We also have GMs who are willing to be "On Call" to fill a spot if vacant and local GMs could supply a generic source of miniatures as needed.  6. Simplicity: We did not form yet another club or organization. By repeating the same good things, we counted on people's "herding instincts" to keep them coming back to the same spot each year. We came we saw we Game Mastered. 7. HOT Promotion: We worked every avenue we could to get GMs and gamers to know about what we had to offer, and then got Origins to give us the best deal possible for our people. We convinced Origins that if they gave Historical gamers a big break now, the program would grow and pay off later. We were right! The program is 50 times larger than it was when we began. We worked through several HMGS chapters, and Origins didn't have to spend near as much resources to promote for us. Game Masters publishing and posting positive "AAR Articles" were the best advertising possible. We also put up HOT flyers at HMGS events. We went on the premise of: "IF you build it they will come." So we focused on recruiting GMs. 8. Onsite Promotion: We worked overtime to promote our own events onsite with ALL of the other gaming venues at the convention. We didn't just trust alt.gamers to read our part of the Program, so we put up posters, banners, flyers, and gave away Free Tickets for HOT Games. We drew from every gamer type present. However, we focused on Target Audiences of other miniatures gamers and other Historical groups such as Historical Boardgamers and War College attendees. We also tried to push an adequate mix of "crossover games" (Alternate history, Victorian Sci Fi, and adventures such as Pirates, Gangsters and Wild West.) Finally, we always tried to insure we were in the most visible location and intermixed with the other miniature games. For miniatures gaming visibility is half the battle, or more! 9. Historical Event Promotion: Once we got gamers into historical events, the work had only just begun. We pushed hard to get them into gaming groups and Conventions after Origins. With Historicon following Origins, we always requested Historicon flyers from HMGS East. The peak year for HMGS Historicon happened to be the same year we put out 3,000 Historicon PEL books at ORIGINS. The second largest Historicon year, we had 1,500 promo-books to distribute. This way, we gamed historical gamers who would return time after time. They did, and they brought friends. 10. Host Support: Above all else, we recognized that our very existence depended on the Host Convention. They needed us to "justify" our existence with attendees. We were happy to accommodate them. We wanted more people and more events and so did they. Thus, I made every effort to build trust and a strong cooperative and mutually beneficial relationship with whoever was in charge - first Andon, then Wizards, and now GAMA. Finally, GAMA, HMGS GL, our Game Masters, and our gamers may have liked us because we were extra friendly and cooperative, but they LOVED us for only one reason: Like Domino's: We Delivered. Detailed After Action Reviews from each year of the HMGS Origins Team are available in the files sections of the HOT GM yahoo group: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HOT_GM Back to MWAN # 129 Table of Contents Back to MWAN List of Issues Back to MagWeb Magazine List © Copyright 2004 Hal Thinglum 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