THE CONSPIRATORS AND THE CONSPIRACY
In many respects the WALLY'S BASEMENT meeting might be characterized as a COURIER conspiracy. Among the chief instigators were Bryant, Cronin, and Miceli of the COURIER staff. Walter Simon (he of the basement) was President (for life I think) of POTOMAC WARGAMERS (PW). Ed Mohrmann was a founder and leader of TRIANGLE SIMULATION SOCIETY (TSS). Simon and Mohrmann were not on the COURIER payroll, but subscribed and contributed.
PW had grown up in the 1970s under the inspiration of people like Leon Tucker (TRACTICS) and Paul Koch (ON TO RICHMOND). It had been expanded when Jim Butters was President and made a strong effort to recruit. Walter Simon had taken over (non-hostile I think) and kept up active gaming in a facility rented on the third Friday of every month from the Church of the Pilgrim in Wheaton not far from his once and future home. He also produced a sometimes controversial newsletter called the PW REVIEW. In the late 70s and early 80s PW sponsored games at the Smithsonian, displays at libraries, etc. to promote the hobby in addition to the monthly gaming meetings.
TSS was a combination game club, hobby shop, and conspiracy for the promotion of the hobby operating out of the so-called Raleigh-Durham Research Triangle. Ed Mohrmann and a coterie of fanatics were known to go almost anywhere to run games to promote the hobby. They also ran a free GAMEFEST each November, usually in the Baptist Student Union at NC State.
The COURIER faction was centered on OLD COLONY WARGAMERS, successor in interest to the New England Wargamers Association, which had sponsored the "Old COURIER." It had, as stated, strong ties to ORIGINS and the concept of TGWAG. The magazine was at that time probably the most vital publication in historical miniature gaming. Don Featherstone had recently discontinued publication of WARGAMER'S NEWSLETTER. Gene McCoy's WARGAMER'S DIGEST was promising, but undeveloped. GORGET AND SASH may have been around, but its publication was a bit erratic.
Most of the players in PW, TSS, and otherwise were subscribers and/or contributors to THE COURIER. But the exchange of letters initially involved Bryant declaring that something must be done, and Ed Mohrmann demanding that he (Bryant) put his money where his mouth was, or words to that effect. As a result, Bryant had Simon (who was centrally located in the Maryland Suburbs of Washington DC) issue invitations to would later be called "Movers and Shakers in the hobby." Some of us (including myself) were virtually unknown to Walter Simon. He would, on a later occasion, remark "I hadn't really seen many of these guys move or shake. Perhaps quiver, but sometimes not even that."
Through Miceli and THE COURIER Bryant was in touch with New York Wargamers, which included Dave Waxtel and Jay Stone, joint owners of MIKE'S MODELS USA. These gentlemen were to prove a valuable addition to the movement.
COURIER support was essential. But it carried its own baggage. Not very long before WALLY'S BASEMENT that publication had reviewed the latest Napoleonic Rules. The review apparently was unflattering to the then dominant Napoleonic system (exclusive of SYSTEM 7) EMPIRE. This prompted a furious response from the Empire folks. All ads were pulled out of The COURIER and moved to McCoy's WARGAMERS DIGEST. Moreover, a group called COLUMBIA GAMERS, avid Empire enthusiasts to this day, would regard the WALLY'S BASEMENT plot, at least initially, as a COURIER plot against Empire Games. Or such was my impression. Some members would attend just to keep an eye on things.
The preliminary correspondence touched on the possibility of having an historical miniatures only convention. There are extant letters from Simon, Bryant, and Cronin discussing whether it should be in the Philadelphia or Washington DC areas. Also offered were some really strange notions about how to handle dealers. But in the main the idea was to promote the historical miniatures gaming hobby, loosely defined if at all, in any way possible. The bias for GAMA and ORIGINS involvement was considerable, especially from the COURIER folks.
PW members were probably more numerous than would have been the case had they not lived nearby. But that was only fair. When we got started they would provide most of the work force for our early conventions.
Roy Lippman, proprietor of THE ARMORY in Baltimore was on hand. He would have his own agenda items. My recollection of them, as will be discussed, was that they were more colorful than practical.
Bob Coggins, also down from Baltimore, brought down what would prove to be our key agenda item for the next several months. He was a native of Baltimore, and had close ties to the Avalon Hill Game Company, Interest Group Baltimore, and the old miniature game groups going back through PENNCON to the MFCA conventions of the late 60s. He was at that time employed by ATLANTICON, a Baltimore group under contract with GAMA to put on ORIGINS 82 at the University of Maryland Baltimore Campus.
For my part, I had at that time no official club or corporate function. Wally had included me at Dick Bryant's request. He had never seen me, as it were, move or shake much. He said I was a "Stout Fellow," but even that was not necessarily true at the time. I had somewhere along the line stopped drinking, resumed painting, and remarried. Though I continued to sail and dive for oysters, I had some time to do a bit of gaming.
My gaming interests (old favorites) then were late 19th century (rifle and saber) and renaissance (pike and shot.) This was dictated in part by a demonstration of wargaming I had seen at the Smithsonian. At that time PW was running such demonstrations in cooperation with the Smithsonian Associates. I saw an Empire game, a WRG Ancients game, and a WRG Renaissance Game. The first two were too complicated for my taste.
The stage, as Wally was to remark later, was an hovel. Like the Editor of TAG in prior years, Wally was having irreconcilable marital difficulties. His domestic arrangements included, I think, moving into the lesser of two properties until his children were raised and/or his wife completed her education. Thus while some of the calls to arms were issued from a relatively palatial establishment on Layhill Road, by the time the meeting took place, it had to be held at a modest place on Middle Road. The only place with even standing room was the basement.
WALLY'S BASEMENT -- THE GATHERING
As far as I know there were no exact minutes taken of the famous meeting There was a sign up sheet (see Appendix ) but even that is inexact. Roy Lippman of THE ARMORY was certainly there. Dick Sossi was probably there. Ed Miller (no relation to the MFCA convention guy) and John Lang were there from COLUMBIA GAMERS. Ed Mohrmann later reported on a friend (now deceased) who attended, but would not sign because he was an anarchist at heart. None of those just discussed except Mohrmann signed the list. From the vantage point of almost twenty years I'm not even sure how often I ran back and forth from my home near Alexandria to said hovel on Middle Road. But the meetings dragged on over the weekend.
Somewhere along the line before or early in the meeting a name change was accomplished which would endure. The "Historical Miniatures Support Group" (HMSG) became the "Historical Miniatures Gaming Society" (HMGS). And so it has remained.
There was a lot of discussion about the problem. It was pretty clear that our end of TGWAG was getting short shrift from the remainder. The crowning insult over the SYSTEM 7 cardboard counters being rated "Best New Miniatures Line" was much remarked on. But solutions weren't all that clear.
Roy Lippman, who arrived on Sunday, suggested an introductory booklet on the hobby to be prepared by HMGS and printed by THE ARMORY for a fee. I remembered this as impassioned plea for a project of identifying, and preferably including in an illustrated encyclopedia, every toy soldier ever made. This certainly seemed to be an impossible task. Others remember it as a more reasonable and practical proposal. As a simple introductory booklet it may be considered an ancestor of the intermittent HMGS tri-fold brochure.
One other project was considered which was promising, but never accomplished. This involved compiling and publishing, as quickly and completely as we could manage, a list of historical miniature gamers in the United States. The nearest we would ever come to this would be the HMGS EAST "Big List" sometimes referred to as the AFTER ACTION REPORT (AAR) mailing list, or, especially after the demise of that publication the Preliminary Event List (PEL) mailing list.
Another popular idea called for HMGS to become a "gamer advocate". As such we would dictate to manufacturers the use of a standard sized millimeter. This was never categorically rejected. I still see it recommended from time to time. However, the idea that a manufacturer would throw out all of his molds and have them done over seemed as unlikely to me then as now.
At some point the Columbia Empire Garners were heard from. One of them made a short speech denouncing us for trying to dictate to individual gamers what rules they would use in their own homes, or something of the sort. Some had told me that John Lang made the speech, but Ed Miller wrote to claim credit for it. In any case, they departed without signing the sign-in sheet. Later, however, Columbia Garners became a "corporate member" of HMGS. I may have been upstairs playing WRG Renaissance against Jay Stone when the speech was made.
My "Turkenkrieg" game with Jay wasn't the only game break. All involved were at that time avid gamers. Jay, Barry Gray, and Dave Waxtel conducted a lively session of THE SUN NEVER SETS with MIKE'S MODELS 15 mm colonials in the living room to
Bob Coggins made his pitch for HMGS to promote historical miniatures gaming for ORIGINS 82 on behalf of ATLANTICON. This was an almost instant winner. It attacked the problem where it had been most clearly defined. Given that TSS would go almost anywhere and do anything to promote the hobby, ORIGINS (outside of GENCON, which was a long way from North Carolina) was the biggest venue. The COURIER was institutionally committed to ORIGINS and GAMA as the best place to promote the hobby. Moreover, ATLANTICON was represented by Bob Coggins, and even those of us who didn't know him well thought he was solidly pro- historical miniatures and knowledgeable about the rest of the convention scene.
Around that time, I believe at Wally's Basement, a similar proposal was mentioned. Dave Waxtel reported that he had been approached about having HMGS support miniatures at GENCON EAST. This possibility was regarded with interest, and it was understood that Dave would follow up on it. The East Coast factions behind Wally's Basement and HMGS were not cross-addicted to D&D. On the other hand there was no specific animus towards TSR of the sort that existed in some mid-western groups. For all that, Dave later got back with the recommendation that we not split our efforts on our first outing. There was a GENCON East that year, it happened without benefit of HMGS and did poorly. Gary Gygax would later write in to the COURIER protesting a review. It was the last of its kind.
We "movers and shakers" elected several officers. The governing board, consisted of three people: Ed Mohrmann of TSS, Dave Waxtel of New York Garners, and Bob Luddy, a PW Member from Greenbelt Maryland. The theory seems to have been geographic representation. Ed, I think, doubled as newsletter editor, club secretary, or something. Wally Simon got the job of representing HMGS to ATLANTICON, represented by Bob Coggins. I volunteered and was appointed to serve as treasurer. My qualifications were not derived from my job in the Comptroller Career Field for the U.S. Army. I mentioned having been an area treasurer for a Parents Without Partners (PWP) Area-which, like HMGS, was a not for profit organization.
I'm not sure how much money was collected, or what expenses may have been dealt with. But I have the distinct impression that when I took the loot to my bank (a local branch of the Bank of Crooks and Criminals International) it was less than the $100 needed to open an account. I added just a bit to cover, and when all dues checks were deposited the amount came up to par.
In theory, HMGS didn't have any financial commitments other than a periodic mailing of a letter by Ed Mohrmann to the members. ATLANTICON would (theoretically) cover ORIGINS expenses. We had no clear idea of how we would maintain the financial viability of HMGS aside from $10 a head dues.
Probably our greatest asset, aside from a number of like-minded people willing to work, was THE COURIER. Not only was it the leading historical miniatures gaming magazine in the country. THE COURIER had lists of clubs as well as subscribers. This may have had something to do with Dick Bryant's theory that every issue of THE COURIER is read by several non-subscribers. In any case, it furnished a point of departure for our efforts to rally the historical miniatures gaming community in support of ORIGINS 82.
THE ROAD TO ORIGINS 82
The first great effort of HMGS was to promote historical miniature gaming involvement at ORIGINS 82. It was undertaken in high hopes. There were practical problems to be overcome and much work to be done. However, there seemed to be no reason it would go astray. Bob Coggins, the ATLANTICON representative, was a veteran historical gamer. His day job as an investigator for the state of Maryland required skills in getting to the bottom of things and dealing with all manner of people. Unca Wally was the leader of Potomac Wargamers, member of two learned professions, and an all around good guy. Seemingly, in spite of playing with toy soldiers these guys were responsible adults. Moreover, HMGS and ATLANTICON seemed to have common interests. What the head book writers were calling a "Win-Win" seemed inevitable. We wanted lots of guys to attend ORIGINS 82, put on impressive games and seminars, and have a good time. So did ATLANTICON. How could it go wrong? But go wrong it did.
Most members went back home confident that matters were in good hands. I took the loot to BCCI. Ed Mohrmann sent out an occasional newsletter. A letter was prepared inviting gamers and clubs to rally to ORIGINS 82. Bob and Wally settled into a pattern of negotiations. The pattern, however, was not terribly productive. The two negotiators would agree on something. Bob would then take it back to ATLANTICON. ATLANTICON would then throw it out and tell them to start over. As a result there was much negotiating, but little progress.
If I remember correctly the HMGS position was arrived at fairly quickly. It would be virtually the same through all of our years of dealing with ATLANTICON. Essentially we wanted 10 free staff passes for our people working the convention, a booth in the miniature gaming area to sell memberships, run a raffle, or just answer questions, reimbursement for bulk mailing and other expenses promoting the convention, and adequate facilities for our events. We also requested discounted admission for historical gamers attending under HMGS auspices. Of the lot, only the latter should have been a major problem. Curiously, it doesn't seem to have been a point of contention.
Parenthetically it should be noted that HMGS was asking (and indeed was granted) a lower admission rate for historical gamers, not members. To a man we saw our corporate objective as the promotion of the hobby, not the promotion of member benefits. Our constituency, in effect, was the overall historical gaming community, not the dues paying members. Our mistake in this regard would not be discovered and corrected until the election of the 1995-97 Board of Directors.
Logically ATLANTICON might have balked at our requested discount. After all, Fantasy Role Players, Board Garners, et. al. were being charged full price. To our surprise, this did not seem to be an issue. The main stumbling block was control. Some elements of the ATLANTICON leadership, chiefly, I believe, Wesley Coates, mistrusted HMGS. It would have been preferable to ATLANTICON, probably, for THE COURIER to simply turn over its mailing lists, run free adds (which I believe it did) and let them run with it. Also, then and later, Mr. Coates et. al. seemed reluctant to let HMGS pick the recipients of the staff passes. It seems to have much less a matter of dollars and cents than of management philosophy and style. The preferred management style of ATLANTICON, as best I can tell, ran towards paranoid control freak. In more charitable terms, it seemed that the ATLANTICON leadership wanted us to know that staffers worked for them, would be appointed by them, and would report to them. What they failed to understand was crucial. The HMGS members working on ORIGINS 82 were working for HMGS to promote historical miniatures gaming at the convention. We understood that ATLANTICON was trying to make money and possibly to build the egos of the principals. No harm in that. But we were not donating our services specifically to those ends, and we owed no feudal oath of fealty to Wes Coates or anyone else in ATLANTICON.
Those who have seen my musings about HMGS matters over the years would probably not appoint me to negotiate such sensitive matters. As Don Featherstone would later say of me "He is not one to suffer fools gladly." And to have grown men (albeit grown men who play with toy soldiers) agonizing over 10 staff passes with a retail value of $120 in the context of an effort to get 800-1,000 additional gamers to pay to attend seemed foolish in the extreme. What most of us did not recognize, and many to this day fail to understand, is that sweet old Unca Wally, Lion of Ostlandt, etc. was no more enthusiastic about being jerked around over trifles than I (the later Well Known Poison Pen.)
At the time we were dimly aware of friction between HMGS and ATLANTICON to the detriment of both organizations. Wally didn't smooth things at all by running a modified political cartoon on the cover of the PW REVIEW (see illustration.) It depicted a senior statesman (probably originally Tip O'Neil) referring back to a disorganized Marx Brothers band asserting that we shouldn't worry-the ORIGINS committee had things well in hand. Much to our surprise, it seems that the ATLANTICON bunch were avid readers of the PW REVIEW. Less to our surprise, it was discovered that they didn't have much of a sense of humor.
This apparently was not the worst of it, although I was not to find out about the rest until HISTORICON 98.
There were two meetings. The first had been at UMBC where the HMGS people were pleased with the facility. They were less pleased with Mr. Coates concern that HMGS not be given staff passes and control. He justified his concern by worrying that ATLANTICON, by delegating to HMGS, would be responsible for any untoward act by the HMGS staffers. How this could be avoided by having ATLANTICON control the appointments I don't know. But I'm not a lawyer. Nor, to my knowledge, is Wes Coates, although Unca Wally has that on his conscience.
At an under funded LEGION OF HONOR gathering at HISTORICON 98 Bob Coggins described a meeting at Wally's hovel back in 1982. Apparently things had become so acrimonious that some ATLANTICON folks traveled to Middle road in Wheaton to converse with Wally. Wes Coates traveled in the Coggins auto. This diplomatic venture, alas, was doomed to failure.
Wes was spared the indignity of the famous basement. The meeting was held in the Simon kitchen. Bob Luddy, Bob Willtrout, and Wally represented HMGS. Wes Coates, and Bob Coggins, represented ATLANTCON. After long discussion described by Coggins as "circular" no agreement was reached. It is then reported (by Bob, but Wally issued no denials) that Walter Simon, HMGS negotiator (if the term can be loosely applied) honored the departing dignitaries with a song. As the scowling ATLANTICON contingent withdrew Wally picked up a banjo and performed a rousing rendition of "So Long, It's Been Good to Know Ya!" Unfortunately this music did nothing to soothe the savage breasts involved.
I was amazed by that story. My first reaction was that Bob was wrong. The arguments attributed to Wes over staff passes, et. al. sounded just as I remembered them from a meeting in 1984 at our second HMGS convention. But Bob shouted me down. The argument was the same, but the incident much earlier and more musical. Amazing! I knew Wally was once a devotee of Karate, but until 1998 I never suspected him to be a musician.
Under the circumstances it is remarkable that HMGS remained in the ORIGINS 82 picture at all. However, saner heads prevailed. On the ATLANTICON side Don Greenwood (an officer of AVALON HILL and currently head of the Board Game Players Association) recognized that bringing in hundreds of paying guests to the convention might be more important than Wes Coates' ego. On the HMGS side Dick Bryant, whose long involvement with GAMA and ORIGINS was threatened, pointed out that our reasons for rallying gamers to ORIGINS 82 might even outweigh Unca Wally's sense of humor. In what proved to be a passing moment of sanity both Wally and Wes seem to have stifled themselves for the common good.
Technically we did it Wes' way. Bob Coggins, loyal ATLANTICON employee, picked the recipients of the staff passes and asked HMGS to help out. He notionally solicited and scheduled games. It was transparent to HMGS and it made Wes Coates happy.
The letters went out. And the response was strong. One Major Nichols, whose geomorphic terrain boards were works of art, was recruited to put on WWIII micro-armor and 15mm Empire extravaganzas. I think he may also have done some 15mm English Civil War stuff. Bob Luddy organized a major WRG Ancients tournament. Most of us ran some sort of events. I ran play tests of my rifle and saber grand tactical game, gave a slide show presentation on representing pike and shot formations on the table top, Wally ran skirmishes. HMGS manned a booth and sold several memberships. An estimated 500 to 600 historical miniatures gamers took advantage of the discount admissions and flocked to the University of Maryland Baltimore Campus.
By then Ed Mohrmann had given me the Newsletter job. As newsletter editor I was subsequently able to report on our first financial crises. In preparation for ORIGINS 82 someone, allegedly under HMGS auspices, recruited an expert panel to hold a game design seminar. I haven't been able to pin down the whole story. But ATLANTICON refused to admit the panelists without payment. As HMGS treasurer I was told to reimburse the panelists, which I did. Later ATLANTICON was supposed to have said that charging the panelists was a mistake. The panel was just the sort of thing they wanted. But HMGS was still out most of the dues we had collected. We were never reimbursed.
Another crisis involved a shortage in the funds collected. Given the number of renewals and new memberships sold, we were short $50. I had persuaded the leadership to cut renewals to $5. My motives, frankly, were to avoid loss of members and keep people in hoping that they would work for the cause. But given the number of new and renewed memberships we should have had more money on hand. This particular crisis was resolved when we found that the desk workers had collected renewal amounts ($5 a head) instead of new member amounts ($10.) The leadership agreed to forget the whole thing. After all, we were still hoping to get useful work out of all members.
ORIGINS 82 was a rousing success for both HMGS and ATLANTICON. One HMGS founding member later reported "It was great! For the first time we saw 800-1,000 historical gamers at one place." But even if repeated it wouldn't keep HMGS going strong. By that time in addition to being treasurer I was newsletter editor. At the ORIGINS 82 membership meeting, presided over by Ed Mohrmann, I received approval for an HMGS convention in the off season. I hoped this would ensure solvency and maintain the momentum of the order.
A CONVENTION PROGRAM OF OUR OWN: To Do Good, Have Fun, And Make Money*
- *Borrowed from the unofficial motto of my wife's since failed health care management company.
The concept of having an historical miniatures oriented convention of our own was not new with the membership meeting at ORIGINS 82. In the correspondence leading up to Wally's Basement the issue had been discussed. However, ORIGINS 82 provided the kind of public exposure for the hobby that we sought on a grand scale. It represented a vindication of historical miniatures gaming in the very setting in which we had been put down in 1981. For those reasons ORIGINS 82 substantially eclipsed the concept of an HMGS convention for the first several months of our existence as an organization.
Although I was treasurer and newsletter editor, I didn't exactly have a leadership role in HMGS at that time. These were appointed offices. I was even on the outside looking in when it came to negotiating the deal with ATLANTICON. So much so that I didn't fully realize what a fiasco it had been. But in spite of our ultimate success, it was clear to me that we were unlikely to become financially viable on dues and raffles alone, especially if we wound up stuck with bills like the one for the wargame panelists' admissions. In addition to solvency, It seemed to me that we needed momentum between prime time conventions. Also a vast amount of effort and wheel spinning had gone into working around the personalities and prejudices of people outside the organization which, it seemed to me, could have been put to better use preparing for a convention.
When I made the proposal it met with more or less unanimous approval. All the elected officials were helpful, as were the members. Of course, I had never run a convention of any sort before, but as an organization we had put the ORIGINS 82 miniatures program together, and we had a lot of people who had been involved in conventions. While I had seen lots of conventions over the years, I probably was as innocent of convention management background as anyone in HMGS. Putting on a convention for the first time was to prove an entertaining and educational, if often difficult, experience.
Knowing our institutional prejudice in favor of collaboration with the big prime time conventions, I chose a time (late winter/early spring) and a clumsy name (the Historical Miniatures Mini-Convention, or HMMC) to avoid conflict. We weren't out to declare war on GENCON or ORIGINS. Also, by picking a time midway between big conventions and a location in the Washington DC area midway between New England and North Carolina we should be able to maintain our momentum, attract a quorum, and maybe achieve solvency. I also hoped to draw on an enthusiastic (?) labor force among people who belonged to both HMGS and PW to help move furniture, man the desk, etc. We were also able to use the old PW connection with Dr. Martin Gordon and the Smithsonian Associates to advantage.
My first sources of information were past NCMC experience, and a short guide (I have no idea where I got it) by the American Wargame Association (AWA)** on how to put together a convention. The little pamphlet proved quite helpful. It gave timelines and estimates of various sorts. I also distinctly remember its advice that, outside of the context of the MEGACONS like GENCON and ORIGINS a convention drawing 250 to 350 people should be considered a big convention.
- **AWA subsequently became the Strategy Gaming Society (SGS). Its president later attended the Annapolis Convention (OCT 90) which formally launched HMGS National. At some point during 1982-83 AWA suggested that HMGS should join forces by adding $5 or $10 to our dues to go to them. It was not seriously considered.
Going to the site of the most recent NCMC dinner, a facility near Springfield Plaza in Virginia, proved less helpful. The Banquet Manager seemed to have lost interest after I declined a complimentary drink when we sat down to discuss business. Perhaps she was afraid the facility would be inundated with tee- totallers and lose money-a nonexistent risk where the NCMC was concerned. It was a pity really. She was a rather attractive young lady, and one I would certainly have been happy to have a drink with back when I was a practicing alcoholic and between marriages.
In any case, I found myself, for the first but by no means the last time frantically searching for a suitable facility. In the process I became involved in the bizarre and fascinating world of the American Inn Keeper Industry. Unlike hobby shops, and even more than used car dealers, inn-keepers don't seem to have any vestige of standard pricing. Although I've never actually shopped in an Oriental Bazaar, I've read enough novels to recognize the business practices. "Our standard rate is $1,000 an evening." "Well, maybe we could let you have it for the whole day." "Would you believe $500 for the day?" "Did you say room nights?"
Sometimes they won't deal at all. I've become convinced over the years that many innkeepers are obsessed with the Little Orphan Annie Syndrome. They are convinced that Daddy Warbucks is going to find out that Little Orphan Annie is preggers, and that he has to buy a white shotgun. In addition to the white shotgun he will be willing to pay any price for a room suitable for a wedding reception. But, horror of horrors, the inn-keeper will already have rented the place to a bunch of cheap scruffy peonle who play with toy soldiers!
Our first facility, a Holiday Inn on Eisenhower Avenue in Alexandria, was selected through trial and error. It is located in a difficult place to get to on the comer of the parking lot of a government office complex in the armpit of the Washington DC Beltway. Its primary purpose, obviously, is to shelter purveyors of snake-oil to the Yankee Government during the week. At the time its management was willing to rent it on weekends for a reasonable fee. I discovered it because my wife was buying a boat from a man who worked for Holiday Inn (he was moving up to a bigger boat.) We got a fairly good deal on Saturday and Sunday even though we only brought them a dozen or so room nights. Better yet, they were not far from where I lived, and easily accessible from the interstates.
The first minicon (26-27 FEB 83) was quite small. But thanks to our ORIGINS experience we had a bit of credibility, and knew whom to tap. Dr. Martin Gordon brought in the Smithsonian Associates. Major Nichols brought in his famous geomorphic terrain boards. Bob Luddy was tapped for the WRG tournaments, 15mm and 25 mm. I even managed to pull together a WRG Pike and Shot tournament based on my contacts with local devotees. It brought together gamers of similar interests in the local area who hadn't met each other-one of the great advantages of a convention program. Mark McGloughlin, later infamous for Princess Ryan's Space (er.. Star) Marines won the first one with a Papal Army from the 15th Century.
In Newsletter #4 (a Xerox single sheet folded to digest size) I was able to report a solid success. We drew an estimated 277 attenders not counting non-paying straphangers. The count included 50 pre-registrants, 41 Smithsonian Associates, 7 panelists, 24 vendor staff, 30 event staff, and 125 people who paid at the door. We cleared $822 over and above our expenses of $733. In addition to the internal memo sized newsletter I prepared an almost equally ugly After Action Report (AAR) which went to everyone we suspected of being interested in playing with toy soldiers. This item announced tournament and painting competition winners and touted our convention program. It was essentially an advertising and propaganda effort aimed at the historical miniature gaming public, which we continued to regard as our proper constituency.
We were doing good, having fun, and making money!
Event staff deserves explanation. I was new to the game, and based games master admissions on my perceptions of MEGACON practices. If I remember correctly, at ORIGINS people were charged by the game, prizes were awarded, and the guys running tournaments (prize games) got in free and/or split the event fees with the management. Demonstrations, usually put on by game companies and the like, were free to the gamers, but the people putting them on were charged $25 which was forfeit if they didn't show. I never charged anyone to run a free game. I did offer free admission to people running events with prizes for which admission was charged. HMGS got 25% of admissions. Over the years this turned out to be more of a nuisance than it was worth. The only fee/prize events that persevered to the end of my tenure were the WRG Ancients Tournaments, and HMGS, at the request of NASAMW, didn't collect any part of the fees.
At the membership meeting Walter Simon and I were put in charge, essentially by the original threesome (Mohrmann, Waxtel, and Luddy) but with the approval of the membership. I would stay on until evicted by the righteous wrath of the BORODINO 92 faction in 1991. Wally very sensibly resigned a year or two earlier and settled back to snipe from the side lines.
A SUMMER OF OUR DISCONTENT
We had, as stated, reached the spring of 1983 in good shape. But as I stated in Newsletter #4, "At the moment the summer mega-con schedule looks rather hazy. We have received rumors of at least one, possibly two adventure gaming conventions in New Jersey, neither of which is GENCON East." It was in fact EASTCON. And it did happen. There was also a tentative effort by some gamers in the Washington DC area which the instigators called "TESTCON." At first only Ed Mohrmann and the TSS group were in contact. They were known for being willing to support all manner of conventions with historical miniature events. HMGS as yet had little reputation. And we were to find later that we were being given a reputation as both useless and difficult. Effectively, we remained committed to collaboration with TGWAG in prime time. But the opportunity was uncertain.
If I remember correctly, EASTCON was being put on by a coalition of game groups headed by one Dr. Alan Barwick. He seems to have been connected with a group called Shore Garners, and to be the leader of Wesleyan Methodist Fantasy Role Garners (trading as Wm. Frog.) When we were put in touch with the EASTCON players we did what we had done with ATLANTICON. We asked Wally Simon to negotiate with them. As usual the basis was ten (10) staff passes and expenses. As we have seen, Unca Wally was not a great negotiator. Effectively this bunch was asked for ten staff passes, suitable facilities, and a booth where we could sell memberships and run a raffle to raise money. In return we offered to rally the historical miniatures community to them.
At the same time, through a friend who owned a hobby shop in Alexandria, I tried to sound out the TESTCON people. I never did find out much about them. They were notionally Prince Georges Garners, and historically oriented.
Of the two conventions I was to report in Newsletter 5: "As noted, EASTCON came and went without a great deal of HMGS involvement. It must also be admitted that the P.G. Gamers' TESTCON in the Washington area seems to have altogether collapsed. At first the group declined to work with HMGS, then it apparently declined to work with itself. However, as you will witness on the accompanying brochure, NYCON is going strong. TE (Triumvir Emeritus) Dave Waxtel, undaunted by the uncooperative attitude of the Intrepid Group* found a secure facility ashore for what will apparently be the principal historical miniatures gaming event of the summer. "
In fact, EASTCON put the miniatures in science labs with fixed work spaces and otherwise treated Ed Mohrmann and the long suffering TSS gang with contempt. It is also rumored that the miniatures turnout was less than TSS and no more than EASTCON and Wm. Frog deserved. Moreover, while the books on the convention were never reviewed by HMGS, it is widely believed that Dr. Barwick and crew lost a bundle.
Aside from mention of SUNCOAST SKIRMISHES (Florida), DRAGON FLIGHT, and a Pasadena model soldier show we weren't looking at a very active season. ORIGINS went, I think, back to Detroit. Since all the other events noted were out of our area NYCON seemed to be our last refuge.
Wally and I traveled to Manhattan in my ancient station wagon undaunted by an overheating engine. The people running the Intrepid had asking price was too high*. Dave and company moved the convention ashore to a hotel in Manhatten and scheduled a "sink the Intrepid" live action event (which never came off.) For me the convention was memorable for several reasons:
Someone had a manikin dressed in the uniform of a Chasseur a Cheval of Napoleon's Old Guard and kept asking people to identify it. The light was so bad and the uniform so dark that the green looked blue and I guessed Marine of the Guard.
William Chen was play testing VERLORENE HAUFE with a battle of Ravenna. It was characterized at that stage by high explosive rocks fired by bombards using indirect laying. At the crucial point my Spanish pikes were butting heads with French Gendarmes. The French commander, Gaston de Foix, was in the melee, and I asked William what I had to roll to kill him. Not wanting me to do it, Will said "18 on 3 x D6," which I then rolled. I later read in a perhaps fanciful family history that we claim kinship with the gentleman, but I hadn't heard that at the time.
Although entry in the painting competition was free, several disappointed contestants loudly protested my arbitrary decision that one figure didn't constitute a competitive wargame army. This convinced me to let Jay Hadley and Bob Coggins do all future judging.
Anyway, a good time was had by all. NYCON saved the season for us, and helped us preserve momentum. It was claimed to be an HMGS Event. Dick Bryant had offered free adds in THE COURIER if HMGS got at least 10% of the proceeds. As HMGS treasurer I never saw any books or records on the convention, nor did HMGS to my knowledge receive any money. Given the typically HMGS admission prices, and the typically New York City expenses, I considered that there probably was no positive cash flow to speak of and we were happy not to have lost the season.
For 1984 we had not only the return of the Historical Miniatures Mini-Convention (No. 2) but a return to TGWAG for the summer season. ORIGINS wouldn't be back in Baltimore until 1985. I believe it was going to Dallas for 1984. But our old friends from ATLANTICON were scheduling a big convention in the Baltimore area for 1984. It was to be called, appropriately enough, ATLANTICON 84. They (ATLANTICON) also had the GAMA contract for ORIGINS 85, again at the U.M.B.C. Having learned to get along, we looked forward to cooperating with ATLANTICON in 84 and going on to ORIGINS in 85.
*The U.S.S Intrepid (Aircraft Carrier) renovation people wanted $10K for the weekend, which I noted was a good price if armed, manned, and fueled for a short war, but rather pricey as a convention site. The U.S.S Hornet would do similar damage to HMGS WEST 13 years later.
Unexpurgated History of HMGS Volume I
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© Copyright 2004 Hal Thinglum
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