HMGS GOES PRIME TIME-THE HISTORICON ADVENTURE
Our program for 1984 was off to a rousing start with the second HMMC held from 9-11 MAR 84. Going into the convention our future plans included collaboration with ATLANTICON for ATLANTICON 84 and subsequently ORIGINS 85, both at University of Maryland Baltimore Campus (UMBC.) In the meanwhile our focus returned to the HMMC. The latter grew from 277 to 445 attendance, and from $833 to $1,518 in net income. For the first but not the last time Ginger Hartman bailed us out by helping at the desk. Also for the first but not the last time, we found ourselves outgrowing a facility.
On the other hand, our cooperation with TGWAG was again in trouble. Newsletter 10, after proudly reporting the success of HMMC #2, had more somber news. The meeting which I later confused with Wally Simon's Banjo Recital occurred on Friday night 9 MAR 84 between the elders of HMGS (Bryant and Condray as a minimum) and Wes Coates.
Wes was very expansive. He started off by buying us all dinner at the Holiday Inn's on premises restaurant. We offered essentially the same deal as before. Wes offered the same objections as before. He was reluctant to give HMGS control of scheduling, and reluctant to let HMGS select 10 recipients for staff passes. Moreover, he mentioned in passing that with or without us, the HMMC #2 attenders ("These Guys..") would come to ATLANTICON anyway.
Mr. Coates was also quite informative about EASTCON. He had personally paid the games masters fees when EASTCON ran out of money. Also, it was he who had told Dr. Barwick that HMGS support wasn't worth 10 staff passes. He did offer, however, that if we came to him and justified each pass he might part with more. This immediately produced visions of constantly returning to plead with him over every bit of trivia.
In the end Dick Bryant offered to cover any staff passes in question. I shook hands with Wes, and told him that since Dick Bryant was going to make up the gap between my expectations of him and his of me I supposed we could manage. Then I got up and went back to the convention-which was a lot more fun.
In Newsletter #10 I reported:
"The more I thought about it, the less practical it looked. HMGS still didn't know what it was to do, or what it could expect in return. I had visions of spending my time alternately exhorting the historical miniature community to rally in support of ATLANTICON 84, and haggling with ATLANTICON over trivia. Compared to going sailing, it didn't sound like a good way to spend the summer. Basically it looked like a great deal more work than having a little convention of our own, and a lot less fun or profit. Of course, it would give us a chance to associate with the really important people in the hobby, and some of us might be lucky enough to get genuine ATLANTICON staff t-shirts. Then again, maybe we were thinking about it wrong. Maybe the important guys in the hobby were the ones in the other room playing with toy soldiers."
Much to my surprise, Dick Bryant had reluctantly come to the same conclusion. Even Ed Mohrmann and the TSS bunch .were agreed. Apparently the jovs of collaborating with William Frog in abandoned science classrooms had been less than inspirational. The membership meeting unanimously agreed to abstain from ATLANTICON 84. ATLANTICON was officially notified by letter the following week. A later newsletter would report a similar letter from TSS.
The convention season suddenly went blank. Dave Waxtel declined to run NYCON. Jay Hadley expressed a willingness to discuss a convention with the Widener College folks (the old PENNCON location) but had no intention of returning to work as convention director. Nor, in fact, was it considered possible to come up with a PENNCON in time for the summer of '84.
With the immediate future looking blank, if not bleak, we went our separate ways. Wally took his usual April vacation to Old England, and my wife whisked me off to Vermont for Spring Ski. But while playing in the snow I contracted a bit of a cold. Under the influence of anti-histamines I began to brood about the plight of HMGS in prime time. Disoriented as I was, I couldn't remember why HMGS was wholly dependent on the decisions of Wes Coates when it came to doing things in the prime convention season. I must have suffered permanent brain damage, because to this day, I can't remember the answer to that question.
By the time I got back to home and work my mind was made up. Disregarding the conventional schedules, I decided we should have a summer convention in the DC area. With the other half of the Board of Directors out of country I turned to the old BOD (Waxtel, Luddy, and Mohrmann) as well as Dick Bryant. In spite of the short preparation time, the enthusiasm was unanimous. Each of them began beating the drums for the convention I was calling "HISTORICON." The usual response was "Go for it!"
Our next HMMC had already been scheduled in the ballroom of the Sheraton New Carrollton just off the Beltway in Prince Georges County. That facility also had a massive "Convention Center" which had been designed as an underground parking garage and would forever be remembered in HMGS circles as "The Bunker." It wasn't wonderful, but it had about three times the space of the original facility. By the time Wally returned from England I had signed a contract and placed a deposit on it. Wally was properly scandalized about the damage a single director could do when inadequately supervised.
Missing from my Newsletter file is Newsletter #11-The HISTORICON EMERGENCY ISSUE. It went to all hands and urged support for our new convention. Jim Butters wrote back with the following quote:
- "We are a band of brothers and native to the soil fighting for our liberty
with treasure blood and toil!"
Rich Hasenauer (later author of FIRE AND FURY and BATTLEFRONT) provided his centerfold add for THE COURIER depicting human hands as the Bridge of Lodi with small soldiers fighting over it. Mohrmann rallied the south, Waxtel and company the north. Dick Bryant twisted dealers' arms to ensure commercial support.
That May the Office of the Comptroller of the Army made me an offer I couldn't refuse. There had been some shakeups in the management of information technology. We (Computer Systems Command and base level Information Technology) had been swallowed (to the chagrin of most Major Commands) by the old Communications Command (termed the "Orange Mafia" in honor of their Waffenfarbe.) My office was considered expert in "performance budgeting," and the Pentagon people wanted me to go to the American Society of Military Comptrollers (ASMC) meeting in Kansas City and lecture on performance budgeting for information technology. I usually avoided such junkets, but insistence can be powerful when it comes from the three-star level.
For several months I had been carrying on a lively argument with Sam Gill of the Heart of America True Society of Followers of Featherstone (HATSOFF?) in THE COURIER. I took advantage of my junket to meet Sam and his lovely wife in the Kansas area. As it turned out, he and I are both from Warren Arkansas and.. but I digress. While in the KC area I did get out to the Yankee Doodle Hobby Shop and meet local gamers. They told me of an HISTORICON run locally in the recent past. I had never heard of it, but I did ask if they minded our using the name. They decidedly did not, and were enthusiastic about what we were doing. We shook hands all around. One of those present was apparently Rick Nance who would later recall the incident as "I gave you HISTORICON with a handshake." In the intervening years he would assume leadership of the HEART OF AMERICA HMGS and otherwise play a leading role in HMGS affairs.
My old TAG partner Aram Bakshian, who had become a speech writer for Tricky Dick and at the time Ronald Reagan, was giving a talk on Collecting Toy Soldiers to the COSMOS Club, a prestigious gathering of intellectuals in Washington DC. I was able to attend because Dr. William C. (Hank) Carter, a sailing friend from PWP and best man at my second wedding, was a member. I pitched the virtues of attending HISTORICON and getting the whole picture. Somehow or other the Washington Star (in which the "Lunatic Fringe" article had appeared years earlier) got the word and gave us nice coverage.
In the main, however, it was the gaming community and its commercial base that carried us through. What passed for big names in the hobby were there in force. Dick Bryant had called Ral Partha, Greenfield Hobbies, Rafm, Minifigs, etc. and twisted arms for all he was worth. The ARMORY from Baltimore took a big block of tables. We were able to report afterwards that in spite of a less than satisfactory vendor area, none of the vendors complained of having their arms twisted.
By the end of May our worst fears had eased. The Sheraton reported that we had met our 100 room-night quota. This dropped our facility rate well below the contents of the treasury. We were no longer in danger of being wiped out.
During preparation there were meetings at each PW session. I seem to recall sitting with Wally and other "movers and shakers" stuffing promotional materials, including, probably, the HMMC #2 AAR, in bundles by 3-digit zip code and "mixed mail" so as to use our bulk permit to reach the masses. That and moving tables prior to the convention were "Executive" jobs in the early days of HMGS.
Once again volunteers helped cover our desk when gamers deserted for the gaming tables. Bob Wiltrout persuaded his daughter Amy to help. In a poll conducted by Hank Martin some responses to "Liked Best" read "the beautiful blonde at the desk." Other responses drew hardly any "Liked Least" comments, and roughly 97% would cheerful attend another such convention. The 3% who demurred cited immanent PCS to California, and possible lack of spousal approval as problems. The support of the active historical miniature gaming community was unanimous.
The reported total attendance in the subsequent Newsletter (12) was 841. That reflected substantial free general public participation, since we got some press coverage and probably for the first time didn't bother to collect gate on Sunday. It was probably overstated. But in spite of buying $1,000,000 insurance (at Wally's insistence) and lots more tables (at Dick Bryant's insistence) net was $2,445, or 304% of what we had made at the first convention. Net for the convention specifically excluded $300 brought in by a raffle of figures donated by Jay Hadley and $100 collected from 10 new members.
The membership meeting was pretty wild. Walter Simon was still miffed because I had bet the treasury on HISTORICON while he was minding his own business in England. Something of a purist, he was, I think, to have a role in my subsequent removal as treasurer for ignoring double entry bookkeeping. I was able to defend my conduct and avoid impeachment. But I quickly got myself back into trouble.
Two mid-westerners, Todd Fisher and Ken Kaufmann had arrived at HISTORICON with hat in hand. They wanted $350 as seed money for something called LITTLE WARS. There seemed to have be such a convention the year before, but it had spent the winnings on a Judges Pizza Party. They wanted to restart it along HMGS lines and sought "seed money." The membership was feeling wealthy and voted approval without discussion. I stormed out of the room threatening resignation, but was readmitted when I sheepishly thought better of it.
My objection was a little like Wally's though, I think, less pedantic. He wanted double entry bookkeeping and various safeguards on general principles, not because he thought I would have my hand in the till, or because he didn't think HISTORICON was a good idea. I had nothing against supporting LITTLE WARS. But the complete absence of any effort to find out what it was and how they planned to go about it was unnerving. Worse, I had recently been in touch with game groups in the Arkansas/Texas area that hated each other. Was HMGS buying into one side of a feud without knowing it? No harm done. Both LITTLE WARS (until lately) and HMGS survived the risks. We would join Todd and Ken for LITTLE WARS 85.
Perhaps more importantly, we went to a three man BOD by adding Bob Coggins. He was still committed to involving HMGS in TGWAG. We had parted company with ATLANTICON over ATLANTICON 84. But ORIGINS 85 remained on the horizon. ORIGINS remained, in theory, THE NATIONAL ADVENTURE GAMING CONVENTION. There was enough residual awe of that title to warrant another effort.
Bob's plan was to take our original offer back to them. He insisted, over my strenuous objections, in getting HMGS money to take the principal officers out to dinner. A gesture responding in kind to Wes Coates' abortive dinner diplomacy at HMMC #2. Naturally I reacted negatively to this bit of extravagance, but was overruled.
Jay Hadley was nominated for the BOD, but promised, if not required to serve on the BOD, to rewrite our ByLaws. He was a professional fund raiser by trade, and would know how to phrase things to meet IRS standards. He did so. For a period of time his ByLaws were in force. Under them all members were on the BOD, but the real BOD was renamed the "Executive Committee." It made no sense to me, but effectively changed nothing about how we did business. More important, I thought, was the designation of the Smithsonian Institute's Military History Program as successor in interest should the treasury outlive the organization.
ATLANTICON 84 was held a week or so after HISTORICON. It drew only marginally more total attendance than HISTORICON, and practically none of it was historical miniatures. Mindful of the Biblical injunction about "heaping coals of fire on their heads" I had sent them ten free staff passes before our show. This, of course, did no more to improve their mental attitude than Wally's banjo music. By the time Bob Coggins took them out to dinner at HMGS expense ATLANTICON morale had reached the scalded cat level.
From Bob's later accounts, there was a lot of negative expression on the part of the ATLANTICON bunch. However, once it subsided, they signed the contract as offered, and it was published in Newsletter 13.
Neither Walter Simon nor Pat Condray were involved in the negotiations, which may be why they succeeded.
Bob Coggins and I did attend LITTLE WARS 85. 1 remember it best for the following momentous occurrences:
First, in my Age of Marlborough game, red coated French Gendarmes drove back red coated British horse and were countercharged by their red coated Dutch dragoon allies. However, when the dragoons rallied after checking the French, the reformed British charged them-proving that you don't need 20 sided dice to get fog of war.
Second, Bob Coggins and Craig Taylor came back to our room at 2am Saturday morning whereupon Bob and I got into a four hour argument about whether U.S. Grant or Robert E. Lee was the better general. Which made us late for....
A kickoff meeting for HMGS MIDWEST presided over by Hal Thinglum. This was perhaps more important. After all, Bob and I have yet to resolve our differences over Grant and Lee, and the triumph of the Gendarmes was transitory. But HMGS MIDWEST was the first and for many years the most substantial of the additional chapters to follow in the footsteps of the HMGS from Wally's Basement.
BACK TO ORIGINS ('85)
Once again we held an "HMMC." It occurred 1-3 MAR 85. My files lack the immediate post MINICON issue. However, a later newsletter referred back to its attendance as being almost 700. Thus the growth remained steady and phenomenal. Due to enormous increases in insurance costs, which would lead to a lot of research and negotiation, positive cash flow was only $599. The lowest ever HMGS (EAST) positive cash flow until 1995. The later newsletter would cite lack of insurance as a reason for over 100% increase in positive cash flow for HMMC 4. But thereafter we officially incorporated and negotiated more reasonable rates.
Bob Coggins, as noted, handled the ATLANTICON negotiations. We were able to put together a very impressive slate of games, including, I believe, Hal Thinglum's HISTORICON best of show "Rourke's Drift," and the ORIGINS 85 best of show ALAMO in 25mm by Ron Prilamon, Rich Hasenauer, and an enthusiastic supporting cast. The first time it was quite impressive, and wound up in ATLANTICON's promotional videos dominating less favored gaming genre. Because of the recorded music (Dequello and such) and the loud utterances of players the ALAMO became the bane of anyone whose games were held near it at future conventions. But it was the hit of ORIGINS 85.
We were already hearing recommendations about using videos to promote the hobby. The most consistent voice was Dick Bryant's. The ORIGINS 85 videos, arranged, I think, by Howard Barrasch of SOFTGAMES Inc. They were done as 15 second, 30 second, and one minute sound bytes for general TV audiences. Much later during the reign of the B92 BOD the same approach was attempted. An HMGS EAST member did them for $1,000. All it achieved was his later denunciation of the BOD for not knowing its target audience.
During 1984 there seems to have been a problem with the WRG Ancients tournaments. I don't know the details. However, while the Ancients folks went to ORIGINS 85 under HMGS auspices, they were in the process of changing the National Championships from ORIGINS to HISTORICON for years in which the two were not combined.
At ORIGINS 85 Bob Andriola, the previous year's champion, was beaten by Johnson Hood (WARGAMES).This would not be the last time for Johnson. It was, in fact the first time in which he would win the title, then donate the prize (sponsored by WARGAMES) to his runner up. Andriola was the first beneficiary of this practice. Major Richard Rowe would benefit the following year when his Early Archaemid Persians lost to Hood's Samurai.
For the first time the U.S. Pike and Shot Federation was to take charge of the Pike and Shot Tournament, but I don't think it came off. It would be a few years before they developed the numbers to ensure full tournaments at our conventions. But although I regretted the lack of this colorful event at ORIGINS 85 there was enough going on to take up the slack.
Successful though it was, ORIGINS 85 had its rocky spots. Old fashioned game scheduling was replaced by exotic new scheduling software. Folks from Shore Garners had an automated solution. Unfortunately the solution crashed and burned. Several games and gamers were overscheduled, with at least twice as many showing up with tickets as could be accommodated.
At any rate, our end was successful. Historical Miniatures were the hit of the convention. An estimated 800-1,000 historical gamers showed up. We had spent $420 on postage, picked up $299 in raffle tickets, and 28 new members. The immediate post ORIGINS newsletter (#16) indicated that we were still owed reimbursement of $600 less cost of some sponsored events. A later recap indicated a net of $414-though this would have included the memberships.
ORIGINS 85 was not the last involvement of HMGS with ORIGINS. But it was to be the last for which we would omit our summer convention. We didn't know that yet. We were looking forward to HMMC #4 back in Lanham Maryland, and remained open to future negotiations on ORIGINS 87 in Baltimore. At that point we were not enthusiastic about substituting a mere ATLANTICON 86 for an HISTORICON of that year, but had not ruled out the possibility.
GROWING PAINS ON THE EVE OF THE GOLDEN AGE
The fourth MINICON took place 28 FEB-2 MAR 86. We muddled through the usual wave of cancellations and last minute additions, accommodating 574 paid attendance, 50 HMGS and event (still admitting tournament hosts free) staff, 136 vendor staff, totaling 760. This was more than HISTORICON 84 except for the general public and press freebies at the latter. Aside from a loss of member records at the registration desks and incipient overcrowding there were no major problems.
There was concern, expressed by Dick Bryant, about our scheduling practices. We were still not automated like Shore Garners. Dick "complained that our procedure of taking preregistrations only before the convention, giving the list to the event host, and leaving it up to him to allow late comers or bystanders to fill any openings at game time was undignified. Rather than have the event sponsor ask if anyone wants to play we should have dozens of people and perhaps a computer at the desk taking orders for events, then cutting events off when they filled, or half an hour before the event whichever came first, send a runner to the bar or over to Duff's (the nearest all you can eat buffet) to locate the event host and give him the list." My skepticism is obvious. But I offered to let Dick do it himself, which seemed to solve the problem.
Mainly, however, we were getting to big for the ballrooms at the Remada or Sheraton, not quite big enough for the Bunker. Moreover, we suspected that the Bunker might be even harder to heat than to cool. Of course, the bunker, in addition to being something of an environmental nightmare, seemed to be involved in a perennial love-hate relationship with the health and safety bureaucracies of the County and State. We were on for HISTORICON 86 at the Bunker. But we were skeptical of its usefulness for the MINICONS.
At this point we heard for the first time from Joe Pfadt. I noted in the newsletter (18):
"Just prior to the convention Mr. Joseph Pfadt, account executive for the Penn Harris Inn at Harrisburg PA approached us with a very attractive offer. He is a wargamer, and would very much like to have a convention in his facility, which seems to be about the size of that at the Sheraton (Bunker) but better appointed. He is willing to make the facility available to us free if we can fill 50 rooms (we filled 75 at the Ramada for HMMC #4.)"
From the first Joe's offer was met with skepticism from many of the rank and file. One denizen of Wally's Basement (Dexter Jernigan) protested that he would never go north of the Mason Dixon Line. More widespread, especially among members from Pennsylvania, was the lack of cultural attractions at Harrisburg.
"We (the executive committee) were regaled with horror stories of how the folk in Harrisburg think a night on the town is going down to the freight yards to watch the trains couple and uncouple." My comments were that since our gamers usually buried themselves in gaming with brief pauses to eat and sleep the cultural ambiance of Harrisburg was a non-sequitur. But so strong was the opposition, and so far away the location, that we passed it up for the present. We were scheduled to return to the Bunker from 7-10 AUG 86. And we would make another two efforts to fit the HMMC into the congenial but increasingly undersized Ramada Ballroom. But by HISTORICON 86 we were facing price hikes from the Bunker, and no other suitable facilities were located for the big convention.
Beyond the immediate problem, our Love/Hate relationship with ATLANTICON was shifting again to the Hate side. Although we had moved to August to give ATLANTICON 86 a little breathing room, they experienced a rumored loss of $6,000. Since they were a for profit operation this annoyed them greatly. Bob Coggins had flown to ORIGINS 86 on the same plane as Wes Coates and other ATLANTICON principals, but was barely spoken to. No offer was tendered on ORIGINS 87. Apparently our failure to sacrifice HISTORICON 86 to ATLANTICON 86 made us pariahs. We would never again collaborate with ATLANTICON or its successor GEMCO. HISTORICON 86 was yet another "Best Ever." It made less ($2010 versus $2445) than HISTORICON 84. But attendance was up to over 900-possibly over 1,000 counting Sunday sightseers admitted free. But the narrowing of positive cash flow was ominous. This time it was driven mainly by the greed of the inn-keepers. They seemed to know that we had no options in the Washington DC area.
We resolved to by pass this problem and go to Harrisburg for HISTORICON 87. We had an excellent contract offer, though not as good as that proffered for the off season. Kruse Smith, then honcho of NASAMW, was bringing the WRG Nationals to HISTORICON due to previously cited problems with ORIGINS organizers. For the MINICON we would try to shoehorn into the Ramada again.
Newsletter 20 carried a long rambling discourse about the state of our dealings with TGWAG. HMGS MIDWEST was entering into collaboration with TSR on GENCON, driving many old-line gamers to jump ship, but having a smoother time of it than we did with ATLANTICON. Several people had singled me out at HISTORICON 86 to urge cooperation with ATLANTICON. And we were informed that not only ATLANTICON, but GAMA, tended to hold us maverick toy soldier guys responsible for the rift in TGWAG. I was to note: "..it appears that thinking members of GAMA are actually prepared to hold HMGS to blame if any TGWAG affair within 1,000 air miles of Washington DC fails to draw several hundred historical miniatures gamers."
We had been thrown off partly by GAMA negotiations with a group in Knoxville, followed by selection of Baltimore and ATLANTICON. But the latter company's lack of interest in collaboration was decisive. Although we were thankful, at least, that ATLANTICON had not invited us to participate in their 1986 convention, we had not been unwilling to consider ORIGINS 87. But, somewhat to our relief, neither offer was made.
As 1986 drew to a close, HMGS MIDWEST was becoming well established and moving towards ever better collaboration with TGWAG in the form of TSR (the sinister D&D Company.) The founding Chapter of HMGS was outgrowing the Washington DC area, facing up to it, and looking to Harrisburg. In many ways the Harrisburg years would be our golden years. But our relationship with TGWAG in the form of ATLANTICON was apparently coming to an end.
As stated, by the end of 1986 we had decided to bite the bullet and move out of the Washington DC area. We were in good financial shape. Our treasury was over $7,000 as of Newsletter 20 following HISTORICON 86. With due ins and due outs the net worth was roughly $7,500. And that reflected highly uneconomical insurance and deteriorating facility contracts. The convention attendance was running around 1,000 for HISTORICON with the "MINICONS" lagging but little behind. We had inspired imitation in HMGS MIDWEST. They had a viable convention in LITTLE WARS, though it was plagued by erratic growth. It was less into positive cash flow than might have been the case due to Todd Fisher's mania for "Judges' Pizza Parties." There were also stirrings elsewhere.
Although our every convention grew from year to year, and we were solvent without regard for member dues, we had problems. I had already written my famous article about the mythical motorcycle gang. In effect we had so much money that we would be a profitable takeover target for anyone who wanted a $1 OK treasury. The treasury vastly exceeded the dues of enough new members to outvote the small but dedicated membership. But while I had mild misgivings on this score, Walter Simon Esq. Had many more.
Wally would later, at my 1993 SCRUBY AWARD banquet, make some forgetful statements. In one he attributed to me the decision to go for incorporation, and to invest some of our "positive cash flow" in an interest bearing account. Actually those were his ideas. And when we discussed matters, he was in for a shock. Although I published comprehensive reports on each convention, I kept no check ledgers! My professional orientation was as comptroller, not accountant.
At that time I was also content to go with the rumor that organizations making less than $5,000 per year in their operations could presume that they were not-for-profit if they so represented themselves. Unca Wally consulted a lawyer expert in such matters. The latter worthy pointed out that our gross was in excess of $5,000 per year. I suspected that gross wasn't what counted, but what did I know. Those lawyers need the income I suppose.
I didn't take up double entry bookkeeping. But we did retain the lawyer and continued proceedings to prove that we were a not-for-profit corporation. We were making too much money to do otherwise. We had already, I think, pursuant to Jay Hadley's ByLaws, named the Smithsonian Institution's Military History Program as our successor in interest. Newsletter 20 (September 1986) reported:
"Since the last newsletter we have incorporated as a non profit organization but are still under IRS scrutiny as to the purity of our motives."
Another fine point that concerned Wally more than anyone else was our precise relationship as the original HMGS to MIDWEST and other potential imitators. For most of us it was enough that they seemed to be dedicated to promoting the hobby and its relationship to the study of military history (without prejudice of course, to Judges' Pizza Parties.) Being a lawyer, and therefore somewhat deranged, Walter Simon Esq. Wanted a more precise definition of what it meant for them to be an "HMGS". There would be no formal resolution f this issue until the Annapolis Convention of October 1990. By that time Wally would have given up his role as director and devoted himself to a new career as critic. The remaining Board of Directors (I think the fiction of an all member BOD and Executive Committee had been discarded) would bear the brunt of his puckish sense of humor. Unlike the ATLANTICON folks, we were not given the benefit of Banjo Music.
I was also abandoning responsibilities. With the decision to move HISTORICON 87 to Harrisburg came the end of my directorship of that convention. Harrisburg was about 137 miles from me. It was only about 80 miles from Bob Coggins. I enjoyed putting the conventions together, but the distance was prohibitive. Bob had extensive experience with commercial convention management. Moreover he was familiar with the HMGS convention program as I had been running it. I had no misgivings about his qualifications. I was concerned about a loss of influence on HMGS affairs. You could never tell what those guys would do without adult supervision. But HISTORICON came first, and I was confident that it would be safe in Bob's custody.
Once in Harrisburg the convention program would undergo substantial changes. The format was similar, but we would acquire more complimentary rooms and incur more staff expenses. I predicted (Newsletter 20) that we would avoid the Sheraton's flooding air conditioners, avoid facility costs by taking 150 rooms (I think we had used 200 for H86). We would be saving $1,900 on the facility, $400 on tables and set up. In return we would lose about 200 in local walk-ins. I did not foresee the degree to which vendors would increase, but otherwise I was pretty much on the money.
I also gave up the Newsletter to Stephen Dinsmore of Connecticut (one of the partners in SIMTAC.) This proved to be short-lived and inconclusive. He was not on the BOD and didn't have his fingers in all the pies, so I continued to pull most of the material together. The only certain example I had of a Dinsmore Newsletter is the one covering HISTORICON 87. It was a much more impressive set up job than most of mine, but I still wrote most of it. The chief legacy of this interim period is my lack of extra copies of the Newsletter issues for 87-88. I believe that by the GENCON-ORIGINS 88 After Action Report I was doing the set up, because I botched it. My local printer could only accommodate half tones at 65dpi, and I had my photos screened to 85dpi. The results, alas, were rather fuzzy.
In any case by the beginning of 1987 we were well established. HMGS (not yet EAST) was solvent, legally incorporated as a not for profit educational corporation in the state of Maryland, 501.C3 with IRS (which does not mean that we existed to give away money) and credible with the inn-keeping trade. We probably had less than 100 members. But our convention attendance had grown steadily from less than 300 to around 1,000, outgrowing three facilities. We were attracting attention and inspiring imitation across the country. Our dealings with the rest of TGWAG were some somewhat strained, but with malice towards none, we felt prepared to go our own way.
And of course, we were right!
Unexpurgated History of HMGS Volume I
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© Copyright 2004 Hal Thinglum
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