HMGS-South, a new chapter of HMGS, was formed in March of ' 96. The reason the group was formed was to advance our hobby. The decision on timing of the club's first convention wasn't made until summer. From then, the Board of Directors worked feverishly to build a convention from the ground up that succeeded in all areas i.e. national attention, good games, happy vendors, and lots of happy players.

First and foremost, for the convention to succeed it needed participation. Getting national-level attention wasn't enough, HMGS-South needed big games and big gainers. Through a series of phone calls and letters, Rick Nance (the Tarawa battle master - see MWAN #81 cover) and John Hill (author of Johnny Reb) agreed to come to Tampa, Florida for the convention. Their distinguished names were added to future advertisements in order to help draw gainers.

That leads to a second requirement of a good convention - vendors. Besides local stores like The Emperor's Outpost, Modeller's Mart, & The Tactical Edge; near-local Tom Panena (BP Cast), Bob Bowling (Raventhorpe & Redoubt), and The Soldiery committed to set up tables. These names were added to the list and the convention started to take on a personality. Success appeared within the reach of HMGS-South, but just enough to taunt the planners.

The last and key ingredient in a successful convention is player participation. Big name players. Big name vendors. Big name winter resort town. With these on the side of HMGS-South, the die modifiers were stacked on the side of the good guys. You can indeed make your own luck.

The convention drew 127 paid attendees and 30 observers. Dick Sossi, Joey Lacour, Jeff Howard, and Rick Nance from the National Board of HMGS supported Hurricon by both attending the convention and joining HMGS-South. During the convention games ran constantly and besides the grim looks of hardcore garners who just failed the latest morale check, most had the look of eager anticipation. HURRICON 96 ensured a variety of games were ongoing at any point in time and that there was a good mix of learning games and advanced games.

Leaving very lime to chance, the first game to meet me as I entered the hall was Rick Nance's extremely visual Tarawa setup. Rick runs the Tarawa scenario to keep play moving along, which in turn keeps the players engaged and a sort of perpetual motion happening on the table. The interest and excitement generated by the game are quite remarkable. At this point I must admit that as a career U.S. Marine and a WWII gaming enthusiast (yes, I bought Tractics when it first came out), I had a difficult time tearing myself away. Finally I managed to move on, not for lack of interest, but in deference to the many new garners arriving and wanting to watch a little of the Pacific battle. I left 15mm WWII and walked to the side of the hall to try and take it all in. By 10:00 AM on Saturday, besides Tarawa, I saw a couple different ACW games ongoing, a couple micro-armor tables, another WWII in 20mm, an AWI game, the Armati tournament, and finally a Zulu War romp & stomp. The Civil War figures and battlefields were both superbly done.

Obviously, the players brought out their Sunday best for the occasion. The ACW battle standard historically correct. This only confirmed what I had already assumed. No level of attention to detail was to great.

My next stop was the 20mm WWII using Battalions in Crisis. The learning game was just finishing up. A tactical error by the German player in his setup and continued attempt to hold a piece of high Shturmpanzer led to his eventual downfall. His lack of a turret severely affected his timely responses to the more mobile American force. He was ultimately riddled with hits as every unit on the table had a shot at him. I signed up for the 1:00 PM game.

I then spotted my friend and club secretary, Rhett Scott running the Zulu game. Masses streamed down a pair of flanking hills toward a minimally manned British square of wagons. As in all Zulu contests, it appeared that the British outpost was severely overmatched. At the very edge of the table, a contingent of British figures stood regally by. "What are these guys doing?" I asked innocently. "They 're the relieving force." I made a visual check of the distance, intervening terrain, range from the Zulus to the main body (they would begin close combat/melee the next turn). "They won't make it in time." Both players shook their heads in agreement. There was a minor miscue in the placement of the kraal and poor use of pickets on the playing table. However, on more that one occasion, history showed that the British in Africa were often on their own, that is, hung out to dry. As it turned out, this was the case in this rendition as well. The British player did very well by extending the game a couple of extra turns through prolonged melee and good die rolls. His relief arrived in time only to witness victorious Zulus streaming back over the hills. Smoldering wagon ash and dead bodies remained in the valley. The relief column carried the battle on the next day.

After the riveting Zulu contest, Rhett directed me to John Hill. I tuned in on John's distinctive voice and elbowed my way in to get a look at his game. He wasn't running a campaign, but rather a learning game, a demo of the Johnny Reb III rules. A small town, nestled in the wooded Virginia hills, was the object of desire for two small infantry forces. In order to demo the full set of rules, a few cannons and some cavalry were thrown in. Irregular forces fought along side the regulars. From what I saw, the game played right along. Morale played a big part and to highlight one of John Hill's explanations, losses aren't just dead, wounded, or captured, they're also missing. In tough fights, the irregulars didn't always hang around to see (or influence) the outcome. The 15mm scenery was done very well and required close scrutiny of the board to see troops arrayed behind bushes trees, looking through windows, or out from behind rocks. This was an enticing game and I should have signed up for the afternoon session, but didn't want to bail out on my 20mm WWII commitment. So I bought a copy of Johnny Reb III and the author graciously signed it while we discussed modern third world army logistics capabilities. Yes. I can party with John Hill.

I finally found my way to the dealer tables. Thank God for capitalism. All prices were reduced and the displayed goods were phenomenal. The majority of figures and scenery revolved around 1 5mm Napoleonicd, ACW and 20mm WWII (not to mention everything Redoubt makes). I believe I touched all of the unpainted stuff end simply ogled the painted armies. I am contemplating buying a painted 15mm skirmisher force to use with my new ACW rules. I did buy a couple 1/72 scale armored vechicles to spice up my infantry contests. Call this unnatural, but the most exciting things I've done in the Marine Corps involved small unit actions, including MOUT (Military Ops on Urban Terrian). I will always play small unit actions. I believe in the squad...

I don't know who decided to put the Warharnmer gamers way in the back, beyond the dealers, but they seemed right at home there. The contests I saw were arena battles. Last man (or thing) standing won. I guess this type of game will hold the interest of the same people who play Mortal Kombat, Tekken, or Streetfighters. It was time for my game.

My partner (former Marine grunt) and I had a couple Hellcats, a Sherman, and a squad of infantry on a halftrack. The German player had a hidden force. The only given on the German force was his Tiger tank guarding a bridge. The battleground was put on two tables end to end, and not in a big square. Nothing the impassable terrain along both sides of the long end, I knew we were canalized. This is a bad thing. Of course, adding to that, I assumed incorrectly where the battle would be joined and needlessly donated the lives of my two forward observers as I pushed them ahead of our main body. All in all, our opponent made one good die roll, numerous tactical errors (too much love of the high ground), and lost all his vehicles and all his troops. We lost four infantry (two on the first turn) and one Hellcat ( the I in 20 die roll using a Panzerfaust). It was a good time.

By this time, the afternoon session was well underway. A Seekrieg contest was being played out on the floor. There was much cowling around. Two different micro-armor battles were ongoing. My attention, of course, was drawn to the Stalingrad setup. Steve Rignanese's physical recreation of a block in WWII Stalingrad was just super. The German players' objective was to clear a Russian command post from the opposite corner of the board. He was using Battalions in Crisis for the armor/afv requirements and his own infantry rules for the rest of it. This could have been one of the smoothest flowing WWII games I've ever seen. All rules requirements fit on one 5x8 card. The game played very quickly and realistically, even though the German players were incredibly deliberate in their movement toward the objective (real-life recreated). The Russian sewer crawl into the German rear area brought them up right in front of the German command post being defended by a squad of dug-in infantry. Bad luck. The German players ultimately cleared the sector.

By then I had to go. I spent all the money in my pockets. I played in a couple of games and watched numerous others. Hurricon was well run and populated by gaming professionals. When the weather turns bad elsewhere (Hurricon suffered under a 75-degree sun), bring the family to Tampa Bay. The spouse and kids can have a good time at Busch Gardens (#3 amusement park in the U.S. - located 10 minutes down the street from the convention center), or Disney World (#1 - about an hour away), or Universal Studios Florida (#2 - also an hour away). This is a great place and time to have a convention. The buyers and garners are here. There's my pitch for at least Hurricon '97 (mid October at the Best Western at Busch Gardens in Tampa). The bottom line is you won't be disappointed by any HMGS-South sponsored event.

Craig H. Martelle, 1203 English Bluffs Ct., Brandon, FL 33511 (813) 653-3676; CMartelle@oasistech.com