It doesn’t take a hero to order men into battle. It takes a hero to be one of those men who goes into battle.

--General Norman Schwarzkopf

The HAWKs are very pleased to accept NOVAG’s invitation to post club news in The Gamers’ Closet. This is a wonderful opportunity to share ideas with out neighbors in Virginia and Southern Maryland. In each issue, we’ll have an update on recent HAWKs projects and activities. Since the last few months have been rather eventful, I‘ll get right to it.

In this Gaslight Game, Cleo’s automated log cutter finds a Union Air Cavalry who has injudiciously hidden in what is rapidly ceasing to be a cornfield.

Historicon was a big success for the HAWKs. We hosted a club record 52 games, including for the first time, a slate of three Sunday games. The second running of our Historicon Kids’ Table was even more popular than last year. The HAWKs are very happy about the success of the NOVAG room. We’ve been enjoying the benefits of the clubroom and advocating the expansion of the concept for many years. Here’s hoping the NOVAG room grows to be an HMGS East convention highlight.

On Saturday September 14, the HAWKs ran a miniatures gaming demo as part of the Defenders’ Day commemoration at Fort McHenry. Defenders’ Day marks the repulse of the British invasion in September 1814. The HAWKs were invited by the fort’s park rangers to present the Battle of North Point, a critical part of the defense. We ran the 25mm, four player game twice through the day with HAWKs as the players. Visitor were invited to join the game and three boys did for a turn or two each. During the game, other HAWKs greeted the crowd, answered questions and generally promoted the hobby. We distributed literature to promote, Barrage VII, Gamecon 17, Fall In!, and gaming in general. Most of the visitors found what we were doing interesting and asked a lot of questions. The reenactors whose units were on the table got a special kick out of it. Based on this success, the HAWKs are thinking about making this an annual event. Several visitors were from the DC Northern Virginia area, so next time NOVAG might like to send a representative.

Jeff of the HAWKs and Bob of NOVAG lead their armies of Amazons in Cleo’s (of NOVAG) politically incorrect Amazon Game at Barrage VII.

Several HAWKS attended Gamecon 17 and ran 2 games. I spent most of Saturday there and the place was pretty busy -- lots of games in a broad mix. I finally got a chance to try Battlefront in a game run by Jim Baker of the design team. The system was easy to learn, even for me, and had a good feel. Thanks to Jim for an interesting scenario. Later, I ran my Buck Rogers Blood and Swash tavern brawl game next to the front desk where it turned a lot of heads. It was a great con and the HAWKs are glad to have been part of it.

Barrage VII, the HAWKs one day con, was held on October 5th. There were about 20 games with a hefty chunk provided by non HAWKs, including a contingent from NOVAG. At this point the final numbers are not counted, but attendance seemed to be down a bit, but those who came had a lot of fun. We increased the number of dealers and they reported good sales again. Director Geoff Graff gets credit for another fine job.

Looking ahead, we’ll be running 24 games Fall In! -- a club high again. This puts us at 113 games at East cons in 2002. An special feature we’re excited about is the combination of the HAWKs and NOVAG Fall In! games in the Paradise Room.

One of the HAWKs’ special Fall In! events will be the kickoff of the Battles for Beginners Competition. In this, veteran gamers will compete to provide the best entry level game, one that can be reproduced by a raw newcomer for under $100. There will be a kick off ceremony and the official rules and entry forms will be unveiled at Fall In! 2002. The contest will conclude with running of all the entered games at Fall In! 2003.

In the next issue, we’ll report on Fall In! 2002 and Cold Wars 2003 plans.