John Carnarano

My name is John Camarano. I am your current President on the Board of Directors. For the past year I have had the privilege to guide NOVAG through some really exciting times. We had a few minor snags along the way, but for the most part everything followed the plan that was set forth. That is why I am running for the Board again this year. This is why I am asking for you to vote for me again in this upcoming election.

In the past year I have helped guide NOVAG to a much healthier state than it was in a year ago. When I was elected last year I said my first goal was to not only increase membership, but to increase member awareness as well. Since then we have more than doubled our membership, and those new members are becoming more involved in the club and its activities.

Under my leadership the Board has reached out to area stores and put on gamesdays. In June we have one scheduled at a local community center. These game days have not only helped show off our club to new members but have helped to bring an overall awareness to the club amongst its existing members as well. To further our efforts in recruitment and visibility I started bringing the banner to HMGS-East events beginning with Fall-In, and I have organized the NoVAG membership at these conventions to increase our presence. We now have in place the workings to continue this presence including having our very own room at the HMGS conventions. I have also used the HMGS conventions as a means of attracting more vendors to our shows. I have personally spent hours upon hours in the dealer's area promoting our conventions. Judging by the response I received at Cold Wars my efforts have been paying off, and we should have a large increase in vendors at the September show.

I also was the one to scoop up the two best newsletter editors in the wargaming field when they became available. With them on board our newsletter has taken on a new life. As a matter of fact, our newsletter is now available online at Magweb.com. I feel it is important to have a newsletter in which ideas can be shared and information passed along to the membership. It is also an important tool to show potential members what we are all about.

Speaking of which, my focus with NoVAG has been as a club for gamers. Not just historical miniatures, but ALL types of gaming. We have reached out to the boardgamers, the cardgamers, the role-players, and anyone else who shares a love of games to come and be a part of our group. I directed the Board members to go out and make contact with all the various groups and have them come to our last show. If you were there then I know you were as excited as I was to see all the various types of gaming going on. There will be an even larger assortment of gaming going on at the next show in September. I have personally been working hand in hand with HMGS-East to continue our relationship with them and find new exciting ways that they can be of benefit to us.

Two other ideas I had to increase awareness of our club were to change our web site and to use the Yahoo groups to communicate with the members and potential members. The web site had been outdated for a while, and it was frequently unavailable. Now, thanks to Walt, we have an attractive, updated, and very easy-to-use web site that we can all be proud of. The Yahoo group has taken on a life of its own and continues to be a vital method for communicating with the membership. Communication is vital to the Board providing the types of services that the members desire.

Finally, all of my efforts will culminate in the first 2- day show that NOVAG has sponsored in many years. I have pushed and prodded, and slowly but surely I have built a momentum in NOVAG that has steadily grown. At Gamecon 16 not only did everyone inquire as to when the next show would be, but they didn't want the current one to end. We actually still had quite a bit of gaming going on at 7:30 PM.

The buzz has continued to grow with many people coming up to me at Cold Wars thanking me for the work I had done and wondering what was going to be next. I know that this 2- day convention is going to be a huge success. I also know that the momentum is not done building. I have many ideas on how to continue the excitement that NOVAG is generating and make this the premier club for AU Gamers in the Washington area. That is why I am asking you to please vote for me in the upcoming elections.

I thank you for your support, John Camarano-- President of NOVAG

Wait O'Hara

This is official notice that Walt O'Hara intends to run for the NOVAG BoD again for the upcoming 2002 to 2003 season.

Looking back on the last year, I'm balancing what I said I would try to do if I got elected against what actually got accomplished, and I get a nice warm and ftizzy. My 2001 to 2002 goals could be summarized as: to encourage a more generalist approach to gaming, to do what I could to heal old wounds with HMGS, to "keep it light" in all of my business with individuals and other groups, to promote NOVAG as best I could, to build a greater sense of NOVAG "community", and (specifically) increase attendance at cons, game days and affiliated events, lastly, to create a community outreach style gaming event we could use to recruit with. It would be a singular act of hubris to say *I* accomplished all of that, more accurately I think we (as a team) have experienced some success this year. The BoD team we voted in were very fortunate in the fact that they worked together well for the most part, there were few arguments, less politics, and generally a "Hey, I'll do that" mind-set prevalent at board meetings.

To begin with, GANIECON 16 was a success, in terms of attendance, games played and (I hope!) the fun people had I am personally proud of the Ogeneric gaming" look and feel of the con; looking out at the convention I saw card games, board games, and miniatures gamers playing side by side and having a hell of a good time. That's the kind of con I want to run, and the kind of con I'm working towards making GAMECON 17 into-something for everyone. Having 110+ more attendees than last time doesn't hurt, either.

In terms of promotion, we've put in a good effort. We wrangled an unofficial NOVAG room for Cold Wars, an official one for HISTORICON, and will likely participate in FALL IN 02. We have showed the flag (or more accurately, the big green banner) in all HMGS East events this year. We threw two GAMEDAYS so far, supporting two local store vendors and we have plans for three more this year. We've relied on flyers and posters so far (with stores providing the venue for distribution), but are looking at better ways to get the word out.

The new website http://www.novag.org is part of this plan. Of course, there's also the new message board and the YAHOO GROUPS, which have proven to be very effective in disseminating information. I'm particularly pleased with the NOVAG shirt and NOVAG Fez (yes, we are serious) ideas that have been floating around, As the great Wilfred Brimley once said, "It's not a club if you don't have a silly hat!" I appreciate those groups who do use Club shirts as a means of instant identification and even recruitment. With a little organization (and some funds), we will be sporting our new shirts (AND fezzes) for I-IISTORICON.

Lastly, I'm pleased to note the ONE "non-motherhood" promise I made -- to throw a community outreach style GAMEDAY, will be kept on 23 June, and repeated on 11 August. With a little luck, I can grow this effort into a series of community game days. The local community (Burke, VA) seems eager to let me have the facilities.

Where do we go in 2003? This is what I want to do: - Grow memberships by at LEAST 50%; -- Develop a successful program that can evolve into a THREE DAY, FALL TIME FRAME convention held locally; -- Attract more vendors to the conventions... at least twice as many. -- Continue to work well with HMGS-East and (hopefully) apply for a grant from them for our convention program; -- Continue to work on building "NOVAG Community" -- Develop Standard Operating procedures for running CONS and GAMEDAYS-- Expand the capability of the website to build an online registration and pre-reg. system. -- Continue supporting the Gainer's Closet with articles, if the muse is upon me. -- Continue "keeping it light"... politics, backbiting, and "who- shot-john" games get us nowhere, fast. -- Build on relationships with other local clubs, including HAWKS, WGA, NOVABS, etc. Not quite as Motherhood in tone as the previous campaign statement then again I hope I've grown enough with the job to set goals I think I can keep,

In sum, I hope you decide to keep me around another term. I've enjoyed my term as VP, and felt that we actually ACCOMPLISHED something instead of grumping and criticizing how bloody awful things are supposed to be. Hopefully we can do more in 20031

Roxanne (General) Patton

Started wargaming many years ago when The Avalon Hill Game Company was know as Avalon Hill. Regularly attended GEN CON from 1986 till 1997 while living in the Md- West. Joined HMGS-Md-West in 1987 or 1988 and have been a regular member of IHMGS since. Began serious miniature gaming after attending HMGS Mid-West "Little Wars" convention. Joined NOVAG in 1997 and have been a member in good standing since then. Held the office of NOVAG Vice President from August 2000 to August 2001 and NOVAG Member-at-Large for the past year. I am full of energy and optimism for our hobby, which never fails to entertain as well as inform. It would be a great honor and pleasure to serve again on the NOVAG Board of Directors.

John E. McConnell

Many of you know me from my previous years as an active Board Member and President of NOVAG, but some of you may not. I offer you this brief description of my gaming "life" so that you may understand where I've come from in this hobby.

I played my first historical miniature wargame in 1978, a game depicting a battle from the American Revolution. I didn't know it then, but that one event started both my interest in the American Revolution, that continues to this day, and my collection of wargaming figures, which has also since grown and grown. And even though I started off with historical gaming, I have also been involved in both fantasy and science fiction gaming. For me, a miniature game, as long as it's fun, and has good-looking figures and terrain, can catch my interest.

Along those lines, I've written two unpublished sets of rules that some of you may have had an opportunity to have played: the notorious "Snuffles the Baby Seal"; a spoof of seal hunting and its controversialist and the more mundane "Across the Rio Grande"; a set of rules for fighting the Mexican-American War. Perhaps you saw my games using the latter set of rules at Historicon?

Even though the Northern Virginia Gainers, or NOVAG, was founded in 1985 and I lived in this area then, I didn't know of it until after I left the Army in 1991 and attended my first NOVAG Convention that year. It wasn't until the next year that I became a member of the club, and not until the following year was I involved in the administration of the club. That occurred when I became the newsletter editor for NOVAG in January 1993, a job I held for 3 years before giving it up to become club president. After one year as president I became vice president of NOVAG for 3 years, concentrating my time on recruiting a new president each year, assisting whomever the newsletter editor was, continuing to work on increasing NOVAG membership, organizing our conventions, and working with vendors and sponsoring retailers to increase NOVAG's visibility.

Last year I ran for the board and was elected, after a one-year hiatus, serving in the role of club Secretary. I organized a game day at Game Parlor, attended nearly all of the NOVAG Board of Directors' (BoD) meetings, was very active on the NOVAG BoD message board, and ran games at EMGS- East events under the NOVAG banner. I also believe that I provided much needed assistance to the previous board based on my prior experience. I think that that experience is still needed for the upcoming year.

The work that the 2001-2002 NOVAG board started should be continued We have helped raise NOVAG up, by starting a real program of regular Game Days in local stores and other locations, by growing our conventions, by reaching out to other local gaming groups, and by raising NOVAG visibility at HMGS-Events. The next stage is going to involve more of the same. I hope to be a part of that continuance, and with your vote I will be honored to serve the NOVAG membership in any capacity that they desire.

If elected again, I intend on assisting the remainder of the board, and our membership, as much as I can by remaining an active and productive member of the NOVAG Board of Directors.

Bob Liebl

It may seem strange that since I've studiously avoided the political side of the gaming organizations to which I belong, that I should now be running for office on the NOVAG BoD. Well, unlike some other groups, the ladies and gentlemen of the present NOVAG BoD are neither political nor egotistical. Ever since Cleo and I became NOVAG's editors a year ago, we have been attending all of the NOVAG BoD's meetings. We have not only been permitted to voice our opinions, but we have been encouraged to do so. We have also been permitted to vote. Such liberties were never extended to us before. Therefore, Cleo and I already have a year's experience on the NOVAG BoD. They are all friendly, and working hard for us gamers and our hobby. Machiavelli doesn't have a seat on the NOVAG BoD. So, knowing what the job entails-having already done if for a year- and thoroughly liking and appreciating the people with whom I would be working, I have decided to run for this apolitical office.

What about me as a wargamer? Thanks to the centennial of the Civil War and the Battle of Gettysburg in 1963, my attention was attracted to the hobby, and I bought my first wargame. Since then, I have acquired nearly two hundred board wargames. In 1964 I purchased and painted my first miniatures from Jack Scruby, and now have several thousand painted from everything from my Ancient Persians to my sons' Space Marines. When my children were old enough, I edged them into Dungeons & Dragons, and we're still there in a Tuesday night group that meets at our place. I have been into computer simulations and wargames ever since the Commodore 64 came out. When the bicentennial of our American Revolution broke out, I joined the Grenadier Company of the 23rd Royal Welch Fusiliers, and spent several years endeavoring to have fun, drink beer, and suppress the rebellion. As they say, two out of three isn't bad

I have been associated with NOVAG ever since I retired from teaching high school in New York-unarmed-and moved to Maryland in 1996. We were introduced to NOVAG, and began attending their conventions and then putting on wargames at them. When we discovered the group of NOVAG gamers at the Game Parlor in Chantilly--a most excellent place- we began regularly gaming with them, even though we live in Germantown, Maryland For this past year we have been the editor and primary writer for your newsletter, The Gamers' Closet.

As the editor and primary contributor to your newsletter for this past year, I have found it impossible to hide from NOVAG's public scrutiny. Whereas the individual member of NOVAG may well wonder what so-&-so on the BoD does for the hobby, they get to see and read what I do in black and white every quarter. As you've no doubt noticed, your newsletter has gotten bigger--a lot bigger--and I like to think that it has more STUFF of interest to you, the hobbyist. If you like what I've been doing for this past year, then I ask you to cast your ballot for me.