This year Lancaster PA once again hosted Historicon, HMGS East's signature wargaming convention. Once again it lived up to its reputation as the largest historical miniatures convention of its kind.

The weather was cooperative this year. The heat was bad, but not as bad as in some years past. There was no rain, so it was safe to carry miniatures and rules in from the car without fear of them being ruined. Parking seemed worse than in previous years. I believe this is a result of an ever increasing attendance.

Many changes were implemented this year in response to past concerns. The biggest was perhaps the swap between the Tennis Barn and the Lampeter hall. This year the area previously occupied by the vendors was instead taken up by the flea market and ancients gamers. The vendors were relocated to the Tennis Barn. This was partly due to the poor ventilation in the old dealers area. The large crowds tended to raise the heat and humidity in that room to uncomfortable levels.

The Tennis Barn also provided more room to the ever growing army of vendors. Some vendors who were featuring games also had their booth set up with the game tables right next to them, something that would have been previously impossible in the old cramped vendor's area.

Another noticeable change was in the program book. Cold Wars tried something different by listing events sorted by historical periods, as opposed to game times. This met with rather poor reviews, as games said it made it difficult to look up what games were being run at a particular time.

At Historicon, they tried a different approach. Games were sorted by game time as before, but within each game time they were further sorted by historical period, ranging from Biblical to Futuristic. This approach seemed to work better, and no complaints were heard by this attendee.

The games themselves returned to the Distelfink room, as well as the other rooms about the lower level. The caliber of games appears to have been on par with previous years. As always, there were several "Showcase" games. Duke Siegfried ran an Aztec game that attracted a lot of attention for its terrain. Pete Panzeri ran both his Alamo and his Little Big Horn games. Both are very visually impressive, if only for the masses of 25mm figures used. Several smaller games are also worthy of note. One group ran a smallish St Nazaire skirmish game whose terrain was outstanding. John McConnell's Chapultapec scenario also received many kudos, due to the impressive model of the Chapultepec Citadel. There were many others of note, but unfortunately I could not see them all.

In all, it was an enjoyable convention. Fall In is the next HMGS convention in line, and it runs in November. In the middle of September is our own NOVAGCON, and details for it can be found in the centerfold. The gaming schedule for it is rapidly filling up, so this year looks to be another great success.