Hello again, fellow gamers! I hope that many of you had a chance to head up to Lancaster, PA for the annual HMGS HISTORICON convention. I saw quite a few of the NOVAG membership up there, but I'm sure that there were some that I didn't get a chance to speak with.

You might have seen me either Friday or Saturday running my "Chapultepec" game of the Mexican-American War in the Distlefink room. Both were marathon games, with the set-up taking an hour, the game itself 5 hours, and another hour to put everything away again. I was fairly pleased with the results of the two games, and think my rules, "Across the Rio Grande" are about complete. Unlike previous games I have run with these rules, I didn't encounter any problems this time.

As for the results from the two games, the outcome could not have been more unalike. In the waning moments of Friday's game, the Americans were driving the Mexicans out of the castle, and they conceded that it was only one turn away from an American victory. My thoughts on that game were that the U.S. players were experienced wargamers, understood the rules quickly, and did a good job at trying to achieve the victory conditions. The Mexican players did well also, but luck just wasn't on their side.

Saturday's game went a much differently. The American advance was stalled from the start and the main attack took too long in getting developed. By the time they got any troops up the hill, they were too little and too late. That said, more of these players were young and not as familiar with miniature gaming in general, so they had two hills to climb: learning the rules and playing the game itself.

I think (or at least hope) that all had a good time, and if you are interested in trying it out yourself, I will be setting up the same scenario at NOVAGCON, probably on Saturday in the evening. I hope to see you there, whether you play in my game or not!

In other NOVAG News, as you should all know by now, we are having our annual elections at NOVAGCON. I would like to see some nominations for the board!! In years past I have had to beg people to even run! The responsibilities are few, the time requirements almost non-existent, and you can have your name in the NOVAG News every month (woo-hoo!). If you are interested, see me at the Game Parlor almost any Friday, e-mail me at firstva@patriot.net, or send it to the NOVAG P.O. Box. I'll be looking for them! Please send in your nominations with a short biography before 1 September.