Greetings fellow gamers!

I hope all of you are enjoying yourselves this summer, and are getting in plenty of gaming. At the recent Historicon historical miniatures convention, I noticed quite a few members of NOVAG in pursuit of "more lead", or participating in any one of hundreds of games. The game coordinators said that on Saturday, they had more games than they actually had table space for in the main gaming areas, and were putting last minute additions in any open space they could find!

I had a chance to speak with members of a number of other gaming clubs and organizations, and there seemed to be a general consensus of opinion about the state of our hobby. Almost everyone I spoke with said that they found more variety in figures and games than ever before, whether they were historical, fantasy, sci-fi, or any combination of these. There are more lines of figures from the established manufacturers, and new companies are appearing in the dealers area, with figures, terrain, and all manner of gaming supplies. The younger gamers are also getting into more games with figures, and the card games - like Pokemon - are appealing to a younger crowd these days. At Historicon, I noticed more games that were aimed at the younger gamers, and would have signed my daughter up for a couple of the games, had she been able to go to the con.

On a more important note, the game coordinators said that if NOVAG wanted to have a room or a portion of a room set aside for our use, they would see that we were allotted that space. We will be able to have NOVAG sponsored or affiliated games running most of the day, which should promote the club at the larger cons. This is only a possibility for the Fall In convention in Gettysburg this year, but is almost a certainty for Cold Wars next year. If you have a game that you would like to run for either of these conventions, let me know, and I will speak to the folks at HMGS about it.

We have our own NOVAGCON coming up very soon, and I hope you'll come out and support it, whether by running a game or by playing in someone else's. The club needs your support, and the members who organize and coordinate this con work hard to make it happen for us. I'll be there with my daughter, and if I can find enough suitable figures, we'll run a game with the younger folks in mind...

Well, I'm off to find some plastic 54mm warriors. See you at the games!