Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, is approximately two hours from Washington, DC. And with approximately 850 paid admissions, some 45 dealer setups with over 200 dealers. attending, lots of flea market space, 20 gaming tables constantly busy in the main gaming area, and a separate section for the WRG crowd... the 'four day HISTORICON '88 looked good. I presided over the Historical Miniatures Gaming Society (HMGS) meeting... my last as President... at which a new slate of Directors was elected. There are now six members of the Board, up from three, and hopefully, six people sharing the load will work twice as efficiently as three. To ensure an adequate time period for the HMGS meeting, the gaming and dealer areas were closed 'till noon on Friday, July 15. This made lots of dealers unhappy... as one put it: he had come a long way to sell toy soldiers, and, in effect, he was being "taxed all morning so that HMGS could hold its discussions. He-who-was-in- charge agreed that this wouldn't occur in the future. Sometime after the main meeting, the six Directors got together for their own elections; the result was: Dick Sossi President Bob Coggins Vice-President Mike Montemarano Treasurer Pat Condray Todd Fisher Wally Simon As soon as the new officers were elected, I moved that HMGS, whose treasury is full, contribute a small sum to the Potomac Wargamers, whose treasury is less than full. Over the years, the PW organization has always helped HMGS out... preconvention mailings, manning the front desk, etc,... I thought 'twould be a nice gesture if HMGS assisted PW in kind. The motion was passed, and PW will profit by $100, for which I thank the Board of Directors. Early on Friday night, I sat down to observe the editor of the COURIER, Dick Bryant, hosting a Chasseur and Needlegun (CN) affair, circa 1870. I think the figures were Wargame Foundry, 25mm, and the setup was striking. The 25mm figures,-wihile not objets d'art in themselves, were in forceful, advancing poses and the effect was impressive. CN uses, for the French, 18-man battalions in 3- battalion regiments, and the 54-man regiments presented an excellent display of color and "mass". The rules reflect the difference on weaponry: the French chassepot fired 24 inches, while the Prussian needlegun was restricted to 16 inches. Conversely, the Prussians had the advantage in artillery: Prussian shells went out to 54 inches, French only to 40. Each regiment had its name on a card in the movement deck, a la ON TO RICHMOND, and moved when its card was drawn. After all movement was complete, the fire phases began, and after fire came melee. Each battalion was given a marker to indicate its particular morale modifier. Four modifiers were available: +109 +20, +30, and +40. The markers used :were colored pipe-stems, and in discussing these with Leo Cronin, COURIER's alter egos I was treated to a discussion of how Leo had discovered how to make cactii out of pipe-stems for his desert war games. For some five minutes, I was kept a virtual prisoner listening to Leo's discourse, and now, Is too, despite myself, am well versed in pipe-stem-to-cactii conversions. I came across Jerry Lannigan putting on an ECW game... 25mm, and lots of good looking troops. Here, Jerry was presenting the same encounter he described in his battle report in the May REVIEW using VORLORENE HAUFE rules. It was interesTiog to note the terrain, troop placement, etc., all brought alive and colorful, in contrast to the "black and whitem description in the REVIEW. And there was Ed Mohrmann, running what looked like a familiar game. And, indeed, it was... the same skirmish game I described about five years ago in the REVIEW, a game played when a group of PWers visited Ed's home ground in Raleigh, North Carolina. Yes, there were the 1/72 German paratroops just landed in the English village, and there was the Vicar, and there was the sweet 85 year old lady who kept a 357 Magnum in her purse, and so on. No change in five years. It's good to know there's a certain amount of constancy in this ever changing world of ours. I hosted one game and played in three others. The game over which I presided was the first in some time which was not on the skirmish level. Instead, I ventured into the 20mm tactical Napoleonic field, a "morale game" which incorporated many of the ideas I have discussed in the REVIEW, and which went smoothly... at least, no one invited me outside to "discuss" any of the issues. On Saturday, I think, I again ran into Dick Bryant who was engaged in a 15mm game. He had a copy of ON TO RICHMOND (OTR) in front of him, and said he had been taken in, the victim of a "con job". He had volunteered for the game, supposedly the Napoleonics version of OTR, termed ON TO VIENNA. According to Dick, the sole change on the rules system, to change the setting from the American Civil War to the Napoleonic era, was to substitute Napoleonic figures for ACW 15mm figures. All else remained the same. My comment: "What else is new?" I played in Charlie Sweet's musket and pike game, the rules of which are now some 15 years, old. The game is played on a gridded field with unitsmoving from squareto square. Artillery fire uses a small spring-loaded cannon which fires a toothpick. If the head of the toothpick lands 1/2 inch or closer to 'a stand, the stand is removed. The toothpick may bounce, may roll, may ricochet... as a result, one can easily destroy onets own troops during the firing procedure. Charlie is one the wargaming world's venerables; he's been around forever. Over the years, Charlie has done much Intensive ballistic research in the toothpick-missile area. Among other items, he has developed the "hard-head", which goes KABAMI, and the "soft-head", which goes FLOOMP and then falls flat. I prefer the "hard-heado missile, I.e., the toothpick equivalent of the armor piercing round. Opposite me at this game was Mr. Moaner Groaner. Just my luck. No matter what happened, Mr. Moaner Groaner writhed in agony. "But he had five combat points, and I totalled only four. "But you let him flank me, and I had to charge frontally!" "But My light horse lost three points and he lost only one!" And so on. Out of 850 attendees, I had to get paired off with Mr. Moaner Groaner. I had another educational experience playing against Hap Jordan in a Seven Years War game we set up in 30mm. Hap teamed up with Fred Hubig to go against me and Bob Hurst. I have mentioned before in this magazine that Fred is a Competitor, First Class. He gives nothing away where the rules are concerned. It turns out that Hap is also a Competitor, First Class, but he has four Merit Badges to Fred's one. Fred is tough, Hap is tougher, and Fred and Hap are toughest. ITEM Bob and I placed Bob's troops on the field; I had forgotten to bring mine and so our only assets were some five regiments of Bob's. On the other side of the table, Fred reached into his troop box and commenced to set out his units. Out they came, more and more and more and more of them. Hap, too, was setting up his units. Everytime Fred set one up, Hap set up two. And everytime Hap set one up, Fred set Up- two. It was hard to break the cycle. In fact, it wasn't broken until the boxes were empty, at which point Fred noted that because their side's troops stretched shoulder to shoulder from one end of the baseline to the other, some three units deep, there seemed to be little room for maneuver and that he'd have to advance straight ahead. ITEM Hap's artillery was amazingly accurate. His round shot found its way through the smallest of gaps. Hap kept sighting his guns through "gaps" in his front rank. Figures on a stand are mounted, say, 1/4 inch from the end of the stand. With two stands together, there is, therefore, a 1/2 inch "gap" between figures. A gap is a gap, was Hap's philosophy, as he fired shot after shot between the legs of his men. ITEM Bob's cavalry, all 8-figure units, were mounted 2-figures to a stand. Hap's was mounted 1 per stand. The rules decreed that each time a loss occurred, a "stand" was to be removed. Hap bought this lock, stock and barrel; since he had one figure per stand, he lost one figure, while we had to lose two. A rule is a rule is a rule. I tried to call into play Hap's sense of equity, of do-unto- othernesss of liberty and justice for all. No use. A rule is a rule is a rule. We lose two, he loses one. Hap is school teacher, he's well over six feet, he's got a distinguished grey beard, and he towers over you looking like the prophet Isaiah. It's hard to argue with Isaiah on so puny a point as a rule in a silly wargame. Isaiah wins 'every time. 54mm Toy Soldier Wargame The second game I was to host was billed as a 54m TOY SOLDIER WARGAME. Despite an announcement over the loudspeaker, no one wanted to play with 54mm figures. Being a curious soul, I tried an experiment... I had my terrain set up, but I didn't set out a single figure... all remained in the box. I wanted to find out if anyone would flock to my banner without really knowing what sort of a game he was joining. The reason I did this was that one table away, Bob Luddy and Bob Walusin were setting up their game, and they, too, could lure no solely on the basis of the bland statement, "There's a game scheduled here." It was only when the two Bobs set out their armies... a dazzling display of 25mm knights and tapestries and banners and decorated horses... that the gamers came. Dex Jernigan presented his game of Wake Island. Dex had put a great deal of effort into his terrain: a model of Wake Island, some 8 feet by 6, with bunkers and an air strip and barbed wire and palm trees, etc. I noted some seven Japanese commanders around the table, each with a battalion(?) division(?) of 25 Japanese troops in 15mm, ready to land. The American defending assets were not visible. As usual, the games for the whoop-it-uppers drew throngs. The ALAMO appeared and the huge crowd shouted and screamed and annoyed all other gamers in the vicinity. LIMEYS & SLIMEYS appeared and the huge crowd shouted and screamed and annoyed all other gamers in the vicinity. Hank Martin put on a Zulu extravaganza and the huge crowd shouted and screamed and annoyed all other gamers in the vicinity. More and more do I dislike presenting a game at a convention. Due to the ambient noise level, if someone at your table asks you a question, you can't hear him. And when you reply, he can't hear you. Not my cup o' tea. I prefer the quiet reserved, scholarly7 atmosphere of my own recreation room, where, if one whispers across the table, "You little twerp... don't you have brains enough to understand the rules?", the sound reverberates from wall to wall. I am consistently amazed at Ed Mohrmann's endless supply of energy. Over the years, Ed has appeared at every convention... traveling from Raleigh,, North Carolina* up and. down the coast at the drop of a hat. He seems to put on a game during every available time slot... one can look around the gaming area at any point in time, ands yups there's Ed Mohrmann running an event. After awhile, the hall seems to be full of nothing but Ed Mohmanns running events. Evidently, Ed does not eat, does not sleep. He obtains nourishment and renews his life support system requirements via some sort of symbiotic relationship with the gaming table and the toy soldiers thereon. The more toy soldiers, the more rapid his system recharge. My thanks to Ed for all the support he's provided these many years. During the four days at HISTORICON, I heard only two negative comments, both from dealers: HMGS invited too many dealers. Here, the logic is that there are only so many gamers with only so much money to spend, hence the more dealers, the less dollars per dealer there are to be made. HMGS should cancel the flea market. The reasoning is along the line that the flea marketeers, who pay a minimum fee for their tables, undercut the true dealers, who pay much higher rates for their set-ups. Both viewpoints are rational and make sense from the dealers' point of view. They fail to take into account, however, that the convention is for the gamer, and not the dealer. As a gamer, I want more dealers and more flea markets. This radical difference in outlook between the gamers and the dealers caused me, some time ago, to come to the conclusion that HMGS should not include dealers amongst its members. HMGS is a gamer's organization... it should reflect gamer's attitudes. The dealers are to be regarded as a protected species... we need them and should provide for them, but we shouldn't be guided by them. Having said that, the question pops up: then why did I nominate and vote for Dick Sossi as the new President of HMGS? Dick owns the SHIP & SOLDIER SHOP; he is a full-time dealer in toy soldiers. Well, men, keep this to yourself, but this is sort of a no-lose position for me. Dick is extremely capable, and if he does well, as I think he will, I go down in history as being the man that chose and voted for a most capable executive. On the other hand, if Dick flubs de dub, I can say: I nominated him just to show that the organization will go down the drain if a dealer is in charge. So much for politics and reasoned thought. Back to HISTORICON The last game in which I participated was a COLUMN, LINE & SQUARE (CLS) affair hosted in 25mm by one of the New York* contingent. Big* huge, massive and large Austrian units advancing on the French defensive 1ines. Big, huge, massive and large Austrian casualties. More big, huge* massive and large Austrian reserves come on the field. Terry Sirk, Fred Haub and I ran the French. We had smashed and bashed the oncoming Austrians for 9 turns, holding our lines intact, and things looked good for France despite our thinning ranks, when disaster struck. Way out on our left flank. Terry's cavalry, our only remaining troop of horse, charged and contacted the front of one of the bigs huge, massive and large Austrian columns heading for a small protected villa. In the melee, each side threw two 6-sided dice. Terry's cavalry added +2 to the dice throw and knocked off one Austrian figure for every point difference between his total and his opposition's dice throw. Adding +2 gave Terry an 81.3% chance to win every combat, i.e.v 4 to 1 odds. General Sirk was bowling over Austrians in great quantitiesq when the other side threw doubles, indicating that the French cavalry had to test its morale. Helas! Away went the cavalry, and away went our hopes for victory, since without cavalry support, there were more than enough Austrians to do our French infantry in. Rest assured, it'll be a long time before Terry Sirk gets my vote as HMGS President! Wotta way to end a convention! Back to PW Review August 1988 Table of Contents Back to PW Review List of Issues Back to MagWeb Master Magazine List © Copyright 1988 Wally Simon This article appears in MagWeb (Magazine Web) on the Internet World Wide Web. Other articles from military history and related magazines are available at http://www.magweb.com