Hurricon Beats the Hurricane

Convention Director's Report

by Nick Zizo

There were many invited guests to HURRICON 98, yet one uninvited guest loomed larger than everyone else, Hurricane Georges. At first there didn't seem any urgency. The first phone call of concern came Monday of HURRICON week. From the panhandle. By Wednesday the calls came in heavy, mostly calls of cancellation, not concern. Thursday night, as we set up the tables at the hotel, the board made a courageous decision to go on with the convention. Their reasoning- there just wasn't a way to contact the people that didn't pre-register to tell them, and the board's concern was that people would come to the hotel and there wouldn't be a convention for them.

The board's decision was the right one. One voice in favor of going on with the con was Duke Seifried, whom I had picked up from the airport earlier that day. In the true spirit of showmanship Duke said the show must go on. In spite of everything thrown at us the show was a success and approximately 150 people enjoyed the con. The gaming tables were full of games Saturday afternoon and evening. People exiting told me they had fun, and were glad the con went on.

Duke Seifried ran his Sudan game Friday evening and Saturday afternoon. It was spectacular and a great success. There were plenty of players and many of the hotel guests stopped by to look and chat with Duke. Duke played the role of ambassador well and may have convinced some people to join HMGS South. Bill Moreno came Saturday and ran Murfreesboro to the delight of the ACW players. I would like to thank Duke and Bill, newcomers to our con, and invite them to come back as often as they want to. David Clayton's Viking and Napoleonic games drew much interest and were enjoyed by the players. Thanks David. I want to thank everyone who ran a game at the con including David Neal, Harold Mudry, Bryan Stroup, Deke Ashton, John Marron & Henri Pensis (the Gainesville Garrison ran many games), Chuck Holabird and everyone.

I want to thank the following people who helped me set up and work the con: Special thanks to Liz Zizo and Chuck Holabird. Liz did her usual fantastic job running the registration desk and keeping it organized and efficient. Chuck was invaluable to me with event scheduling and making sure the proper tables were used by gamesmasters, as well as scheduling pickup games. I wish to thank Harold Mudry for supplying the extra tables we needed. If anyone has an event coming up and needs to rent items I suggest you see Harold first. I want to thank the board members who helped out, including Bryan Stroup, Rhett Scott, Rickey Grice, President Chuck Kennedy, and Dan Miller. A special thanks to Dan for taking care of everything that had to do with the Armati Tournament and providing prizes (taking some pressure off me). Dan - next year you have the Cypress Room for the tournament.

I want to thank the dealers who came to the con not knowing if they would have plenty of customers, but to support us anyway. They are London War Room, Elan Miniatures, Editions Brokaw, Fortress Games, Regimental Colours, and Dan Richardson. Thanks so much for coming.

To those people who could not make the con, we missed you, but we understand that concern for your families is more important than the con. We hope that you will join us at RECON, April 30 thru May 2, and HURRICON 99, September 24 – 26.

In the meantime I am working on HURRICON 99. My e-mail address is nzizo@gte.net and my phone # is 727-842-3470. If anyone is ready to run events please send me the information. There will be 18 gaming spaces in the Coral Room, each 8' by 5' for each session. Those of you wanting double spaces or to run longer games let me know ASAP so I can plan for that. I know it seems a long way off but HURRICON 99 will be here before you know it. Anyone wishing to run boardgames will have a room to themselves with good lighting and security. Tournaments will be in the Cypress Room and children's gaming will be in the Tropic Room. There will be 40 dealer tables in the Coral Room as well. If anyone has any questions please contact me. See you at RECON 99...

Armati Tournament Winners:

    Overall – Hugh Downing (Selucid Army)
    2nd Place – Joe Daniel (Trajanic Roman Army)
    3rd Place – Robert Grainger (Medieval Japanese Army)

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