To my wife PJ, whom many of you have met at the registration desk for HURRICON and RECON, anything north of Jacksonville FL is "The Frozen North." In spite of the forbidding title, shortly after the JAX Garrison micro con, I headed for the first of two conventions over the northern border. Sam Scott's Bridge too Far at Fall In! 03 The first was FALL IN! 03, 14-16 NOV held at the Timonium Fair Grounds just off the Baltimore Beltway. If you had been following the e-groups you probably know that this was a very controversial affair. The new venue was intended to invite spectators and show off our obscure hobby to the masses on the I-95 corridor from Washington to Philadelphia. A great emphasis was placed on large and showy games. A major drawback was the fact that the convention hotel was over the horizon, and the dealer area and game hall were widely separated. A cow palace hosting a game auction was to the right of the route between. No expense had been spared. We were treated to Polish renaissance re-enactors including horse archery demonstrations, winged hussars, etc. The actual miniatures games included Vince Clyant's (London War Room) Theme Award Winning Walls of Constantinople, a 65ft long game based on Operation Market Garden, and even a 36' long by 10' wide DBA Game. As usual, the big HMGS EAST convention drew attendance from all over. Doug Bohannon and Rudy Nelson were on hand, as were Jodie and Pete Panzeri, and even Steve Verdoliva from the LA area (HMGS Pacific Southwest.) Everything seemed to be larger than life. There had been write-ups in the Washington DC papers, local ads, and a huge RTT sponsored by Games Workshop whose HQ for the colonies is in Glen Burnie around the Baltimore Beltway from Timonium. As a special service to the attenders of FALL IN! 03 the HMGS EAST Board of Directors retained a sizeable contingent of re-enactors to educate our grandchildren. A Polish Dragoon from the days of Jan Sobieski instructs our grandchildren, Dylan (left) and Cody Jacob Mudd on the manly art of fencing. The re-enactors showed considerable interest in their miniature version. David Bonk of Triangle Simulation Society presented a miniature battle of the Kahlenberg 1683, at which the army of relief under Polish King Jan Sobieski broke the last Turkish Siege of Vienna.  I enjoyed the chance to see old friends, and while I was in the vendor area most of the time (actually made money) , I did get a chance to see some spectacular table tops. I had fun and made money. But overall the smoke hasn't cleared as far as the convention is concerned. My educated guess, based on insider information and the stuff on the e-groups, is that it probably drew 2,000 people (a record for FALL IN!) took in $30,000 and cost $50,000 or so. It was a grand experiment. But I'd have to say that the moral of the story is "Don't try this at home!" Horse Archery Demonstration at FALL IN! 03 Back to Rebel Yell No. 25 Table of Contents Back to Rebel Yell List of Issues Back to Master Magazine List © Copyright 2004 by HMGS South This article appears in MagWeb.com (Magazine Web) on the Internet World Wide Web. Other articles from military history and related magazines are available at http://www.magweb.com