During the Saturday evening break Chuck Kennedy made two Special Awards on behalf of the Board of Directors for contributions to the Historical Miniature Gaming Hobby and in particular to HMGS SOUTH. The biographical material below was provided by the recipients. RUDY SCOTT NELSON In regards to my history in the gaming industry. I started playing wargames seriously in 1975 when I saw an ad for Strategy and tactics subscriptions in an issue of Playboy. I started buying and selling wargames as part of my family's Gift shop in 1977. The first company that I carried was Phoenix games and carried a few Hinchcliffe and Osprey from an Atlanta distributor. During my service in the Army, I became more familiar with miniatures and began to work on 'Guard du Corps' in 1979 and published it in 1981. I wrote and released  'Indunas Colonels and Emirs' , 'Glory !' Skirmish and Fire! Ogon! and Feuer! (WW2 tank to tank) during the 1983 and 1984 timeframe. It was in 1982 that I attended my first convention at Jacksonville FL. There I met Al Younghaus and developed a good friendship and eventually working relationship. In 1983, I began to attend conventions as a vendor carrying mainly products that I obtained from Al and Lou Zocchi. In 1984, I attended my first Historicon and met Pat Condray among other notables. Throughout the 1980s and 1990s I attended an average of 20 conventions per year from Seattle and San Francisco to Lancaster Pa and Baltimore. My main circuit developed into shows from Florida to Texas with some trips to Chicago and the regular Historicon/Cold Wars events. Due to a lack of available funds, I never pursued the rule publishing aspect feverishly. I did continue to design rules including 'Coastal Command' (PT boat combat), Fire and Discipline series (The American Wars, The Marlborough era, Minor European Wars), Emperors of Europe (Boardgame for the 1700-1800s), Century of Glory (1:60 combat for the 1800s similar to GdC), Medals of valor (1900s Skirmish), War Eagles (1:35 scale Napoleonics), Eagles, Crowns and Oak Leaves (WW2 Battalion level); Stars and Marshal's Batons (WW2 Corps level), Grunts, Leathernecks and Charlie (Vietnam battalion-Company level) and most recently 'Distant Worlds Battles' (Sci-Fi system similar to DBA). At times I have belonged to HMGS-East, HMGS-MidSouth, HMGS-Great Lakes, HMGS-Tornado Alley, HMGS- Heart of America, HMGS-Gulf South and HMGS-South. it has been a pleasure to support the gaming industry and miniature gaming in particular throughout the years. My heart felt thanks for the award. --Rudy Scott Nelson Back to Rebel Yell No. 26 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