Who reads MWAN out there? I should think a lot of you, just like me, either have a subscription or buy it bimonthly off the newstand. Look forward to meeting Hal Thinglum at Recon! Also, in the latest groups section (MWAN #91) by John Stafford, I'm glad that he mentions HMGS South in such a positive light, however, does he have no idea what the newsletter editor does? Rhett Scott & I attended The Siege of Augusta from 9-11 January as dealers. The great thing about historical miniature gaming conventions is meeting the people. A lot of the folks that make it to Augusta are unable to make it to Tampa for either of South's shows. That's too bad as there are just some super people in Georgia / North Carolina / South Carolina. I had the pleasure of meeting Howard Whitehouse and Dave Paddock for example. Also, Jim Birdseye and his crew from right there in Augusta are a bunch of great folks! I wish we had more time to hang out with Jim for he is a wealth of information. I finally met the mystical guru of Mid-South, Major Bill. He was in all his glory, or rather a tweed sport coat and pipe. Robert Brown & Eric Burgess were up from North Carolina and it was very nice to meet both of them. Dealer As a dealer, you get a skewed perspective on numbers of gamers/attendees. If there are one hundred people in attendance, but only 1 in 4 walk through the dealer area and then only a few of those people buy things, then it would appear to the dealers that it was a slow show. The time slot of right after Christmas is probably the most devastating to people's wallets. In regards to games, for some reason there was a problem with the PEL which translated into a problem with the show program. Games that made it into the program filled up rapidly. However, we were not dissuaded. I ran a Brother Against Brother ACW skirmish game on Saturday morning, then a Piquet: Point of Attack game on Saturday afternoon. On Saturday evening, Jim Birdseye ran a samurai game (using Rhett's Two Dragons samurai and Daimyo castle). This game was a big party game with much back-stabbing, side-changing, hacking, and slashing. The nine (or so) participants had a great time! The rules used were Jim's own and look for them to be published in the RECON convention progam (and probably The Gauntlet, too). Very simple and fun. On Sunday morning, I ran two more Brother Against Brother games. These went over very well. The first iteration involved two Union squads and an artillery battery attacking three confederate squads entrenched in a hamlet. Needless to say, the rebs annihilated the Federals. Their initial setup was not in the hamlet, but moved forward into much more defensible terrain. This removed the advantage of the artillery and made it a lopsided contest. In the second iteration of the same game, I gave the Union an additional two squads. I also added a rules modification for giving a standing order to a unit, then moving the company commander out of range. This worked out very well as the Union attempted a flanking maneuver with a lone squad (which petered out when the squad leader was Thwacked!). The other squads rushed through a small gorge and succeeded in passing a morale check, even after a devastating volley from rebels firing from out of a sunken road-type position. This was the turning point as the initial squad, who took all the losses, engaged the rebs, then two fresh squads rushed in behind to roll up the Confederate flank. I started with two players, one on each side for the first game and ended with a 3 on 2 game with about five other gamers standing behind, also caught up in the excitement. Total time for both games was about an hour and a half. For Recon: Expect that I'll run some Brother against Brother games and maybe a Piquet: Point of Attack game. Look for Rhett to run a headliner Samurai game. And look for Regimental Colours to once again represent Brookhurst Hobbies. And since we're talking about Recon, we already have dealer commitments for more tables than what you saw at Hurricon! And these are confirmed - we still have a few dealers pending, but it looks like there will be some good competition for gamers to root out the best bargains or simply flesh out their collections. I think you'll be able to find whatever you're looking for. From rules sets to lead, from terrain to buildings, from magnetic movement stands to flags, from fantasy thru all eras of history... Back to Rebel Yell No. 8 Table of Contents Back to Rebel Yell List of Issues Back to Master Magazine List © Copyright 1998 by HMGS South This article appears in MagWeb (Magazine Web) on the Internet World Wide Web. Other military history articles and gaming articles are available at http://www.magweb.com