This Historical Miniature Gaming Society – East (HMGS – East) event was another success for the organizers and attendees. Over 2,000 visitors, staff and dealers attended the event held at the Lancaster Host in Lancaster Pa. from 8 to 10 November.

The event theme was the Age of Marlborough, which is fitting for mention in this magazine, although there were only a few games presented for this era. There were plenty of other games and some were of a surprising nature. There were several games involving 54mm figures, a scale that is making a resurgence on the tabletop. There were even games for the younger members of the crowd. One scale that was absent was 1/12 WW2 similar to GI Joe and Action Man figures.

The dealers’ area was packed with a large assortment of distributors, retail booths and painting services. Unfortunately, the attendees were not as eager to buy and many of the dealers had poor sales. This is yet another example of the weak US economy. There were still plenty of choices and I was one buyer, who spent a bit more than was budgeted.

The flea market or bring and buy room did a brisk trade in all sorts of things. It was a popular area and venturing inside was akin to joining a dance line as everyone shuffled along the close packed aisles of tables with momentary breaks as individuals broke the rhythm to stop and look before advancing to the next seller.

We had a great time at Fall In with several well-attended demo games of AW, MW, RW and NW. We also had our 25mm MW and 15mm AW tournaments. Plaques for first place in both tournaments were awarded by NASAMW and prizes were provided by Age of Glory, Brigade Games, T.A.P.S., Wargames, Renaissance Ink, David Smith, and SAGA Publishing.

Jeff Ball presented two RW demo games and one of NW. The first game was a follow-up to the English Civil War game based on the Battle of Marston Moor that Jeff presented at Historicon 2002. He titled the sequel game, "Breaking the Covenant", as it was an action involving the retreating Scottish Covenanter army and the elements of the victorious Royalist army (the first battle changed history as the Royalists won). The second game was based on the Battle of Mortimer’s Cross, which was an historical action fought during the Wars of the Roses. The final game was based on the Battle of Salamanca that took place during the Anglo-French Peninsular War (the main British army conflict within the Napoleonic wars).

If you want to read me about this convention and the others hosted by HMGS–East, then visit the website at: http://www.hmgs.org/.

Our next big event will be Cold Wars (March 7-9) at the Lancaster Host in Lancaster, Pa.