Driving down through the beautiful Pennsylvania hills during autumn was really a pleasant experience. Bruce Taylor and I planned to meet up with Mitch Abrams and Jamie fish in Gettysburg for the FALL IN convention weekend (Nov. 6-8). As this was my first trip to this convention, I really did not know what to expect.

Arriving early Friday afternoon thanks to the five hour drive from Rochester, Bruce and I settled in at the Comfort Inn (right by Culp's Hill) and decided to take a quick tour of the battlefield before going over and picking up our registration packets at the Eisenhower Convention Center. It had been over thirty-five years since I had last been to the town, and the rampant commercial growth at first was a bit disconcerting. Wal-Mart and hosts of other chain stores, hotels and restaurants had encroached right up to the limits of the preserved portions of the battlefield. Nonetheless, the battlefield itself is quite a sight…and my memories of previous visits as a youngster were not diminished as I once again walked the fields of so much American history.

Bruce and I went up to Little Round Top and got the view that O'Rourke's 140th N.Y. infantry (Rochester' own) had as they awaited the Confederate attacks. We walked the length of Chamberlain's position at the extreme left of the Union lines. We then went over to Cemetery Ridge and walked the Union position, which had been the focal point of Pickett's charge. Cameras in hand, we took some shots of the terrain, monuments and guns. A small tour group of sixty or seventy people was retracing the march of Pickett's division from Seminary Ridge opposite us. It is truly astonishing to think of those thousands of men under almost continuous fire making that long and arduous march to assault the Union lines. I cannot see how anyone can leave Gettysburg without a feeling of extreme awe and admiration for those who fought and died here those three days in July of 1863.

A bit cold, but filled with the headiness of amazement and wonder, we finally headed to the convention center. The first thing that is strikingly different about this convention is how spread out and well lighted everything is. The center is actually two buildings, one enclosing the hotel, restaurant, a large ball room (where the ancients events were held) and smaller conference rooms for more games; the other containing the dealer area and much more gaming room. This building was huge. The first person we recognized was Jamie, deeply engrossed in the WRG 7th tournament. He must have been losing, as usual, because he was not his talkative self.

He muttered something about bringing the beer and was lost in discussing some nuance of the rules with his patient opponent. The NASAMW events were not so well attended as at HISTORICON, and many of the usual faces were missing, but there were still quite a number of gamers playing. Again, there was plenty of room and the lighting was superior to what we have been used to. Heading over to the dealer area, we met up with Bryan Ansell, who had flown over from Guernsey to run the Foundry display and get together with us to discuss the progress of the Ancient Warfare and Medieval Warfare rules. We all drove back to Bryan's hotel (right across from our own) and spent a few hours crunching rules concepts, layout plans and design. With a better idea of what the finished product would be, we were all very satisfied with our discussions and spent some more time telling stories of wargames 'adventures'. I especially enjoyed the one about Phil Barker!

> That evening, back at the convention center, we met up with Jeff Ball and Dave Bonk, who were putting on their 25mm Battle of Belsz game (at right) using Medieval Warfare. There were a couple of familiar faces at the game from last summer's demos…it's good to see people returning to play some more…especially on the great terrain and with the beautifully painted figures Jeff and Dave provided. Bruce and I stayed for a while and answered some rules queries from onlookers and then met up with Mitch. We found Jamie finally finished with his game and with that retired back to our hotel to relax and get ready for the next day's demonstration game.

Saturday found us back in the ancient's area preparing our 10-player Punic War game. With over 600 25mm figures on the table, it was quite the sight. We had a good group playing, as usual. There was a father-son team, two teenagers, and a 12-year old getting his first taste of historical gaming. Dennis Leventhal, though learning the rules for the first time himself, helped the youngster get a good grasp of sound military tactics as he explained why some things were smart and others were not.

> This was a good game, with both sides playing well and the battle finally culminating in a Carthaginian victory after three hours. The Carthaginian right flank commander, Mr. Fish, was thoroughly trounced by the 12-year-old, however….

After the game, I had a chance to visit with Russ Lockwood and Phil Viverito for a time. Phil has been doing an excellent job promoting his HACK rules. He has a web site established with a number of links to other historical ancient's sites (http://freeyellow.com/members/lynne999/index.html). If you have Internet access, check out Phil's site. We discussed the fact that there is plenty of room for any and all types of rules…and not everyone is enamored with the status quo, obviously.

That evening, we planned on playing a 'friendly' game of Scots vrs. English, but several people (including a 19-year old young lady) expressed interest in trying the rules, so we had another demo game with 12 players this time. We had fun with this one, but Jamie's Rasputin-like hold on the young lady had her following his advice…and somehow they won! Jeff Ball's frenzied Anglo-Norman cavalry charges into the heart of the Scot's advance could not compensate for the sheer numbers that opposed the English. Again, another fun time.

We left early the next day, so as to arrive home in time for dinner. All told, a great convention and we have already made plans to attend again next year. I am even more encouraged by the numbers of young people getting involved in historical gaming. Like I wrote before, make the games visually appealing, make them feel comfortable, and use rules that are player friendly. The smiles and laughter make it all worth while.