Historicon is the one convention each year which I am sure that I don't miss. Cold Wars, the name says it all, the element of weather is gambling bigtime. It's hard to plan when a blizzard might sweep into the picture. Fall-In: Weather hasn't gotten bad . . .yet and the setting is Gettysburg. Lets give it a chance and see what is there.

I normally drive the day before to go to Historicon or Thursday morning with a 6AM start time. The drive is fine and there is not much traffic. My planning was real poor on this one. I left late on Friday due to work and hit traffic. The glare from the sun was some of the worst I have ever seen and with the sun going down I had to slow down.

Good points were I never missed a turn (directions in the PEL were terrific) and there were no stops along the way. That being the case the drive from Boston took almost 10 hours.

When I pulled into the convention I was thinking it might be difficult to find Terry and Bruce. Luck was on my side. Through the lobby and the first door I took that I saw a game in they were standing right there. There were people playing two games in the room and they were having a great time. Since it was late Friday night there were some other games in other rooms but I did not check them out thoroughly as I was a bit burnt from the drive. Still, Medieval Warfare was being played and everyone was clearly into the game. I noted that people were enjoying themselves with the game on the other side of the room which was displaying a Civil War game.

As it was late we called it a night and the next morning went to the battlefield. Terry, Bruce, Jamie and I went looking for the location of the area of the Peach Orchard where Terry's relatives who fought in the battle [Ed. They were in the 2nd NH]. With the help of a book I brought along, The US Army War College Guide to the Battle of Gettysburg, edited by Dr. Jay Luvaas and Col. Harold W. Nelson, we were able to find the exact spot (within 50 meters) of where the unit had fought. If you have a chance to pick this book up it is a wonderful addition as it gives battle accounts of what the information the participants had at the time in order to make the decisions they did. We concentrated most of our efforts on the second day's actions. We spent a good amount of time in The Wheatfield, Devil's Den and Little Round Top. While it was a chilly morning, we all had a great time. This being my 6th trip to the battlefield there is something very special about going there with friends.

The enjoyment and camaraderie of the moment made the trip particularly after the long drive the day before. Another note worthy of inclusion is that this is a wonderful battlefield. It is well maintained, presented nicely and we even met people raking leaves while we were there. Needless to say a terrific time was had by all . . . and we hadn't even gotten into a game yet.

So we headed out to the convention. The main gaming area had a ton of games in it. Very large room! When you first walked in there was ancient gamers who were playing in a tournament, then there were other gamers playing all sorts of other types of games. This room was going full tilt every time I stepped into it (the whole day). I missed a lot I am sure as there was so much to do you can not do it all.

Interestingly, I found that there were people selling items throughout the hallways leading around this main gaming room. This was not the main dealers area however. The main dealers area was in another building and there was a shuttle bus to get to it (very convenient). You could see the building from the hotel. Jamie and I went there to check it out and did a very nice walkthrough tour as we started at the edge and worked our way to the center. All in all it took about 1.5 hours to do that as there was a lot to see. When I go to Historicon the dealers area appears to be very busy and I did not get that impression this time. It seemed to me that most of the people wanted to game but again maybe everyone bought what they wanted on Friday (when I was on the road) and had empty pockets.

Finally, it was time to game. After helping Terry and Bruce put on an Ancients Warfare game I went off and got into a game. I had promised myself that I would do this after the 5 or 6 games that we put on at Historicon. Again, from what I saw there was a lot of gaming with people enjoying themselves. Before I knew it, it was late (8PM) and having missed dinner I checked out the restaurant at the hotel. Unless you want to drive to Gettysburg proper where they have fast food (about 10 min) there isn't a whole lot at that time. But the restaurant was fine and I got a good meal.

The next day we hit the dealers area once more where there was brisker business going on (I spent the majority of my bucks at that time) and then hit the road.

Impressions:

More gamers were there than people checking how things were going, meeting friends to just talk or even coming to get things at the dealers area. People came to play games and they were successful in doing that.

The Fall-In Convention book was very well done with two-color information, something for people telling them what to expect or do if this was their first convention. It also had a map showing people where places were. All in all a very fine booklet.

I did not see that many families. The difference between taking a November holiday vs a June and one for 3 days vs 4 makes a difference it would seem. The Eisenhower Inn is a very nice place (I did not stay at the Inn as there were no vacancies) and if the lobby and the rest of the Inn are any indication the rooms were probably decent. It appeared to me as though there was enough room but I'm sure a case could be made that we need more room. The main reason might be because there were two main gaming areas and one was in the same area as the dealers. We've had that situation before but never where the dealers were in front of the gaming area (ie where you had to go through the dealers area to get to the door). That needs to be corrected as that is a disaster waiting to happen. This is especially apparent as the dealers area closed 2-4 hours before the gaming area did. I don't know the exact time because I was very focused on the game but all the lights were out in the dealers area and I didn't see anyone standing there pointing the way to the door.

If you've never gotten to Gettysburg and the battlefield you are missing an experience. Even if the American Civil War is not your passion this is an incredible place. I personally do not like to do terrain walks and battlefield walks when it is cold but at Gettysburg you put that aside. It is simply worth the trip!

Convention Photos