One of the "problems" about Historicon is just getting around to see everything--there is a considerable number of events going on at any given time, the dealer area/flea market area keeps expanding, and with all the pick-up games, well, four days hardly seems enough. But hey, sleep is optional, right?

Main Dealer area: to the left and right of entrance. Left: The Armoury (foreground), Ral Partha (mid), On Military Matters (Background, against windows). Jenkinstown Hobbies is just off picture to the left. MagWeb is mid-background, to right of OMM. Right: Wargames (foreground), numerous smaller companies including Clash of Arms and The Zouave magazine (mid), and Old Glory (background, against wall on right), Emperor's HQ (to left of Old Glory, against wall), and Nafziger (to left of EHQ, against wall).

This goes doubly so for the folks tied to a booth. Yes indeed, these folks are working while you are playing, and the hardware of lead and software of rules are half the show. So, with the caveat that I was manning the MagWeb "booth" as a special guest of On Military Matters (down the stairs to the left, besides the windows), here's a look around the show for those who could not make it to HMGS' premier convention.

At right, Dennis Shorthouse, owner of OMM, (peeking center, profile view, with glasses) assists customers. MagWeb was just off photo to the right. Dan "Information" Burkley (left, just caught by the photo), of OMM's crew. Photo at left: Rich Pichnarczyk (left, with beard), another of the OMM crew, helps a customer find a book.

I am not quite sure whether the dealer areas were as crowded as they were last year. At times, there were butt-to-butt traffic jams in the aisles. Other times, it was pretty empty. The gaming tables were crowded enough with all sorts of eager gamers.

Ar right, the "Tennis Center" the overflow dealer area (rear) and WRG tournament locale (mid), plus for open gaming.

According to the Historicon '97 program, there were 354 events (mostly gaming sessions, but including seminars), although there were probably more in last-minute add-ins. And I suppose there could be less if umpires didn't show.

Of course, umpires who host games deserve a big round of applause. Getting all the terrain and units, rules and rulers, and everything else together takes a considerable amount of effort. If you've never hosted a game, try it. You'll appreciate it all the more.

David McElhannon caught my eye walking by with a piece of the Pearl Harbor terrain. It looked great when set up. Phil Viverito (at right, right, in striped shirt, designer of Classical Hack [anicents] and Knight Hack [medieval]) had an intriguing keep for some medieval warfare, not to mention Fort Wagner for some ACW action, not to mention some English Civil war battle--hey, he's a hard-working guy. It's a contest to see if he out-hosts Leo Walsh of TCS, who seems to be running 10 games a convention. You'll also find an interview with Phil Viverito as well as the designer's notes of the rules here in MagWeb. See the Classical Hack review in MagWeb's Game Review area.

Terry Gore (at left) was showing off his new Medieval Warfare rules (and his magazine Saga #59), while Chris Parker (at right, right side of photo) of Knighthood in the Middle Ages fame was demoing his new medieval rules set, Day of Battle, and seemed to be demoing continuously.

Which was fortunate for me, as I sat down for a quick game of Day of Battle. See the Day of Battle review in MagWeb's Game Review area. You'll also find an interview with Chris Parker as well as the first chapter of the rules here in MagWeb.

Mark Campbell, the keynote speaker with a talk about the Battle of St. Vincent--and it's good to see him start getting some recognition for his scholarship--was running another couple monster naval games with his Close Action rules set. I've been playing Close Action for years instead of Wooden Ships and Iron men, using GHQ ships and a huge hex-gridded felt cloth, and it is a solid simulation and moves quickly. Of course, if you have 30 players, it will move a bit slower, and the monster game of that size can take 6 hours, sometime more.

Clash of Arms released the new Close Action, just as they released the William Keyser's From Valmy to Waterloo--another set of rules I played when it was a self-published effort. Keyser was running more FVTW games, just as he's done for years. Didn't see his Wagram game this year--now that's a heckuva large game, even in 6mm. Duke Seifried did another extravaganza--'nuff said.

Easy Eight Enterprises was running their new WWII game, Battleground. MagWeb VP Bill Abernathy signed up for it and came back with rave reviews for the infantry system, noting it was fast, fun, and furious. Some of the situations he, and a friend of mine did in a different game, were just mind boggling. The luckiest fellow on Earth has to be the bazooka-man who managed, with some of the most extraordinary sequence die rolls known to man, to destroy a Tiger tank--from the front! Not just knock a track, but obliterate the tank.

But I believe the big winner is Piquet, which generated a considerable amount of buzz and even more sales, especially with their WWII module. You buy the basic game and then period-specific modules. There's been enough written about it in MWAN back issues, but the electricity surrounding a game has never been greater. You'll find designer's notes and an interview with the designer, Bob Jones, here on MagWeb.

The card-flipping, die rolling initiative sequences combines the best of randomness and strategy, although I have seen a series of horrendous d20 initiative die rolls obliterate a strategy as well as make one work (depends on your point of view, eh?), but with the usual mix of generally evening out initiative, it comes down to using your army in the right way (i.e. card draw/play). Designer Bob Jones was seeing lots of action around the gaming table and dealer table.

Other games included a Duke Seifried ancients extravaganza (at right), skirmish gaming (at left, among the ruins), and more. The Courier magazine ran its usual plethora of games.

Phil Barker, he of WRG fame or infamy, was the Jack Scruby Award winner this year for contributions to the hobby.

There were lots of seminars, all of which I completely missed except for for my own two seminars about MagWeb. You know, I used to think seminars were easy to give, until I did one at Cold Wars. Public Speaking is much more of an art form than I thought, as my two new speaking engagements showed. It doesn't help that the Lancaster Host/Holiday Inn never heard of conference center accessories that allow you to plug in a computer and display the screen on a big screen, but they do have an overhead projector and a slide machine...

The one event I missed that I am rather sorry is the painting competition. The Historicon '97 program details the scoring system, which gives 1-5 points in five categories: figure selection & preparation, painting, shading, detailing, and basing. Alas, most of the units were long gone by the time I showed up for a look. Next year...

Beery Eves: Conquest of the Empire

Of course, the evening winds down with beer and gaming (no pretzels. We keep forgetting to bring the pretzels!). One night was Conquest of the Empire, an old Milton Bradley game of Roman War using plasic "miniatures" for pieces. As the "Carthaginians" I did better, being knocked off second instead of the usual first. I made an early mistake by NOT building a ship, and thus ceded the Western Mediterranean to the Spanish and Romans. I waited and built and waited, watching the powerful Turks knock off Egypt, then getting tangled up with the Macedonians. Then, I pounced.

With an admittedly odds-agin'-me gamble, I took on the Turks, kicked them out of Egypt and drove for Syria. Alas, I came within one die roll of knocking off the Turkish Caeser, or more accurately, the last Turk infantry protecting said Caesar. It was a good gamble, and the only hope of turning the tide against me...

Two things we changed in the rules: 1) cavalry costs 20, which is slightly less, and 2) catapults add a maximum of +1 to the die roll, and then only for the player with the MOST catapults. We feel it balances the game better.

Beery Eves: Axis and Allies Variant

The other game was an Axis & Allies variant that starts the game in 1939. As the UK, I watched Germany blitz France on turn 1, then Poland on the next phase. I invaded and captured Italy and knocked out most of Africa, then pulled the British Navy off Spain when the Luftwaffe proved to be rather powerful and I went hunting U-boats. It was then that the Germans went for the knockout blow and launched Operation Sea Lion with a single transport and two infantry units--backed by the Luftwaffe. I managed to knock down 3 of the 5 Luftwaffe aircraft units with the AA gun, and sent what was left of the invasion (the Home Guard was rather incensed, you see) packing. the Germans turned east and attacked Russia (and south and took back Italy).

Meanwhile, half a world away, Japan expanded slowly, then pulled their surprise phase by knocking out most of the US Navy and capturing all of Canada and Eastern US (!), not to mention a chunk of China (was down to one province), and considerable part of the USSR. It was the high tide of the Axis.

The Chinese erupted and took back China and more, the Russians did such a number on the Germans, they got into Poland, and the US built like crazy (as well as taking back Canada and Eastern US). Meanwhile, as Britain, I launched D-Day a few years early--into Germany itself. It came down to a single British tank unit vs. the last German tank unit, which was the special SS unit (what it is with these last gasp die rolls, eh?). And yes, the Germans eliminated the invading British, but whereas the British had enough economic points to rebuild (and rebuild they did), the Germans were hurting and unlikely to launch any more offensives. The Japanese, still powerful, realized that without the Germans to tie down the US, the run around the Pacific was virtually over, especially since the next turn looked to spell the end of the Germans. The game was called at that point...

Aside from some purchases in the dealer area, and visiting some friends, and some last-minute gawking, Historicon 97 came to a close, and reluctantly, made our way back home.