Cold Wars 98, HMGS' March convention, was held at the Holiday Inn Resort again, just east of Lancaster, Pennsylvania. It did not seem as packed as usual--plenty of space in the aisles, and at times, the dealer area was almost deserted. Othertimes, as if something let out, there was a surge. See photos left and right. For Historicon, the dealers area will move to the Tennis Barn (which the hotel calls an Exposition Center, but we all know it as the Tennis Barn).

At right, On Military Matters personnel contemplate the start of the convention just before the dealer doors open. From left to right: Dennis Shorthouse (proprietor), Fred Stratton, and Dan Burkley. In the upper right corner of the photo, peeking out from behind the stacks, is Scott Ippolito.

Previous Cold Wars placed the Flea market in the Barn, as well as the WRG Ancients tournament. For '98, the tournaments were still placed in the Barn (see photo at left), plus a large variety of other gaming events, but the flea market--plus dealer overflow--was placed in the Distlefink Ballroom, which used to hold the gaming events. That was pretty barren when I wandered in and out from time to time, although I did find a couple items in the flea market--some 6mm painted Adler (they are really 8mm in my book) armies that I'll be using to eventually go with Snappy Nappy. One strange thing was the maze-like partition between the dealers and flea marketers in the Ballroom. With those brown walls and dim lighting, I thought I was walking through a level of Doom.

Show Stopper

Without a doubt, the big show stopper was the Alamo game located just outside the ballroom. Captain (now Major) Pete Panzeri (see left), with the support of Old Glory, led group after group of Texans and Mexicans in a refight. The terrain (see right) was superb, and there was no shortage of 25mm figures to defend or assault.

Large Photo of Alamo

As you walked from the main building to the Barn, you pass the usual Mark Campbell Close Action Age of Sail monster game. At right, Mark strikes a thespian's pose as 30 captains plot movement.

WWII was out in force. At left, Rich Hassenhauser hopes lightning strikes twice with another playtest version of his upcoming game. It's gone through a couple of name changes, and Rich notes that it plays faster than before, although I only watched for a little bit. I did talk to Greg Lyle, principal researcher for the game--incredible effort that.

I am not sure who hosted the "Beach" game, but it seemed the players were well entertained. In the photo, a wave of Americans sweeps up on the Japanese held beach, then starts to fan inland. In the next phase, the Japanese launched some devastating counterattacks, although, strangely (hindsight, eh?), I saw a coordinated defense with nary a banzai attack.

Of course, there was much too much to see, as events occurred simultaneously, and I did have to man the MagWeb booth on occasion. I wandered the dealer floor, talking to a variety of friends and acquaintenances, and catching up on events since the HMGS Fall-In convention. Gawking is a fine activity, and gawk I did throughout the gaming areas at the well-painted figures.

In the end, it was another fine effort.

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