Historicon 2002

Don Featherstone

by Russ Lockwood


Let's start with Don Featherstone visiting the MagWeb.com booth. Last time Mr. Featherstone attended the convention, I was quick enough to take a photo of him looking at the monitor, but not quick enough to get a photo of the both of us looking at the monitor. This time, I had the presence of mind to hand the camera to Tibor...

Russ Lockwood on left in red MagWeb.com shirt, Don Featherstone in middle, and Steve Phenow on right.

We chatted for a bit about Wargames Newsletter and I showed him the on-line version of WN on MagWeb.com. We discussed how he goes out for dinner with the royalty payments, and the types of food he enjoys. He is warm, personable, full of anecdotes, and a delight to converse with.

The first time I "met" him was at Origins 1988 in Milwaukee. I say "met" as all I did was wander down a hall and find a witty historical presentation being given by someone with a British accent. At this point, I was only peripherally aware of miniatures--having purchased some GHQ tanks probably some 10 years previously and found none who knew or wanted to wargame with them.

Somewhere in the early 90s, I attended an HMGS convention and heard him give another humourous lecture. This time, I knew who he was and later found myself standing around and by happenstance he was near, so I introduced myself and thanked him for his presentation. It was like meeting a "rock star" I suppose (never really met a rock star)--here's this guy who has accomplished so much, and I'm just an armchair general...probably one of hundreds who stop him at odd times throughout the show. And he was just as pleasant as can be.

After starting MagWeb.com and running a member poll of the top 100 commanders of all time, he dropped me a letter with notes and a different list for comparison and contrast. We corresponded from time to time, and during another HMGS convention in the late 90s, I heard him lecture again (does he ever run out of funny anecdotes?), we met, and he agreed to allow me to post WN in the archive. So now we correspond quarterly, but it is still a delight to chat a bit in person.

Best MagWeb.com Anecdote

When we exhibit, we run the site off the hard drives of the computers, which means some of the links and features you find over the Web are not available. Our resident techie, Tibor Vari, jury-rigged a search engine, but for some reason it only works on one of the laptops, and he had not arrived yet.

Along comes this fellow from Mobile, AL, who asks if we have the order of battle for the ships that fought in the ACW Battle of Mobile. Now, it strikes me as an odd request that he wouldn't have found the OOB for such a famous battle, but it also occurred to me that perhaps he was new to this whole historical miniatures thing and got inspired at the show.

Now, I know a lot about what articles are inside the archive, but without a search engine, it's like a needle in a haystack. I mean, there's over 32,000 articles. I'm not quite sure what to tell him. So, I start scrolling the main Master Magazine List screen and click on the link to The Zouave, which covers the ACW. As I'm explaining the above and scrolling through the list of Zouave issues, I randomly click on one. Wouldn't you know it. That issue has an article on Mobile Bay, including OOB. Man, was he impressed. Man, was I astounded. Talk about fortune smiling on me. It impressed him. He took out a year on the spot, then took notes on the ships.

Now, I'm thinking it's a bar bet, and all of sudden the Zouave is the authority that they can point to. So I asked. It turns out that he's connected with a group tasked by the state historical commission to create a diorama of the battle for the 300th anniversary of the city. They needed to know exactly which ships participated, so that they could go buy 1/600 scale Thoroughbred Miniatures ships at the show. He happily went about his purchasing. I expect Mobile will get a great diorama.

Best (or Worst) Marketing Idea of the Show

I will not name the dealer, but if he comes forward to complain about not getting recognition, I'll certainly follow up with his name. And it's all about the advertising world's motto that "sex sells." If it was me, I'd certainly take the credit. It'll probably show up in a commercial for 3M.

He postulates that he should hire a booth bimbo who would bump and grind atop his table, wearing nothing but Post-It Notes and high heels. Every so often she would stop and he would announce that spectators had to buy some of his products or the show's over. As a bonus, when someone buys a product, the buyer gets to remove a Post-It note. The Notes have a particular value or product listed on them. The more bought, the more choices of Notes to remove...

I'm going to guess this would not violate the "Convention Regalia Policy," which prohibits the wearing of "clothing or symbols" that are display "distasteful messages." I'm sure the Post-It Notes would contain clean, wholesome language...

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