Little Wars 2000 is a little larger than the name implies. About 250 attendees poured through the gates on Friday, and about the same on Saturday, plus a few more on Sunday. HMGS-Midwest has staged a remarkable comeback in the convention department.

The convention was held at the Lincolnshire Marriott, about 20 or so minutes north of Chicago, roughly where the intersection of I-94 and I-294 meet. This upscale resort includes golf course, ballrooms, first-class accomodations, and a separate tennis building. It is the latter place where Little Wars convened, in roughly half the building (two tennis courts plus in size). Roughly half the area was for the 30 or so dealers, MagWeb.com included, and the other half was for wargaming. A Saturday morning flea market, lasting from 9am to noon, was fitted into a raquetball/handball court.

From a dealer perspective, the aisles were wide, the lighting excellent, and the convention staff friendly and efficient. Mike Constantino and Dave Hermann, convention director and "Game Boss" respectively couldn't have been more helpful. Dave even provided a monitor for us, and everything ran smoothly. HMGS-Midwest is looking into a three to five year committment to the Marriott, and I for one endorse the idea. A long-term place means stability, and if the convention grows, they can expand into the "three-tennis court" area as well. They expect to hold Little Wars approximately a month after Cold Wars if the dates line up.

In addition, they enforced the "no-dealers-in-the-flea-market" rule, even to the extent of kicking one company out of the flea market. As Mike noted, the flea market is for guys to sell off some extra lead, not cheap dealer tables for companies. I bought some lead and paper in the flea market.

One of the best aspects of hitting the convention trail is to meet folks you only corresponded via e-mail...putting a face to an address so to speak. Since this is the first time MagWeb.com has ventured to the area, I was very pleased that members dropped by the booth to say hello, not to mention showing non-members what's inside our archives. I mean it's one thing to say we offer almost 17,000 articles, it's another to actually start showing a portion of them on the screen. And, of course, when it comes to seeing lead, rules, books, and other items, there's nothing like turning them over in your hands to see the details.

The dealer area was open 11am to 8pm--more than enough time for folks to look and buy. It's a little long for a dealer, for by the time you close up, haul things back to the room, and wind down, it's 8:30-9:00 and dinner time has long since passed. I'd like to see it more like 10am to 7pm, but some dealers wanted to keep the dealer area open until midnight. Now you start to understand why being a convention director is a thankless job. Personally, I found that the crowds thinned out past 6pm, although there were always some last-minute purchases.

Impressions and Observations

Tied to a booth more or less, there's much I am sure I missed, so the following are just some observations in no particular order.

There was a pretty cool 5mm Borodino battle, a 1/6000th scale WWII Pacific naval battle, a Duke Siefried Egyptian battle of Giza with his usual elan and wonderful terrain, playtesting of Frank Chadwick's new ancient rules (Ancient Glory???), and some gangster shootout that looked wonderfully urban 1920s-30s.

George Nafziger displayed his collection of softcover booklets, as well as his hardcover works. His latest softcover is a reprint of an 1809 work called A Treatise Upon the Regulation of the French Infantry by General Meunier. See the review in MagWeb.com. His latest hardcover is a pair of $50 thick books on the order of battle for WWII German Panzers and Artillery, and WWII German Infantry. An SS volume is coming out next. The Panzer book sold out, and I saw thinning ranks of his softcover OOBs as the show went on.

I talked to George Knapp of Buffalo Books about figure transportation. He uses thin steel sheet to line the bottom of boxes and stick-on magnetic sheets to place on the underside of stands. I saw him shake a half-empty box to no effect, so it works pretty good.

Ivor Janci, publisher of The Zouave (ACW magazine), and Frani were across the aisle from me, so I sat down to talk to them a bit. Ivor does wonderful work -- he is, after all, a graphic designer -- and The Zouave is one colorful and color-filled publication. His latest issue is out, but the toughest part for him is finding the time because his graphics shop is doing so well.

Greg Novak was limping around on a broken foot--hope he heals quickly. We talked a bit about research and so forth, as he's a librarian, as well as Frank's new rules. I met Jim Purky, former publisher of the Seven Years War Asso. Journal, in person for the first time. He was running an American Revolution game at the time. I saw a copy of Pig Wars ($20) rules for dark age skirmishing. I remember ordering those rules when they were $2 photocopied, and now, they were in color, illustrated, and glossy. I like the transition.

There was a nice 25mm Medieval Siege game--nice castle wall with breaches and a burned out village. A large Leipzig set up attracted attention for its "U-shaped" configuration, where the French were inside the U and the Allies were outside attacking in. There was a nice D-Day landing complete with fortifications, landing craft, and more. A 15mm 1940 German attack vs. French defense looked cool. I mean, you just don't see many 1940 battles with Char bis 1s running around Pz IIs and IIIs. Looked like the French caught the Germans a bit by surprise, because I saw a mass of French tanks bearing down on the German flank. A 15mm WWII Battle of the Bulge game featured late war German tanks bearing down on an American held village. At the time I passed by, a Panther was toasted, but the PanzerGrenadiers had disembarked from half tracks to press US infantry in the woods. There were a number of American Civil War games, one of which was played on a huge 12-foot hex map, others on smaller terrain.

I am going to guess one table held a Squad Leader game using magnificently terrained "Terrain Maker" 4-inch hexes as the board. Nice wintery terrain. Another game featured an adaptation of an old GDW boardgame Trenchfoot. This looked to be 20mm skirmish level action across an appropriately bleak and cratered no-man's land, culminating in a charge to zigzagging lines of Trenches. Another board game adaptation was Kingmaker--same board and cards, but the markers were colorfully painted 25mm figures.

Conclusions

All in all, Little Wars 2000 was a smash hit. It was well-run, superbly manned, and absolutely friendly convention. The setting proved well-lit and spacious, and the Marriott rooms are, well, Marriott standard. From a dealer standpoint, I cannot praise the convention staff enough. Everything went smoothly, and with about 500 plus attendees, sales moved right along. From a gamer standpoint, the number and variety of games, not to mention the effort that went into the terrain, also showed high standards...and there was plenty of elbow room too.

Little Wars 2000 was MagWeb.com's first, but not it's last. Wargamers within driving range of a couple hours have no excuse not to attend, even for one day, this showcase convention. And if you fly, and Chicago's a huge hub, it is well worth the time and effort to get there. Many dealers, many games, and many memories await you.

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