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By Bob Giglio, Convention Director
Attendees at this year’s “Historical Miniature Gaming’s Biggest Summer
Vacation” at the Lancaster Host Resort & Conference Center in Lancaster, Pennsylvania
helped celebrate twenty-five years of fun times at the HMGS East’s “flagship” show!
Total attendance this year was 3,565 – that’s only down less than 3% from the attendance
for 2008 (which was 3,667), but still higher than attendance in 2007 (which was 3,272). One big notable
difference from last year to this year was the absence of the Battlefront Flames of War Nationals
Tournament, which brought in over 110 new attendees in 2008.
As has been the case for the last few years, the majority of those that attended this year arrived by
Thursday to really enjoy their convention gaming “vacation”, as pre-registration was bustling
both Wednesday night and Thursday morning. The line for the Thursday opening of the Expo Center where
attendees could purchase hobby products from the 90 exhibitors attending this year once again stretched
back to the outdoor patio where they grill the hamburgers and pit beef!
There were 578 games in the program, plus tournaments, seminars, painting and other events. Even the weather
was again pretty nice for July (not too hot/humid), and that meant the A/C throughout the venue was adequate.
While there were too many events to really mention, a few will be highlighted here.
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The HMGS War College (formerly the Military Seminar Series): In its fourth year,
this had another fantastic array of speakers and seminars – including the most ever
theme related at an HMGS East convention – with an average of 26 attendees per seminar (for a
list of the speakers and seminars that were presented at HISTORICON 2009, click on the following
link for The War College.) Due to the recent growth of the seminars we can honestly say that HMGS
East is continues to meet its commitment to the educational aspect of its charter.
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Annual HMGS East Awards Presentations: At this year’s Annual Awards
Presentations, the HMGS Legion of Honor inducted two new members – Don Perrin and Phil
Viverito – and Todd Fisher received the Scruby Award for lifetime accomplishments in the hobby.
While the 2009 “Game Master of the Year Award” was presented to Joe Brimer of the Battle
Barn wargaming club. And, two of the HISTORICON 2009 exhibitors were recognized for winning Origins
Awards – Splintered Light Miniatures for Best Historical Miniatures Line of the Year,
and “Check Your 6!” for Best Historical Miniatures Game of the Year. For more
information on all of the aforementioned, as well as photos, go to
www.hmgs.org
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The Sharpe Experience & Sharpe Movie: The gathering together of items related
to the Sharpe movies was a first for North America, as was having one of the
actors – Jason “Rifleman Harris” Salkey – as a Guest of Honor to give
seminars and for “Meet & Greet”. The entire Sharpe Experience was very well
received, so much so that there were even a number of people that saw it advertised in the paper
and walked in off the street just to view it. On Saturday night at least 147 attendees packed the
poolside pavilion to enjoy the movie Sharpe’s Battle, as well as sing a rendition
of the O’er the Hills song! In addition, over 30 prizes were given away for attendees
as part of The Sharpe Experience! [For details of what you missed, click on the
Sharpe Experience and Sharpe Movie links to the left. For the personal
message from author Bernard Cornwell that was played for attendees of the Sharpe Experience
and movie, click on the following YouTube link for the Bernard Cornwell Message.]
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HMGS Game-Master Awards: The “Best of Show” GM Award was presented to
Richard Clayden for his “ Bunker Hill” game. The “Best Theme” GM Award for
the “Napoleon’s 1809 Austrian Campaign and the Spanish Ulcer” theme went to Roger
Downie and The Kofkreigsrat Team for their “Battle of Eggmuhl, 22 Apr 1809” game. For the
full list of dozens of other GMs that received awards for their games at this year’s convention,
click on the following link for the HISTORICON 2009 GM Awards.
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Osprey Campaign Competition: This was the fourth year for this competition, for the
“Osprey Award for the best use of a Campaign book in designing a game at HISTORICON”.
According to Richard Sullivan, Marketing Director of Osprey Publishing – “There were
some great games going”, and with a total of 32 entries this year, “the one that won
despite some stiff competition, was ‘Battle of Bunker Hill, 17 June 1775’,
by gamemasters Marvin and Jamie Veeder…a great looking game being run with tremendous
enthusiasm and flair”.
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Raffle: Stan Stratton of Boulder, Colorado won the raffle for the very nice
Battle of Aspern fine art print by military artist Keith Rocco.
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The 25th Anniversary Celebration: Since this was the “Silver”
anniversary of HISTORICON, the first 3,000 attendees received a commemorative tape measure,
plus a number of companies provided over 11,000 free figures, 3,000 magazines and such for a great
swag bag! [Thanks again to Acheson Creations, Old Glory Corp, Pastimes on the Square, Perry Miniatures,
Wargames Factory, Warlords, and the Weider History Group for their swag donations). Attendees had the
opportunity to purchase an anniversary polo shirt, coin and even a special logo pint glass. There was a
one-off cake made by Charm City Cakes (of the Ace of Cakes show on the Food Network) that was very
well received (and eaten!), and even a special “Silver” party (with free cake, nachos,
dip, and beer…and pretzels!) for attendees on Friday at the convention, with a number of free
swag provided by Yuengling distributors as well.
HISTORICON 2010 in Valley Forge, Pennsylvania: For those that are still unaware,
HISTORICON will be moving to the
Valley Forge Convention Plaza
in Valley Forge, Pennsylvania for 2010 (July 8-11). We hope those who attended HISTORICON 2009 enjoyed
themselves enough that they are looking forward to “Historical Miniature Gaming’s Biggest
Summer Vacation” next year – and tell your friends. After all, the
Valley Forge Convention Plaza
offers more space for exhibitors and other events, easier travel for air or train access, new family
events to explore, and of course we have some special things planned for next year as well, so
don’t miss it – mark your calendars now!
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2010 Convention Lodging: Those who could not attend HISTORICON 2009 should start
making plans now to attend in 2010 – July 8-11 – by making hotel reservations. The Convention
Lodging link at the left is now active with a list of hotels that have Group Blocks reserved for
attendees already for 2010, and more will be added in coming weeks.
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2010 Convention Theme: To see the Convention Themes for HISTORICON 2010 (and even
for 2011 and 2012) click on the Future Conventions link at left.
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2010 Additional Info: In upcoming weeks/months there will be updates to this website
with additional information for 2010, such as Parking, Gamemaster load-in/out process, FAQ list, things
to see in Valley Forge, etc., so check back periodically for news.
Last, but certainly not least, is that I’d like to extend my “Thanks” to the staff
that helped make HISTORICON 2009 a great success (a full roster of their names is listed below).
Convention Committee (Senior Staff):
Convention Director – Bob Giglio
CD’s Assistant & Promotions Manager – Roni Giglio
Deputy Convention Director & Events Manager – Neil Brennan
Exhibitor Managers – Jeff & Monica Hobbs
Publications Manager – Don Perrin
Registration Manager – Michelle Preziosa
Resident Artist – Rich Hasenhauer
Webmaster – Jim McWee
Coordinators:
Awards – Pete Panzeri
Events – Dudley Garidel & Nick Zizo
Exhibitors – Nick Nesteruk
Flea Market – Matthew Grove & Chris Johnson
Media – Beth Brody
Painting – Heather Blush
Registration – Kathy Higbee, Orest Swystun & James Thomas
Seminars – John Dunn
Sharpe Experience – Tim Harwood
Staff Photographer – Richard Ellis
Tournaments – Scott Holder
25th Anniversary – Chris King
Staff (in alphabetic order): Donna Betz, Colin Brewer, Dan & Don Carlucci,
Chris Caudill, Wayne Cooper, Roger Covington, Richard & Lindsey Crouch, James Curtis,
John D’Addario, Mike Dolan, Brian Edwards, Bruce Eggleston, Robin, Brandon & Devin Empey,
Paul Fasciana, Dennis Fischer, Doug Fisher, Patrick Fitzgerald, Geoff Graff, Rich Greenway,
Steve Hanson, William Harrop, Devin Haynes, Jim Hergenhahn, Brian Higbee, Jerry Hurwitz,
Todd Kauderer, Mark Klein, Amy Krumm, Bob & Cleo Liebl, Asher Lurie, Brian Marsh, Mike McGrath,
Randy & Steven Meyers, Ben Pecson, Rick Schirtzinger, Bob Scripp, Eugene Suchora, Matthew Tate,
August Thiesing, Bruce Witver, Ed Wright, Bob Yatison, Liz Zizo.
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