It has been a while, but HMGS has finally been able to hold their first in person miniature game convention! The event was held at the Valley Forge Casino Resort between November 11th and 14th and was a combination of Historical and Fall-in. I was looking forward to the event, if for no other reason, but to see some actual vendor releases in person.
I decided to make it a short trip, as I had no idea what to expect at the event. It is the first event in over eighteen months. However, our hobby is rather replete with old folks and the pandemic is still quite alive. So, I decided two days and one night would be enough this time around.
I took the drive early Friday morning and arrived at noon at the event. I was able to get an early check in, so too a short break and headed down to the hall to register. This was easy peasy lemon squeezy. I then headed straight to the dealer room.
This was an interesting year to see the vendors, as a decent number of regular attendees where not showing up, but a number of new vendors that I had never seen at an event took their place (did I really need to buy three boxes of A9 tanks from PSC…). The set up was a little different than pervious years, with the vendor hall a bit wider and shallower, but with a more open feeling with the front wall being totally accessible.
The normal flea market was set up in the room next to the vendor area, so was a little more contained than before (this was a big improvement over the previous years open room format). Friday’s wares were nothing too exciting for me, but things really stepped up on Saturday. Ironically, this is probably the first time ever that I have not bought something from the flea market. This has more to do with my obscene collection, than what was being offered….
The game rooms were spread throughout the facility, as in other years. This is my only complaint of the event, as I feel the main games should be close to the dealer room and the tourneys in the more distant rooms. However, this is splitting hairs. The quality of the displays were quite nice. I did not see any amazing games, but I also did not see any duds (has the green felt finally be vanquished?). What I saw was a large number of games done at a high standard. It brought a tear to my eye!
The tourneys were located by and around the vendor hall. These were the usual suspects, although with lower attendance than normal. Probably the largest area was the tourneys put on to support Firelock Games, which is nice to see newer games getting some love.
I did not make it to Hobby University or any presentations this time around, as my time was limited and I did not see anything that was interesting specifically to me during that time. However, the events were there and I did see attendance when I walked past.
I joined a pick up game on Friday night with some buddies to commemorate a good gamer friend that past away earlier this year (more on that later). We had a good time and I wrapped up the eventing chatting with some friends I had not seen since before Covid. On Saturday, I did a final hit on the vendor room and flea market to pick up a “few” more things. A few more conversations and I hit the road back home.
I was not sure what to expect with this convention. On Friday, it looked like it might be a bit of a dud. However, Saturday it was a bit of a mad house, so it looks like it was a success! Although my bank account might disagree…. I’m looking forward to the next event!
- Manteuffel