Historicon 2022: I Came, I Saw, I Need a Nap

Historicon is officially back, we can see almost everyone's smiling faces, and a another hopeful breath of normalcy has returned! 

Despite a successful Historicon in November, this past weekend would be the first HMGS con that was 98% maskless, so I think just about everyone was excited for a return to relative normalcy. 

With the kids still having summer sports games and practices I went not (a) went solo but also (b) left for the con on Thursday morning, (c) stayed on site at the Marriott, which meant (d) I got a chance to use the attached parking garage instead of walking around Lancaster and carrying stuff in the middle of a heat wave.  With those criteria, my opinions might vary from my 2019 daytrip with Maja.

I left my house around 9am on Thursday with my traditional route of I-81 to PA 72, which essentially dumps me into Downtown Lancaster.   During our Spring trips to Spooky Nook for the girls' basketball tournaments, the GPS had been steering us off onto back roads so remote, the Amish fear to tread, and I understand way.  Going home, the roads are fine, but coming into Lancaster that way, there some delays with a half-dozen construction projects largely affected the southbound lanes.  Throw in about a dozen and a half State Troopers in just the first half of my drive that morning. 

At 11am on Thursday, there was still parking at the Penn Garage, if you were willing to be three inches from the Sun, on the top exposed deck.  

Freedom Hall Left, with the tournaments and a few other games. The big dividing wall on the right was left open to the adjacent Dealer Hall while the hall was open for business.  

I picked up my pre-registration with no issues and made a general sweep of the convention center, to regain my bearings from years ago, and find the rooms I'd be running my games in (Federal).  

Western

Western

Western

Looking back at my review of the previous convention, it appears the crammed table issue was resolved, by either reorganization.... or fewer events.  More movable walls were used to create separate rooms.  That did alleviate the cacophony of noise that always plagued use in the Distelfink at the Host, it produced a few odd logistical concerns, like the HAWKS room literally hiding around the corner from the main Commonwealth ballroom.  Add that to a few concerns with incorrect rooms and tables on event tickets in a few select instances and you can see ingredients for dissatisfaction.    Wearing an HMGS Next Gen shirt for most of the con probably drew a larger share of questions/cries for help from random attendees, but (as always) there were plenty of instances of folks getting other folks to Wally's Basement or the right dealer for a particular product.  

Modern Ukraine? 

As one of the Gnone guys, I was shocked by how packed our 2pm and 7pm Thursday Gnome Wars games were.   We had enough Old Guard, a few new players, and a Sikh War Elephant that thought he has Don Quixote.  You the usual stuff. 

Between sessions, I managed to check into my room with minimal delay and enjoy the deep freeze they pre-set the thermostat at.  Outside of the fancy-schmancy shower controls, the rest of the room was spectacular.  Only complaint was the IQ test I felt I was taking using my room card to access my floor on the elevator.  

Before going to bed, I did move my car from the roof to an open spot a few feet from the exit.  It did not move for the rest of the weekend.

Friday morning was a later start, but first I needed some breakfast... and early, to avoid me turning into a puddle outside.  I had gotten rave reviews from La Dolce Vita Courthouse Bakery, and they did not disappoint on my two trips over the weekend.  The coffee was solid, the baked good delectable, and the spinach, feta, and egg sandwiches were the best breakfast sandwiches I've had in years.  Sure I needed to scrub my hands like I was a surgeon before I handled minis, but they kept me going all the way until dinner. 

In it's hall, after hours, the dealer's wares dream of new homes.

In the 10am slot, I was backup for the Teacher's Program 'Creating a Jousting Cloth.'  Participants were provided fabric, paint, and materials to create their own jousting cloth, akin to the ones used at the (in) famous Gnome Jousts.  Spoilers, the rules used for the joust, and recommended for the participants' home/school/community is a slimmed down version of  To Cry a Joust.  

After some time gallivanting in the Dealers Hall and Wally's Basement, we were right back at it at 1pm for Jim Stanton, John Speiss, and myself hosted a "How Do I Run a Game" seminar.  We had a number of brave souls, including a father/son duo from Belgium, show up to go over the planning, problems, pitfalls, and playtesting of convention game planning.    Some of the ideas the folks had for their first games were ambitious, innovative, but still mainstream enough to draw and audience, and I hope I'll find them in a future PEL one day.

The Game Library, at the bottom of the escalators, past Registration. 

Speaking of running games, the seminar rolled into my "Battle of Yellowstone" game, which is an overview of the US Cavalry's occupation/administration of Yellowstone National Park from 1886-1918... using Gnome Wars figures.  I last ran it during the infamous Halloween blizzard at Fall-In, and since the Gnome Wars "Train Events" we were running this year shared the same terrain, it made sense to dust the scenario off after nearly a decade.  

I did give one player all the US Cav patrolling the park and the scenario went the distance with the National Park Rangers taking control of the park on time, and only with a strange feral cattle issue around Mammoth. 

After the game, we headed over to Plough, the restaurant in the lobby of the hotel for a quick bite before the HMGS Membership Meeting.  I ate in the restaurant twice, both times I had the burger, and both times it was fast and delicious.  

54mm San Juan Hill - The 48-year old man I am, and the 8-year boy in me both fell in love with this.

...and sitting on the floor pushing boats around is a close second.

If you've ever attended an HMGS meeting during the convention, we have a therapy group that meets on Wednesdays.  Seriously, though, I've been to enough meetings where a quorum couldn't be obtained, and I've been dragged to meetings to reach a quorum.  I'm happy to attend a meeting, when I'm available, to allow the business of the organization to be conducted .... even if the minutes from the last meeting weren't available to be approved.

The short version of the meeting:  Things are obviously getting better in a post-pandemic world.  We're back to Wyndham (formerly HOST) for Fall-In, probably King of Prussia for Cold Wars, and hotel registrations systems still succumb to the same issue that plagued screaming teens from getting Bon Jovi concert tickets in the 80's.   

I did cut out of the meeting early to help start the premier event of any HMGS convention... The Joust.  Twenty participants and ninety minutes of fun and laughter.  I may have enjoyed my run to the title too much, unhorsing small children with a bit too much glee, but karma finally caught up to me.

Your Historicon 2022 Joust Champion is.... Steve B.  He seems familiar for some reason.

Saturday was going to rough, so the second visit to La Dolce Vita was in order, although others were raving about a Amish place in the Market across the street.  Regardless, no one was disappointed, that I talked too.

A strange phenomena occurred on Saturday that I've never witnessed before to such an extant.   The Saturday day-trippers (and also day-shoppers) were coming in, yet the morning and afternoon gaming seemed sparely attended.   

My Yellowstone game, which can accommodate ten, and had six on Friday?  Saturday morning saw one very energetic young man, who thankfully wanted to chuck a lot of dice and move most of the figures as I ran the ne'er do wells for his Cav to defend the park.  Even the Gnome Wars game in the afternoon couldn't break double digit players, and that's unheard of.  

When your only players requests a train heist to end the game, you accommodate the anachronism. 

As I took a walk around the site, there were certainly full tables of games, but there were also packs of individuals wandering about, in-between visiting Wally's, the Dealers, or just lounging about.  

View from the 12th floor  That parking garage never seemed to get filled up.

Saturday night concluded what I'll call the "Mormon Tetraology" for the Gnome Wars games.  All four non-Yellowstone gnome games featured my Theocracy of Deseret army, with good natured jokes and ribbing that could be expected. Each game was partially inter-connected, and each was crazier than the rest.  "The Mormon Alamo" is now part of Gnome Wars lore.  Perhaps someone should be writing these epic tales of heroism down.

So that's the guy who bought all the BattleMasters boxed sets on the East Coast....

Sunday morning, I procured a hotel cart on the first attempt, put my stuff in the car, and pondered bring stuff in for Wally's free Sunday session, only to discover that it started an hour earlier than I thought.   

Forgoing the flea market allowed me to get on the road and watch my kids play together in their Summer league game at noon.  (0 pts, 12 assists, 10 rebounds, and 9 steals between the two of them in a 31-18 win, but this Dad doesn't keep track). 

Wars of Ozz 

Nothing like a cartel kingpin and the boat he loves.  

So, how does a full visit to Historicon 2022 stack up.

The Lancaster County Convention Center - I certainly empathized with first-time visitors with navigation issues, but after a second con, I've got most of the nooks and crannies noted, if not memorized.  Closing up some of the rooms alleviated noise, but seemed to affect lightning.  

I never got close to the on-site food in the lobby, during their odd hours, although I can attest that the pretzels were edible and the chicken strips were pretty good.  The Plough restaurant was speedy, the food good, and the prices not extraordinary.  The staff I interacted with seemed personable and competent, although every time I needed to used the bathroom outside our game room, it was closed and the the staff was cleaning it.

Let me repeat, I'm complaining that they were cleaning the bathrooms too often.   It's a great problem to have, and the walk to the next restroom certainly didn't hurt.

Hotel: The Marriott's a great hotel.  Rooms were spacious for all my junk.  Outside of the mental disconnect with my keycard and the elevator, I would stay there again. 

Just like 2019, the escalator going up to 3 died on Saturday

Parking:  No issues (Parking with in-and-out privileges for one car is included in the room rate).  Validation was simple.  Other lots did have space, but I understand the lack of enthusiasm to walk a block or three in the middle of a heat wave.

Vendor Hall:  The missing vendors are slowly coming back, with a few interesting additions.  Things seemed to be peppy when I visited.  

Wally's Basement:  As someone who's not neither looking to buy/sell an army or need to jump into the madness of the first 15-minutes of the session.  I had a few encounters to folks haggling their own prices for me, but then I realized the deals were still above retail prices (and still available).  I did find one fellow who offered a buck a blister for packs and he got my money.  

The SWAG:   Mostly requests from the girls

• Stargrave Crew II boxed set (all-female)
• Brigade Games Post-Apoc figs (all female, for our Zombie game)
• Bad Squidoo sci-fi figs (you guessed it)
• A variety of Huge Miniatures products to try out. 
• Miscellaneous accessories from Harmony House
• A bunch of Call of Cthulhu blisters
• and the random dollar packs that include 2 Hackmaster minis.
• ... and a few more Gnomes.

I also acquired a "bunch of junk" which I may be able to whip into a Planet 28 Sci-Fi Project... using the Huge Miniatures modeling products.  Stay tuned!

Sunday morning quiet, and a lone Joby Miller roaming the wilderness...

Historicon 2023 will be back at the LCCC, July 19-23, 2023

Fall-In! will be November 4-6, 2022 at the Wyndham Resort and Convention Center (formerly the Lancaster HOST).    Event registration is now open and the them will be "Vehicles in War: Trains, Tracks, and Trucks"

Stay tuned for confirmation regarding Cold Wars.