HMGS PELA Review

The grumblings of older middle-aged men aside, the Historical Miniatures Gaming Society (HMGS) does a great job promoting the hobby of historical wargaming with their three conventions, Cold Wars, Fall-In!, and their flagship, Historicon.  

One of their ways to showcase the quality events at their shows is their awards program, hereafter referred to as the PELAs. PELA stands for "Pour Encourager Les Autres" .  While we're not executing Admirals who refuse to fight "To encourage the others",   the HMGS PELAs perform the much more "admirable" task of awarding small trophies at numerous times during their conventions to stand-out games that promote the best the hobby has to offer.

And that, my friends, is where the layman's knowledge of the PELAs might end, and after participating in three rounds of judging this past year, that is where deviation about the awards begins.  

There are a number of other categories of awards handed out each con, but the focus is on the traditional PELA itself.  

Right off the HMGS Awards page

"Pour Encourager Les Autres"

• Events are reviewed by a team of volunteer judges.  These teams will walk the convention, with an event list and attempt to see every game in during that timeframe.  There's a review period for late morning, mid-afternoon, and evening each full day of the conventions.  There is enough time allocated, that the judges should be able to see every game that's at least three-hours long in that timeslot, whether they're finishing up, or just a few minutes into it. 
• The PELA is eligible to any event during the convention, so long as the event is not a) a tournament  b) a vendor demo,  c) a one-on-one game, and d) a board game.   That means Napoleonics, WW2, Pulp, Gnomes, and even a cheese planet sci-fi game are all eligible for the award.  We're supposed to encourage others, and I have no problem with a "by any means necessary" approach.
• Events with multiple sessions can only win one PELA per convention.  A GM could win more than one PELA during a convention if they are running two or more distinct events.  We actually had that situation happen during Historicon 2024 (technically they were in the running for a third as well.) 
• After reviewing the games, the judges consult each other and select two games to award the PELA to.  It's the goal of the PELA committee to present the award to the GMs at their table, before it is completed.  Winners get a handy trophy, and a voucher good at the convention. 
• The judges may also present Young Guard winners, and nominate games for Best Terrain, Best Theme and Best of Show.
• GMs running distinctly different events on similar terrain are treated as separate entities.  Eligible Example:  A GM runs a Samurai game on a appropriate table, but a different GM runs a ninja focused game, using the the same table, but in a different way?  Both are eligible.  Ineligible Example:  Some dudes run four sessions of freakin' gnomes, using the same figures/terrain/etc.  The make life easier by calling it the same event name.  If one of those GMs win a PELA, the other "dudes" can not qualify, even if they run a superior game. (No, I'm not bitter...)

The PELA judging is subjective, of course, but should be base on the following guidelines.  

• Appearance: Impressive & appealing figures, terrain, models, gaming tools and overall table layout. 

• Participation: Players are visibly enjoying the game, and all players asked respond enthusiastically. 

• Innovation: Unique methods, techniques or craftsmanship, GM showmanship and any other exceptional methods evident to produce a high quality event.

• GM Effort: For a GM going "above-and-beyond" to run many events, and/or large fun games or over a dozen gamers, informative/educational or multimedia efforts such as historical posters, flags, AV etc.

That means that a felt ground cloth and 6mm Napoleonics game with an active GM and excited players should be at least considered for a PELA. It also means your museum-grade terrain display should not be a guarantee for hardware. After 30 years of these cons, I've seen some beautiful boards with absolute soul-sucking players... or GMs, ruining things for everyone.

 
Bob Watts and "Michael Fijalka Young Guard Award"

As explained at judge orientation, and in the "packet" Each session, the judges may award a Young Guns award to any GM 18 years or older, so long as they are the primary listed GM of the event. 

These instructions are incomplete, as the Awards webpage states, "These awards are presented in recognition of exceptional children’s games. . . with an emphasis on events that are GM’d by children."

Years prior, I know this part to be true, because during conventions with a healthy "anti-gnome" block,  the gnome games with a horde of children in them have won the Young Guns award.    Outside of a few games, like LEGO Pirates, I didn't see a large group of kids around most tables, so either criteria was pretty limited at Historicon.

The Bob Watts Award is given out during Cold Wars.  Young Guards are handed out at Historicon and Fall-In!  I didn't any reference to Mike's name on the judges paperwork in July. 

The last three awards had more confusion than controversy.  Criteria for eligible nominees was different from the judge's information, the website, and odd recollection of others (aka: Back when we judged...) .

Nominees for all three categories below are assembled and the judges were emailed the list of eligible games.  I know I was asked to select a 1st  and 2nd choice for each award, if possible. 

Best Terrain

• Nominations do not have to coincide with a PELA awarded, just great terrain.
• I'm assuming basic PELA eligibility guidelines (no tournament, 1-on-1, etc...) would apply
• Likewise, I'm not seeing any hard Historical-only designation, although there's some reasonable pressure that in most cases Historical > Semi-Historical > Sci-Fi/Fantasy, although I do remember fantastic non-Historical games getting this.  

Best of Show

From the website: 

"Is selected from all of the top Historical Miniatures Games and usually a “PELA” winner who ran multiple iterations and drew recognition from multiple judges."

This did conflict with the criteria given to us.  All Best of Show nominees were REQUIRED to run multiple sessions, which produced extremely limited choices.  There was definitely some behind the scenes revisions during the last convention.  Eligible games were ultimately defined as a) all PELA winners b) Multiple sessions and c) Historical only.  

Best Theme Event:

• Selected from all of the top Theme Events and Theme-related PELA recipients. Historical and non-historical.
• All nominees needed to be listed as "Theme Event" ....   I am a little confused where this theme-adjacent PELA grey area comes from

And let's not forget two other awards, one impulsive, but both requiring  years of dedication to qualify. 

Legion of Honor Battle Star:

If a member of the HMGS Legion of Honor (aka The Wargaming Hall of Fame) happens to be a judge for the one of the sessions, they have, at their discretion, the opportunity to present a Battle Star to a unique event the member wishes to recognize.  Recipients are awarded one of the large ribbons in the picture above.

HMGS Game Master of the Year

The PELA judges merely influence who's eligible for the Game Master of the Year Award.

From the website:
Awarded annually at HISTORICON® to a Game Master (or GM Team) from among the past year’s “Best of Show” and “Best Theme” recipients. Selected by the Awards Committee, usually for those who won the top awards at multiple HMGS® conventions.

While a pretty basic (and lofty) set of criteria.  I would like to know what's better:  Someone who can run the same game three or four times... or a GM running multiple distinctly different events and winning PELAs for all of them? 

I will also add that everything here was sent sent to HMGS Awards Coordinator (and HMGS Treasurer) Steve Boegemann, who came back with positive and constructive feedback but no corrections.  Steve passed away last month, a week or so after he sent his last notes to me.  While its a bit of an odd conversation to end a friendship on, I think almost every conversation we've ever had was HMGS related, and how to make to better/friendlier to all people.