An Abridged Weekend at Fall-In! 2022

Even with a different "Host" of problems in the world, there is some sense of normalcy returning with Fall-In!  2022 actually taking place in November, in Lancaster, masks optional.  What's even better was pulling in fully completed, beacon on the hill which is the Wyndham Resort and Convention Center (formerly THE HOST).  

Or maybe whose phone camera needs to be wiped off...

I've always tried to make Cold Wars a "boys weekend", Historicon is wide open, but Fall-In! is some time with my eldest daughter, Maja.

And off we went...

Oops, that was a picture from five years ago.   Fast forward a bit....

Hey, I like my purple shirt.  It's a quality shirt.

We arrived late Thursday to drop stuff off in the room for HMGS Next Gen and socialize, but I was a bit awestruck by the approached, the fresh asphalt, and what might be the finished remodeling!  

Everything was brighter, cleaner, and either I lost a bunch of weight on the drive down or physical structures felt wider.

After decades of the mold, the parking, the plumbing, the electrical, portable boilers, etc, the Host, errrr. the Wyndham is a quality establishment. 

The Lampeter room, with the classic tournament tables on the right, Wally's Basement (flea market) on the right, but no leaky windows or blue tarp on the roof.

Heck, even the theatre seem a little brighter (okay I'm pushing things a bit..)

We ran in to the Gnome crew, made a quick run to Wal-Mart for contact solution a half hour before they closed, stopped at the bar for $8 beer, and checked into the room.

Pegasus Bridge looks so unassuming from this angle. 

Friday morning, we rolled out of bed and run my event.  Ended up with three players plus myself and Maja (she snuck out for a Hobby U class midway through), but an excellent use for a large fleet of vehicles we have and a perfect excuse for a "bier run", even if the Germans transportation contacts to escape got "permanently delayed."

Even if there were some delays with delivery...

We cleaned up, helped our teammate Mike set up his afternoon game and explored the facility then enjoyed the absolute privilege of staying on site, going back to the room for a snack and a nap, to recharge for the rest of the day. 

I did make one exciting discovery,  the Friday night slot of Wally's Basement was still open, so I snatched up a table and tried to prep the items.  

I did the flea market waaay back in '96 (it was in the actual Tennis Barn), and I've done the free Sunday ones from time to time, but to be honest, I had an actual blast sitting on behind the table, rather than trudging through the collections of folks aimlessly walking through with giant back-ups, blocking the whole aisle while regaling the various preferences of undergarments of Napoleon's mistresses, all at the top of their lungs. 

Honestly, even during that "release the hounds" moment at 7pm, all the shoppers were great, the guys beside and behind me were awesome, I liquidated two of the three totes of stuff I packed up on a whim Thursday afternoon. and we could enjoy the weekend a little bit more. 

As someone who avoids the initial bedlam of a flea market session, I can confirm the best way to get some of the best items is to buy a table, and roam the other sellers after you've finished setting up.  No transactions can be completed prior to the opening of the session (and I didn't see anyone breaking the rules), but there were a few holds hiding in a bin that covered the table, dinner, and a bit more.)  

If you need to liquidated, I heartily recommend getting a table, even if it's not the main Saturday session.  The three hours flew by, Maja got me a snack, sat with me a bit, played in the Joust, and came back to help me clean up.  

We prepped the table for the Gnome games on Saturday, made a Wawa run (no mashed potatoes, meatballs, or Italian hoagies... a quick run to the Wawa off of 72 fixed 1 out of 3) before closing the bar.  

Saturday was a bust gaming wise, but I knew that coming in.  Both my daughters play basketball, school, rec, and travel, and while Maja took the fall off to focus on school volleyball, my youngest, Millie, is fully engaged in fall AAU, and this weekend just happened to be the Zero Gravity Spookfest at the Spooky Nook facility on the other side of town.   Of course, her games were at 10:20 and 1:30, to throw off any chance of grabbing a game until I was helping out the Gnome game at 7pm that night. 

I'll do the usual personal write-up of the seasons in a future post, but even missing a few girls, they're still a regionally recognized team in the Northeast, and rolled 26-9 and 41-9 in two games.  

Dr Frankenstein's Laboratory is jumping!

Wars of Ozz

I missed our 10am Saturday Gnome Wars game, which had ten players, and all new ones at that.  

The evening session had a 50/50 mixture of new players and the Old Guard, who bring their own painted units to play.  

It was complete chaos (the good way), with the game ending on rolls for an elephant versus a biplane.

Maja even got a game of chess in with John Speiss

We packed up, closed the bar and prepped for an early leave Sunday morning, because Millie had a 9:05 am game.  Between Daylight Savings and empty parking spaces to avoid lugging the minis and luggage, I managed a quick perusal at the Sunday Wally's before departing for Spooky Nook.  

So, how does the former Host and Fall-In! stack up after the renovation?  

Wyndham Resort and Convention Center:  Yes it's still on a dated design, but I couldn't find anyone with a significant horror story or serious issue.  It's honestly a beautiful facility, even if coffee and liquor were horribly overpriced.  I mean, I don't know about the other room across from Distelfink, but New Holland was COLD!  Only silly complaint I could think of were the bathrooms off the ballroom.  I wasn't there for the Saturday rush, so I don't know how they kept them, but they retained the sink design from the HOST so there's more water splashed onto the countertop than going down the drain.  At least that meant that gamers were attempting to wash their hands.   Here's to less con crud continuing.

Hotel:  The last time I stayed at the "Host" was during the snowstorm with my family in 2012.  A decade he rooms are lightyear improvements, plus there was housekeeping service!   Minor gripe,  no microwave complicated Maja's plan for a teenage diet of microwavable food she packed, but the on-site alternatives were much better.  

Thankfully I had a short walk back from the bar to my room, cause the carpet was disconcerting while sober. 

I felt like I was in the net after falling off the trapeze.

Parking:   Again, not here for Saturday at its highest, but I managed a spot in the lot to the right of the hotel each time through multiple comings and goings all weekend.  I didn't venture to see if the overflow lot even still exists.

Vendor Hall:  Between time and funds, I admit that I avoided going down the former Tennis Barn.  I've got not major projects that I can't delay for Cold Wars.  Reports of no A/C tempered the positive news of less stringent badge enforcement to get within the perimeter.  

Wally's Basement:  The $25 for a table on Friday was worth it for the experience, and I did grab a few items in the afternoon when I got back from basketball.  Still confused by the few folks selling things at retail, and seeing the same stuff Friday, Saturday, and a few specific items again on Sunday.  3e

Toy for Tots:  I actually participated in the Saturday session of the raffle and auction.  I need to budget some funds (or do more flea markets) for next year.

Lego Pirates!

The SWAG: 

• A copy of the old Avalon Hill D-Day game.  Someone had donated a huge pile of chit-based wargames for Toys for Tots and they were set up on a table at Wally's with a "Free with donation" sign.   Don't know if it's complete, but that copy's condition hearkened back to summers in Vermont where the three games to keep me occupied were D-Day, Battle Cry, and Win, Place, and Show.  
• A few packs of Orglings from Demonblade (Think 40k Gretchin who went to the gym).  Something to expand my sci-fi game.
• A copy of Penny Heroes.  Just the few pages I read were worth the $2 I spent.  
• I was also bequeathed a special gift from Mike.  I'm happy I didn't think about putting my various scenario books into the flea market, because my Zulu Campaign book will be worn out with some super-special Gnome-related versions.   

Maja painted a few trucks, and caused some concern from the adults.  

I'm so thinking of a Pulp-era zombie game, just to use that truck.

Cold Wars 2023 is slated for one last hurrah at the Valley Forge Casino Resort in King of Prussia, March 10-12, 2023.   Historicon 2023 is back at the Lancaster County Convention Center in Downtown Lancaster, Pennsylvania, July 19-23, 2023.  Plan on it remaining through at least 2026.

Oh yeah, Sunday basketball.   Everyone drove all the way to Lancaster to play the AAU program that's  thirty minutes from us.  The 9am game was a 41-17 win.   After everyone realized that the two teams would meet up at the 2:30pm championship, we found the opposing team's coach spending almost three hours drilling press breaks and new plays into his team.  It worked well at the start, with Millie's teammate hitting a buzzer-beater- three at the end of the half to only put them up 23-15.  After the teams traded quick lay-ups to the start the second, Millie hit a three, stole the inbounds, passed it for another lay-up, and they never looked back, winning 52-28.

Size matters not.....

Fall-In Falls to the Big 'Rona

Most of us were hopeful, but it was looking more and more inevitable as COVID-19 lingered in the northeast.   Fall-In! 2020 in King of Prussia has been cancelled.

It's not too surprising.  KoP is in Montgomery County, part of the greater Philadelphia metro area, and within the past few weeks, has even seen more daily cases than Philadelphia proper.   Even with the legislative processes completed.  (A) Montgomery county might still be affected by large gathering restrictions and (B) Even if the process clears the county for late October, financial decisions of HMGS and vendors need to be made now.  Tack on the demographics within HMGS membership and it's a no-brainer. 

And now we march on and plan for Cold Wars 2021 in Ocean City, Maryland.

Sent to the HMGS membership (and probably previous attendees, from HMGS President John Speiss:

Once again, we hope this email finds you and your families both safe and well. It has been one month since I released the disappointing news that Historicon 2020 would need to be canceled. Since that time, we have been closely monitoring any potential progress on the lifting of restrictions that would affect large gatherings, such as our conventions. While some businesses are starting to open again, there still remain significant restrictions in place with regards to social distancing that would make running a convention unfeasible. Therefore, it is with a heavy heart that we now announce the cancellation of Fall-In! 2020.

We waited as long as possible to finalize our decision. However, the pre-convention planning process needed to begin now. Vendor packets needed to be sent, registration needed to open, further substantial venue deposits were due, advertising materials created, and volunteer staff recruited. We were contacted by the Valley Forge Casino Resort and were informed that their facility remains completely closed, staff has been furloughed, and any re-opening will most likely not be till mid-September at the earliest. In addition, Fall-In! was scheduled earlier this year, in October instead of November, which also compressed our timeline.

The year 2020 has been very difficult on so many levels. The number of canceled conventions is significant: Little Wars, GenCon, Historicon, Enfilade, NJCON, Drums at the Rapids, KublaCon, Huzzah!, and most recently Hurricon and NOVA Open, just to name a few. And across the pond, the cancellation of Bovington, Salute, Partizan, and Colours confirms that this situation is not limited to the United States.

Proceeding with Fall-In! just posed too many risks. Even if the convention took place, facial masks and possibly gloves would be required to be worn by all attendees, volunteers, and vendors. The social distancing requirements would restrict games to no more than two players and a GM. The number of games would be severely cut back since the tables would also need to be spread out. There would be no flea market and no Hobby University classes. Vendor booths would need to be spaced at appropriate distances, and access to the vendor hall would have to be monitored and capped at certain levels.

Even more importantly, the fact that a significant portion of our membership and volunteers are in a high-risk health category needed to be considered. These restrictions would significantly affect attendance, and with our room block obligations, the resulting financial loss projections are very high. Health, safety, and financial exposure are all important, and frankly, the bottom line is that this just wouldn’t be fun. We think this is the right decision, and we hope that you agree.

There is some good news. As with Historicon, we have been provided with paperwork which relieves us from our contractual obligations with no financial loss. Our significant deposits will be rolled over to 2021. Our prepaid advertising commitments have also been re-negotiated for us to receive full credits for our shows in 2021. We are still working on credits for our 2020 liability insurance, so hopefully, we will see some progress there in the coming weeks as well. HMGS, Inc. remains in a very strong financial position, and we will be able to continue our Education and Outreach programs with schools and libraries. Going forward, we are also investigating the possibility of a virtual convention.

Lastly, since our 2020 convention schedule has been canceled, our annual membership meeting which is normally held at Historicon, will need to be held by teleconference. We are still planning for a late July meeting and additional information with the details and instructions will be sent soon.

So in closing, please be well, be safe, and hope for a brighter 2021. 

John Spiess
President, HMGS Inc.
president@hmgs.org

My Day-Trip to Fall-in! 2019

The last three years, I've managed to get Fall-In! into my convention cycle.  Cold Wars is supposed to be my "guys weekend", Historicon is whatever suits the family's schedule, but Fall-In! has been the weekend I take my eldest daughter Maja to the con.

This year, a recent promotion at work and trouble in that paradise kept Fall-In! as a last minute decision.  So last second, in fact, that I didn't register for the con and get things settle until late Thursday afternoon.

The plan was to put my youngest, Millie, on the bus, and take Maja into work with me for an hour so I could leave for Philly with a clear conscience.  We (Maja included) ended up having to deal with every executive in my company with "Chief" and "Officer" wanting to talk to me about issues that could wait, and it was almost Noon before we could dash out of the office and hit the turnipike.

Fifteen bucks in tolls later (and a stop for Roy Rogers), we were in the parking lot for the Radisson, trying to figure out which way the registration desk and pre-reg pick-up scan were.  Its location made perfect sense to me after the fact, but a few more signs to 80% idiot-proof the process would have been greatly appreciated.

When Historicon made the move to Valley Forge in the aftermath of the Baltimore fiasco, I have fond and distinct memories of running and playing games near the dealer hall, in an area which is now the casino proper.  The only noteworthy walks I remember were through the byzantine passages to get from the convention center back to the hotel (first H'con), as well as the horribly steep parking lot (second H'Con).

I'm still amazed the labyrinth-like hallways are still there, and even more amazed that the hallways rise and fall with ramps when I swear the casino/dealers hall is downhill from the Radisson.

We didn't even make it to the dealer's hall on the first attempt over three, as we happened upon Hobby University, and everyone's favorite gnome guy, Jim Stanton.  We hung out there, caught up on things, and were happy to say hi to every other friend who happened by Hobby U.

A LOT more space for Hobby University here than at the Lancaster Convention Center

We made a single foray into the dealer's hall and left half-satisfied.  Literally half of the items I was looking for were available because half of the items weren't brought to the con.  I get that some of the dealers can't  haul their huge catalogs of figures, and I also get the concept of a simple email from me to the company asking if they were going to bring Chilean dragoons or Buddhist monks in thongs ensures that the company will bring something related to the desired item.   But some of the items were brand new releases within the last 90 days, so by Friday at 3:30, we should have some stock available, or at least point at the empty spot where the figures were.

Finally, the dealers!

After a trip to Chili's for dinner, we came back and celebrated Toys for Tots with a Squighopper (aka Gnome) Joust.  The great thing about the joust is that it doesn't matter if it's knights, goblins riding squigs, or gnomes riding roosters, it works. 

Maja was ruthless in her jousting and did far better than me.

I got knocked out early, not by the usual run of kids, but the opposite, a senior citizen brigade that included the Gnome King's mom!  For her first con, she performed more than admirably, finally falling in the finals to the Fall-In! 2019 Joust Champion, Todd Pressley.

The Gnome King working the joust brackets.

Even better than previous years, this year's joust raised funds towards the Toys for Tots program run every year. 

The Toys for Tots volunteers do a great job each and every year.

With that, we were a few minutes short of Wally's Basement (aka the flea market), so Maja and I went back to the car, drove it over to the casino side of of the facility, and by that time, descended in the debauchery of sales already in progress.  Twenty minutes later, we were in the car and heading back home. 

The Valley Forge Casino & Resort/Radisson:  My last two conventions here, I didn't have much time to explore.  This time, I needed to explore to find the bulk of the games.  Most games appeared to be in rooms centralized in the Radisson, but there were so many rooms all over the place.  Air flow and climate control were bearable, although in any warmer weather, I might include a box fan as my gear.   The only on-site food we suffered through was horribly overprice Dunkin Donuts (even for casino fare), which we grabbed on the way out.  My iced coffee was wrong (who screws up cream and sugar?), and my daughters' drink had bits of plastic in it.  An angry letter to the casino and Dunkin were sent before I typed this up, for what it's worth. 

And yes, a few people I know actually won money at the casino.  No one stole any dice.

Parking:  The old bugbear of the Host is a non-issue at this site. I never had a problem finding a reasonable parking spot.

Dealer's Hall:  Good assortment of dealers, a few local vendors.  I didn't have an extensive list built up for the con, but about 1/3 of it was products the dealers didn't bring, and our limited time at the con didn't allow for restful perusing. 

Swag:  Again, with my limited list, limited stock, and limited patience with the flea market, it really wasn't much:

• The obligatory pint o' mdf bases (with extra mdf "dust" this year).  
• A few Post-Apocalyptic figures from Brigade Games, plus one of the brand new French Gnome Cavalry riding a snail (They are fast in the rules, you should see them escargot!)
• Windsword:  A few Reaper Bones and Wizkids Wardlings figures my local shops simply do not get in, plus some mushrooms and Egyptian terrain 
• Badger: A lone 1898 Teddy Roosevelt mounted figure, but I'll get my old Grenadier dragonmen via an online order. 
• Eureka: Maja got some frogs and a steampunk dog.  She's also excited to get an official HMGS badge holder.   
• Wally's Basement: outside of the sheer pleasure of knocking aside a few absolute jerks of human beings (and confirming why I don't go shopping on Black Friday).  Sixty Wargames Factory zombies on a sprue, a zombie hunter, and an old Hackmaster mini.
• And a big thank you to Kevin, Brad, and any other "Canadians" hiding at the con, who gave Maja a copy of Quarriors.  She greatly appreciated the gesture and is excited to try it out.

For a rushed trip, I had a good time.  I reconnected with a bunch of friends, I have an itinerary for Cold Wars, and I've confirmed a few folks' interest in my "birthday party" at Mepacon in April.