The Collected Fall-In! 2025 Reviews

I had a relaxing weekend at home, rather than heading down to Fall-In! in Lancaster.   I've got to admit, I enjoyed my longest drive was a mile to grab pizza, and my only purchases was a shipping charge on the Palladium TMNT RPG, and $1.25 for a box of Swedish Fish for a fun game project at home.  

Don't get me wrong, I love Fall-In!  I love the crazy games, the Toys for Tots fundraising, wandering Wally's, and most importantly, spending time with my daughter, Maja.   This year Maja was literally out of the country for the con, I would end up being the only guy running gnome games, and finances were wiped out after a pizza, shipping charges, and some groceries.  As I've said here and elsewhere, we'll be coming back better than ever for Cold Wars and certainly for Historicon.

But, I always do a write-up of the HMGS cons, even if I'm not there, so it's best for me to create some links to blogs or groups posting pictures and opinions.  The biggest difficulty is that it's Tuesday as I type this, and not a peep from the usual blogging attendees.  I'll add as many as I come upon them, and if you see this on November 12th, then you might want to revisit by the weekend.

• I'm always pleasantly pleased to mention, some of the best social media for the HMGS conventions, is HMGS themselves.  The HMGS social media team, which I believe is one woman and a cadre of trained chipmunks, filled my Facebook feed all weekend with games, events, and PELA winners. 

• And, of course, the Fall-In! Discussion Group can be all over the place, but there's a bunch of stuff that the social media army couldn't get to. 
• Der Alte Fritz Journal
• One of My My Became Restless

• Tiny Painted Heroes and more! 
• The Wachtmeister's Patrol

Aubrey Nesbitt 

Axis and Aliens

History in Miniature

Little Wars TV

Cold Wars 2026 will be February 5-8, 2026 back at the Wyndham in Lancaster, Pennsylvania

Saturday Shopping Day at Fall-In!

 

Fall-In! Begins... Pick Up Those New Releases

 If you're still en route to Lancaster, have fun storming the castle.. or bunker... or dirigible made of cheese....

The Fall-In! 2025 Event List is Finally Up on Tabletop Events!

Listen up little children, there was once a time when the deadline to register events for Fall-In in November  was three weeks after Historicon in July!   With the implementation of Tabletop Events, the pendulum has certainly swung the other way, with the cut-off being September 29th!  Convention registration, sans events, has been open since early August, so there have been some grumblings as the poor convention staff reviews, approves, and tries to place event submission on the con site with further conflict.  It's never going to be perfect. 

Even picking up some more of the tricks of the trade with the website, I still find Tabletop subpar and deceptively non-intuitive.  I'm also a bit sore that back during Historicon 2024, my events never made the transition from Tabletop to the site book, and while I still averaged over a dozen players per game for each event, people complained... to me at least. Thankfully Historicon 2025 was perfect, so my rant loses strength.

The entire (and further updated) event list can be found on Tabletop Events here.  

(Edit: Also, against all odds, event registration opened up early! Go, you fools!  Sign-up for everything!)

As always, these are the events that interest ME, and if I wasn't running a full weekend, might ponder registering for.  Many of these events are run multiple times over the weekend.  I'm only listing the one session to that I noticed first.  I did my best to label Multiple Sessions, but use the search function to find events with multiple runnings over the weekend!  

The Stout Gnomes selections, as always, are listed in red.  As I mentioned yesterday, I will not be Fall-In this year, Jim is running two Crokinole tournaments, and the other Stout Gnomes are not available either. I know we're working on a decision for Cold Wars, otherwise we need to double down and run a full slate of Gnome Wars/Joust/Fistful of Lead games at Historicon next year that will knock your socks off

Thursday

(35) VSF Race 
Thursday 6pm, 3hrs, Players 14, GM Jon Lundberg,  Period: Sci-Fi; Scale: 28mm, Rules: VSF Races
The convention kicked off with a wild, pulse-pounding race that’d make your heart slam harder than a Tommy gun’s recoil. Picture this: a ragtag pack of oddball speed freaks tearing around a cursed island, where every twist of the track’s a death trap waiting to snap. On land, jagged cliffs and snake-infested jungles’ll chew you up and spit you out. In the water, it’s worse—think razor-finned beasts and whirlpools hungry for blood. This ain’t no Sunday drive; it’s a high-octane gauntlet for the fearless! Young guns under 12 can jump in, but they better have a grizzled adult riding shotgun to keep ‘em from getting swallowed by the chaos. Strap in, kid—this island’s got claws!

Friday

(218) As Close to Aliens as Copyright Allows

Friday 9am, 4 hours, Players 5, GM Peter Loft, Period: Sci-Fi Scale: 28mm, Rules: Nemesis: Retaliation.

Ripley: "You know, Burke, I don't know which species is worse? You don't see them f$%#$ each other over for a goddamn percentage." Semi-co-operative, movie like, miniature board game using the Nemesis: Retaliation rules where players play the role of heavily armed marines seeking to achieve a collection of collaborative, and not so collaborate, goals while exploring a "bug" infested base and rapidly running short of oxygen, ammo, health and time. So many marines, so few Ripley's. MULTIPLE SESSIONS

(8) Check Your 6! Flight School

Friday 9am, 4 hours, Players 6, GM Tom Ruta, Period: WW2, Scale: 1:285 micro, Rules: Check You 6! 

So, you want to learn how to play Check Your 6? Well, roll out of the rack and report to the flight line at 0900 hours, SHARP! This is a generic training scenario with Wildcats and Zeros. (It had to happen over the Pacific somewhere.) This will be a learning scenario and it’s intended for new players. We’ll walk through the rules step by step, and explain as we go. (Published rules only; no house rules.) Players 13 and under are welcome with playing adult.

(234) Devil Dogs Fight - September 1918

Friday 9am, 4 hours, Players: 8, GM Martin Fenelon, Period: WW1, Scale: 1:285 micro, Rules: Fight for the Skies: Wood & Canvas

A reinforced flight from Marine Squadron 9 is heading home after bombing a German depot. A group of Huns seeking revenge charge after the two-seaters. They didn’t know that Marines prefer offense. Soon the DH-4s and DH-9s are engaged in a swirling dogfight. Can the Marine 2-seaters overcome the German fighters? Are the Marines being too rash? Fast play air-to-air rules, no experience needed. Each player will command multiple aircraft.

(166) Mein Panzer 1967 Six Day War - Rafah/ElArish Thunder Run

Friday 9am, 4 hours, Player: 6, GM: Kenny Noe, Period: Modern, Scale: 10mm, Rules: Mein Panzer.

UGDA Tal tasked w/ advancing at best speed along the northern coastal road in the Sinai. Using blitzkrieg tactics & their version of shock and awe. This was the spearhead of the opening salvo of the Six Day war. Three Egyptian Infantry divisions with tank battalion support were dug in defensive positions along the axis of march. Can you drive Tal's spearhead & destroy Egyptian defensive positions? Would you desire to crush the reckless Israeli's driving toward your defensive positions? MULTIPLE SESSIONS

(168) Mein Panzer Jr

Friday 9am, 1 hour, Players 2, GM Kenny Noe, Period:WW2, Scale: 10mm, Rules: Mein Panzer.

Come play and learn Mein Panzer Jr.!! Great game for kids 6 years old and up!! This is a kids version of our popular Mein Panzer Core Rules system that is a tank skirmish level game. One tank represents one tank!! Mein Panzer Jr. will teach the basic game mechanics of Mein Panzer so once you get to hang of MP Jr. you can move up to the full complement of rules and excitement. MULTIPLE SESSIONS 

(172) Mein Zombie Jr

Friday 9am, 1 hour, Players 2, GM: ODGW Staff, Period: Other, Scale: 28mm, Rules: Mein Zombie

Come play and learn Mein Zombie!! Great game for all gamers 8 years old and up!! This is a kid’s version of our popular Mein Zombie rule system. It is a survivor’s game where players can fight zombies to survive. The basics of the rules will be taught so to better understand and play the full MZ game. Stop by and kill the hoard!! No experience necessary. Quick play/learn rules.  MULTIPLE SESSIONS

(30) Raiders in the Night

Friday 9am, 4 hours, Players 8, GM: Jon Lundberg, Period: WW2, Scale: 28mm, Rules: Disposable Heroes.

A minor island in the Solomans. The Japanese have established a small airfield and radar station. THe increasing presence has endangered the small Coastwatcher team. The Japanese have a small garrison. The Raiders have a small window of night to complete their attack. The rules will be a modified version of Disposable Heroes with an emphasis on night actions and spotting

(337) Shores of Tripoli: The Battle for Derna

Friday 9am, 4 hours, Players: 8 GM: Douglas Austin, Period: AWI, Scale: 28mm, Rules: Rebels and Patriots.

President Jefferson decides to take the fight to the Barbary pirate states. Can the Marines plant the young American flag over Derna's ramparts? Or will the Pasha's defenders hold out till reinforcements arrive? Come and find out!  MULTIPLE SESSIONS

(292) The Baron's First Victory, 17 September 1916

Friday 9am, 2 hours, Players: 12, GM Peter Landry, Period: WW1 Scale: 1:1144th, Rules: Wings of Glory WW1.

Manfred joined Jasta Boelcke on Sept 1st, 1916. On the 16th they received new aircraft, an Albatros D.II to be flown by Boelcke and 5 Albatros D.Is, one of which Manfred flew. For the unfortunate crew of RFC 11's FE2b, Manfred’s 1st victory, one was captured with the other KIA. Will Manfred get his first victory today or be shot down and forgotten?

(53) Axis & Allies Barbarossa June 1941

Friday 12pm, 4 hours, Players: 10, GM: Bryan Leshinskie, Period: WW2, Scale: 1/72nd,  Rules: Axis & Allies

In the early morning hours of June 22, 1941. Germany will launch the largest invasion in military history. 3 million men along an 1,800 mile front attacking the Soviet Union. Stalin was caught off guard for the reason he had a non-aggression pact with Nazi Germany. Hitler stated to his Generals, "All you have to do is kick in the door and the whole dirty rotten structure will come falling down". Come one come all no one is ever turned away. I will get you in the game.

(391) US Marines at Vera Cruz 1914

Friday 2pm, 3 hours, Players: 19, GM: Pete Panzeri, Period: Colonial, Scale: 20mm, Rules: Victoria Rules!

“THE LAST COLONIAL BATTLE” — Before the outset of THE GREAT WAR… 1914 A large US task-force of US NAVY SHIPS & MARINES INVADE to seize the MEXICAN PORT of VERA CRUZ. ANYTHING CAN HAPPEN in an EXCITING, BLOODY & FAST-PACED scenario!

(134) Mein Zombie: Seek and Destroy

Friday 3pm, 4 hours, Players: 10, GM: Mixhael Trauger, Period: Other, Scale:28mm, Rules: Mein Zombie.

A Meister Zombie is organizing attacks on our survivor colony. We think we know its location. You've been chosen to destroy it. You have our utmost confidence and our condolences. Mein Zombie is fun, fast, and easy to learn. Rules taught. Beginners welcome.

(160) Damn the Torpedoes - Muddy Mississippi Midnight Massacre

Friday 7pm, 3 hours, Players: 20, GM: Scott Landis, Period: ACW, Scale: 15mm, Rules: Beer and Pretzels Ironclads.

The Union Navy is ready to make a break through up the Mississippi River but the Confederates are ready to stop them in any way they can. We pulled out the naval portion of the late night classic Midnight Massacre to celebrate the US Navy's 250th Birthday. Enjoy these fast and easy rules as you try to relive one of the most challenging naval battles of the Civil War. We shall see if the Grog Bowl is open to celebrate the time that forged America's Seapower Force. As always, 2 drink minimum.

(394) Marines Invasion of Skull Island 1933

Friday 8pm, 3 hours, Players: 20, GM: Bill Tompkins, Period: Early 20th Century,  Scale: 20mm, Rules: Victoria Rules!

“THE UN-REPORTED PRELUDE” to WW2: EIGHT-YEARS Before PEARL HARBOR … Both the US NAVY & IJN send ships, planes & troops to seize the obscure SKULL ISLAND. Do DARK DANGERS AWAIT THEM ALL? What could go wrong? (Kong?) … ANYTHING CAN HAPPEN! COME TO THE CORNWALL ROOM & see for yourself! An EXCITING, BLOODY & FAST-PACED scenario!

Saturday

(343) CCC Cup Singles Crokinole Tournament

Saturday 8am, 6 hours, Players: 24, GM: Jim Stanton, Rules: Crokinole.

The Connecticut Crokinole Club is proud to sponsor a NECT & NCA Sanctioned Tournament (Tier 3) singles tournament. All skill levels welcome! Trophies and prizes awarded.

(78) Afghanistan 2015

Saturday 9am, 3 hours, Players: 4, GM: Martyn Kelly, Period: Modern, Scale: 28mm, Rules: Force on Force.

A small detachment of US Marines is conducting checkpoint training with the Afghan National Police. Two MAT-V with the new CROWS weapon system provide support. The rest of the Rifle squad is conducting a routine patrol through the town. The streets are beginning to fill with civilians due to the end of morning prayers at the mosque and the start of the town market. The last month has been quiet, hopefully that will last. A fast-moving modern skirmish game on realistic, detailed terrain.  MULTIPLE SESSIONS

(73)  WAR COLLEGE - A Brief History of the USMC in China, 1900-1949

Saturday 10am, 1 hour, Seminar, Speaker: Jeff Schultz Period: 20th Century
Join us for a brief look at the storied history of the US Marine Corps in China from the Boxer Rebellion to the Chinese Civil War. We will discuss a mix of USMC personnel that served either in China and/or started in China and transitioned to the Philippines along with those that returned to China postwar.

(70) Frostgrave: The House of Longreach

Saturday 10am, 4 hours, GM: David Cinabro, Period: Fantasy, Scale: 28mm, Rules: Frostgrave

Rumors are flying around the frozen city of Felstad that the legendary House of Longreach has been discovered. The ruined mansion is said to be stuffed with magical treasures and riddled with active arcane portals leading to untouched treasure vaults. Wizard led warbands are converging, but so are the servants of the Lich Lord.  MULTIPLE SESSIONS

(136) WAR COLLEGE - With Stealth and Drawn Sword: Herero Special Troops

Saturday 12pm, 1 hour, Seminar, Speaker: Roy Jones, Period: Colonial

"[T]he Hereros burst forth…they charged with hurrahs, at the head of them a Herero with drawn sword and in a German officer’s uniform.“: a German memoir's first-person account, 1904. Sword-wielding Herero officers boldly leading from the front. German-speaking Herero infiltrators duping German sentries. Herero special troops were among the greatest threats the Germans faced during the Herero War of 1904. This talk provides a detailed tactical discussion of these Herero troop types.

(342) CCC Cup Singles Crokinole Tournament

Saturday 3pm, 7 hours, Players: 48, GM: Jim Stanton, Rules: Crokinole.

The Connecticut Crokinole Club is proud to sponsor a NECT & NCA Sanctioned Tournament (Tier 3) doubles tournament. All skill levels welcome! Trophies and prizes awarded.

(86) WAR COLLEGE - China's Northern Expedition 1926-1928 Overview

Saturday 3pm, 1 hour, Semniar, Speaker: Ching Chin, Period: Inter-War 1925-1937

The Nationalist Kuomintang re-unification of China after China's Imperial Collapse. The raw history behind movies like Steve McQueen's 1966 The Sand Pebbles and Marlene Dietrich's 1932 Shanghai Express. This talk will provide a strategic overview of the campaign that set the stage for Asia's Second World War and post war cataclysm, the rise of the Kuomintang and the seeds of its own collapse.

(293) The Baron's Last Victory

Saturday 4pm, 2 hours, Players: 12, GM: Peter Landry, Period: WW1, Scale: 1:144th, Rules: Wings of Glory WW1.

On the 20th of April, 1918, Manfred led his famous Jasta 11as the unit was advancing along with Operation Michael. On this day Manfred scores two victories over the RAF 3, one POW and one KIA. This capped his total at 80. Upon landing he is quoted asy, “Well well, 80 is quite a respectable number”.

(106) US Army vs Moros in the Philippines Circa 1913

Saturday 4pm , 4 hours, Players: 5, GM Joseph Meaney, Period: Early 20th Century, Scale: 15mm, Rules: Sword and the Flames

US Army and Filipino Scouts seek to defeat Moro rebels and seize villages. John "Black Jack" Pershing leads the US forces. Juramentados can appear at any moment. The object of the expedition is to conquer several villages for victory points and minimize casualties.

(395) Killing Bin Laden 1996

Saturday 8pm, 2 hours, Players: 19, GM: Pete Panzeri, Period: Modern, Scale: 20mm, Rules: Ranger Rules
A LARGE US JOINT SPECIAL OPERATIONS TASK FORCE IS SENT DEEP INTO SUDAN TO ASSAULT the COMPOUND of OSAMA BIN LADEN. Every available assert is arranged, LAND, AIR, SEA & SPACE. What could go wrong?… ANYTHING CAN HAPPEN! COME TO THE CORNWALL ROOM & see for yourself! An EXCITING, BLOODY & FAST-PACED scenario!

(101) Spider-Man vs the Sinister Six

Saturday 8pm, 3 hours, Players 6, GM: Ryan Devine, Period: Sci-Fi, Scale: 28mm, Rules 

Crisis Protocol

Spider-Man gathers the heros of New York City in hopes fend off his ruthless enemies The Sinister Six. Lead by Norman Osborne, they have just one goal, to kill the Spider-Man!

(316) Viking Looters!

Saturday 8pm, 3 hours, Players 12, GM: Brian Whitaker, Period: Dark Ages, Scale: 28mm, Rules: Viking Looters

Wrap up the con with this "Everyone for Themselves" fun with "Friends" game. Who will be the fastest and wealthiest Viking back to the ship! The only thing between you and the longship is your Friends.

Gnomes Always Rock, But Not at Fall-In! 2025

 With the way this world is, I'm happy the Weekly World News is back on my radar.  

Unfortunately, I'm also burying the lead.    The event listing is finally getting published for Fall-In! 2025 over at Tabletop Events.  I regret to inform the gnome masses that I will be one of many Stout Gnomes not in attendance at the con, as a player or GM.   Our "Gnome King" himself, Jim Stanton, is currently working on a new title "Crokinole King" by organizing tournaments at the convention (sponsored by the Connecticut Crokinole Club), so as of this time, there will be no Gnome Wars games.  

I know we're still making decisions regarding Cold Wars and the February dates, so I guess we need to triple down on a classic Mega-Game for Historicon 2026.   I'm thinking a return of the three table Treasure Island game from Cold Wars 2012!   A perfect warning for everyone purchasing the Tiki/Hawaiian/Pacific Islander/Easter Island units from Brigade to get them painted up and guarantee a spot on the tables.  

Fall-In! 2024 After Action Report

 Ah, time for Fall-In!  The crisp autumn weather, the leisurely drive right after work on Thursday to hang out with the guys and play a game.  Heck, even my phone's brightness was set for scanning my QR code to print out my badge

None of that happened

Each day was excessively, the drive down Thursday was filled with statues of deer than neither moved nor flinched to oncoming traffic, and when I did get to the convention, the badges were printed and organized in plastic shoeboxes in alphabetical order. 

Innovation!  

But after a lead in with much delay, questions, and tut-tutting Fall-in!  was actually here and we could play games. 

Oh yeah, that whole travel day being Halloween meant my daughter Maja and I couldn't leave until she completed sorting her spoils from trick-or-treating... and finish packing.  But soon enough we were on our way to Lancaster!  

We checked into our room and I headed off to the bar to grab a drink and play... Crokinole?

This odd mixture of bocce, darts, and shuffleboard brought a number of out-of-state attendees to play in a sanctioned Crokinole tournament on Saturday morning.  I had promised to learn and play for the tournament, so Thursday night was flicking a wooden puck and getting used to the rules.

Friday:  This was the first Friday in quite a bit where I didn't have a morning game to run, and it was nice to sleep grab some IHOP, and casually unload the car where games would be run in the afternoon. 

Yes the Crokinole boards were everywhere, and I practiced more...

The afternoon game was Gnome Wars, conceived, organized and run my Maja, age 15.  As the only Gnome Wars game up on the registration, it quickly sold out all ten slots on day one.  

It was a basic Swiss/Scots raid a German brewery for some wintertime supplies.  After helping her set back and welcoming everyone, I got to sit back and relax as Maja orchestrated the chaos. 

Me?  I got play a greased pick the Swiss discovered in the field... and it was glorious.

Maja unleashed her latest idea and painting project: Irish ghosts haunting the brewery and its surroundings.

RIP Irish King Stanton

Maja had a rough first half hour getting things started, but quickly controlled initiative and the zany results a traditional Gnome Wars game has.  

No, the pig didn't kill the Swiss, just a lot of slipping and falling. 

I finally got to see the debut of the French Escargot Cav.  

We don't talk about what happened to the French surgeon... no war crimes here.

In the end, the Germans made a truce with the ghosts, while the Swiss had difficulty stopping a magical convoy.  Maja ended up with 11 players, had 14 roll dice at some point, ran a three-hour slot in 3:05 with a lot of happy players, ages 9 to 59.  

Thanks to my own scheduling snafu, we had an hour to break down the game, so I could set up for another annual installment of The Joust!

Even with charity chariot races happening upstairs, we got 20 players for the joust.  Like a groundhog and his shadow, a young child unhorsing an adult in the rules example set the tone.  

I was quickly unhorsed in the first round, but valiantly fought through the loser's bracket until I reached the finals against.... my own daughter.    Rumors of collusion aside, I simply ran out of gas and Maja was named champion.  

The chariot races had sponsors (for Toys for Tots) and were very fashion forward, despite all the death and destruction.

The event ended perfectly, allowing me the last 15 minutes to run over to Wally's Basement and actually pick up the first of increasingly better deals for the weekend.

We then hung out, played more Crokinole, and tried to visit Waffle House late, only to meet over convention goers already there, telling us to leave as fast as possible.    We ended up and Wawa and slept hard after we ate. 

SATURDAY:   Saturday was divide and conquer.  I was out the door earlier to grab Starbucks and fulfill my friendly obligation to play Crokinole in the tournament.  With people coming from as far away as Wisconsin, it did bring in some fresh faces to the con, even if they were largely flicking disks for most of their stay.  

Lampeter, with Crokinole, Wally's, and the usual tournament scene

More Lampeter

The tournament structure starts round-robin, consisting of four games with one opponent within 8 minutes.  It's doable, but it was all business as folks focused from casual play the last two nights to serious National Crokinole Association sanctioned play and points.  

I'd like to proudly state I only stunk up the joint twice, to two of the top players.  Each game is based on a point system for the pucks (discs) remaining at the end.  Winner earns two points, loser zero, and each get one for a tie.  In addition in players keep track of how many "20s" (pucks that fall in the center) that they have.   

The good news is, beyond those two games, I performed admirably, although when round robin was completed, I still found myself in the play-in game.  I almost gave that up, and had the honor of playing the top seed in the knockout round.

Knockout rounds are first to 8 using the 2/1/0 point system, with no time limit.  Surprisingly, I played extremely well against him, staying on offense longer than before, keeping things close in most games.  In a shocking turn of events, I actually one a game 35-30, before he ground me into the dirt to kick me out. 

I'll say this, Crokinole is certainly not a wargame, much less a historical wargame, but it did draw a few extra registrations, those folks were extremely nice, and it did not appear to impact on space for the tournaments in Lampeter,   Any attempt to draw more attendees, expose the community to wargaming (historical), and not significantly impact convention resources, I'm all for.  In an alternate universe, the Crokinole could have easily become wargamers, and many of our regular convention attendees were quite familiar with the game.  Many folks dropped in to play a game or two over the weekend, and quite a few asked questions and played for the first time.   It seemed like a win-win situation all around.

While I was flicking discs, Maja was living her best life as a teenager: judging people. She had already been a judge for the PELAs last Fall-In, and then at Historicon, so she was easily approved for two sessions on Saturday.  

While I played Crokinole, she wandered around with the other judges, observing events, debating criteria and presenting the awards.  

She might not have the resume of the other judges, nor have the historical acumen yet, but she has technically been to HMGS cons for the last 13 years and played in at least a half dozen award winning games.  Plus it's fun to sit with her afterwards now and get her feedback and provide my own personal  interpretation, which like everything else dear old Dad says to her, she takes as she pleases. 

This one is from HMGS social media empire....

The later afternoon was a flurry of mostly father-daughter activity.  We hit the tail end of the afternoon session of Wally's, went across the street to fulfill her demand for Golden Corral, finally got to the Vendor Hall to discover she left her headphones on the table at the buffet, ran back over to pick them up, drop her off at Hobby U to paint. while I perused the last 15 minutes of the Vendor Hall.  

I will say this, despite missing her headphones, I didn't know anything about it until she asked for my car keys, and already called the restaurant to confirm they were there.   No fuss no muss, just an extra task for a full afternoon. 

Hobby U Paint-and-Take

I finally wandered over to the Toys for Tots in the main lobby for the raffle drawing (I won!) and the auction.

Raffle Action

Some of the auction items

Auction Items

We ended the evening with some hardcore Scrabble action from the boardgames library (Maja also played Don't Break the Ice and Don't Spill the Beans with some younger congoers who attached to her).  We didn't have our normal Saturday night Gnome game, due to scheduling and logistics issues, we still had an appearance by the Kaiser himself.  

Hotel:  The Wyndham is still a half-million-times better than the Host, but i's now a few years since the renovations.  The Honeymoon phase is over.  Most things are holding their own, a few outlets don't work for one reason or another, and there's a non-gamer smell here and there that can only be equated as "Not New Anymore Hotel Smell."  Still, the beds were comfy, housekeeping was tidy and consistent.   The bar could still use one other person, and from numerous opinions the food ranged from better than adequate meals  to less than stellar hot dogs and sausages.  The Starbucks girl needs a promotion, so long as it doesn't effect the line for coffee.

Parking:  My normal bugbear was a non-issue.  We always got a primo spot near our room, and we even got prime loading/unloading spaces near the dealer hall.  Of course this makes me question attendance, but even the Distelfink was pretty full after dinner on Saturday, a rarity in recent years.  

Vendor Hall: Sorry guys, with my schedule, I got to visit the vendors twice in two 15-minute increments on Saturday.  A double sorry to everyone lamenting the vendor selection today versus a decade over.  It's not coming back, your favorites who are back are running a different business model than before, and in many cases a shopping list is mandatory to guarantee 

Wallys:  The flea market seemed pretty great to me (more to come).  The sessions seemed full, the variety diverse, and only a few oversized loads complicating the flow of people.  

Toys for Tots:  Fall-In! is always the Toys for Tots fundraiser, with toy donations, a double raffle for donated items, and an auction for more donated painted figures and terrain.   It was a blast, although I recommend someone donate a microphone and speaker for the announcements 

Tabletop Events:  I have despised Tabletop Events for the past five years, the set-up, the registration, the encroachment of fees.  This isn't my first rodeo with it, and this first attempt for HMGS felt like a slow-motion fall into the mud, face first.  Now, being able to see open and filled games, plus the GM seeing his players' names is a convenient plus, but watching registration and adding Tabletop Event registration on top of basic attendee demographic info before registering brought out a number of dissatisfied faces, and others the sweet look of relief.  

Swag: 

• 146 West End Game Star Wars Figures 
• A number of micromachine-esque Star Wars vehicles
• Bigger Battles for Fistful of Lead.

And for once, Maja started accumulating swag of her own:

Cold Wars is February 28th - March 2nd, 2025.  We will not be attending