"Fall-In! 2015" Topic

Well folks…. Check out the website. Event submission is now open. Sorry I missed Hcon. I am still looking for the convention art. Theme is "Campaign of the 100 days".

More soon as I am traveling. Wish I was gaming with you all down at Hcon!!!

Link Please

hmgs.site-ym.com/?page=fihome

Thank'ee, kind stranger!
I'm sure the residents of the Nappy threads are secreting gouts of happy juices over the theme ;)

Yes capncarp. There was a really nice Waterloo mega game played all day today.

Well, everything is on track except event submissions… I know lots of folks do not like the earlier sub dates and thus closure dates. There is no one to blame but me. I am trying to build in that buffer zone where the actual "behind the scenes" work can get done with fewer mistakes, etc…

Events and club room events are trickling in…. THANK YOU to everyone who understands and is participating!

I am still trying to find that.. well.. just so right piece of affordable art to use for the show, shirts, etc….

I am taking suggestions.

I am very fortunate to have a fellow who wants to help me with the War College this year too! It is something that I have been lacking in. I have had some very good speakers, but actually having a person in charge of the War College… well, that can only increase the value and quality of what is to come.

As for convention news…. WWPD will be there if what I heard is correct, as will a few more vendors this year… I think they are actually finding out that Fall-In! is a very well attended show and is in fact the fastest growing… I just want that vendor hall filled up! Numbers do not lie… Fall-In! has been growing steadily since the Hcon move south… but I am sure that it isn't the only reason…. Fall-In! is a great show!

I am still looking for more volunteers too.. new ones are always welcome…. which leads me to a small announcement… I had 5 people's information from F-I! 2014 who wanted to volunteer for 2015… PLEASE contact me through the webpage to volunteer, my daughter decided to make artwork out of my "notes" folder which had your info in it.. PLEASE, I apologize for this. Contact me! I'll get you on staff.

I am looking for some good lectures too….

One other thing… Most of you who attended Fall-In! 2014 saw the great pulpish 20's era gangster game…. Walk Lightly and carry a big stick…. well, they will be back… they plan to run "55 Days at Peeking"…. another great production of theirs they have run before. Please sound off if you *might* want that gangster game again….

Hmm…. well…. oh… there is so much going on. There is a slight price increase to keep Fall-In! in line with the other shows…. Tables or spaces will be $100 USD each, a $5 USD increase from last year, still less than CW or Hcon, but more in line with HMGS policy.. or whatever it is.

I am still kicking around the midnight madness flea market session… I will keep you posted if it goes "official". I just want something out there for vendors too… I am well aware this will indeed upset some of the day trippers… I am looking for some sort of balance.

if anyone has any hate mail or ideas or just plain old suggestions.. please contact me through the Fall-In! site on YM….

Please support Toys-4-Tots… they are a great time for a great cause! I'll be donating another small Napoleonic unit… Either Russian or French.

Tee shirt art…… I am open for suggestions, as long as it is theme based and affordable….

I put in three events last night. One 25mm Medieval game and 2 x40mm AWI games.

I missed the Huge Gangster game last Fall In and the following Cold Wars.
I'm really pumped to get in on it this time round!

How do I contact you regardsing giving a presentation?

Dan,
Ignore the last message. I have already contacted you. I have been working in the heat too long.

Dan,

It's always my favorite convention of the year. I can't wait.

Moe

Guys,
As always thanks for the kind words. The show wouldn't be what it is without the patronage!

As for games… please feel free to contact me directly as my son is the Event Manager.

Flyers are all but ready… I still need that oh so perfect, but affordable art to use for the shirts.

Lots still to do yet. Keep in mind, T-4-T will be there, as usual, in their new spot just outside the ballroom.

I have spoken with one of the GM's in charge of the Gangster game… they were planning to run 55 Days at Peking…. they are up for the gangster game if the masses want it, but mind you, their 55 Days game is awesome too!

Oh, and always, feel free to let me have both barrels! I want to improve the show when possible, so I am always entertaining ideas….

There are a lot of folks who have helped me in the past and still are helping me behind the scenes…. great folks, they know who they are!

Thank You!

The Viking Forge will attend. It has become our favorite show. We will have a lot of new 1/2400 scale ships and 15mm ACW to introduce at Fall In.

@ Tumbleweed that sounds very cool as I will need to check which scale our group uses! Pretty small ones I believe… this might fit the bill…. getting them through our usual source has been very difficult! (no dealer in the US any more).

What area are you launching first? Riverine? Atlantic fleet, etc…? I do Atlantic fleet, but there is a great need for a more comprehensive line on the Riverine stuff…. tinclads, etc… we have had to convert many ships to get the ones we needed.

Two separate ranges:

15mm ACW, cavalry, artillery

1/2400 scale ships from 1898 to the present

@Dan:
TMP link

Crossposting this from another thread.
Do you think the instructors of the Hobby University would like or mind having their classes recorded for the benefit of the miniatures gaming world?

Hmmm, there are some pretty dang awesome painters in HU…
I do not think they would be opposed to it.. .I don't think HMGS would want to sink money into it, but I think if we wanted to try and produce something…. well, folks would be on board.

I would definitely contact Heather on YM to get her thoughts. I think it is awesome… mostly because I cannot make a lot of the classes…. and I sooooo need to learn so many things they teach.

I have made a few classes there and each one taught me a lot…. stuff I still use today.

d

Poniatowski: "I would definitely contact Heather on YM to get her thoughts. I think it is awesome… mostly because I cannot make a lot of the classes…. and I sooooo need to learn so many things they teach."
I sent off an email to Heather via YM, nothing back yet.

I know there are a lot of legal things that tie into artists and teaching classes, etc. Because the artists teaching are professionals, not typically painters like you or I, there might be issues to filming that go beyond my limited knowledge.

I suspect you are right, that the "simple" proposal probably has a lot of unsuspected strings to be untangled.
I, uh, waxed enthusiastic, so she might blow it off as a crackpot/fanboy pipe dream.

It is all good… my thoughts are the same as yours, I too did not think the whole thing through with the "professionals" being there. That is truly a game changer. HMGS is very fortunate to have such professionals teaching and, most of them already sell material based upon their classes. It is part of their income, so it becomes very soft ground, very quickly.

Good idea though on the surface.

Remember… event submission closes soon….. get your events in!

Sure, Poniatowski, but when does online pre-registation start????????
(am I a little too obvious that I'm psyched for Fall-In?)

Dates are listed here:
link

Sept 14th.

I will have the artwork updated also so folks can see what it is very soon. I await the pic from the artist.

Dan can confirm this, but the PEL deadline has been extended from August 15 to August 21.

The new date is on the Fall In web page. Plus, an e-mail went out today announcing the change.

Use the additional time well, GMs.

Hope to see you there.

Confirmed…. I was contacted by a few club POC's who informed me they would have their events in soon….

The net is about another 30-ish events from clubs, plus other straggler GM's….

Event Sub for the PEL officially ends 8.21.15

It is going to make my life and other staffers hell to catch up, but we will manage.

"Straggler GM's."

I like that, Dan.

Some of us prefer to think of ourselves as "in the nick of time GM's," like A.P. Hill or Stonewall Jackson.

Given Fall In's theme of the 100 Days Campaign, there must also be some "D'Erlon GM's" out there. All marching and no fighting.

Yep…. lots of emails full of lots of reasons why the original deadline could not be met… some valid, some not so much so….

As for events, looks like it will be about the same as last year + or – a few depending upon cancellations.

As always… I really do appreciate all of the GM's, Vendors, participants and volunteers…. all are important.. all make the show! And yes.. this does include tournament folks and WB folks too….

Dan

So event registration for Fall In started before Historicon was even over?

Does this mean if I want to run Civil War games at Cold Wars I'm going to need it ready by early Nov?

Also

I am still kicking around the midnight madness flea market session

I'd be very much interested in a late night flea market, late Friday night. Would be great for people who don't want to give up game time and still hit the flea market. After a certain time all the tables in that room should be unused, you could open it up to everybody. I don't know if you'll be charging, but an extra day of Sunday style couldn't hurt, especially since all the locals bug out Saturday night and skip Sunday.

There's plenty of stuff I'd probably toss on a table real cheap to get rid of that I don't want to pay $20 USD to get rid of for pennies on the dollar.

@TSD101,

Ideally, yes… event reg should actually open up right about Fall-In! time for CW 2016. I do not run that show, so it could certainly be managed different. What I will say is, events takes time to do right…. for best result and exposure, it should open then.

I know that I would not set up another "Free" flea market at a night session as that would cause pretty much everyone to not register during the day…. it would have a substantial impact for sure…

But, another well organized and run late night session… what better time to run it after all gaming is done and folks are pretty full up on libations to loosen their pocket strings?

I can see it now…..

Says the hung over old grognard, button counting Nappy player the next day…

"I bought what? On a dare? 10,000 points of wood elves?….. sigh…."

You really need to decide on the late night thing now so as not to hamstring people looking to run or play in games in the evening that might also want to do the flea market program. There are enough no shows at games already without adding another distraction we can't account for now.

I know that I would not set up another "Free" flea market at a night session as that would cause pretty much everyone to not register during the day…. it would have a substantial impact for sure…

Then you're going to run into the problem of who wants to pay $20 USD for a midnight session, with much less foot traffic, to get to bed at 2 am.

May as well just buy a table during daylight hours to make more sales.

Dan,

I'm as fond of a free lunch as the next guy, but if you do opt for a Friday late night flea market session, I'd suggest charging for it just like the other sessions. (I get Sunday morning being a free session as a draw for folks who hang in until Sunday morning.) Why pay for a table on Saturday morning if it were free late Friday night? If there's not enough anticipated demand to charge for tables like at the other sessions, then maybe there's not a need for a Wally's Basement Friday midnight madness. Just my $.02 USD.

In any event, thanks to you and your team for all your hard work.

Why pay for a table on Saturday morning if it were free late Friday night?

Conversely, why would someone pay full price for a late, late night session that will get less than half the foot traffic when they could just buy a table at the next day's session?

To be honest I prefer the Sunday style flea market, even when it has less than 10 people using tables, because I know its an actual flea market and the people are trying to clean out their unused gaming stuff.

A great deal of Wally's Basement has become semi professional sellers charging dealer hall level prices for old stuff. If I wanted dealer hall prices, I'd be in the dealer hall and not the flea market. If you're only giving 10-20 percent off, why shouldn't I just buy it from a dealer instead?

TSD,
If they didn't think it was worth the charge for a late night flea market table, I guess they wouldn't. Not sure it's worth it, though, to run a free session in the middle of the Convention to accommodate folks who'd like a free table but can't or don't want to hang around til the free Sunday flea market session.
Guess We'll see what Dan and his crew decide to do.

Lose the late night flea market concept. We don't need any more complications than we already have now.

Flea Market ?

I have never been a participant at the flea market but this year I intend to do a session. I have a lot of (new) 40mm Medieval unpainted figures to sell off at a decent discount. Do I need to sign up ahead of time or do I just show up at the spot and pay for my table then?

Chris

Chris,
It really depends on when you're looking to get a table. At Fall In and Cold Wars, the Saturday morning session can sell out in advance through pre-reg and sign-ups early in the con. The Friday and Saturday afternoon sessions seem more likely to have tables available for on-site registration. At least, that's been my experience. Course, every con plays out differently.
Scott

Guys, thanks for the input as usual.

Maybe I need to just move a session later as was discussed last year.

I really do understand, regardless of what others think, some dealers really do wish that they can be in the flea market to sell off their own stuff (not corporate stuff)… I was that way when I was in the dealer hall… I had to pay a friend (beer usually) to sit in the flea market for me because I couldn't make the session as I was pretty much a one man band…. I get it, I really do.

Maybe the only answer is to try and have a friend that can sit at a table for you while you work.. or a friend who can man the booth or something so you can shop.

It sucks, but there is no easy answer.

@Chris… Ember52 is correct… Saturday sessions fill up fast, especially the am ones…. traditionally it is the one that sees the most business. I have done well at all of them, including Sunday. It really is hit or miss too… the market is soooo fickle… one year you sell everything while the next… nothing sells.

I find that if you really want to do well in the flea market… you need to hope you have stuff to sell that is needed for the "hot" games out now…. games go in cycles… so does scale, rules, etc…. it is a hard nut to crack, but if you are good.. you can do well…

Dan

Alright…..

According to Zack, as of the close of the PEL date, we are at over 300 events.. more like 330, NOT including the lecture events.

I want to ask if anyone is interested in running a lecture, please contact the team on YM!

I want to thank you all for dedicating the time to run these games. Thank You!

Dan

(shameless "bump")

Brochures are done and out…. man, our mailing list is getting pretty huge… and it has been cleaned up so the numbers are pretty accurate too!!!

The area that the flea market is in at Cold Wars and Fall In is heavily used for open gaming after the flea market ends each day so if you plan to resuse that same area for a late night session you better get the word out and/or coordinate it properly as it will likely impact a lot of people that game in that area. That area is often very full with pick up and open gaming long into the night Fri and Sat evenings.

I don't really care if there is a late night session or not, but I know that in the past when it was attempted very few people attended, as buyers or sellers. I'd personally be very surprised if many of the dealers opted to get a table or to shop in a late night flea market session, the word I hear is that after spending all day at their booths they need a break not more work!

Please chime in if you have gotten your brochures yet. I know lots of folks have started getting them. What do you think?

Nothing yet…. But I'll let you know.

I'd gladly give the evening Flea Market a try (as a seller). Only way to find out is to give it a try.

TRU

The new Flea Market time slot MUST be promoted/advertised properly in order to work. If people know about it (and its slotted well after dinner time) I believe people will come.

TRU

Hi Dan,

No brochure yet. Hopefully by the end of the week.

John

TRU, You're right why not give it a try. I think the flea market would be great at night so you can game during the day without having to schedule your games around all the sessions and also visit the dealer hall. Not saying to get rid of the afternoon altogether but give this a try you never know. This could be a great gage of how much interest it could generate for a "Friday night member only party" to include a flea market and other ideas I have to pass on to the board. It's time to make Historicon a very special convention once a year we can do it together. Cold Wars and Fall In are doing great but the grand daddy of all gaming cons has got to get better. More to come…….

ED MILLER

My brochure arrived today Dan.

Got my brochure today. Nice art work, and I love the Imperial green on the one flap. I do online prereg but still a nice brochure.