"HMGS NEWSLETTER" Topic

I just got in to it.

I am amazed that this is only available to members. It seems like an excellent advertisement for the organization and the hobby in general. Should be available one would think to anyone, and used as a prime source of spreading the word.

I don't understand why only members can see it. There is nothing confidential in it.

The shame of it is that the old paper one could be shown to interested people. Not likely to print out this one on that chance. How did you get yours?

The con flyers are pretty much devoid of pictures too, so not much to show a potential con-goer either. The flyers are so devoid of photos that you wouldn't even put it out in a local hobby shop. But hey, we are saving money and socking it away in the bank.

I don't think HMGS is very promotion-minded.

IIRC, there was some push back in earlier newsletters that there were names and photos of gamers, and someone raised privacy issues. Bob & Cleo (the previous editors) may have more info on this??

It is not 'only' available to members. The link does not require a log in. The problem is I have no way to disseminate the fact that its available to a wider email list than the membership and I don't have the IT chops to edit the HMGS site splash page to allow a click thru.

@ editor Bill – Ive been trying to get access to the HMGS TMP advertising account – I would like to advertise on here but cannot figure out how to do it For example a newsletter link up where the gripping beast box is for a few days.

It is still in print, and available to members.

hmgsgl.org/the-herald

How about a link to the HMGS newsletter then Kevin. I am not sure where to find it.

Thanks!

The HMGS-Midwest Newsletter is available to everyone not just members.

Including back issues. We are over due for a new issue. I will be getting to that soon.

hmgsmidwest.com/newsletter.html

Dear History Gamer

Yes, quite correct. But even if it WERE it always has been an "insiders" magazine. There is a difference between something made for gamers (which I believe still ought to be in paper-print) and a hand-out book. There are two different things going on here. But even given that, the HMGS newsletter would be SOMETHING. If at the very least the pages were available on a completely stand-alone site where all you can do is look it up, with notes to call or link to the HMGS site to get more involved would be excellent.

Going back a bit. About 10 years ago The Society of Daisy (a yahoo site still in operation and going strong dedicated to fun, humor and whimsy in war games, and now putting on a convention of its own and which publishes a 16 page print newsletter, made a booklet called "All About Wargames" in "omage" to Jack Scruby's beginners manual of the same name. This was created solely for a club to shove into the mitts of new people who hadn't heard of the hobby till 15 minutes ago. It was of absolutely no use to a gamer who had been in it for more than a year, but it went over the basic facts about war-games and dealt with such things as the three periods (ancient, musket, and modern) scale, type of game, naval games, things like individual basing or stand basing, and was in full color. We published this and were asked for copies by several clubs and a handful of dealers at conventions. We are rewriting it now.

So that's what I mean when I say that a work designed to give to absolute, brand new, just minted newbies is not the same as a newsletter for people who are "in the know."

People "in the know" however need a newsletter. I think it would be better printed, but if it must be electronic and part of a club, like HMGS it should be easier to get to. As to it costing too much to print-- "nonsense." For the last four years we have published the full color 16 page paper "Saxe N' Violets, which has no adds, no angst, no half baked historical rewrites, only solid content like battle reports, rules, scenarios, articles and game design for a subscription cost of $10 USD a year which goes entirely for printing and postage.

AT LEAST the HMGS newsletter would do SOMETHING towards outreach, and as it is e printed, would cost nothing.

Oh yes we also publish a 48 page full color booklet on our "Weekend" Convention ever year. This is our after action report keepsake booklet. We publish this AFTER the convention with battle reports and photos (including at least a half-page text write up) of all the games we held at the convention. It also has stories and articles of general interest, and now and then some suggested add-ons for games, as in this one we had more event cards for the Avalon Hill Game "History of the World." All of this for only $12.00 USD each. That cost barely covers printing and postage. We don't want to make any money on this, just get the word out and be of service to our members.

Dear RKE Steve

That's very nice about HMGS Midwest, and it does go towards outreach. Unfortunately I can't attend your conventions. I'd also like to see the HMGS do the same.

In days of yore (bill Gray/our first go round) the newsletter contained minutes of the BOD meetings, a letter from the President and the upcoming con director. Also a treasury report, and once a year, a complete list of members/attendees with zip codes so members could find each other.

There was some concern about pictures of children not affiliated with HMGS (we used our neighbor's kids for a shot) so now we only include children of attendees.

In days of yore, people were always submitting articles for the newsletter, how to paint, how chariots worked, etc. Now, it's Otto or nothing….

Gamemasters spend a lot of time (and some money) creating their little world. Most seen happy to have someone recognize their talents and take pictures of their game. I too would like the newsletter to be more available.

Cleo:

Thank you (and Bob) for all your hard work. I just looked at the newsletter (there were a few hoops to jump through to get to it). It is a very nice looking newsletter.

Any chance of getting more photos of the award winning games from the cons into future newsletters? The purpose of the awards program is to encourage others, and the newsletter would be a great vehicle to make that happen.

Again, thank you both for all of your hard work. :-)

Cleo:

Just a quick thought on making my suggestion happen. The camera/Ipad that contains the photos of the award winning games (pictures of the winners are nice, but I'd love to see more pix of the games too) should not leave the con before they photos are downloaded/sent to the newsletter team. That removes the burden of from the GM program of picking out the best photos and gets them into your hands quicker for use in the newsletter.

Seems to me that by definition a newsletter is a publication that is intended for and distributed to a limited audience: the membership of an organization.

I don't understand the complaint.

I was not aware. Is there a membership-wide emailing that includes the link per chance?

Ciao, Colonel Bill
ageofeagles.com

I think I used to get it emailed to me, but apparently that doesn't happen anymore.

Cleo – I think I submit as many as Otto -

I post the newsletter and YM sends an announcement with the link to everyone with a good email in YM who has that function set in their profile. I cant send the document – its too big.

Go to your profile & set up your preferences and add HMGS YM email database@hmgs.org to safe sender or whatever

A few days ago I sent out the end of year update with news on HOST for example which you would have received.