"Little Wars, WOW" Topic

To HMGS-Midwest, just wow… What a nicely run convention and what a great facility.

Fantastic looking games too!

Thanks guys it was my first time running events here, but I plan to be back.

Great job!

I agree! It's a nice spot.
The weather wasn't too nice, and I think that is what might have caused some of the cancellations. (Two of my games got cancelled yesterday).

The Flea Market was good. Picked up five Uncle Duke figures..

The Dealers Room was pretty nicely done.

Badger got a bunch of my money from "The Chicago Way…"

I'll be there next year to run some games.

I had an awesome time! Ran 2 events which went well. The convention had everything clicking. The vendors got a chunk of my money.

Photos?

I'll be posting a review of my Saturday attendance on my blog in a day or so..with photos.

Glad you enjoyed it. Little Wars has been my convention home for many years now and I've got to say that this year might have been the best yet. Hats off to the whole staff.

I'll throw in a Well Done for the LW Staff. Great location, great games and great time!

The lighting in the main gaming area seemed improved over last year.

Quite agree it was a great show this year. It was a bit different for me as I ran an Antietam game 3 times on Friday. Learned one had to totally focus on your game with the result I have no idea what else was being played that day, how well the vendors did, and so on. Then played in two games on Saturday (ACW & a Western) and one on Sunday (1910 naval). Had a blast! The ACW game was kinda the most realistic one from a command perspective in that I was asked to be the Confederate commander only to have another player proceed to "discuss" with me for the next 10 minutes what the battle plan should be. He then sat with his brigade for most of the game and did nothing! I now have a better appreciation for Lee on the second day at Gettysburg.

I had a good time this year as well. Managed to play in 5 games and listened to a war college presentation. Very well organized.

All 5 games I was able to get in were great. Good looking terrain and miniatures were the rule, not the exception. The guys running the games were knowledgeable and friendly. Attendance did seem down this year, particularly on Saturday night. There were a lot of open tables. Hopefully that was due to the lousy weather. I thought the vendor area was a little sparse, too. I spent money there, but I could have spent more….

On behalf of the HMGS-Midwest Board and entire convention staff – we thank you for your attendance and positive comments! We had a great time bringing it home for all of you and work just as hard to make it even better next year. Any constructive criticism and ideas for improvement are welcomed but please contact me via email through our HMGS-Midwest website. I will attempt to respond as I can – we are at the end of the semester at Trinity. Again – thanks for your participation – that is what makes a convention truly great! Steve Fratt – President – HMGS-Midwest

Very interested to hear what the attendance was this year. My usual gang did not go this year.

I'd like to also throw in my "WOW" as a first time at Little Wars. I will be back.

I was treated really well as a Game Judge, had all my questions answered and the assistance was wonderful.

The location was really nice – lots of great lighting and while there was a lot of people in the gaming area, I never felt like it was "too" loud for me.

Really great con, I'll be back!

PS. Those brownies… to DIE for!

Many thanks to all the Judges who brought their "A-Game" to our show. We had a fantastic variety of periods and scales to choose from. It is hard to verbalize our gratitude to the volunteers and their support which made this con successful. All of this would not have been possible without the efforts of the previous staff and BODs which helped create the foundation of Little Wars.

The torrential rains over the weekend did cause a few cancellations. Some were astute enough to discern the 3.5% change in attendance. However the vendor area was larger than last year, and a record amount dealers were on hand. Thank you all for your perseverance. Also HMGS memberships of convention goers increased almost 20% over 2016 levels.

Suggestions are encouraged and welcome, (only one copy is necessary) for next year. Planning for 2018, started today.

Kevin Cabai
VP Membership
kcabai@aol.com

Food quality and options were 110% better than last year, esp being able to grab a sandwich!

Missed Last Square but still managed to spend beaucoup in vendor area! Glad that Enterprise Games was back!

Great games as usual! Maybe bring back some sort of Saturday late afternoon or evening Flea Market? *ducking*

Thanks for another good time!

As a parent and game master I have to say the kids I saw and gamed with were a great bunch. I had no problems and their involvement was good fun. Water throughout the areas was most welcome.

I really enjoyed LW this year. I haven't been for the past three years, and was only able to make it on Saturday, but it was very good indeed! Big improvement in the venue and the dealer area (or both) were taking my money at an alarming rate! Thanks and well done HMGS-MW!

Had a great time at LW, love the venue. Hats off to HMGS-MW and all the game masters.

Too bad Illinois' abrogation of my Divinely endowed 2nd Amendment rights prevent me from spending any of my hard earned money within the oppressive confines of that State.

@Everyone else,
I've not been to Little Wars the last few years, but it's great to hear that it's got a new venue and is doing well. I hope to be able to go again when my spring schedule lightens up.
Keep up the good work!

Already planning on running 1-2 games there next year!

I thoroughly enjoyed this Little Wars convention having participated all three days and participating in 4 major games. I had a lot of fun and found the Con very well organized and the swag bags were awesome! It was well worth it and appears that the attendance was very good and portends that next years convention is sure to be even better. The games being run were of high quality with great amounts of gaming "eye candy" to enhance all of it. Thanks to all the gamemasters putting on lots of great historic battles. Can't wait for next years Con and I hope to run some games of my own!

Sounds like a great show. Curious how it compares to Historicon . Anyone been to both ?

I have been to both. Quality wise it is on par with the East Coast conventions and Historicon IMHO.

It is smaller though… So while they have a decent representation of high quality vendors, the dealer hall was probably 20% (wild guess) the size of Historicon, Cold Wars, or Fall In. Flea market was also smaller in proportion.

Since shopping is not as important to me as playing. It meets my gaming needs, and I actually spent more than I typically do out East :)

I did not see a lot of tournament gaming, but there was a huge amount of high quality Ancients games. I was presenting some of those, so my ability to ogle was limited.

However, I can tell you and from the online pictures it should be obvious there were a lot of high quality games of almost any historical genre you could think of plus plenty of fun Sci-Fi, Pulp and fantasy stuff going on….

So if you wanted 2.5 days (Sunday was active, but with fewer games) of gaming and eye candy you would find more than you could do in that time available.

Facility wise the hotel and gaming area is much nicer than the Host or Fredericksburg. Carpeted, well lit, noise was not an issue even at peak times….

Lot's of options to stay either onsite or in other local options. Block rooms were $121 USD in the Westin. Parking was free, lots of easy access to the hall for venders and GMs.

I agree with Dervel. Size wise, it is more comparable with Cold Wars or Fall-In. However, the big difference is in the quality of the venue and surroundings. The Westin at Lombard is MUCH better than the Host or the FCC. Plus lots of good eating abounds. Glad it was a great Con all around.

Hmmm…..ordinarybass got snipped for a pretty innocuous comment. (shrug)

Would like to add my thanks to the Little Wars staff as well.

Very well run convention, lots of space, terrific facilities (including a drop-off point just outside the gaming hall) and plenty of attendees to fill up games.

We've been running events at Little Wars for more than 10 years now and the past two years at the Westin have been among the best.

Our Battlefield Hobbies group ran three games this year:

15mm Rapid Fire Operation Barbarossa scenario – Drive On Uman

20mm Battleground WWII Battle of Berlin scenario – Battle For The Reichstag

28mm Mad Dogs With Guns prohibition-era scenario – Redemption At Samuelsville

Check out our FB page to see photos: link

Already looking forward to next year when we'll expand on both the Battle For Berlin and prohibition-era scenarios.

Thanks again to the attendees who played in our events and the Little Wars staff for a really great weekend.

Jeffrey Henn & Dave Himm
Battlefield Hobbies

I really enjoyed Little Wars as well. This was only my second year attending, and I was only able to make it on Friday. I played in two fun games, saw a lot of interesting games and chatted with the people running them, and bought some good stuff in the dealer hall and flea market. I was also really impressed with the variety of games. There was really something there for everyone. I'm looking forward to going again next year.

This was my first year attending LW and greatly enjoyed the time spent there. The Bots & Flames game was a blast (unfortunately I was the one blasted) and the 1916 Irish Rebellion Game was simply superb. There were lots of games of various interests about and I picked up some nice tips and ideas. The weather was unfortunate, but really it was a good weekend for gaming as there was not much else one could do in that cold and rain. Great job by the LW staff.

I was asking because given the enthusiastic feedback, I wonder if there are LW elements that could be adapted to improve all the HMGS East events

Milhouse,

Shoot me an EM and we can discuss further. Thanks.
kcabai@aol.com