So on to Fall In! 2018... Fall In! is the show I run for HMGS. It was a great time. I will try to explain without being "political". So I will be talking about the show form the point of the attendee in me. I arrived Weds. early after noon because I am the director.... lots of work had to be done onsite and I had the right staff in place to get the work done. The vendor hall pipe and drape went up in about an hour and a half with 6 competent volunteers, not the hours and hours I was told it would take. It went very smoothly. By nightfall I was ready for a drink....
Thursday again had everyone working and finalizing set up. My Thursday ended with spending time with friends after giving the "Welcome to Fall In! 2018 speech to the volunteers".
One thing a lot of folks were actually surprised about is that I actually gave away "swag" at the show... nothing elaborate.... just the standard bag with the show theme and image, but inside was something special.... I gave away laser pointer pens....
It was a good show. As I mentioned, HMGS had all three shows at the Lancaster Host Resort this year.... I knew this would hurt my attendance. It wasn't all that bad as the shows rough numbers came in between 16-1700. I was truly hoping for 2000, but knew going it would be a close run thing. Attendance took a hit, but it wasn't as bad as it could have been. Fall In! has a lot of devoted attendees who like it best. The vendor hall was pretty much as full as it was for Cold Wars and Historicon.... I apologize for the lack of pictures as I was fairly busy as the director. It was pretty close to being sold out space wise. As for the vendors perspective... they said Friday was awesome until the weather turned and folks didn't want to make the trek to the dealer hall from the hotel. After that, some said they never recovered. That statement varied depending upon whom you spoke to. I did speak to a few vendors who did very well. Not as good as last year, but still very good. All in all, what hurt the vendors most was the lack of day trippers on Saturday. It hit the shows attendance numbers and the vendors bottom line. Check in was as easy as ever and our members are finally starting to mostly pre-register.... those that did, simply walked up, scanned their QR code and then all of their badges and game tickets printed right out. I have to say, Heather Blush and Joby Miller came up with that one and they rock... since they have joined, they have really stepped up HMGS' professional appearance. So, registration was even easier at Fall In! than Hcon or CW because they are always upgrading.... this year we had credit card readers for an even easier on site registration process. The volunteers were also awesome, but I am prejudice.... the folks that volunteer for Fall In! are treated well and work hard.
As for games.... there were many.... more than Fall In! 2017 in fact, but there were also a lot of cancellations.... You couldn't tell from Lancaster, but a lot of PA spent the weekend digging out of a sudden snow storm. As I have had Fall In! in storms and worse weather.... I stand firm on the numbers hit to attendance... it dropped because more folks went to Historicon now that it was "back north". I would say I don't blame them as Hcon is supposed to be the premier HMGS show.... well, aside from all of those silly attendees who thought that and inflated the numbers for Hcon this year... it really didn't offer much more than Fall In! ever does... it was packed into the same amount of space and was uncomfortable from the crowding. This will be resolved next year as Hcon has moved to the Downtown convention center in Lancaster proper. Yes, Hcon had some bells and whistles that Fall In! did not, but it is supposed to.. remember, it is the "premier' HMGS show.... The director is good and I expect to see a lot more in 2019.
Back to games..... I didn't get a lot of pictures, but I took a few.... one issue we had on site was that we actually lost almost half of the main game/event area in the Distilfink ballroom due to some construction that didn't get completed in time. I have to say.. the Host is awesome, they more than made up for it in so many ways.... needless to say, the games were relocated within the facility to an even better place than the ballroom.
So without further digression....
This was the Minas Tirith model used with the Triumph and Tragedy games.
Following are a bunch of pictures from the Vista Windows area.. this is where the "relocated" Ballroom games were placed.... they were obviously very happy about it.
Sometimes words cannot express how beautiful some tables are!
The picture above is actually taken form the front of the ballroom.... You can see the drywall "temporary wall" the Host put up to nicely block off the construction area.
Pirate games are everywhere since Blood & Plunder stepped on stage. This one was in the heritage room.
Some oriental fighting with friends in a newly popular Samurai game... Test of Honor.... this game really is awesome!
And what better way to end than a friendly picture of Walt.. Mr Nizz himself!
For my own gaming.... that didn't happen much.... if at all. I did play in our HMGS Mordheim league. Present to play this year was our fearless leader and organizer Frank with his gunnery school of Nuln and Derrik with his Reiklanders. Frank's gunners are a force to contend with... he has had them since the beginning. Derrik's Reiklanders are still rather new, but he plays very aggressively and is to be feared. I retired my Skaven and was running my Reiklanders. I actually managed to win this game by accident. I finally have some gold crowns and didn't have to replace anyone.... this was game 2 for this warband.... after the first game, I had to replace 3 people.... one was a hero.
My guys moving up and using cover... both in fear of not only Frank's gunners, but Derrik's bowmen and warlock!
I also got time freed up enough late at night to play some Space Hulk..... like all games.. it was just a matter of time until the genestealers crushed us.
In the end, it was a good show... sorry there aren't more pictures, but I spent a lot of time being busy with the show. I had great help form the senior and regular staff, they were all great and worked hard. As aside note, I was voted in as the CD for Fall In! 2019, which will be located at the Valley Forge convention center... It has been a great run working with HMGS, but my time to step down and find a replacement draws neigh.... I am not burnt out, but I am one to not play political games. There is so much more I can say on that, but I won't.... For the most part, I am treated well by those in power and they respect what I have done for Fall In! in growing the show bringing in the revenue which supports the other two shows.
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