Little Wars 2024, A Review....

 WARNING! VERY PIC INTENSIVE

Please be patient as the pics and site uploads. 

Please click on the pics to get a larger image.

And now...back to our regularly scheduled program....

HMGS Midwest's Flagship Convention "Little Wars" (Known from here as "LW" for brevity), was held this past weekend at the Westin Lombard in Lombard, Illinois. It was the first convention I have been to since my last LW in 2017, (life happening, injuries, 2020, COVID, disability, and moving and all of that mind you.), and I was looking forward to it with excitement and anxiety.

I had found out the week before sadly enough, that my friend and fellow TMP'er Tom Reed had passed away in October of 2023, and then I found out that someone I served with in Korea had died a few years earlier. 

2020 did an awful number on all of us. Life changed, and there is no "going back to the old normal" as well as no "new normal".  What we have now is a "now" normal, and tbh, it sucks. 

But on the whole, this convention was what I needed. I had pushed myself away from socialization for a bit, other than digital social media and ACW reenactment I did last year. It was time for me to get beyond the door and property line of my house, and get back into the world, and into the hobby that I love so much.

Once the main announcements for the con came out, I went into a discussion with some friends of mine and we decided to make a "Guys Gaming Weekend."  Invitations went out, (most of which were a "Thanks but I can't make it. And a few I sent out, I was ghosted on - I'll discuss more of that later), but two accepters were my good friends Jason Weiser, (JW) and Michael Brown, (MB). Jason was flying in from the DC area, and Michael was flying in from Wyoming.

I myself decided to rent a vehicle to take me through the wonderful Chicago traffic.

With pre-reg done, rooms done, (I got room 217, Jason got 1117, and Michael got 1417...Hmm.. All ending in 17....is this some sort of omen?), I was able to grab a 2021 Nissan Rogue.  FWIW, I like this vehicle, although the one thing I definitely do not like is that fact that you do not have a button or switch on the drivers side, (or even inside!) of the vehicle to open the lift gate. You either have to use the key fob, (which wasn't working), or the manual button on the outside. Plus the fuel tank door is on the passengers side. Who does this?

So I packed up the vehicle and I was off...

(Atomic batteries to power....turbines to speed.  Time to hit the road!)

The drive up there was pretty uneventful, save for the strange looking clouds ahead of me.

(Hmmm.... How odd....)

I was familiar with 85% of this drive as I had made it numerous times to my Kenosha plant.

So it was kind of easy on me and I knew what to expect once I hit 94 and "Chicago".

(Ahhhh...there it is...right ahead of me...the windy city...where even the dead vote...and they all vote twice...and they all vote democrat....)

And once again I got experience Chicago traffic....which I had NOT missed....

(The guy in the right lane needs to be allllll the way over in the left lane, and the guy in the left lane needs to be alllll the way over in the right...)

Eventually I make it through the Chicago traffic, and to the hotel site. The Yorktown mall is nearby and plenty of food places to eat as well as the places at the hotel.

Annnnnnnd I'm not even there 2 minutes and "the adventure" begins. 

I'll let my social media post tell it all...

(I answered with, "Does this question come with any legal ramifications depending upon my answer?")

Thankfully this time it was someone wanting to introduce themselves to me....

Whew....

And then the hotel adventure began.

It all started after check in, and I went up to my room, and then was coming back down in the elevator.

Hmmm...what's this?....

(Yeah a hotel full old, fat, wargamers, and Asian airline stewardesses....like anyone would ever believe that...)

But yes, it was true...

And they were leaving....

REGISTRATION...

I seem to have gotten a bit ahead of myself and there is one thing I wanted to talk about and was the registration process at the site. 

When you came into the site, you had a setup for pre-registration and then one for on-site registration.

Pre-reg has been updated for users to show their QR codes that they are emailed to get their badges, etc.  It's a step away from the old, slow, process of "find the card, find the envelope" stuff. 

It's one of the many new things that HMGS-MW has started doing to streamline the process and it's a very good thing. Onsite registration seemed to be good also.

(The cover of this years program is a picture of the 20" X 30" print entitled "Cantigny"; a depiction of a WW1 battle featuring the 1st Infantry Division. The artwork is by Dough Dearth. This was also the grand prize for The Wounded Warrior Raffle.)

So I got into my room....then met up with my boys, and off to dinner we went.

I got a Kentucky Bourbon Chicken Sandwich and Cajun Fries.

(Delicious!...Oh come on folks...you KNOW that food was going to be involved in this report!)

THURSDAY NIGHT FLEA MARKET

The LW flea market was broken down into two time blocks and held near the Lilac Room.

The first block was Thursday 6-9 PM, and the second block was held Sun 9-12 pm.

I went to Thursdays and it was pretty crowded with vendors doing a good business.

JW dumped some serious money on some terrain, and I picked up a building and a rule book.

(All events were pretty well marked.)

(A little bit of a stroll down the hallway...)

(A pretty wide mix of stuff with a lot of board wargames and WW2 oriented stuff.)

(Wheelin' and dealin'...)

(Lots of assorted stuff...)

(Assorted parts for Lego and Lego style kits...)

(Planes and flight stands were for sale....)

(And ships...)

(And even more ships! Wooden this time...)

So then after dinner and the flea market, we got into our first game...

"Snoopy vs The Red Baron...."

The day saw us in the cockpits of Fokkers as we took to the skies in search of the Beagle on his doghouse and his English lackey cohorts of the RFC.

We were flying for "Der Kaiser!" by golly!

For the group, I had ordered some $15.00 plastic costume pickelhaubes. I was actually surprised at how nice they were.

We wore them to the game.

("So fraulein Asian Air Stewardess....you like jagdstaffel pilots mit der pickelhaubes, ja???....")

(The things that JW will do for this hobby...TBH, it actually kind of looks good on him...)

And so a group pic of us before we flew off into history....

(We're bringing "Sexy" back. Truthfully...what Asian Airline Stewardess can resist such charming German pilots as us with our pickelhaubes?...) 

We strolled boldly into the room, and the GM saw us, shook his head, and said "Welllllll....I know WHO the Germans are...."

And we roared off into the skies....

("After the turn, of the Cen-tury....in the clear blue skies over Ger-many....")

We decided that we weren't talented enough to be a real "Jagdstaffel" so we went with "Bierstaffel" instead...

(Bierstaffel in search of "Der Beagle"...)

(Hard climbs up to stalling, to engage the enemy with guns blazing....)

(A badly execute maneuver puts the baron and one of his fellow pilots on a collision course, while I am in the foreground climbing up and turning and trying to stay out of the mess....)

We were able to keep two of our planes from merging into a pile of plywood, cloth, and piano wire before letting gravity take over....

Meanwhile, MB came in on a dive, as I put a hard burst of fire into Snoopy, who made a hard breaking turn to get away from me. With Michael on his tail, he knew he was caught. 

(Snoopy and his lackeys realize that their days are numbered...)

The Maxims blazed and the bullets from MB found it's target. A burst of flame and a puff of smoke came from the doghouse.  Der Schweinhund was hit and sent down!

(A bad day for Snoopy...)

(Another RFC Lackey joins Snoopy on his earthward bound plummet...)

(With a successful mission accomplished, 3 of the 4 Biersstaffel planes zip back to Germany. The only loss being our leader, The Red Baron(!), played by JW....)

And so a victory celebration was held!

(Toasting our success with good Indiana bourbon...)

(MB toasts his successful kill against Der Kleine Hund...)

(A picture of the game in progress. Yours truly is in the lower left . I found out later that I won one of the prizes... PHOTO CREDIT: HMGS-MIDWEST)

(White silk flying scarves are rare nowadays, so I won this cashmere one instead, and I gave it to my wonderful wife, (Gawd bless her!), as a thank you for all she has done...)

The games kept going, and for a Thursday night it was pretty active, which was a very good sign for how this convention was going to go.

Later that night we headed back to the room for bourbon, and BS talk. Finally I pushed them out and headed to a comfy bed, to sleep, rest, and prepare for the next full day.

Reflections on Thursday...

I'll be honest, I was very surprised at Thursday nights turnout. Lots more people there than I thought, and lots more games and an overall very good vibe. Vendors were still setting up, but some were already open and the dice were already rolling on the game tables.

Registration went well. The new QR code worked very nicely and I endorse it for future pre-registrations.

Food availability, and hotel service was excellent.

Bathrooms were kept very clean.

(A good overall opening first night....)

FRIDAY....

The alarm rang earlier and quicker than I expected. I laid in bed and the first thing I thought was "Why does early morning come so....early?"

But manning up, it was morning shower and then breakfast time.

Today was the first full day of LW, and I was determined to check things out and get a good report in.

But first....breakfast.

So I wandered down and met up with MB for breakfast and we had a good meal. 

I then wandered into the main game hall...

Yowza.

(First things first...)

(A pano shot of the main game hall at approx 9:30 Friday morning...)

(The charity raffle table up front with the grand prize artwork. Later on this table would be filled with stuff...I bought five tickets.)

(HMGS-Midwest Service Desk was always fully manned and very helpful...)

(The display cases for the painting event. The miniatures contest was perhaps the only stickler issue that I had with the con and I will be discussing this later on in the review.)

The Main Hall was pretty crowded and active. A second room down the way to where the reenactors were, and the flea market was held (the room is called "The Lilac Room"), was where the FOW tourney, and the massive large Pickett's Charge, (more on that later), as well as the Little Wars After Dark Event was held. 

I then had a chance to walk around the tables on Friday and saw so many well done tables. I was amazed at the quality of them as well as the beauty, detail, and craftsmanship.

We have many excellent builders here in the hobby and this batch of photos is just a small sample of what was there.

(A little 18th Century action....)

(A small, but well done game board...)

(Runes on the side, and I especially liked the way the water was done. I believe this was a Vikings game...)

(And yet more canvas, plywood, and piano wire takes to the skies...)

(A Martian tripod invasion game...)

(A lot of "Gunfighters Ball" was being played...)

(A fantastic chariot race setting...)

(Ships and sails...)

(Another nice table. I am not sure "what" exactly this one was. I think a medieval/fantasy style skirmish game. But it was very well done.)

(The Sea Jay. This was an amazing model, and I had a chance to play it on Saturday afternoon, but due to an issue I had to drop out almost at the start. I'll have more pics of it later on during Saturdays report...)

(Another nice table...I think this was WW2...)

(A nicely done Star Wars game...)

(Another large 18th century game that I didn't get a chance to catch the name of...)

Perhaps one of the most impressive (and the largest) was this massive D-Day table. The GM's had a 20 foot trailer to haul it in, and MB played his game for 8 hours!

It truly was awesome.

(Two tables...a lot of players....amazing....)

(Indeed he was!)

I also got a chance to wander around and look at some of the dealers (and to spend money)....

Below are some of the various dealers that were there. I didn't get pics of all of them, and a lot of them I didn't get their names, but the program has them listed.

Badger Games actually had their setup outside of the Main Game Hall towards the end.

I picked up some stuff form them, but was a little saddened that they didn't include their Western ranges, or more varied terrain/scenery, instead focusing mainly on WW2, and Ancients/Vikings/Dark Age/Fantasy.

After checking out the dealers, it was time for my first game.

The Friday 10 am "Not Another Revolution!" game. 

It's a fight between the corrupt govt forces vs the corrupt anti-government forces in a corrupt Latin American town in a corrupt Latin American country.

JW, myself, and a fellow named Troy took over the Govt. forces.

My job in the game was to hold the town and keep the corrupt anti-govt forces from taking it.

(Pushing my peons out as a screening force...)

(My govt troops and armored car holding the town with my peon screening force. The govt forces are there to move quickly to help out anywhere, and react to the enemy, as well as ensuring the loyalty of the peons...)

The enemy advanced and my armored car opened up with the first fire of the game. I needed a six or better on two dice.

The machine gun blazed...

Or so I thought....

(First roll of the entire game....Sigh....so it begins....)

And that's the way the game went.

I actually held onto the town, and didn't lose a stand, but the rest of my side was pretty much hit hard and we lost.

Ah well...such is life in Latin America. Next week, there will be a new government...again.

After the battle I went and entered some figures into the Miniatures Contest.

These are the three I entered.

After the game and entering the figures, I wandered over to the Lilac Room, and my breath was taken away....

(Oh great googly moogly....)

I was looking at Der Alte Fritz's 15 tables of 54mm Gettysburg and his "Pickett's Charge" game.

Tomorrow I would be on this field leading men in gray to "that little copse of trees" just beyond that stone wall.

I took a lot of pics of these tables as there was so much to see.

Please take a look at them and enjoy.

There were over 1200 figures for this. 

All in 54mm.

Gadzooks!

I went up to the room and rested some, and then went and had dinner at the Bavarian Lodge in Lisle.

(A good German bier on this Friday night...)

(To go with a good German dinner...)

(And remembering friends long absent....Prost!)

And then I made it back for....you guessed it.

LATE NIGHT BOURBON!!!!!!

(Indeed...)

And then it was off to bed....

Saturday....

So there I was, helplessly strapped and restrained down in "Martha Stewart's Forbidden Dungeon of Passionate Desires", and with "the lust wenches" around me, I knew I was in it for it...

Slowly the came towards me.

I licked my lips.

Sloooooooowwwwwlllllly,....

RIIIIIINNNNGGGGGG

Wait....where are you going?

RIIIIIIIINNNNGGGG

NOOOOOooooooo!!!!

I woke up to the sound of my alarm going off...

1 hour late.

I had thought I set my alarm for 8 am but instead had set it for 9.

I had a game at 10.

YIKES!

Up, and did the 3 S's...(You know what they are), and got dressed and down to the area to grab a ham and cheese breakfast sandwich and coffee.

I got down to the Lilac room just in time as Fritz was getting the commands ready for my 10 AM Pickett's Charge game.

"You have the center." He told me.

Oh great. I'm heading for the wall and "that little copse of trees."

I've walked this ground. It's not fun. 

(Sorry Major Taylor. There isn't flapjacks in small mountains for breakfast here...)

(Myself and Der Alte Fritz...)

(My command...)

(The guns open up...and are miserably ineffective...)

(With the guns quiet, the tarheels move forward to the cheers of the cannoneers...)

(Heading towards the fenceline...)

(Go boys! Get over that fence and hit 'em!)

(The first of the Tarheels clear the first set of rails and push forward....as the first casualties are taken...)

(Heading to the objective...and the Yankees in front of it...)

(The tarheels go in!)

(Looking down the left flank....)

(Point blank fire...)

(Get 'em boys!)

(Yanks hit in the flank...)

Unfortunately for the Southern forces, there was too much to defend and not enough to attack.

("General Lee....I have no division....")

So after the fight, I went back and checked on my miniatures.

Here are two of them that I entered into the contest. These are older pictures.

The winners had been chosen.

If there is a weak point in the entire thing, I would say that the way the miniatures event is set up is it.

The rules posted vs how they seem to have been entered seem to be different, as I was under the idea that there would be a separate category for single historical and single non historical miniatures but there wasn't. 

Also out of the 11-12 entry fields 3 people won 8 of them.

I cannot vouch for it, but they seem to be professional painters, and tbh, I think that that may need to be adjusted. If you are going to have pro painters entering and winning the majority of the categories as the compete against "Joe Painter", then you are going to end up with less and less Joe Painters entering simply due to the fact that they can't compete against the pros.

Perhaps HMGS Midwest can do something about this by having "Pro" and "Amateur" categories?

Anyhow, after that it was dinner, and then bourbon.

And we finished a bottle. 

While walking around today I took more pictures of some of the awesome tables...

(A pic of the very playable, fun, and edible "Gummy Wars". I'm glad I took my Metformin today!)

(A very well done Tarawa beach scenario...)

Some close ups of the Tarawa beach scenario....

And there was a Western themed wagon racing game...

("She'll be coming round the mountain when she comes!")

One of the many games of "Gunfighters Ball" going on....

And I got a chance after many years to meet up once again with the ever awesome Mr. Forrest Harris of Knuckleduster.

("Honestly officer...we ain't doin' nuttin'....")

Got a chance to see some really nice naval miniatures also...

There were two table settings that really, REALLY caught my eye and impressed me.

The first one was "Return To Moria."

Some pics of this were put up on TMP, but I shot a lot of them also, and decided to post them here.

This was an award winner, and tbh, really deserved it.

The Return to Moria (RTM) setup was an immense and highly detailed setting to play in. It was practically a display piece.

(A well deserved ribbon...)

(Instructions and info... This always seems to be a major issue with good looking games...)

And here are some of the pics....Some have captions and some don't.

Enjoy!

(Spiiiiiiiiiddddeeerrrrssss......)

(The section known as "The Ironworks"...)

It truly was an awesome looking setup.

The next one was an WW2/Pulp style game, with a town, U-boat, a multi-level Nazi base, and a working lighthouse!

This was indeed a truly amazing setup.

After this I wandered over to dinner, and then back to my room to rest up a bit for "Little Wars After Dark"

While at dinner, I had an *ahem* "interesting engagement" with someone who thought that "Bongolesia was a real country..." (again...)

(This goombah is checking out the evenin's activities....)

Back at the gaming area for Little Wars After Dark, I was able to get some more pics of the Gummy Wars Table.

(It's "Candyland!"....with a vengeance....)

And then I headed back to the room and called it a night....

SUNDAY....

I woke up Sunday morning and made it down to have breakfast with MB and JW.

After that I decided to take one more trip around the flea market and dealers.

A guy was selling some Osprey's for 5 bucks each so i grabbed some.

Some of the dealers were closing down, and I was able to score some swag there too.

All of my loot will be in a future post, simply due to the already huge size of this one.

At last it was time for us to part ways. 

MB was staying until the next day, but JW had an affair with O'Hare in a few hours.

So we checked out.

"Whatcha wanna do for the next couple of hours?" JW asked me.

I smiled....

"We gotta go see a guy...."

And we took a side street...

And we ended up at a cemetery.

("Dat's "MR. CAPONE" to youse mugs!")

(Wearing my fedora and six feet away from Al Capone....)

After this we schmoozed over to Brothers Mexican Grill and had their taco special and I had a large drink.

 

After the meal, I dropped JW off at the airport and headed home, passing a BP station selling "the cheap stuff" for "only" $4.69 a gallon.

(No thank you....)

And at last I was on the road heading through Chicago and back home to Indiana...

Aftermath and thoughts on the convention....

Numbers were released, and LW attendance was in the 700 mark, which was an increase. Overall across the board, the numbers look excellent.

For myself and my friends, we had a great time. 

One of the things I wanted to do to make this event special for my friends was to give them a special gift.

So looked around and get each one of them one of these, and had it engraved.

(Yeps. That's a .308/7.62 mm round right there...)

And I picked myself up one of these. 

And I got a chance to talk and get a photo with HMGS-Midwest President Kevin Cabai.

It was an honor to meet him.

And the three of us had emptied some bourbon...

Of all of my Little Wars pics...this is the one I cherish the most.

(While the games are nice and fun, and the vendors have cool toys to sell us, deep down, this is what it is all about...)

HMGS-Midwest put on a great convention. There was a positive feel to it all weekend long. For me the only hiccups were not finding the refrigerator in my room sooner, and my problem with how the painting contest entries are done.

If there was a 1-10 rating on this, I'd give it a good 9. 

Overall I was very happy with the convention and look forward to attending and running some games next year.

Once I got home I inventoried my loot...the free swag, and the stuff I bought and was given.

Some of my loot from the convention.

More detail on this in the next post....

So that's it for now.

I'm tired and happy after a great convention, and am looking forward to it next year.

We've retired the picklehaubs and next year will be wearing BLACK SOMBREROS!!!!

Thanks everyone for reading this long post, and I hope you enjoyed it.

All comments are appreciated.

More to come, stay tuned!