"Autumn Wars.... A Review."

 (WARNING THIS POST IS PICTURE INTENSIVE. Please be patient as the pictures download and click on the photo get a larger version. Enjoy!)

The HMGS-MW (Midwest) closure convention for their year, Autumn Wars was held this past weekend in Western Chicago, (Bannockburn) at the International Tower, (with lodging at the Renaissance Hotel).

The dates for the convention were 26-28th of Sept. 2025.

Over 40 games were listed and played, along with vendors and The War Chest/Flea Market.

I had just returned from a week plus trip to see my sister in Virginia and had driven through five states, and had a 1 1/2 day turnaround time before my sidekick and partner in gaming crime, Noah and I packed up and headed off. 

Our plan was to get up on Thursday evening and come back Sat evening.

We would miss any of Sunday's events but Table Top Events showed it to be light on Sunday, and we both needed some down time, so a shortened convention it was.

Perhaps the hardest part of it all was on the cats, Gemma and Juju (aka "Puss in Boots" as one TMP'er calls her). My wife said that both seemed depressed while "Dad" was gone, but perked up but then saw me packing again, and went downhill on the happiness factor, spending a lot of time looking out the window for me and "waiting".

I truly do not deserve the love this two little critters have for me.

But I soldier on, because that is what soldiers do.

Noah arrived and we packed up Josette and hit the road. I had filled her tank up and reset the mileage and epa/range indicator. 

We zipped up I-65 North and made our first stop at Merrillville to hit Mission BBQ.

(Of course there was going to be food in this blog entry; what did you think?!)....

(Yours Truly getting ready to chow down....again....)

(Good stuff...I wanted more but we were on a schedule....)

And then we slipped into Chicago.

Frank Sinatra sang about it. Al Capone ruled part of it. Gangsters and Goombahs dealt with each other in it. A band in the 80's named themselves after it. Michael Jorden played for it. The Blues Brothers are from there. And some people claim that "Da 85 Bears are da best team EVER!!!"

One thing they don't tell you about is the traffic.

We had to take I-94.

That's all I should say....

(Ahhhhhh...wonderful Chicago traffic!)

And imagine our surprise when we saw...."This guy".

Actually I have to give him credit for originality and humor.

At last with all of the traffic we arrived at our hotel and got our rooms, and went up to check it out.

(Looking in from the door...)

(Looking from the window to the door....)

(The sleeping area.)

(The view from the window...)

After we had dinner, (Chicago prices and taxes), we went up to check the convention area.

The convention was up on the 9th floor of the International Tower, and it provided a lot of space, although to be honest it was a bit confusing. It had the feel of a former telemarketing call center, or an office setup and cube farm for an online university or something, but it was open and HMGS MW had set up most of their stuff.

(The floor layout. Diagram and photo credit: HMGS-MW)

Plenty of open space for gaming and tables.

Satisfied at what we saw, we went back down and went to the bar and had a drink.

I had a whiskey sour.

(Cheers!)

After that, Noah and I crawled up and went to bed.

FRIDAY MORNING

The alarm went off and we got up. Fuzzy headed and hungry. Truth be told, the beds were very comfortable and I slept like a dead man.

Noah and I woke up and headed down to breakfast. The hotel has a breakfast buffet which is good, and nothing really too fancy. Just the basics, which is a good thing because the last thing I needed was the chance to suck down a few Mimosas before getting to the convention!

(Breakfast...)

We wandered over and to the convention, and it was getting cranked up.

(A little urban chaos and firepower...)

(Measuring range...The "other guy" is ALWAYS, "juuuuuuuusssssst outta range"...)

(A look at some of the early morning games....)

At this point I have to apologize because there was a Team Yankee tournament going on, and I didn't get any pics of that. The players were pretty intensively involved and so I let them be as they exchanged shots with each other over the European countryside.

(Steve Fratt was also there with his Frattspiel rules and an ancients game that was impressive in size and looks...)

(Steve's Ancients Game...two large armies with lots of sharp, stabby, sticky, shootie, things to kill each other with...)

(Yours truly with the trademark "Grey Forage Cap", (call it a kepi if you must, but it's actually a forage cap...)

Wandering around, Noah and I got involved in a Gunfighters Ball game.

I like the GFB rules and the setups. They are simple, fun, and provide all sorts of six gun shenanigans that one would expect from Cowboy shoot-em-ups.

In this case, I was "The Good Guys", and we had the notorious Bell Starr in the hoosegow. 

Well, Belle's boyfriend, Sam Starr wasn't having none of that, so they decided on a breakout.

(The town setup. It ain't big enough fer the two of us!)

(The man...aka "The Duck", (real inspiration name prevented from use by copyright and IP protection...)

(The "Good Guys" (?)....Errr....how in THE WORLD, can Ike and Billy Clanton be considered "good guys?!?!?"...)

(And here are "the bad guys"...Sam Starr, Jim Taylor, and that notorious baddie with the mustache...Johnny Ringo...)

The fracas kicked off with the three baddies walking into town, and Billy Clanton getting "the side eye" from Sam Starr. 

That set it off.

"Holy Cow! It's Sam Starr and Johnny Ringo!"  Billy Clanton shouted before Sam Starr put a slug in his leg.

Johnny Ringo decided to ventilate Old Man Ike Clantons innards with a .45 long colt. Ike shot back but missed horribly...

("Eat lead Clanton!" Jonny Ringo shouts as he filled Ike with hot lead...)

Clanton desperately fired back, hoping to him Johnny Ringo, but...

(Sigh...)

Sorry Ike. Today just ain't your day.

So Ike crawled into the side alley to bleed out, and the Duck opened up on Johnny with the repeating rifle. Johnny found himself soon to be earning a one way trip to Boot Hill.

(He died with his boots on...)

The Duck's rifle then swung onto Sam Starr, and repeated the scene. 

Jim Taylor, not getting involved in the fracas, decided that "discretion was the better part of valor" and quickly exited town.

The final score was 2 dead bad guys, 1 dead good guy, 1 wounded good guy. And Belle Starr would hang...

("The Quick and The Dead", aka "The winners and losers")...

By midday the area was filling up nicely and many nice games were on display. Many of these games were put on on both days.

(A game set in 1970's UK...)

(Close ups of some urban action, include what seems to be a M1 and a Brad brewing up...)

(Bradley takes a hit...ouch!)

Later that afternoon, I hit Dead Mans Figs and bough some figs and some scenics from the collection of the late Uncle Duke. 

That evening Noah and I went to eat here:

Although it came highly recommended to us, there was an almost 2 hour wait to get a table, so we headed over to Red Lobster and had surf n turf washed down with a Blue Moon instead.

Dinner needs satisfied, we went back to the hotel and call it a night.

SATURDAY!

So we got up Saturday morning, and did the breakfast thing, and then headed off to the convention. For me, it was pressing the flesh, talking about the idea of a possible con in the Indy area, and waiting for the flea market.

Noah got involved in a WWIII game, while I walked around and took pics.

( A "Sink the Bismarck" Game. Suddenly I heard the song by the late, great Johnny Horton...)

("Out of the cold, and foggy night; came the British ship, "The Hood"...)

("The Bismarck started firing....fifteen miles away....")

In this case, it happened.

A shot hit the Bismarck's magazine and up she went in a cloud of smoke, fury, and a large KABOOM!. Prinz Eugen took off like a racoon chased by a pack of hounds. 

A RN victory!

Moving on, I got a chance to check out an amazing Winter WW2 Bulge table by Kevin Cabai.

Take a look at the pics. The scenery and terrain was amazing.

As some of you have probably learned. I take a lot of scenic and terrain pics for inspiration and ideas for future building projects.

Kevin's forces were amazing in detail also.

(CLICK ON THE PICS FOR LARGER VERSIONS SHOWING DETAILS)

(Kevin strikes a gallant pose with "his stuff". This is truly an amazing collection.)

Wow...that's what I have to say. I'm not much of a WW2 gamer but I was very impressed.

I continued walking around and taking pics:

(A Memoir '44 style game of the Bulge...)

(And another WW2 game...)

(And another round of the Ancients game by Steve Fratt)...

One of the more beautiful tables was a Japanese Civil War game going on.

The scenery and terrain was top notch and again, I found myself taking pictures.

The gaming continued as the flea market got set up.

The Flea Market was small. Only a couple of dealers, but I was able to get some nice terrain/scenic pieces and a CD of 18th Century AWI Fife and Drum music. There was one guy there, (there's always "That guy"), that was literally buying stuff before the dealer could get it out of the tub and onto the table. Plus there was an issue with him trying to lowball someone on some stuff. Like I said, there's always "that guy"....

Before I left, I wanted to get a pic of myself with two awesome folks from HMGS-MW.

(Tom, myself, Noah, and Kevin. These are but two of the hardworking folks from HMGS-MW that makes the magic happen for the rest of us. Kudos to them and the rest of the staff.)

We said our goodbyes and headed out. 

We had decided to try Edelweiss once more, but couldn't find a parking spot, so we took a chance on the Polish place down the street.

We walked in, and were the only ones that spoke English.

But the waitress was pretty and the food was delicious, and we will be back!

(This is really a good place...a well kept secret I think....)

(An excellent meal!)

So on that note, we made it home. Once again through the madhouse known as "Chicago Traffic", and back to the Hoosier state.

This was another successful trip. And I didn't have time to rest on my laurels as I had HMGS-GL's Advance The Colors, (ATC) coming up soon. 

But for now. I was happy.

Conclusion:

Autumn Wars is a great HMGS-MW, smaller, "closure" con for the season. It's much, much, smaller than Little Wars, but still gives guys a good bang for their buck. They have a good working con formula, and I am happy to see it working it's magic again.

Pros: Price, Games, Organization, Setup, Hotel, Friendliness and attitude. No hard feelings, etc.

Cons: Chicago prices, and the wonderful traffic through I-94 and the O'Hare exit. 

Tips: If you are eating at Edelweiss, make a reservation.

Buy your badge early and pre-register. Even though there are a lot of walk on games available, some fill up quickly.

Once again. My thanks and gratitude goes out to my friend Noah who put up with me, and for the fine folks and staff of HMGS-MW for running such an excellent small con.

See y'all on this next year.

Stay tuned folks! There is more to come!  

And as always comments are appreciated!