Proposals to Grow HMGS Shows

4/29/2023

Our club has been a very active participant in HMGS conventions for decades, running games for the shows. HMGS has 3 flagship events per year -- Cold Wars, Historicon, and Fall In. You've probably seen our video recaps of the shows since we started filming Little Wars TV.

Show attendance has been declining for years. That's not just anecdotal observation--you can refer to attendance records in the attached paper. So what can be done about it?

Our Proposal

Miles & Greg put pen to paper starting in 2022, developing a detailed road map for how to expand HMGS shows, grow the attendance, and improve the overall convention experience for attendees. These are ideas we've been percolating in the club for many years, though the paper is not an official "club" or "channel" endeavor. Blame Miles & Greg for all the ideas you don't like! And there are a few ideas in here that may prove unpopular with the HMGS old guard....

You can download a PDF copy of the 10-page proposal below. It's already been forwarded to the elected board of the Historical Miniatures Gaming Society. The board sent an official reply in April 2023:

The Board has had an opportunity to review the contents of your White Paper, and we think many of the ideas are valuable starting points, many of which align with our own ideas and some efforts that we already have underway. We agree that your (and our) proposals "will require initiative and volunteers to take on new roles and new projects".

We look forward to working together to take these ideas, create plans that identify the implementation details (including skill and resource requirements, etc.), and to move them to execution and completion.

Sincerely,

On behalf of the HMGS, Inc. Board of Directors

Now you can read the proposal for yourself. We want to thank many of our Patreon supporters for sending detailed comments and ideas as Miles & Greg refined multiple draft copies. The PDF download linked here is the most recent version.

hmgs_white_paper_revised.pdf
File Size:	1173 kb
File Type:	pdf

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1 Comment

David J Schaffner

5/8/2023 06:38:47 am

Gents,

Such good evaluation and suggestions here!

I'm in the Midwest, and have never attending these conventions (although I've wargamed for 50+ years), but we've experienced the same drop in interest/attendance in our region too.

I especially like the "Walk Up Opportunites" suggestion, and this is something I've tried to get our local leadership to adopt at the area cons. Personally, I've been on a 3D board game conversion kick for a few years now, and have thought these type of smaller footprint games would be great for walk-up opportunities to con goers, if just as time-filler opportunities. On top of this, these types of games wouldn't have to take up too much space....in fact, they could be presented in a room as a "bank" of tables, which attendees could pass by, to visually sample as what they might partake in if they have the spare time to double-back and revisit a quick game during lulls in their day(s) of attendance.

My idea of these pickup, easy-learning/play games would also allow for the GM to play on the opposite game side, if there might be only one participant interested in playing a game offering at a particular time (the ultimate idea would be for the GMs' to sell their games [barkers?], and to offer them up as a fun-packed few hours of diversion - in between the main con events).......these types of games might be the perfect intro for younger gamers too, perhaps being less intimidating, or a match for attendees not interested in full-on presentations.

Dave S.
aka FlyXwire

Proposals to Grow HMGS Shows

Our Proposal

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