Saturday, July 23, 2022

My Horrible Historicon Experience

 

My Wargame table set up.


Well, it’s Saturday night and I’m driving back to Chicago from Lancaster, Pennsylvania.  My wife has been in the ER since yesterday and it is a two day drive to return home. So I left Lancaster on the spur of the moment at 3PM after running my game that afternoon and hurriedly packing everything up to bolt out of town. I pulled into Elyria, Ohio for the evening at 9PM. I made the six hour drive without getting tired and Road punchy. The key was to stop once per hour and rest for 15 minutes or so.

My spouse has recently had some balance and vestibular issues and she had a nasty fall in our house. Fortunately one of the neighbors was able to drive her to the ER. I will see her tomorrow as I’m planning on hitting the road early and I should arrive home by early afternoon .


We had a power outage this morning, somewhat ironic because we are scheduled to have a power generator installed this week. I guess that The Gods decided to give us one last experience of a power outage.


Some pictures of my Historicon games.





My actual time at Historicon was a disaster in terms of the two games that I ran, one on Friday evening (which was cancelled by the staff without informing me), and the other on Saturday noon (only three players showed up for a ten player game). Both games had one room designated for my game in the program, but were assigned an entirely different room by the  computer system. Makes it hard to get any players for my games when show runner snafus are hitting me from every direction.

However, we made the best of it and we were able to cajol six passers by to play in the Friday game and I think the players had fun. I’m extremely grateful to these people for playing in the game.


Saturday’s game at 11AM only had three people signed up - this is in Prime Time for the convention when attendance is at its highest. I didn’t want to shut the game down so I became the fourth player and I scaled back the number of units in the game. Again, everyone seemed to have a good time and they all requested a copy of the rules which made me feel good.

Particular mention goes to Roger who played in both games. Thank you Roger. You are much appreciated by me. Also, my nephew Alex was a big help as he played in the Friday game and helped me take down the game and pack everything into my car so that I could bug out ASAP.


The good moments of the convention were really good and the bad moments were heartbreaking. I don’t know if I will ever want to return to Historicon. If this sounds like sour grapes, then yes, the grapes in my mouth are very, very sour. This all pales against my wife’s health. We have to get her back to her baseline of normal good health.

34 comments:

  1. So sorry to her your wife is not well , I do hope she's on the mend soon . Sad to see all the effort you put into your game not being rewarded , such a shame and I can understand your frustration with the lack of organisation . Hope things pick up soon , Cheers Tony

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  2. Safe continued trip snd hope yput eife is ok

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  3. Thinking of you and yours Jim.
    Alan Tradgardland

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  4. That smarts. I'm responsible for room reservations and event planning at work so I'm very conscious of how important it can be to get everything right, advertising, prep and all. It's my least favorite part of the job, because it's easy to make mistakes. A disappointing event on top of a family emergency is even worse. My sympathies to you and yours; hope all comes out for the best.

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  5. Dear Jim, sorry to hear of all your troubles and misadventures but most especially to hear of your wife's health emergency. I hope you find her on the mend when you get to see her and will be able to take her home soon. God's blessing on you both. Hopefully things will be in a better place soon and you will be able to reassess aspects of the hobby like Historicon in more peace. I'm sure we're all wishing you and your lovely family well.
    all the best,

    Stephen

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  6. I am sorry to read that you had such a poor experience at Historicon - after weeks and months of planning, preparation and not least anticipation of a great, fun event, having the reality crash you down to earth is very disappointing. Of course, the hobby woes pale in comparison to the shock of having your wife end up in ER while you are hundreds of miles away. Best wishes to you both for her speedy recovery - at least you have the new generator to look forward to!

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  7. If it is any compensation your game looked amazing ! hope wife gets better soon.

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  8. Firstly well done for making the mammoth effort to put a game on Jim, Ive never quite understood the American way of doing things but it must take a great of work. Much more importantly I hope your wife is quickly out of hospital and on the mend. The people who failed to turn up lost out on a great experience.

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  9. Hope you wife's OK... balance issues can be a real bugger. Sounds like major organising problems at the con... I hope they were suitably apologetic.

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  10. Safe journey home Jim and I hope you Wife is ok.

    Willz.

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  11. Thoughts with you and your wife, hopefully she will be on the mend and back home with you soon. Shame about con. being a bit of a disaster, I can see why it has left a bad taste, the pictures of the game are a real inspiration.

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  12. Our thoughts are with your wife and her health. Having been through some things, I know that there's nothing more important than your spouse's health. As for Historicon - sorry about that as well. I used to go, but stopped in about 2007 and haven't missed it.

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  13. The hobby can wait; your wife's health is much more important. I hope for a thorough and speedy recovery.

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  14. Sorry to hear if your wife's health issues. I hope she is doing better.
    And sorry for your less then fun time after all the hard work you put in to go.

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  15. Best wishes for your wife's speedy and complete recovery.

    It is a shame your Historicon experience fell flat. I understand your discouragement but those strong feelings may ease with the passage of time.

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  16. My thoughts go out to your wife and yourself Jim. Take care. S.

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  17. Jim, first and foremost I hope your wife is ok and has a swift recovery.
    I won’t even begin to try and understand why your game wasn’t supported, like Robbie I’m pretty ignorant on how the big American shows are run. I know in the past even with demo games I’ve run it can be disheartening when a lot of effort goes into preparing the game and it doesn’t appear to raise much interest.

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  18. Very sorry to hear your wife has been ill (and about your unfortunate experience at Historicon). Hope she improves very soon. All the best, David.

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  19. I'm sorry to hear that your wife is ill. Having that sort of thing happen while one is away is especially distressing. I hope she recovers fully and quickly.

    As for the game....running a game is a great pleasure when all goes smoothly but sometimes.....

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  20. Best wishes to you and your wife. Please know that you are a great beacon of inspiration for the hobby, especially for those of us keen on 18th century gaming. Thanks for all you do.

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  21. That is an awful series of events-I really hope (and will pray - if that's ok?) for a quick and complete recovery for your wife.
    No gaming is, as you said, more important than looking after your family, But I am sad it happened this weekend of all weekends!!!
    Kudos to your neighbourly neighbour, a friend in need...
    Well done on getting people to play in your games, I have had several show experiences where no one has wanted to join in, but this is England!
    The game(s) looked great, as expected. I am sure despite the SNAFU, the people at Historicon appreciated your efforts, and are feeling bad about their problems.

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  22. Hope for a turn of luck for you and your wife.

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  23. Hopefully your wife will make a full and complete recovery. My wife had similar issues with what turned out to be Meniere's (not sure about the spelling). She has occasional bouts of tinnitus now but her balance is OK again. So with any luck the same should be true in your wife's case. Things like this put all our other problems into stark perspective. Just remember that which doesn't kill us makes us stronger.

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  24. Please continue to take Care as you travel back to your Wife's side ~ that is the 2nd Most Important Thing. May she be Well & Recover Fully & Quickly. That is The Most Important Thing.
    ~ Tom T

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  25. So sorry to hear about your wife and I wish her a very speedy recovery. I regret that your games didn’t turn out as planned. It’s really a shame that you spent all that travel time to run games at what once was a well run convention but has slowly slipped.

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  26. My wife will be released from the hospital tomorrow and the doctors want to to undergo extensive PT and OT therapy at another facility. Thank you everyone for your concerns. It is comforting to know that so many are thinking of her.

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  27. Cannot recall ever having left a note, but has been following your blog for years.

    Best wishes to your wife. Family and health takes precedence over hobby matters.
    That said I have felt the same hurt when setting up games, and then not getting much intetest from players after having spend hours of prep and planning.
    I would have loved to play in your game. It sounds fun and the terrain and miniatures look great.

    Best regards from Copenhagen, Denmark

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  28. Hi Jim. Now, I'm going to give the great DAF an order, which must be obeyed. It's an order in two parts. Part one: forget Historicon. Part two: be with your wife at all times. Do not leave her side. Tell her you love her, more than ever. This is precious stuff. Not toy soldiers. Take care. Best regards. Phil

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    Replies
    1. Consider your order obeyed.😀 Both of them.👍

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  29. First of all best wishes for your wife, hopefully the treatments will go well toward a complete recovery.
    As for Historicon, that's a shame. Your tables, your figures are always really impressive. I have no idea why they would cancel one of your games like that?
    I don't go to Historicon anymore, too long a drive.
    Hang in there!

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  30. Best wishes for your wife's recovery and sorry about the event not turning out very well as it can be very disheartening to put a lot of work into a planned demo game and not get the desired traffic.

    Christopher

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  31. Jim, so sorry to read about your travails. Historicon sounds very trying and your wife's issues..! Dreadful! I wish her only the speediest recovery. Thinking of you and the family. Greg

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  32. The most important by far. All the very best to your wife. I trust that you arrived back in good time and not too fraught. We'll hear from you once things are better and have settled down. Best wishes from afar.

    I completely understand your disappointment after planning, preparing and travelling, but under different circumstances and at a different time, you might focus on the good aspects of the convention. Those who took part in the games enjoyed themselves, yourself included, I presume! Maybe they even got more out of the game as it was played with fewer players?
    Whatever the truth of this musing, it is written with the best of intent.
    Regards, James

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