Photo used with the permission of WARGAMES Soldiers & Strategy
 

Thanks for coming to FALL IN!™ 2008
November 7 – 9

Warfare in the Trenches: Petersburg to Cambrai

What a great show! Attendance was up – total attendance almost reached 1,900 – the weather was fantastic and Gettysburg experienced yet another successful show!

I want to give a big thank you to the volunteers. We had several volunteers who dropped out at the last minute due to real life getting in the way and the remaining staff stepped up to fill the gaps. Without these remarkable individuals – who give up their convention time – we would not have great shows, so again thanks!

The exhibitor hall was completely full this year! We even added tables to accommodate several last minute exhibitors – Neal Schlaffer did an outstanding job managing the hall and continuing to make last minute changes to ensure no exhibitors were turned away. While some regular exhibitors were unable to attend this year it enabled us to add several new exhibitors and maintain our wide aisles and demonstration tables. The Sunday Raffle was another stunning success. Exhibitors donated over $2,000 in merchandise, all of it given away Sunday morning to those lucky and smart enough to hang out at the show! Special thanks to James Mattes and Mike Pierce for putting the raffle together and handing out the prizes.

Free dice returned this year and the first 750 attendees were treated to a pair of percentile dice in the same style as the FALL IN!™ 2007 six-sided die give away. Speaking of giveaways, Wargames Factory gave a sprue of their new plastic miniatures to everyone who attended the show. The sprue contained FIVE gorgeous British Colonial soldiers and Tony Reidy has plans on continuing his generosity at future shows! Tony also brought painted samples of his figures, man do they look great! I look forward to adding these to my collection. Next year will likely hold even more free items for those who arrive early so don’t miss out in 2009!

Painting events and university returned bringing even more classes than before. If you are interested in learning how to paint or improve your skills make sure to check out this staple of all of our shows. Heather Blush and her crew really put together a great set of events and continue to grow this portion of our shows.

FALL IN!™ 2008 also saw the reemergence of the FALL IN!™ Painting Contest. Due to Jim McGaughey’s hard work we were able to host a formal painting contest awarding stunning metals – to see the full of award winners, pictures of the award winners and categories click HERE. Special thanks to our Judges Heather Blush, Lee Howard and Chris Hughes.

While there were too many events to mention, a few are highlighted here:

• Battle Barn of Williamsburg Gamers, special guests of the show, ran numerous theme events – winning the Best Theme PELA
• Two guest speakers – Scott Mingus and Louis Desy – gave several presentations
• “Best of Show” GM Award went to “Austerlitz (southern flank) (December 2 nd 1805)” and “Battle of Elchingen (October 14 th 1805)” by Game Master Dave Waxtel
• Seven events were awarded H MGS PELA GM Awards – click HERE to see the full list of award winners
• Two events received Legion of Honor Battle Stars – click HERE to see the full list of award winners

We hope those who attended FALL IN!™ 2008 enjoyed themselves enough that they are looking forward to next year – tell your friends! Don’t miss out on FALL IN!™ 2009 – November 6-8 – at the Eisenhower Hotel & Convention Center. It’s never too early to make reservations!

Convention Staff Roll Call

FALL IN!™ only happened with the hard work of our convention staff. Many put in long hours so attendees can have fun. Thank you for all your hard work! If you are interested in volunteering for FALL IN!™ 2009 please contact the convention director at director@fall-in.org.

Photo used with the permission of WARGAMES Soldiers & Strategy
 

Convention Committee (Senior Staff):

Convention Director & Webmaster – Jim McWee
Deputy CD – James Mattes
Registration Manager – Laura McWee
Events Manager – Andy Turlington
Exhibitor Manager – Neal Schlaffer
Publications Manager – Don Perrin
Promotions Manager – Kevin Lepley

Coordinators:

Awards – Pete Panzeri
Exhibitors – Michael Betz
Featherstone Cup – John Snead
Flea Market – George Callinan
GM Help Desk and Events – Kevin Lepley
Painting – Heather Blush
Registration – Roni Giglio, Neil Brennan and James “JT” Thomas

Staff (in alphabetic order): Trey Blush, Tim Broome, Dorothy Catapano, Wayne Cooper, Richard Crouch, Mike Dolan, Ed Dowgiallo, Bruce Eggleston, Dave Frankowski, Dudley Garidel, Don Goddard, Larissa Hefner, Jim Hergenhahn, Jerry Hurwitz, Andre Johnson, Chris Johnson, Jake Johnson, Chris King, Jenna Korzen, Bob Liebl, Cleo Liebl, Jim McGaughey, Mike McGrath, Devon McKenzie, John Newman, Walt Ohara, Ben Pecson, Derek Rogillio, Pat Shields, Darrel Swanson, Andrey Swystun, Nathan Swystun, Orest Swystun, August Thiesing, Paul Trani and Bob Yatison

My time as FALL IN!™ Convention Director has come to an end. Andy Turlington will take my place in 2009. He is already working on the theme and has many new ideas to make the show even better! Make sure you check – www.fall-in.org – for the latest updates on FALL IN!™ 2009.

Jim McWee
FALL IN!™ 2008 Convention Director
Great Games, Good Times, Gettysburg

Convention Statistics