Old News
Sand Wars Game Convention
This year’s Spring Campaign was Sand Wars in Mesa Arizona. We returned to the Mesa Convention Center for two days of action packed historical gaming on May 20th – 21st. The Flames of War Tournament saw a 350% growth over last year. We saw a large uptick in Arizona membership.
CAMERONE — “Not Men but Demons!” and 55 Days at Peking were the standout games.
New President Named
With the resignation of our previous President, the Vice President, Christian Sorenson advanced to the position. His acceptance letter can be read here.

Desert Wars 2022 in Mesa, AZ.
Desert Wars is now history. Please contact us about helping with Mini-Wars and the upcoming Arizona convention.
Desert Wars Program
2021 Mini-Wars Program
As we gear up for the upcoming events, please download the Mini-Wars 2021 28 page program to use as a reference. It contains some great examples of how to write a game description that can deliver a broadside.
2022 History Essay Contest
It is not to early to start on this year’s essay. The complete rules can be found at this link.
2022 HMGS-PSW Essay Contest Rules
2021 Mini Wars Photo Album
YouTube photo collage of the album. (Note this is the official HMGS-PSW YouTube channel so “like, share and subscribe!”)
Link to video presentation by Dr. Robert Ballard Nat Geo Explorer and Titanic Discoverer.
2022 Election Results
The results of the elections were announced at Mini-Wars 2022
The four new Directors are Reuban Moreno, Frank Patterson, Matt Denny and John Harrel. Congratulations to all.
Applications Closed
Nine Candidates are Eligible for Board of Directors, Four Positions will be Filled.
The ballots will be printed by the Secretary the last weekend in July, the 30th and 31st. The envelopes will be stuffed on the first weekend in August, the 6th and the 7th. If everything runs smoothly the ballots will go out in the mail on Monday, August 8th, 62 days before Mini-Wars. This is our tenth year of mailing out paper ballots. In the past, elections were very informal and consisted of a show of hands at our annual membership meeting a Mini-Wars. Your ballot will be a postcard with postage paid and pre-addressed to the President, Christian Sorensen. Your name will be printed on the return address corner. On the back you will find the names of these candidates. Circle a maximum of 4 names. The 4 candidates who get the most most votes will be named a Director for a two year term. Please mail you ballot in early. The deadline for ballot to be received will be Friday, September 23rd.
- Frank Patterson
- Richard Aldrete
- Mark DeRosa
- John S Harrel
- Matthew Denny
- Paul Barker
- Ruben Moreno
- Stephen F Phenow
- Jacob Shober
You needed to renew or join by July 27, 2022 to vote!
BOARD OF DIRECTORS PASSED EMERGENCY EXTENSION
The Board of Directors for HMGS-PSW has passed an Emergency Resolution to extend the deadline for both renewing membership or getting on the ballot for this year’s voting one week to July 27th, 2022.
So far we have received four applications from current members to fill the four seats up for renewal and we anticipate there will be at least two or three more by the deadline!
If you are considering taking a stand and helping oversee the business of HMGS-PSW fill out a ballot application now, by clicking on this link to the Google Forms doc on our Google Drive.
To join or renew your membership, click on our Membership Form here.
Regards,
Christian Sorensen President, HMGS-PSW
BALLOT FORM FOR CANDIDATE BOARD OF DIRECTORS MEMBERS
6/13/2022 Want to make a difference with HGMS-PSW? Volunteer to serve on the Board of Directors!
At this fall’s General Membership meeting we will be electing all but one of the sitting Board of Directors members, four in total. Download, fill out and submit the Board of Directors Ballot Application Form by July 20, 2022.
MAJ GEN JOHN HARREL (RET) INTERVIEW
2ND RUSSIA-UKRAINE WAR
I am involved in a number of unclassified think tanks and organizations and non-American government officials. I trained Ukrainian troops in the ’90s and commanded Ukrainian and Polish troops in 2005. I have friends on the front line as I write.
At best were are entering the 2nd Cold War and at worst we are in a slow burn to WWIII. To be informed, I would read first, “Troops to Task”, then “Six Ways”, then “Equipment Losses”. Due to mud, Russian incompetence and expected UK superior military competency (I knew they were this good, so why didn’t everyone else) and stupidity on Putin’s part…it will be a bloody war…one that could be drawn out in partisan warfare.
The other attachments will link you into good daily summaries of the battles and war crimes committed by the Russians…the use of OT-1s is a war crime. I have an additional assessment that just came in so I will end this email and start anew. Finally, don’t ask me how the UK did stop the Russians and are slowing them down. Lets just say their generals were trained by the US, attended the US Command and General Staff College and US Army War College and are very sharp.
The latest installment, Russian-Ukrainian War 2022, Instalment 1 was added below on 4/9/2022.
John Harrel
Troops to Task
Six Ways
Equipment Losses
Russian-Ukrainian War 2022, Installment 1
Russian-Ukrainian War 2022, Installment 4
MINI-WARS RULES AND SUPPLEMENTS
09/07/2021 Steve Thorne asked us to post his Homework and Reference Files for his Battle of Mobile Bay on our website for potential players to download and study. Here is the link: Mobile Bay Homework and Charts.
HMGS-PSW PUBLISHED IN THE SLINGSHOT
12/13/2020 Here’s a battle report from the most recent edition of the Society of Ancients’ Slingshot magazine. It is Telamon, 2019’s Society of Ancients battle of the year, featuring Harry Dudrow and his ancient miniatures. Andrew Gledhill.
Follow this link to read a copy of the article
Link to article
PAINTING COMPETITION WINNERS
11/2020 Judging a painting competition from photographs is severely limited. The best miniature is often the one with the best photographs. In 2021 at Mini-Wars our competition will be judged under the same lighting conditions at the convention. We want to congratulate the winners of our 2020 competition listed below. Click on the image to enlarge it. Harmon Ward.
First Place Captain Keennon (HMGS-PSW Member)
Glen Davis, CA
First Place Captain Keennon (HMGS-PSW Non-Member)
Nolan St. John, Las Vegas, NV
First Place Historical Individual
Andy Mouradian, Torrance, CA
First Place Historical Vehicle
Andy Mouradian, Torrance, CA
First Place Science Fiction
Jed Docherty, Venice, CA
First Place Historical Unit
Andy Mouradian, Torrance, CA
ANDREW GLEDHILL PUBLISHED IN WARGAMES ILLUSTRATED
10/2020 The October 2020 Wargames Illustrated featured a write-up and front page photo of his latest army.
Follow this link to read a copy of the article. Andrew Gledhill.
Link to article