Greetings Hawks, Guests and Veterans

February 1st, 2012

A Conclusion to the Hawks Club

This has not been an easy decision by any means; the history of our club is a long and proud one, with true innovation and unique game play that has stood the test of time. But I am now closing the doors of the Hawks Club to make this month and year, February 2012, the official Time of Dissolution. A good solid decade we will have existed, longer than most internet gaming clubs, and certainly the longest specializing in the “American Conquest” series.

My decision is motivated by one reality alone; that I must focus all my extra time and creative energy on my other projects if I have any hope of bringing them to fruition. This is not possible for me as long as the club, founded all the way back in 2002, still exists. Even if I was to hand the reigns to the Hawks Club to someone else (as I have in the past), and leave the web site for others to run, the attraction would still be there, and a potential return to Leadership floating in the realm of possibilities.

The Dissolution must be for me complete and final. My interpretation, rules and traditions in regards to GeXozoid’s HEW mod has run its course. It is time for someone else to build their own club, borrowing what they will from the Hawks’ legacy and create a new narrative that best fits their historical interpretation of these incredible American Conquest mods.

Any money donated towards this year’s preservation of the Hawks Web Site via PayPal will be refunded. Thank you everyone who has donated in the past.

The Next Era?

One of our club members or guests may decide that there is still a lot of play left in HEW, HDN and EW2, and wish to start his own club with accompanying web site. This would be a happy turn of affairs, and I will donate anything from the soon-to-be defunct web site towards their endeavor. Somewhere a forum will spring up to post new HEW maps and maybe even a web site for a new club. Ask me what you need, my resources are yours; web pages, old maps, rule books plus e-mails of members, guests and fans. Preserve what you will now, for the web site goes offline in 2 weeks.

My YouTube Channel

The fact remains that my YouTube channel (HWKTheDrake) with its accompanying videos has been the greatest advertisement for HEW out there. Garnier, Foxhound, Stu and a couple others have also created videos to draw attention to these mods. If a new forum or club web site crops up that plays HEW, I will link it on my YouTube channel and they will benefit from future viewer traffic from my till popular HEW videos.

Goodbye and Goodluck

Since the very beginning, with “Cossacks; Art of War” (AOW), it has been great fun innovating ways to play, creating a unique gaming culture and building the tradition that was, for a solid decade, the best club out there for our games.

My remembrances and reflections on the 10 years of the Hawks Club would be too lengthy and nostalgic for this, our last Hawks Newsletter. But let me thank the first map makers Kosciusko and bud; our first playing members Greenwarrior, Schooner Git and bhive; the legendary Darklord who dominated AOW battlefields; Baddog who modded AOW to make it our game of choice for our first 2 years; later pivotal club members SirWilliam and Theosis who for a time took over Leadership of the club; Rehctaw for invaluable assistance in running the web site; Garnier for creating the incredible HDN mod and functional aspects of our web site and forum; Stu and Foxhound for bring us our premiere maps and campaigns; AlaskanAvenger, Atsa and Stonewall for all of their creative and organizational contributions during the twighlight of our club. And most especially I would like to thanks GeXozoid for his patience, hard work and willingness to listen to us, his fans, when creating aspects of his incredible mods.

It is up to someone else now to create the new realm in which HEW, EW2 and even HDN will be enjoyed. This new legacy need not be created from the ground up because, as you see in the previous paragraph, the contributions of a full decade from numerous devotees have had their impact.

I wish you all the best in your personal lives, the energy to accomplish great things and gratitude for being a part of this most enjoyable decade that was the Hawks Club.

On to the next era,
The Drake