Another empty chair - Nick Zizo - Rest In Peace My Friend

 

It is with great sadness that I must post about the passing of my friend Nick Zizo! Nick passed away last Friday night while in the hospital battling multiple issues. He'd been in and out of the hospital and rehab for quite sometime. His body finally gave out, may you Rest in Peace my friend.

Nick had a long history in our hobby even before HMGS-South. He was very active in HMGS-East as an attendee, game master, vendor, convention staff, con volunteer, and even a con director. His entry into the hobby pre dates the Skirmishes Conventions that we had at multiple venues around south and central Florida. I had met Nick at a Historicon decades ago! We became fast friends over our common love for the colonial period and especially our favorite rules set, The Sword And The Flame. Like many of us in the hobby Nick loved many periods and loved to paint miniatures and undertake the needed research to build armies and field them.

Nick and I collaborated on multiple games together at the HMGS-South cons and ran games elsewhere as well. 

Here's some pics of Nick and his son Jimmy at a surprise Bday / Retirement celebration games day Jimmy set up for him for which I ran the games. That was an amazing day.

Cheers Nick! 

One of the games Nick and I ran together was based on the last battle scene in the movie, The Wind And The Lion. We ran this game at Colonial Barracks-1 for Larry Brom and his daughters. Here is a pic of Larry Brom at our game.

Nick and Jimmy at Colonial Barracks-1 in Mad Guru's epic Maiwand Day game in New Orleans. Ethan drove his massive game with all the custom terrain tiles and troops all the way from LA. Nick, Jimmy, and I had an awesome time playing this game. Skyler, Ethan's son was my teammate for this one. We were lucky enough to have multiple members of our local Florida group SMG, multiple HMGS-South members, and some of Larry's original game group the Jackson Gamers at this con. Unfortunately, many have passed away in the past few years.

Nick Zizo right, and Rick Welch standing, both gone, pictured here at one of my HMGS-South con games. Rest in peace my friends.

Farwell my friend.....

• Raisuli: I will see you again, Mrs Pedicaris, when we are both like golden clouds on the wind.