"Survey: Conventions Other Than Historicon In The North/East" Topic

When Historicon moved to VA, I drew up a list of conventions, mainly to the north of Fredericksburg, to serve as potential alternatives.* The list included the following times and locations:

March: Cold Wars--PA

March/April: Havoc--MA

May: Huzzah--ME

June: NJCON/Fire In The East--NJ
The Weekend--PA

Sept.: Barrage--MD
Council of Five Nations--NY

Nov.: Fall In--PA

Since I ended up going to the last three Historicons in VA (and would have attended a forth but for a last minute cancellation), I never ended up using the conventions on the list as replacements for Historicon. I do, however, attend some of the other conventions named above.

My question is this: if you dropped Historicon from your gaming schedule, did you replace it with any of the conventions on my list?

Or, did you replace Historicon with some other convention(s)?

Even if you still attend Historicon in VA, do you attend any of the other conventions on the list?

Thanks in advance for your replies.

*Other alternatives, such as Pointcon in NY and Tricon in MA are, sadly, no longer around.

There is also Con on the Run in PA, KozCon in NJ and Guns of August in Williamsburg all in the summer/spring/fall time frame.

I go to Con On the Run, Cold Wars, Fall In and Barrage regularly. Although I haven't been to Barrage for the last two years. I went to NJCon this year and have been to KozCon in the past and will go again this year.

If you want to go a little further West there is Drums on the Maumee which is in Toledo, Ohio.

I believe that Old Glory is also going to put on a convention in Donegal, Pa in September. I'm not sure of any of the details though.

I replaced Historicon with The Weekend in June. Located at the Continental Inn across from the Host. Small convention that's allot of fun! Otto Schmitt can provide more details.

I really want to get over to NJ Con but scheduling always seems to be a problem for me.

I'd consider going to NJCon, I go to the Weekend, and the Williamsburg cons.

October has Southern Front in Raleigh NC

Sorry to hear about the demise of Pointcon. In the absence of a dedicated staff member, it's continuation was always tenuous given the transitory nature of the cadets.

When it moved south I replaced H'con in Virginia, with Fall-In; and have replaced my summer convention fix with increased attendance at HUZZAH and HAVOC.
I'm thinking now that this will be my last Fall-In; the dealers are just not showing. I will add NJ Con, this will give me a nice group of three Cons with in 4 hours of home, plus no "iffy weather" worries.

I attend Cold Wars, Fall IN and usually Barrage in addition to HCON. One of these days, I want to make NHCON.

When I was still living in Boston, my friend and I were regular attendees at Huzzah and NJCon. Both are well run, enjoyable conventions drawing (best guess here) in the range of 300-500 people. Having moved down to SC, it is a matter of some regret to me that these two events are now beyond practicable reach – I always had a great time at those shows.

We did Havoc (much smaller) once as well. Tricon (run by Northern Conspiracy) morphed into Carnage a number of years ago and moved from the North Shore of Boston to venues in upstate VT/NH; it now mostly seems to be a fantasy/sci-fi event.

B

I dropped Historicon when I retired to Indiana, but I never miss Cold Wars and Fall In. Dealers' Area is usually better attended than Fredericksburg, Flea Market about as good. Gaming about the same at Cold Wars and a little worse at Fall in! Facility is excellent. A little run down, but they're working on it. Still beautiful, and still all under one roof. Get your reservation in on time, and you can park the car on arrival and never drive again until after the Sunday flea market.

The Weekend is more intimate. My own experiences have been mixed, but it's certainly worth trying as a day trip.

Further west, I never willingly miss the Seven Years War Association Convention in South Bend. And one of these years I'll give up and do Little Wars in Chicago again. (I keep getting right to the wire. Then I contemplate the loop all the way around Chicago, and decide there has to be something else. It's not--quite--as bad as the DC Beltway, but it's nothing to be undertaken lightly.)

"Templecon" in Warwick, RI. This year it's 25-28 August.

templecon.org/16

We always hit Cold Wars and Fall-In. We did the 2nd year in Fredericksburg but have written Historicon off for good. This year a bunch of our club are going to Broadsword 2 in Hamilton, Ontario. We will likely start looking at otber smaller cons in the summer too.

When Historicon moved, I replaced it with Huzzah. The Maine Wargamers put on a great convention with some very well done games on display. There are also a fair number of vendors there to make sure that my lead mountain keeps growing. It is also an easy sell to the wife since she loves Portland and so we make a mini family get away of the weekend.

I still attend both Cold Wars and Fall In with some friends but only for one day each, mostly to shop.

Williamsburg is a do. Have never heard of Dunagal PA and most of the others. Never heard of Con on the Run…where's it at? So many cons, so little information….

None of them. There are plenty of small conventions closer to home.

Con On the Run is at Bushy Run Battlefield in Jeannette, PA. It is a one day con. Cost is $5. USD It is happening on August 20th this year. Usually it happens in June.

There aren't vendors or anything, it is just gaming. The cost of admission also covers the museum and tours of the battlefield if you are interested.

Pictors
Con on the Run is definitely do-able for us.

We need a list of cons….

for survey purposes- I attend all

Williamsburg Muster- Feb (South)
Cold Wars- Mar (Mid-Way)
NJCON- June (North)
Historicon- July (South)
Barrage- Sept (Mid-Way)
KozCon- Oct (North)
Fall-In- Nov (Mid-Way)

Looking for a April-May Con maybe in the Carolina's since I was invited at last years Historicon. May try on of the ones in Western PA.

I continue to regularly attend Huzzah (have been going since it started) as well as Cold Wars, and I've been to the Weekend and would like to sample some of the others if the schedule works out, but none of that really has anything to do with Historicon.

I think that the centrality of Historicon is easily overstated. I simply dropped it when it moved, as have (by now) all of my associates, regardless of whether or not there was a "replacement."

Thanks for all the replies.

I forgot about Carnage, Blutarski. I'm on the mailing list but I've never been there. Maybe someday.

Tumbleweed,

FYI, the West Point faculty and cadets still run games, even if Pointcon is off the official schedule.

Last year, the West Point Museum was the site for a 200th Anniversary Waterloo game, hosted by Carnage and Glory. It was a great time, even with a victory by the French.

If the Donegal con does happen,anyone who goes should definitely make time for a visit to Fort Ligonier,only about 12 miles away:

fortligonier.org

Hey,Russ,think they'd let you put on a FIW demo in the barracks?

I'm going to Gen-Con instead of Historicon this year.

North Eastern mind set. Historicon needs to travel to other regions of the country.

Maybe other regions need to hold their own version of Historicon?

NJ con great con. More regional cons in the future??

The website for this year's BARRAGE just went up this week:

hawks-barrage.org

47 Ronin:

Thanks for the update about Pointcon! I would have loved to play in that Waterloo game.

Some mentions already – but there are two conventions held in Williamsburg (somewhat south of Fredericksburg, but still in the east, and pretty easy to reach from anywhere on the east coast)

Williamsburg Muster (February)
Guns of August (August)

hamptonroadsgamers.org

I missed Huzzah this year due to my son's college graduation, but I've been several times and they have always been fun. I'm looking forward to getting back up there next year.

In the summer time slot immediately by Historicon, though, my family has been gathering at Gencon. Limited historicals, but my brother noted that there are above 500 miniatures games listed, so the miniatures alone is comparable to Historicon in scale.

Huzzah!
Fall-In
Cold Wars

Thus spake 47Ronin:
"Tumbleweed, FYI, the West Point faculty and cadets still run games, even if Pointcon is off the official schedule.

Last year, the West Point Museum was the site for a 200th Anniversary Waterloo game, hosted by Carnage and Glory. It was a great time, even with a victory by the French."

Speaking of the cadets, did they ever make another showing at Fall-In or Cold Wars? I spoke with them there a year or so ago, and they said they had a great time and enjoyed the cons. They also said it was a heck of a lot better than drill, shining their shoes, or organizing their inspection gear.

Capncarp,

FYI, the HMGS--West Point connection is alive and well.

The two USMA professors who moderate the Cadet Wargames Club are regular GMs at HMGS conventions. Both were at Historicon, where their WW2 hedgerow game won a PELA award.

As you know, Cadets have a busy schedule, both during the school year and during the summer. I can't speak to when they are free to attend a convention, but I know that they are always welcome.

Like you, I hope to see more of them at HMGS conventions in the future.

I gave up on Historicon years ago and attend and put on games at Gencon.
Fall-in and cold wars :have been attending both but dropping Coldwars from now on ( basically the same as Fall-in ,but with less games and vendors)

NJcon is fun and relatively local

I also fly over to England (and the rest of Europe )for some conventions

NJCon, The Weekend, and Cold Wars are on my local list when my schedule will allow, but in terms of my Historicon replacement, that would be flying out to GenCon.

Thanks to all those who have responded so far.

Interesting that some have substituted Gencon or Origins for Historicon.

I'm also impressed at the lengths people will go to attend conventions. At Historicon, I talked to people who drove from TX and FL. Others flew in from CA and AK. One family flew in from the UK and played in an ECW game together.