"Richmond Open?" Topic

I reached out to Phalanx Games and Sundry wondering why they weren't on the list to be at The Williamsburg Muster, as per usual. I got my answer in trying to locate their contact information, as they had moved from Williamsburg to Tennessee, but I emailed them anyway.

They confirmed their move, but noted they would be at the "Richmond Open" in May.

Apparently, the Richmond Open is a miniatures based convention going into its' 4th year. It seems to be doing well as they are upgrading to a 63k sqft event space.

How is this the 1st I'm hearing about this? I did a TMP Message Board topic search which produced very little. 5 threads with 40 posts and 0.0 on AARs.

What gives? I'm sure some TMP'ers must have some skinny.

Here's my take on last year's Richmond Open:
(1) I ran my Gettysburg "Battle Cry" game (as seen on Little Wars TV) for two sessions on Saturday; had a full compliment of six players for both sessions.

(2) The convention itself was held in a venue previously unknown to me. Unlike 2023 when the con was held in downtown Richmond, in 2024 it was held at the Meadow Event Park which is a convention center one mile further east on the same road that King's Dominion is on. (nb I just checked the website and that's where the con will be in 2025 as well).

(3) I can only report on the Saturday attendance (of the three-day con). On Saturday when I was there there were about 650 folks all present. Subtract a few dozen vendors and convention administrators, and another two dozen historical gamers (my game, a Lion Rampant table, and some WW2 action) and there must have been 500+ gamers enthusiastically playing fantasy/sci-fi games. There was WH/WF40K in all of its forms, but also Lord of the Rings, Star Wars, something called Infinity, Malifaux, Drop Zone, BattleTech, Kings of War, etc etc. So the "hobby" is definitely not dead, just not playing historicals very much. But the convention organizers were _very_ eager to have historicals represented, and put my game in a primo location (pretty much in the center of the hall, right on the end of a long table next to the central aisle).

Bottom line: It was well worth my time in 2023 and 2024. I won't be in attendance this year, however, as I'll be doing the One Day Hike that day (Georgetown to Harper's Ferry).

The Richmond Open is mid-sized convention. It is more focused on various competition games but they do work hard to encourage historical gamers to attend. I will be running my 90mm Castle Siege game on Saturday. They have a Facebook site for Historical Gamers -- link

@Eumelus

Did you day trip or stag over. I gotta imagine Kings Dominion overruns the nearby hotel availabilities.

It would be pretty early in their season, so I would think there are hotels available. I am local to the show so I have no direct experience on the hotels.

Like the Major, I'm local so I can't speak to the hotels.

The town of Ashland, Virginia is ten miles south of the convention and has a half-dozen hotels and many restaurants.

Head south on Route 95, take the Route 54 exit west and that will put you right on the main strip.

The "Meadow Event Park" is a nice facility and has the advantage of being located all by itself out in the country, with plenty of parking and without the hassle of the big city.

We would have attended, but by the time we found out about it we had already made plans for that weekend.

I have watched the event list for the Richmond Open the last few years out of interest. It is very light on historical events. There are 12 as of today according to Tabletop Events though according to their Facebook page there is a Bolt Action tournament that isn't listed. That isn't enough for me to consider attending.