"Historicon 2026" Topic

I went on Saturday for a few hours this year; here's what caught my eye:

link

Nice photo report, thanks for taking the time to take the pics and put the report together. Of course, no one day report can cover it all, but you sadly missed the new game room, with the HAWKS and the Carnage and Glory games. And there were some great ones there, as usual. As well as Rich Hasenauer's Fire and Fury games.

Nice picture gallery; as FYI, that one picture of the lonely mountain sans all the trees….King's Mountain/AWI. Was a very cool set up (I saw it on Friday).

Ill have to disagree with you on the inclusion of the fantasy/sci-fi games at the con. While I enjoy historicals, the fantasy/sci-fi game genre generally makes hobby entry easy, particularly because so many games are at the skirmish level; it helps bring people into the hobby. As I gazed upon the Et Sans Resultant game several times, all I could think about was "I have to paint HOW MANY troops to get a basic game???" Maybe while playing sci-fi, those folks can wonder at the historicals and start moving in that direction.

Additionally, fantasy/sci-fi drives a whole other crowd into the con: younger folks, women, people without a strong sense of historical leanings. Gencon/Adepticon gets 10s of thousands of people, and they are a much more diverse group than you see at HCon. That could be a good thing for the hobby as a whole. I look at this as a business person might: first, just get them in the door! Then secondly, just maybe, a well set up historical game with con friendly rules will get them interested.

Thanks for taking the time to post the images. At one time, there was the thinking that some of the sci-fi and fantasy gamers would migrate to historical gaming at some point, but that seems to be getting less and less with each passing year.

In our area we had a few gaming shows where Warlord Games asked our group to put on some Hail Caesar battles to go along with the Bolt Action and Flames of War tournaments. Even then, the Warhammer tournaments swamped the historical gaming tables. Now a company called Green Banner Events has taken over the Warhammer tournaments in the Western U.S. and even the Bolt Action and Flames of War crowd have been tossed out. Having talked to many of those gamers there is very, very little interest in historical gaming, just getting the next Workshop releases and prepping their armies for the next tournament.

Thanks very much for the photos and commentary, Flashman! I used to go to Historicon regularly in the late 1990s and early 2000s but have not been able to make it for the last 20 years or so.

It is great to see the games being played and some of the really nice tables that were there.

most people are recruited into the hobby by someone who takes the time to do so. Having non historical games at a convention does not.

Nice stuff mostly. I find it amazing that people will put unpainted MDF and minis on a convention table.

Thanks for posting.

I went Thursday through Saturday morning. Very good to see a healthy crowd and lot of young gamers regardless of what they are playing. I met up with my friend from high school who incidentally enough began the hobby in Warhammer and he brought his young son who took first place in the junior painting competition category with a rather nice Gloomsprite Git model from GW.

Also good to see some new sellers and different products in the vendor hall. I'm a fan of the Marriott and Lancaster County Convention Center as a venue (and I like the Host too).

More pictures and thoughts here: link

A thought provoking review with an interesting perspective. Some thoughts:

1. I have frequently thought that Saturdays are the most underwhelming days of Historicon. I'm pretty sure it's not a lack of events but rather fewer events that I'm interested in. And of course the attendance bump from the day/weekend trippers means events that do pique my interest fill up quickly. I have noticed that many of the GMs who are there for the full convention tend to focus their efforts on Thursday and Friday.

2. There were a ton of theme-related games earlier in the week. Yes, there were more fantasy and sci-fi games than I'd prefer to see, but if they're not denying a slot to a historical game it's a non-issue to me. At every convention I've attended in the past seven years I have encountered gamers (usually under 30) who came to play WH, LotR, etc., and ended up discovering historicals.

3. There's a good chance the unfinished MDF buildings were because the GM forgot to pack a few terrain elements. Every single convention I overhear somebody in the dealer area or Wally's frantically looking for a substitute for X because it was left at home and they need it for an event.

4. Empty tables only look awful if they remain empty. I notice that most are between occupants, as we are blessed with enough space to allow adequate set-up and take down time for GMs. I do not miss the days of hot bunking event tables.

Talked for a bit to the Marine reenacter as i have a replica of a Brown Bess like he had. ⁸
In Hawks saw a kids game of American Revolution, thought that was a fantastic idea.

I have noticed that many of the GMs who are there for the full convention tend to focus their efforts on Thursday and Friday.

I deliberately run my game on Thursday because there's less competition and the people there on Thursday are more serious about attending. I usually get all my prereg players to show up that day. That isn't always the case with Friday and Saturday in my experience.