by Brant Guillory, 14 January 2026
Denver Walker has risen to be the public face of Flying Pig Games, having taken a greater business role from her father, and her email signature even says she’s the “CEO and Owner”. You see her on their weekly company-update videos, and she’s always (wo)manning the convention booth with a smile and endless enthusiasm. And she joins us for a quick interview.
There are probably some people who are going to want to make a big deal out of you being a woman in the wargaming business. But honestly, something else that sticks out (and isn’t much talked about) is that you’re stepping in as a second-generation owner/operator of a publishing company in an industry where we don’t often see the kids take over their parents’ business. How have you (and your father!) navigated that process as you’ve taken on more of the business role while he is still involved in the company?
Yes I am basically the girl Luke Gygax! Just kidding. You are right, maybe the hobby gaming industry is too young to have many companies with multi-generational owners. The exception to this would be wargaming companies, there are obviously many of those that have been around for many decades. I do think my generation hasn’t stepped into the roles of their parents’ companies like previous generations in general. Maybe that has something to do with it?
While I am enjoying the benefits of good ol’ nepotism, my sisters and I did see my parents start Lock ‘n Load and Flying Pig from the ground up and we experienced those growing pains alongside my parents. I’ve been packing games, processing orders, shipping games to customers, and editing for my dad since I was like 12? It’s not easy work, it’s scary sometimes and can be financially unsteady so I could understand why many kids wouldn’t want to take over their parents’ companies.
This connection to our customers really motivates me to create the best quality games out there.
That being said, I have so much respect for the company, our customers and what my parents have built. Many of our customers have been with us since my dad’s first design. I recognize their names, and I have met many of them at conventions. This connection to our customers really motivates me to create the best quality games out there. I think this history (and the fact that I am the girl version of my dad – according to my mom, sisters and husband), makes running the business with my dad work. My original intent in taking over the business was to let my parents retire in whatever way they wanted to. For my dad, I figured I would do the day to day business work and give him plenty of time and energy to just design and be creative. Turns out my dad loves the business side just as much as the creative designing side so we end up just splitting the work! We talk on the phone daily and email to figure out who does what task.
For my mom, we have hired an accountant, and our employee Tracy handles most of her work. My mom still enjoys tapping in now and again to help and see what’s going on. I really want my mom to be able to do whatever makes her happy in retirement and not feel obligated to work for Flying Pig – unless she wants to.
The short answer to your question is that my dad and I make most all decisions together. Even if one of us makes a decision without the other we always call and explain why we made the decision we did. I am learning so much from my dad, and my mom, it amazes me that they figured out how to run these businesses from the ground up without help, all on a dial-up internet connection!
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From your first Origins back in ’07 through the conventions you attend today, what is something that’s jumped out at you as a big change on the scene? Similarly, what’s something that’s stayed pretty consistent over that time?
Great memory, Brant! I think that was even before McKenna was born and Kieran was little?1 I was 17 and a junior in high school. I remember I loved Origins so much because I loved being in a city. Also, my sister Jessica and I got our first lesson on LARPing. It was really cool to see my parents sell our games.
Another big change I have seen is that the hobby in general is much more inclusive and diverse.
Well, the first difference I have noticed is, there are many more attendees now. I think people are getting sick of the crowds at bigger cons and are going to Origins to get their “con fix” without drowning in oceans of people. I also think the vendor hall has gotten smaller, as in less vendors. I remember seeing more of the heavy hitter publishers back in the day, like Days of Wonder, I want to say Wizards of the Coast was there too? I think many big publishers wait to go to GenCon and release their new titles there. This definitely does a disservice to Origins since it’s a month and a half before GenCon.
Another big change I have seen is that the hobby in general is much more inclusive and diverse. When I first went to Origins, I remember thinking most of the attendees were men. Now I see lots of families, men, women, children etc. I think it’s cool to see our hobby grow and see families experience conventions together. It means bigger markets for publishing companies!
Armchair Dragoons and Barley’s have stayed consistent! Seriously though, good for you! You have always held down the wargame contingent, and now you’re growing even more. You’ve done awesome work.
A map-&-minis game is definitely outside the range fan of the map-&-counters games that we normally see from Flying Pig or Tiny Battles, and while the company has included supernatural/fantastical elements in some games, high fantasy isn’t a place you’d really gone before. What made you want to take the plunge on Relic Wars, both as a designer (your first big splash!) and as a publisher?
Great question…while Relic Wars is definitely a different game for us, it retains the values we uphold as a company and also the brand we want to put out there. These values are; high-player interaction, combat, originality, great art, super fun to play, and tactical/strategic games. I understand the words “tactical” and “strategic” hold different meanings for wargamers vs. general hobby gamers so I am using it more in the general senses. For example, I can never see Flying Pig releasing a worker placement/resource management game, like a euro-style game. Those games are great, but they don’t uphold our company brand values like including player-interaction and combat. That being said, while Relic Wars is not historical or hex and counter, it does have wargamer elements like line of sight, stacking, combat rules, etc. The original version I designed had a CRT, but we decided that might be too crunchy for the audience we expected to play Relic Wars.
I also did not assume that our regular crowd would like Relic Wars. I hoped that they would, but it’s quite the leap from Gettysburg to spell wielding monsters with tentacles – I totally get that. At the same time, I know many wargamers who love Ameritrash, TTRPGs (I mean DnD 1ed was based on hex and counter wargaming!) and other styles of gaming. I hoped to tap into this audience that fit the middle of that venn diagram. Heck, the designer of our Gettysburg game also designs zombie games!
If I am being totally honest, I wanted to “take the plunge” on Relic Wars because I have always loved designing and I wanted to see one of my designs come to life. Additionally, I felt that having a successful design out in the world would lend me some credibility and legitimacy. I hope those aren’t shallow reasons, but I am in the shadow of my father.
Speaking of Relic Wars, the crowdfunding campaign didn’t fund, but you guys have expressed an interest in retooling and relaunching. What changes are you making (if any) in the game to try to get it over the line this time? Other than the calendar, what changes are you making with the campaign to try and crossing the funding goal with the upcoming relaunch?
Yes, that was a bummer. I put a lot of work into the campaign and the game (years honestly) and it was not successful on Kickstarter. While that sucked, I did learn a lot. I also sent out a survey afterwards and received close to 600 responses! This survey was really helpful in gauging what our customers thought about Relic Wars. Like I said earlier, I was hoping to also reach a new audience in addition to our customers who are interested in games other than just hex and counter wargames but hearing what our current customers think was helpful.
From the survey I learned that many people wanted the game to be solitaire capable, they wanted more bang for their buck, and many people were not backing games at that time because of the tariff uncertainty. Since learning this, I have designed a really cool solitaire version that will come with the base game, and added in a smaller expansion I designed to the base game that will include two more characters. This will add two more minis to the base game, and also make the game 1-5 players instead of 2-4. There is going to be a lot of game in the box!
The original funding goal was a little higher than I would set now because of the tariff uncertainty at the time. We always set our Kickstarter funding goals safely within what we need to print and ship. Even with this in mind, we set the goal higher than usual. I don’t think this was the reason it did not fund, but I think customers’ hesitation to back games during May of 2025 coupled with a higher funding goal did contribute to Relic Wars being unsuccessfully funded. When we relaunch I think these two factors will not be an issue.
Lastly, I don’t think we reached our target audience. I am still learning how to use Meta Tags, SEO, influencers etc. and I know I missed the mark a bit. Hopefully next go ‘round our marketing dollars won’t go to waste and I can reach the audience that would love to play Relic Wars.
If I’m an aspiring designer with a wargame that’s looking for a publisher, what are the most important considerations that you care about for a potential Flying Pig production? What’s most important to you and how do you want to see it presented by the designer? What are you less concerned about because as a publisher you will step in to take over?
It needs to be a finished game. Seriously, if someone brought us an amazing game that had been totally playtested, rules written and edited, totally done and ready to go we would fast track that over another great game that needed a lot of playtesting etc. We live in a golden age of gaming where there are so many great games and so many people sending us awesome ideas for games, we have a backlog of games to publish. This is a great problem, but if you’re an aspiring designer that wants to break through the noise (this isn’t a guarantee) you should submit your game totally finished with lots of playtesting (blind and otherwise) with organized components, rules, charts, PACs, brief description of the game etc. Bonus points if you have a TTS/VASSAL mod you can play with us.
Other than this, we are looking for a game that we like to play. My dad and I run on a bit of vibes in this way…we want to play your game and if we have a good time, we will consider it. Although, we do take into account our current titles as well. For example, we have an awesome flagship WW2 tactical series (Old School Tactical by Shayne Logan) so we are not looking for a game that would fit in this category, even if we loved it. Now, operational WW2 – that’s a definite maybe!
As publishers, we will handle the art, graphic design, marketing, printing, crowdfunding, shipping, financial details etc. We don’t expect the designer to have art ready for us BUT that does happen sometimes. For example, Shayne Logan does his own art for Old School Tactical, and an upcoming title we have, Above the Trenches: Fokker Scourge, already had some awesome art and graphic design so we have decided to use that with some updating. We don’t expect art to be provided, honestly, we love picking the artists because it’s part of creating our brand.
Big thanks to Denver for taking the time to entertain our questions, especially since she’s only on week 4 of being a new mom!
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Thanks Brant! Great questions 🙂
Great interview and great games. Thanks.