by Brant Guillory, 15 April 2026
Each week in our #TuesdayNewsday roundup, you’ll see a link in the pre-orders/crowdfunding section for the weekly newsletter from On Military Matters, the bookstore that stocks a huge variety of historical tomes, but also1 a wide range of rules and scenario books for minis wargaming, as well as figures, terrain, and more. This newsletter is primarily announcing new products available for pre-order, and there’s plenty of goodness in there each week. Our main point of contact for these weekly releases is Brandon Rospond, who works with by Winged Hussar Publishing and On Military Matters and post-Adepticon, we reached out to pester him about their convention planning and execution.
What goes into planning your convention calendar / which conventions to attend? Are they all game conventions or are there more general history / pop culture cons you consider, too?
We fall into a niche category… a niche of a niche! On the Winged Hussar Publishing side of things, we publish history, sci-fi, and fantasy – with a focus on licensed tie-in fiction to existing games (such as Mantic’s Kings of War or Corvus Belli’s Infinity). On the On Military Matters side of things, we’re a gaming and historical bookstore – but we’re most known for carrying the widest and most diverse collection of wargaming rules (at least on the East Coast of the US!). When we’re planning what conventions to go to, a big part of that comes down to how we’re going to travel with the product. We drive with it all to any of the shows we go to, and with that, we have to consider standing racks and table racks, as well as the spinners that we use. The mainstays of every year are the HMGS conventions, Historicon and Fall-In; the crowds that attend make up our primary audience (historical-focused), and it’s also close in proximity where we can bring all of the setup easily. Some other mainstays we attend every year are MFCA, Barrage, and Adepticon. The latter, while almost a completely different show than the HMGS ones we attend, is one of the best shows for both of our companies. With WHP, the companies that we publish novels in their IPs are there; and for OMM, we’re one of the only vendors selling historical rules.
There are other cons that we’ve looked at and constantly consider trying to attend – PAX, DragonCon, Little Wars, Gencon, NY ComicCon, among others. There are cons that we’ve gone to in the past that we’ve taken out of our rotation – but ultimately, it comes down to cost, time, and interest. The toughest thing is making sure we have new product, or that we’re bringing product in conjunction with what games are being played. Going out to Adepticon is nice for us, even if it’s a long drive, because we’re reaching an audience that may have never heard of us before.
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How do you choose what to bring with you? How much does that vary based on the convention and the expected audience there? Is it mostly game-focused, or do you bring a bookshelf or two along also?
This is honestly one of the most difficult things. It is always a wild card – it doesn’t matter what you prep to bring as a retailer, there will always be interest for something you did not bring! A few years ago, To the Strongest was a really hot ruleset – we had been selling copies at the shop, but not a lot. It was the most asked for ruleset at that Historicon and we didn’t have any. Every con after? We bring it, and I’m surprised if we sell one! Usually at the HMGS cons, there are several retailers who carry the rulesets by Too Fat Lardies, so I hesitantly brought some copies of their rules and Victrix’s Pillage rules to this past Adepticon, just to have them – we were apparently the only ones that had copies and sold out!
The more space we have for racks and spinners, the more product I can bring, when it comes to OMM. When we have to narrow that selection down, it really becomes tough to try and pick what will be the “best hits.” I have a pretty good grasp nowadays on what will sell and what will just take up room, but it’s taken almost three years to get to that point. Looking at what sold the last show can sometimes help, just to make sure I’m not forgetting anything, but one of the big things I try to do is not bring product that will compete with other vendors. I try to make sure we’re primarily bringing books I know no one else will have – like books from our good friends at Partizan Press or Trotman Books. I try to bring mostly the wargaming rules and scenarios, as well as painting guides, but I do also try to bring some harder to find hardcover historical books that go with the audience or theme.
How do you define (measure?) a successful convention? How has your assessment of that changed over time?
As long as Vince and Dennis (who own WHP and OMM) are happy with the turnout, so am I!
Realistically, success is measured in several ways. Did we make the booth, the hotel, and food? Then anything after that is gravy. We don’t need to do several hundred thousand dollars in sales (I mean, who wouldn’t want to?) as long as we’re showing the flag, making people aware of who we are or that we’re still around, and we can connect with people on a one-on-one basis. I’ve worked in retail nearly my whole life, so I understand what good customer support is and what it means to people, so I want to make sure that anyone that comes to our booth knows they can expect a positive transaction and conversation, and that if they order books from us, they know they’ll be taken care of. Success isn’t always how we do at the show – but what comes after is also just as important.
What were some your best/worst convention experiences as a vendor?
Best for OMM: A few Historicons ago, we had people in the booth the entire time – no one left the booth without buying something, and everyone was very positive and friendly. That’s always a fantastic thing to see.
Best for WHP: This past Adepticon, we had a lot of people come up to me (as I’m the head editor for our SF&F) and thank me for the novels that we produce. I spoke to a lot of people about how much they enjoyed what we wrote and couldn’t wait for more. On top of that, people were buying the novels in threes and fours – anyone who bought a novel didn’t just buy a single one!
Worst for OMM: The “worst” thing that has happened since we’ve come on is after a few busy days, the whole vendor hall sometimes just gets real quiet and slow. That’s not an individual problem, people are either gaming, eating, or they’ve already been by.
Worst for WHP: There are two that were bad for different reasons. Adepticon is usually our best show – the one right after COVID was the absolute worst show, arguably, that we ever had. Now, people were just getting back into cons, and things were a bit all over the place, but we took the next year off of Adepticon after that. It was honestly just a fluke year, because every year since (and prior to) has been amazing. There was another show, a Cold Wars I think, where we were situated next to a 3D printing service that would scan your face and make you into a model. Really nice guys, but their line wrapped around their booth and in front of ours, and we got obscured. That was a rough show.
What are some of the lessons you’ve learned over time about being a vendor at a convention?
You’ll never have what everyone is looking for, but make sure that everyone feels welcomed. I don’t like to hover (I personally hate it as a shopper), so I always just like to let customers know that I’m there if they need anything or have any questions. The wargaming industry is very small and niche, and everyone knows everyone. I’ve learned you just can’t stress over sales in advance – prep for the show as best as you can, be as prepared as you can be, but go to have fun. My biggest issue that I still need to learn is how to get away from the booth and just walk around the hall a bit!
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