by Brant Guillory, 19 March 2026
Buckeye Game Fest is an annual convention that is officially, legally, definitively not run by CABS, but you’ll see a whole lot of the same faces at both. The convention takes place in Columbus, OH in the Spring (although usually not this early) and since COVID has been housed in the conference rooms at the ‘food court’ end of the Columbus Convention Center, using some of the rooms used for RPGs at Origins.
The Convention
click images to enlarge
Unlike previous years, we didn’t spend a lot of time taking photos of other parts of BGF. In focusing on The War Room, we bailed out on the main gaming hall, the vendors, the Catan tournament, and the Artemis Spaceship Bridge Simulator. So there’s a few photos above of the main hall on Thursday, a couple of stray games, and the raffle table, plus the library room.
The War Room
The focus was on The War Room, where plenty of different games were played. While we can’t give you every game in here – and you can figure a bunch out from the boxes in the photos – somewhere in here you will see (deeeeep breath): Churchill, Brothers of the Sword, Purgatorio, Littoral Commander: Baltic, Afghanistan: Decades of Strife, Moytura, A Most Fearful Sacrifice, Here I Stand, Wir Sind Das Folk, Bayonets & Tomahawks, 1812! War on the Great Lakes, Advanced Squad Leader, Battlefields of the Napoleonic Wars, War Stories RPG, Imperial Elegy, Infernal Machine, Up Front, Bretwalda, Kingsburg, Dawn of the Zeds, Werwolf, at least 1 BCS game, Gest of Robin Hood, Maria, and at least 2 in-progress prototypes that don’t have ‘real’ names. Now, more than just these were played; we’re just listing what’s in the photo galleries.
7-Player Alliance
The 7-player game of Columbia’s Alliance took up a lot of Saturday afternoon and we’ve got a few videos on our YouTube channel, too
David Thompson was inspired by Russ’s dogged play as the French holding off a large number of other forces, and Sun Tzu came to mind
“The general who is skilled in defense hides in the most secret recesses of the earth; he who is skilled in attack flashes forth from the topmost heights of heaven.” — Sun Tzu (The Art of War)
The Consignment Sale
Since auctions are now pretty stupid in Ohio, BGF runs a consignment store on Saturday morning. There aren’t a lot of wargames in here, but there’s a few gems.
If you look on the right side of the price sheet attached to ARCS, you’ll see how the pricing works. There are 3 “waves” of time in the consignment store. If you’re in there early and grab it during the first wave at 9am, then you’ll pay $160 for it. If you don’t snag it ’til the second wave at 10am then it’ll only cost you $140. If it’s still there for the 3rd wave at 11am then you can snag it for a mere $120.
So if you really want a game, grab it during the first wave, but you’ll pay for it. If you’re just bargain-hunting for cheap options to put on your shelf, or a game you want to try without breaking the bank, then go in at 11am and see what’s left.
Our Events
The Armchair Dragoons always put a couple of events in the official program every year, to make sure that new folks walking in off the street have something to play that doesn’t need to be pre-arranged with friends. We had 2 sessions each of One Hour World War II and Brief Border Wars II. For the former, we had a 5-player table and a 4-player table with the GM jumping in. For the latter, both sessions maxed out at 4 players. There was no real ‘theme’ to our program this year like QUAD FEST! in 2025.
The Minis Room
In 2025 there was an arranged marriage of The War Room and the minis room. This year, the minis guys were back in their own space, and while we didn’t get a lot of pictures over there, we did snag a few. The space is run by the HMGS Great Lakes chapter.
The Wind Storm
Friday saw some serious windstorms across central Ohio. The front doors from the new Hyatt that faces High Street had its glass front doors blown in. The Red Roof Inn across the street from the GCCC lost power until Saturday morning. And there was at least one fence that blew over that afternoon.
We’ll be back in 2027, and you should come join us!
photos from Brant Guillory, David Thompson, Russ Wetli, and Tim Densham
You can chat about this event in the Conventions & Clubs section of our discussion forums
Buckeye Game Fests Past
2022 ~ 2023 ~ 2024 ~ 2025 ~ 2026
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