by Brandon Rospond, 6 August 2026
My name is Brandon Rospond and I’m the head editor for the sci-fi and fantasy novels of Winged Hussar Publishing, as well as the operations manager at On Military Matters. We go to a number of conventions every year, but the highlight of the summer is always attending Historicon. The HMGS staff are always pleasant, accommodating, and a true joy to deal with; and the attendees – many of which have become familiar faces to us – never disappoint!
The show was busy all week – there were only a few times when we didn’t have many people in the booth, and those times felt like the whole hall was quiet. We stayed in the convention center hotel, and when we were walking down to the vendor hall in the mornings, there was a line of people almost out the door of the convention center waiting to get into Wally’s Basement! The atmosphere was very positive and friendly – we had great interactions with everyone. You expect to go to a convention to have fun, and the mood at this show just felt upbeat and positive. Walking around the floors when the vendor hall closed was a very pleasant experience.
click images to enlarge
The vendor hall was a wealth of goodies and temptations to drain anyone’s wallet! Beyond our booth, Michigan Toy Soldier, Hobby Bunker, Your Hobby Place, Phalanx Consortium, Silver Eagle, Gryphon’s Lair, Badger (and several others!) were all there, flying the flag to meet the needs of gamers across the hobby. Miniature Building Authority, Paper Terrain, and Diabolical Terrain were there to provide any scenery and terrain for the tabletop.Cotton Jim and Flag Dude were both there to sell not only their flags, but a variety of products – and speaking of Cotton Jim, a very special shoutout to both him and Rockbottom Games for being there.
One of the growing issues in the hobby is wargamers aging out and struggling to bring the younger audience in. Both of these vendors bring Pokemon cards regularly to the shows – having two young kids, it’s one of the things they look forward to, and it’s helped me get them into the hobby and excited for the shows! Flagbearer Games was back with their 5e-based AWI game – another truly interesting concept and a way to get the D&D audience interested in wargaming. TR Historical represented the “fun” side of history – my family always makes sure to buy the eye-catching socks and shirts that they bring, and this year they had presidential plushes! Steve with Age of Glory had all of the Too Fat Lardies’ goodies, and Harmony House came with their treasure trove of dice. And believe it or not, that only scratches the surface of the many different amazing vendors that attend! I highly recommend going to the Historicon Tabletop.Events website and checking out each vendor’s website.
As a vendor, we don’t get a lot of time to wander the halls during the day, but being one of the biggest retailers of wargaming rules and scenarios, we always get the question of, “Hey, I just played a game of [x] upstairs, do you guys have the rules?” And usually the answer is yes!
For more Historicon coverage, check out Aaron’s report on SPI’s Alive! here
Because of the theme being American War of Independence, we sold a lot of rules and scenarios from Napoleonics through the Civil War. Partizan Press’s rules are always hot sellers – British Grenadier, General de Brigade, Mad Dogs and Englishmen, and Setting the East Ablaze were all among our best-sellers. We recently acquired the rights to print Greg Novak’s American War of Independence two-book series, which we sold out of at the show. WIP Games’s series of On Bloody Ground army books, Historic Imagination’s Civil War scenario books, Skirmish Campaigns and Skirmish Elite, Triumph, and De Bellis Fantasiae were all top-selling products. We also brought many hardcover books from Partizan Press, Ken Trotman Books, and several series by Helion and Company.
The folks at Little Wars TV were putting on The Battle of Wagram, in a beautiful display. David Estennes and his crew at The Wargaming Company had loads of people playing Et Sans Resultat. Our own Vince Rospond and Dennis Shorthouse were both playing in the L’Art de la Guerre tournament across several days. Many of the mainstays were present – a lot of Too Fat Lardies games, Blood and Plunder, Muskets and Tomahawks, Flames of War, Bolt Action, Warhammer, and many of homemade or unpublished rules were on display. And those were just the ones that I managed to see!
If you’ve never gone to a Historicon, what are you waiting for? If you’re a historical gamer or interested in history in any capacity, it is absolutely a must-do convention. We have a regular customer from Hawaii that comes out every year, as a testament to the quality of the games, the vendors, and the atmosphere. And if you did go to Historicon, and you can’t find the rules of a game you liked, reach out to us at On Military Matters. We more than likely have it in stock (or can order it) and ship worldwide! If this has interested you and you’ve never attended a show, Fall-In is in November – make sure you come see us!
photos from Brandon, Achilles, and others
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