by Aaron Danis, 31 July 2026
My friend Lance and I attended the Russ Gifford’s “SPI Alive in 2026!” (aka SPI Fest) convention held for 5 days from 15-19 July 2026 on the margins of the HMGS Historicon 2026 Miniatures Convention in downtown Lancaster, Pennsylvania. This was the second year of holding this event, and we have made it a celebration of 50 years of SPI games.
If you don’t know Russ, he is the mastermind behind the www.spigames.net website, which is the repository of all things SPI. Russ said this about SPI’s 1976 output. “SPI kicked in the afterburner in 1976 and released Panzergruppe Guderian and Terrible Swift Sword in July of that year. Both were radically different games from what had come before them – and fifty years later they continue to dominate every ‘best SPI Game’ survey. I could not pass up recognizing them on their 50th birthday – by playing them! What a great way to celebrate the creative genius that was SPI!”
Coming back after learning the ropes last year made us even more excited for what year two would hold. After last year’s convention I volunteered to give Russ a hand since I only live 3 hours away in Delaware, and it was more than worth the effort.
Day 1 (Wednesday Arrival)
Conference badge, packed event guidebook, and a (Yankee Doodle) dandy miniatures registration gift celebrating America’s 250th anniversary.
click images to enlarge
My friend Lance and I arrived at the Lancaster County Marriott Convention Center on Wednesday morning for check-in and set-up. Again this year the reserved rooms at the convention center sold out in minutes on the day they were available for attendees. We ended up at a Marriott 6 miles away and had no issues getting to the Convention center. On-site parking filled up on Friday and Saturday, but nearby city parking garages handled the overflow, and conference attendees received free validation! We immediately ran into gaming compadres Martin Spetz and Rick Cundiff in the Conestoga Suite where we would spend the next few days gaming. We set up new additions this year: posters in the lobby and near the vendor area to direct traffic to our suite for those wanting to play board games. One goal this year was to advertise the convention better both before and during the event, and by most metrics we succeeded. We had 80+ people pre-registered but with walk-ins we were likely over 100 attendees who sat and played at least one game.
(L) In mid-May, Russ was a guest on Gary “Ardwulf” Mengle’s “Chit Show” where he got to talk about all things SPI, to include the convention. (R) The Historical Miniatures Gaming Society (HMGS) hosts were gracious and hung our shiny new poster in the lobby behind registration desk, which we think led to more foot traffic this year. We hope to be using this for the next 5 years as we celebrate the 50th anniversary of SPI year by year!
As I said, this year’s general theme was celebrating the games of 1976, and there were a lot! We hung this poster with SPI’s impressive production for that year on the entrance door for all to see. We didn’t limit game play to 1976 games, however, as you will see.
One of the first former SPI luminaries to drop by was researcher and designer Dr. Al Nofi. He visited last year and was on the agenda to speak at the convention “War College” about the topic of his free U.S. Naval War College monograph (at over 400 pages, it’s really a book) but was mis-scheduled so he returned this year. A bit of advice if you attend in the future: do not sleep on signing up for War College talks. There are many quality guest speakers talking on almost any topic imaginable. The same goes for the Wargamers Design Workshop, which focuses on miniatures.
(L) Dr. Nofi poses with the author and his friend Lance English. (R) Dr. Nofi speaks in front of a packed crowd at the “War College” on “The United States Navy Fleet Problems, 1923-1940.”
When we walked in we noted that Russ already had Highway to the Reich laid out for set up in all its monster game glory. We would not have a repeat of War in Europe this year, but we would add not one but two runnings of Terrible Swift Sword.
(L) Highway to the Reich is a monster that can eat some tablespace! (R) Russ (standing) kibitzes over a folio game of Arnhem while awaiting the start of HttR. This is an interesting contrast of SPI’s biggest and smallest games on Operation Market-Garden.
My other Day 1 task was to set up a SPI historic artifact from 1977: the original playtest map, charts, and counters of Danny Parker’s Battles for the Ardennes quad game (it has 4 folios and includes both the 1940 and 1944 campaigns). Danny sent it to me to display alongside a playtest we were doing for some new, updated counters and rules for the original game (think of it as 50 year old errata). The map was hand drawn and colored by developer John Butterfield, and the reinforcement charts were written on original SPI letterhead chart paper. Talk about history! It was put under Plexiglass to guard against accidents.
As an aficionado of Danny Parker’s Battles for the Ardennes quad, having the original playtest set to display was a real joy!
Open gaming started on Wednesday night, and the room was hopping with players by 3pm (2 hours before regular start time). We knew this wasn’t going to be an ordinary event, and we lost track of time often. Lance and I ate dinner at a Waffle House near our hotel at 10:30 pm!
For more Historicon coverage, check out Brandon’s roundup from the convention here
Days 2-4 (Thursday-Saturday)
Collectively we played more—and a larger variety of—SPI games than last year. By Friday our room was packed, with all available table space taken, and this carried into Saturday. We also had a lot of first-time board wargamers show up and try some games. Just take a look below!
(L) The super-classic Winter War; (C) Battle for Germany; (R) Monmouth-Squared! Not one but two copies of the SPI’s last published S&T game to celebrate America’s 250th Anniversary!
Thematically, games were largely in the U.S. Civil War, Panzergruppe Guderian series, Napoleonic (including Napoleon’s Last Battles), and Sci-Fi Fantasy categories, the last topic thanks largely to the efforts of Dave Peterson, who gamemastered most of them and really brought in the younger crowd.
remember to click images to enlarge
U.S. Civil War
PGG-Series
Napoleonic
Sci-Fi/Fantasy
I swear Dave Peterson was everywhere doing everything. Thanks for your efforts Dave!
Firefight (with minis!)
Rick Cundiff brought Firefight and a two-map homemade scenario and I brought some 1/450th scale minis 3D printed and painted in original game colors by Curt Pangracs. Add a few Litko flaming wreckage stands (and my OPFOR black beret) and it’s a whole new game!
Sniper team play
Energetic John Stafford (in the blue shirt at right) ran two team plays of Sniper on Friday and Saturday and had rousing sessions. Thanks, John, for your enthusiasm and support!
WWII Quads
Cauldron, Crusader, and a rare copy of Arnhem deluxe in the bookcase box with a mounted map and retitled as “A Bridge Too Far” after the book and movie. I also saw Remagen pop up.
Battles for the Ardennes Playtest Counters
In addition to Danny Parker’s original playtest version of BftA on display, I have been working with him and graphic artist Steve Bradford on creating and playtesting new counters for the game. Why? Because it’s been 50 years since the original was published in 1978, and Danny has done lots of research since then, written books and articles on the topic, and recently published another, more detailed Bulge game called The Last Gamble that has new assessments of unit strengths. He wants to bring the fruits of that research to BftA without bogging it down in detail and keeping it playable, which is why it is so popular (at least with me). In addition to some new units, new unit strengths, and discarding some old units, he has added simple morale rules, among others. Think of this as designer errata 50 years in the making. I did some limited playtesting at the event with the help of the knowledgeable John Hertz and Robert Lindsay to see how the new rules worked, and what changes might be needed. It will be a while until these are ready for prime time, and there is no publisher as of yet, so please don’t email me asking when they will be published and where!
Above, the new starting set up using Steve Bradford’s easy to read counters. The small yellow box on each counter in the upper left-hand corner is the morale rating from 1 (best) to 7 (worst). Below left, the new starting setup for the Celles Race to the Meuse scenario. Below right, Danny Parker gave a virtual talk on Saturday night about his Bulge research and the new counters and rules. It was fantastic!
The rest of Historicon
It’s impossible to capture this whole event which had over 2,000 attendees, and unlike last year I didn’t have time to tour all the miniatures spaces. For that I recommend searching “Historicon 2026” for the many great YouTube videos out there. Also, there is an official Historicon Discussion Group page on Facebook. One thing I will point out is that if you want to score a replacement or extra copy of an old SPI game or magazine, the vendor area and the flea market known as Wally’s Basement are the places to go to get good deals and not have to pay shipping. I picked up a nicely-preserved copy of Strategy I for a great price! Bring cash and be ready to wheel and deal. Many of the original SPI games sold out.
(L) The morning line for Wally’s Basement flea market (new sellers join each day); (R) the market when it’s less busy.
The Last Day
Sunday morning brought a third game of TSS from John Stafford (the first was the first day of the battle, the second was a Little Round Top scenario) and this one tackled Pickett’s Charge. The colorful and underrated Empires of the Midde Ages also appeared! I had a quick game of Würzburg with John Hertz before packing up…the opening 6 turn scenario. See below:
This event proved that SPI is still alive and kicking with many gamers. Next year (21-25 July 2027) we celebrate the 50th anniversary of 1977. Be ready if you are planning to attend, as SPI published 29 games that year along with some minis for Wagram. If anyone has that set, please bring them for show and tell!
FYI, the Kharkov, second Arnhem and Sniper, Crusader, Würzburg, Nördlingen, Empire of the Middle Ages, and Lord of the Rings photos are courtesy of uber-photographer Martin Spetz (thanks Marty!). If you want to see way more pictures than I took, go to the SPI games Facebook group and see his prolific work, along with posts from other participants, to include the man himself, Russ Gifford. Follow that page for news of next year’s event.
You can chat about this event in the Conventions & Clubs section of our discussion forums
Thank you for visiting the Regiment of Strategy Gaming and riding with The Armchair Dragoons.
Rather than list a bunch of social media links, the easiest thing to do is to check out our LinkTree, which connects you to all of our various locales around the web.
You can also support The Armchair Dragoons through our Patreon, and find us at a variety of conventions and other events.
Feel free to talk back to us either in our discussion forum, or in the comments below.
