Historicon 2026 AAR

It's just after midnight as I try to put into words this past weekend at Historicon.  I'm slowly rehydrating, I've snuck in a nap, and I'm still trying to weigh the awesome moments with a lot of ho-hum, but ho-hum at Historicon is so much better than most cons...

Wednesday: The underlying theme of the con wasn't inside the convention center, it was outside, in the form of the smoke and haze drifting down from the Canadian wildfires.   When I left work on Wednesday, I had watched the orange skies roll into Northeastern Pennsylvania around 4pm.  The level of eeriness never reached Lancaster, but it was disconcerting the entire weekend.

As has been tradition, my daughter Maja came down from Albany to spend the weekend with me.  In a major change, I can safely say... we took her car.     Her first Historicon was the "emergency" Valley Forge.  She's now 17. Suffice to say, it didn't make anyone feel younger.

It's a little sad..  If I only had the opportunity to visit Wednesday night, hang out with friend and have a few drinks, I would consider this con a success. 

Thursday: I'm soooo not used to NOT running a game on Thursday.  It was a chance to sleep in, grab a coffee and a spinach breakfast sandwich at La Dolce Vita Courthouse Bakery - and sitting around talking with folks.  

La Dolce Vita Courthouse Bakery

 

Battle of Trenton

Maja and I have our systems, and we decided to try one of our usual spots at the Southern Market,  Unfortunately, we not only discovered the pizza place had relocated, but that the soul food place closed up as well.  We immediately ventured back to our other default metal, Plough, the hotel restaurant.   Fingers crossed, we've never had a bad Plough Burger, and that streak continued. 

Test of Grit

Test of Grit

Even More Test of Grit

Fistful of Lead - "First They Came for Our Cows"

All Quiet on the Martian Front

Token 40k, outside of the tournament. 

Heavy Gear.

After dinner, we helped set up the first Gnome Wars game "Treasure Island" run by Jim Stanton, and stayed around long enough to cause the proper chaos.

A glowing volcano, thanks to "Award Winning GM" Mike Lung. 

We were able to leave most of the board up for the Friday morning game, and headed down to close the bar.

Star Wars

Friday:  An early morning an a run over the Central Market from our Mennonite breakfast sandwiches, heading back to the Commonwealth Foyer for Maja's crack at running Treasure Island.  

A few minor revisions and a good time was had by all.  

Star Wars 15mm(?)

The high point of Friday was supposed to be our Gnome Mega-Game.  Three tables, three separate games, and the ability to move across the boards.   That was beat out by the appearance of Maja's BOYFRIEND to the con (insert all the stereotypical reactions here.)  He and a friend made it down, per Maja's behest, played in her game, picked up some 40k from Wally's and participated in the Joust. All was good.  

We couldn't spend too much time scrutinizing:  There was a mega-game that needed to be run.  

The objective was pretty straightforward:  Find the treasure on Treasure island, meet up with their ship on the second board and used them to safely get past the British fort and into town.   Let's just say the cannibal gnomes were fast on their tales. 

Hawaiians on Diabolical Terrain Outriggers

The docks at New Providence were busy in the waning minutes of the game. 

Starship Troopers

Our group normally hosts the Gnome Joust on Friday night, with Maja as the GM.  Usually 90 minutes of unadulterated chaos, stowed far enough away from other games to not annoy other games.   That would have been incredibly effective, as we had kept our New Providence board up for the following morning. 

Except that there was a game of "What a Tanker" scheduled mere inches from the chaos.  

The good news was, we left the con on good terms with the poor fellow trying to compete against our tomfoolery.  

By college roommate made an appearance at the con for the joust, and his record was pretty epic, but for a select few, the father-daughter joust drew a pretty decent crowd.  

Dad remains victorious

Saturday

After finishing her GMing obligation, I gave Maja freedom for all of Saturday.  

No surprise, she slept in.

I ran over to he Central Market for breakfast, but the girl on Kom Esse were slammed, so one Spicy Jamaican Empanada  and a latte later, and I was ready  from by 11am Saturday game. 

Most of our games were centered around a) the Mega-Game concept and b) promoting the Hawaiian Gnomes that were released last Historicon.  

My game was the first real test of all the unit's abilities, and I'm happy to report that everything that's currently online will need a little tweaking on the Island Spirit, and the Pineapple Catapult.   Now I just need to stat out the massive Tiki God figure that arrived at the convention this weekend....

Silver Bayonet, with Undead Moose!

With Maja painting, swimming, and galavanting, sans boyfriend, I made the poor decision to walk outside to the Southern Market, to try the Pork Belly Sliders at Philthy Good

The sliders were the best thing I've eaten all month, and the unlocked doors at the HAWKS new room gave me a short foray in the smokey and sticky air outside. 

Lego Pirates! 

The HAWKS Armies for Kids game.  Every kid who played got two 54mm armies, rules, and terrain.

By 5pm, we were running the final Gnome Wars game, and by 10pm, we had packed everything up and hoofed it to the car....

Sunday - Loaded up the car well before Maja even attempted to wake up, did an early lap at Wally's and we left early enough to reach my mother's by noon, and back in Wilkes-Barre by 3:30 to unload the car, and she could get back to Albany before dark.  Success!

Overall:    Talking with people, it seemed like there were moments of transcendent greatness,  with a lot of ho-hum stuff.  Don't get me wrong, ho-hum is better than 98% of the world today. 

Lancaster Convention Center:  Outside of lighting issues with certain areas, the site was fantastic, and the elevators and escalators appeared to be fixed in a timely manner. 

Hotel:  After the snafus regarding the hotel, it is beyond convenient.  It's easy to navigate, housekeeping was great, 

Parking: The broken elevator for the on-site parking garage would have been a nuisance for me, had I not come Wednesday night and got a primo spot.  

Tournaments:  

On-site Food:   Really, it's not much more than a #4 at your favorite fast food place, and no horror stories of the Borg meatloaf cube that went out the same shape it went in..  $5 donut (nutella0

Gnomes:

Vendors:  Still missing a lot of folks over the years, but none of them are ever coming back.   I really enjoyed the back row of sorts, with the reenactor groups, the War Department Archives and Flagbearer games.  

Swag: 

Nations and Cannons

Rifts: Mechanids

Star Trek RPG (Last Unicorn) needs a lot of TLC for the spine.

More Pegasus Banana Trees.

2 Green army men tanks. 

3 Adult banthas 

a bag a bases (non-Chinese container, but...)

a pile of barrels, cacti, treasure and other miscellany.

dollar store toys I actually use for my Gnomish Space Marines here and here

2 Kryomek walkers. 

Next Historicon is July 14-18, 2027 back at the Lancaster Convention Center.

The Next HMGS con is Fall-In!  November 6-8, 2026 back at the Wyndham (formerly HOST).