2016 Convention Schedule
Your local convention… and plenty of national ones!
Which one are you headed to?
Siege of Augusta
15-17 January, Augusta, GA
Anniversary of Jutland! Many minis, including ACW, pike & shot era, gaslight, WWII, post-apocalyptic, and… uh, hmm… “steam-pig”?!
Winter Offensive
21-24 January, Bowie, MD
MMP’s key ‘local’ convention full of all things ASL, other MMP games, and late-night Eurogaming.
Game On!
4 – 7 Feb, Seattle, WA
Lots of wargames out in Cascadia including COIN games, big WWII games, and all sorts of other hex-and-counter goodness.
Williamsburg Muster
4 – 7 Feb, Williamsburg, VA
This year’s theme is War At Sea. There’s also an additional boardgame area run by TAGS that includes all sorts of non-wargames. This annual wargaming convention is in Williamsburg, VA, hosted by the Hampton Roads Wargamers.
StrategiCon: OrcCon
12-15 Feb, Los Angeles, CA
One of three conventions from the StrategiCon guys in the LA area. Heavy tabletop focus with a lot of Eurogames, as well as RPGs, and other fantasy/sci-fi games.
DundraCon
12-15 Feb, San Ramon, CA
It’s RPG-heavy, but does include enough board games to keep you busy all weekend. DDC also includes their own seminar series, with a West Coast edition of the War College.
Still not sold? They have their own video!
OwlCon
19-21 February, Houston, TX
Hosted by the gaming club at Rice University, this Houston convention includes 100-odd board gaming events, plus at least that many RPG events, as well as minis and LARPs.
PrezCon
22-28 Feb, Charlottesville, VA
Over 95 Tournaments and 50+ Demo events, and no additional fees to enter games (i.e., no tickets) – one price pays for all the gaming you can cram in over the convention. Dealer room includes GMT, Worthington, and Mayfair, among others.
Hammerhead Wargames Show
5 Mar 2016, Newark Showgrounds, UK
50-odd games on a single day, with visitor participation expected. They’ve got a lot more info in our forums, too.
Cold Wars
17-20 Mar, Lancaster, PA
This year’s theme is “Centuries of War – 1816, 1916, 2016”. Minis-focused, but also includes a variety of other wargames and game dealers.
HuzzahCon
13-15 May, South Portland, ME
Our first ever GrogCast sponsor, HuzzahCon is a wargaming-heavy gathering in New England that includes minis and tabletop gaming, tournaments, raffle prizes, and more.
StrategiCon: Gamex
27-30 May, Los Angeles, CA
One of three conventions from the StrategiCon guys in the LA area. Heavy tabletop focus with a lot of Eurogames, as well as RPGs, and other fantasy/sci-fi games.
KublaCon
27-30 May, San Francisco, CA
Friend-of-Grog and GrogCast guest Anthony Gallela was once heavily involved, and KublaCon gives you and a few thousand friends a weekend of gaming in the Bay area and a dozen-odd dealers in the exhibitor area.
ConSimWorld Expo
25 June – 2 July, Tempe, AZ
CSW Expo 2016 will includes guests of honor Richard Berg and Mark Herman. Sign up before the end of January and get a free t-shirt. Some folks will spend the entire weekend playing one monster ‘grail’ game, and others will just shop and sit through guest speakers and seminars.
ORIGINS
15-19 June, Columbus, OH
Featuring the GrogHeads Central Command – Command Post Wargaming, teaching sessions, tabletop wargames, guest speakers, tactics seminars, and more.
Historicon
14 – 17 July, Fredericksburg, VA
Tournaments, seminars and a Hobby University of painting classes and events. Attendance usually runs 3700ish, so there’s plenty of folks to game with. Minis-heavy, of course, but plenty of other games, too.
World Boardgaming Championships
23-31 July, Lancaster, PA
The BPA’s largest event is the annual World Boardgaming Championships® (WBC) where about 1,500 people from around the world compete to be named champion of their favorite games. By vote, BPA members select the 100 or so games (the “Century Group”) in which competitions are scheduled.
GenCon
4-7 Aug, Indianapolis, IN
Really, you need a blurb to tell you about GenCon? C’mon…
DragonCon
2-5 Sep, Atlanta, GA
Games, fantasy, sci-fi, comics, art & literature, and more…
Pacificon Game Expo
2-5 Sep, Santa Clara, CA
Up in the Bay Area, you can game a bit over Labor Day weekend, with a Wargamer Boot Camp, and a whole lot of other wargaming.
StrategiCon: GateWay
2-5 Sep, Los Angeles, CA
One of three conventions from the StrategiCon guys in the LA area. Heavy tabletop focus with a lot of Eurogames, as well as RPGs, and other fantasy/sci-fi games.
BuckeyeGameFest
8-11 Sept, Columbus, OH
The Jim Reasoner War Room opens a few days earlier, and they’ve got one of the best check-out-and-play libraries you’ve ever seen. You can also find info on CSW, too.
ASLOK
2-9 Oct, Cleveland, OH
Well, it’s called ASL Oktoberfest, so you can probably figure it’s in October. Anywho… it’s a whole weekend of ASL. Have fun!
Southern Front
7-9 Oct, Raleigh, NC
Minis-focused tabletop gaming weekend from Triangle Simulation Society. Includes a robust number of vendors from the minis wargaming world, too.
EssenSpiel
13-16 Oct, Essen, Germany
The über-con of all game conventions – you and 100,000 of your closest friends all gaming away for a long weekend. Grab your passport and getouttahere!
Carnage Royale
4-6 Nov, Killington, VT
Mainly board games and RPGs, strategy game players will find some lighter wargames, or arrange to meet up friends for a bigger wargame while at the show.
BottosCon
4-6 Nov, Vancouver, BC
The Canadians weigh in with a mixture of wargames, minis, and board games, going on about 10 years of gaming in Vancouver. There’s a game swap, organized events, and a whole of pre-arranged one-on-one matches, as well as plenty of pickup games.
MACE
11-13 Nov, Charlotte, NC
MACE is a table top gaming convention, once held in High Point, NC since 1997 and now held in Charlotte since 2012. The previous incarnation called ROC 96.5 was a gaming event associated to Roc Of Ages Con in Charlotte. Since then, it has grown to be one of the largest gatherings of gamers in the Carolinas. We at Justus Productions/MACE pride ourselves in providing the best and most variety of games in the Carolinas.
San Diego Historical Games Convention
(we think) 11-13 Nov, get this… SAN DIEGO!
Board games, minis games, whatever… just make it a historical wargame and get to it. Oh yeah, the weather’s not bad, either.
Battleground
26 Nov, Stockton-on-Tees, UK
We’re always trying to bring the best selection of both display and participation games to the show, some presented by local games clubs and others by traders demo’ing their wares.
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Bottoscon, november, Vancouver BC
https://sites.google.com/site/bottoscon/
even BGGCON in late november at DFW has a strong wargames contingent
http://www.twistercon.com
http://www.sanmarinogame.com
WBC is not in Lancaster, PA anymore. It is at the Seven Springs Mountain Resort.
Point of fact, this is BottosCon’s 10th annual event. In 2007 we started with 32 attendees,and this year we are looking at 125 attendees.