HISTORICON ’09: 25 Years of Historical Miniatures Gaming

Bel Air, MD (May 27, 2009) -- The Historical Miniatures Gaming Society East commemorates the silver anniversary of HISTORICON July 16 – 19, in Lancaster, Pa. What New York Times has described as the "mother of all war gaming conventions" will be held at the Lancaster Host Resort & Conference Center.

HISTORICON is the largest historical miniatures gaming convention in the United States. The event features thousands of attendees (adults and children), hundreds and hundreds of games, the world's biggest war game hobby shop, painting events, and a special awards celebration. It is sponsored by HMGS, a non-profit educational organization that promotes the study of military history through historical miniatures gaming, seminars, grants, and conventions.

The convention theme this year is the 200th Anniversary of 1809 Napoleonic Wars. It will features over 600 events, including elaborate historical miniatures games reflecting Napoleon’s 1809 Austrian Campaign and the Peninsular War (1807-14) and the massive and most extensive tournament program in North America – everything from DBA, DBR, and Warhammer Ancients to Field of Glory (FoG) and Flames of War (FoW). More than 700 games over the entire four days of the convention typically attract players from across the United States and Europe.

“The Napoleonic era has always been a great period for the wargamer and this theme allows for a broad cross-section of games, from formal massed European armies to the Spanish guerilla actions and games involving Sharpe’s Ri?es,” said Pete Panzeri, of HMGS. “Aside from the Napoleonic era, HISTORICON 2009 offers hundreds of games and tournament events from nearly every other period of military history.”

HISTORICON also holds the HMGS War College with 40 historical presentations by scholars such as René Chartrand, military historian and author of 30+ books, and Matt Eversmann, veteran of the Battle of Mogadishu (‘Blackhawk Down’), and a Napoleonic Wars Exposition: “The Sharpe Experience.” The convention’s Painting and Modeling University allows participants to choose from a variety of classes to learn new techniques for miniature painting. Attendees can also register for the “Iron Paintbrush” Competition where teams compete to create the most eye-catching ?gure mini-diorama.

Other special HISTORICON events include a Wild West costume contest with prizes for kids and an adult costume contest related to pirates of 1809 – British, Spanish, French, American Navy or Marines. As part of the silver anniversary of HISTORICON, all attendees are invited to join in the free celebration. The ?rst 3,000 attendees will receive a free 10-foot long lockable metal tape measure, and exhibitors Old Glory, Wargames Factory and Warlords will provide free ?gures to attendees (while supplies last). A special 25th Anniversary cake is being made just for HISTORICON by Charm City Cakes (of the “Ace of Cakes” Food Network show) featuring the original “Hands Bridge” logo created by artist Rich Hasenauer to promote the ?rst HISTORICON in 1984. The cake will be on display Friday and will be served to attendees.

Everyone is invited to HISTORICON’s Silver Celebration Party on Friday at 9:30 p.m. in the Windows Restaurant. Free beer samples and promotional items will be provided by various distributors, including Kirchner (Yuengling/Sam Adams), Lancaster Beverage (Coors Light/Heineken), Sheffer (Miller Lite/Lancaster Brew), and Wilsback (Budweiser).

This is the last year the convention will be held in Lancaster, Pa. Due to the growing popularity of HISTORICON the 2010 convention will move to larger quarters next year in the Baltimore Convention Center, Maryland.

Admission to this year's 4-day convention is $15 for HMGS members and $35 for non-members.

Other upcoming HMGS events: the annual “Fall In” convention, Nov. 6 – 9, 2009 in Gettysburg, PA; “Cold Wars”, March 11 – 14, 2010, Lancaster, Pa., and “HISTORICON 2010”, July 8 -11, 2010, Baltimore, Md.

For more information on HMGS, visit www.hmgs.org.

For more information on HISTORICON, visit www.HISTORICON.org.