It’s July of 2024, and Historicon has come and gone. Called by some “the premier convention for Historical Wargaming in North America,” Historicon is a sleepy convention of roughly 2500 attendees, held every year in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. The heart of “Amish Country” – where history lives.
If I seem bitter, it’s only because Lancaster is my backyard, and Historicon my local convention, which means I’m stuck in battleground Pennsylvania and it’s an election year. So if I’m honest: getting to spend a day leisurely browsing rows of used miniatures at Wally’s, or perusing 60 year old miniatures cast yesterday with love, is like popping out for a quick cigarette during a busy shift.
From the vendor perspective, being well into the looming shadow of Indy’s GenCon (70k attendees) at the beginning of August – a small convention in a B-list city is a tough sell. Game publishers are feeling the economic squeeze just like any luxury, and Firelock had to make the call that Historicon just wasn’t profitable enough to stop production for a month.
With Historicon as a long-standing pillar of the Firelock community, it was clear that something would be organized for Plunder. I recall reaching out to former co-casters Tom and Glenn to see if they had any plans for the convention. Neither could commit to attending, for various grown-up reasons, and things just stalled some time after that. Fortunately, Firelock faithful Joe Richards stepped up and put together a great tournament for those of us looking forward to “plundering” Historicon.
Joe’s Land Tournament
Historicon has always played host to a strong community, and we still had 16 players show up for the tournament. When the largest tournaments on record are in the mid-20s for turnout, that is not bad. Without Firelock, the scene was down a few of the “travel players,” like Summer of Plunder’s English command duo of Eric and Jay. In their place was a crop of new players from the resurgence in FLGS play in the region. There were quartermasters present from shops surrounding Lancaster – Kurtis from Critical Hit, Tim from Huzzah, Brad and I from Lazarus – as well as player bases that we had grown in those stores.
Joe’s tables were the simple-but-effective felt treatment, with felt markers for wooded area terrain, classic foam hills, and some buildings. He was able to supply enough terrain for 8 tables on short notice, and even had to add 2 players at the last minute.
The tournament ran smoothly. I did end up on the same table for two rounds in a row, but that’s only because the players were left to self-organize. We’re all grown-ups here, old hands, and we know what we’re doing. It was actually nice, and gave the tournament a laid-back and friendly vibe. Again, coming off the back of madhouse-busy Adepticon, and stressful current events, it was refreshing to just play 3 games with friends.
I brought a list that I thought was fun (player experiences may vary) – Portuguese Tercios and Militia. The list featured two units of cheap cavalry and a silly unit of Milicianos Indios combining Expertly Drilled with Bows. A total of 37 models, half of which were Inexperienced and third of which were mounted.
Round 1. Take & Hold vs. Tim’s French Army
The first round was Take & Hold from the core rulebook, and I played against Tim Stone (no relation) from Huzzah Hobbies in VA. Tim is one of my French players in Summer of Plunder and might have been trash-talking our Capital-Grabbing strategy before I showed up. Anyone who was following along in real time might have seen Tim’s Facebook post about how the match went.
The game was finished when one of my cavalry units made a 20 inch charge to catch a unit of Prone Braves in melee. With his left flank trampled under hoof, and my infantry ready to turn the area around the objective into a shooting-gallery, his captain decided that the writing was on the wall and struck.
Round 2. Encounter vs. Andrew, Church’s Raiders
Round 2 was Encounter and played against Andrew Vogel’s Church’s Raiders list. You might remember him from the 2nd place finish at Adepticon with… would you guess Church’s Raiders? He adulterated the list a little this time, changing around the units to make less use of certain “aggressively costed” options.
I was still afraid of his list, and the combination of the scenario and the terrain meant that our game bogged down into a long range shooting match. Trading my cavalry for his units might have meant giving up a Strike Point and losing the match, but he also couldn’t risk dangling a unit in the open to bait out the cavalry. It was a 1-0 win that felt greasy. Shoutout to Andrew for being my only painted opponent of the day! I wish I had gotten more pictures of this game, be we actually ended up going to time on this one.
Round 3. Wanted Man vs. Howard’s Dutch Caribbean Militia
Round 3 I got to play the Wanted Man scenario from Raise the Black, against Howard. A clever ploy to get more people entered into the Summer of Plunder challenge for a cool DMC dice tray – but also, a very very difficult scenario for tournament play. The defender is forced to deploy in the center of the table, while the attacker introduces units from either side. The Defender can’t Strike – the game only ends if the Attacker strikes out, if the defender’s commander is captured, or at the 6th turn.
Howard was at the helm of one of two nasty Dutch Caribbean Militia lists, making use of both the discounted Jewish Militia, and the Tough, Ruthless, Vrij Compagnieen. He rolled to play Defender, and it was going to be a hard game from then on. The game quickly focused into a back-and-forth bloothbath over a bit of wooded terrain which was some of the only cover on that side of the table. We traded units back and forth, where I got the upper hand by sending a unit of Cavalry into an over-extended unit of Warriors. Still, my commander was killed before his was, and for a moment, he captured my Advisor as a hostage. I was able to claw back for victory, but it went to a near-tabling for us both, and a very tense 2-card draw.
Tournament Results
When the dust settled, Glenn read out the winners from the tournament. Yes, that’s correct: Glenn. He wasn’t able to run the tournament, but he was able to sneak away from Responsibility with a box of metal blisters to set up an impromptu Firelock shop.
Awards went out for:
First Place – Tyler Stone – Portuguese Brazilian Tercios and Militia
Second Place – Bryan Price – Iroquois (FOtF), Mohawk
Third Place – Brad Meloy – Dutch Caribbean Militia, Frontier Patrol
Best Effort – David Blood – Brethren of the Coast
Best Painted – Mike Finnernan – Brethren of the Coast
From memory, the faction breakdown was:
Portuguese Tercios & Militia
Iroquois
Dutch Caribbean Militia x2
Church’s Raiders
French Army
British Raiders
Brethren of the Coast x2
Creek
Maroons
??? x5
The Phantom Fleet Fight
There was talk of a Big Fleet Game being organized for 7pm, right after the tournament. The problem was, we couldn’t find it listed in the PEL and I couldn’t find anyone who knew for certain where it was going to happen. I attempted to organized a BFG last year, and did list in the PEL, which proved to be a mistake – so I understand that much. I went for dinner with a few of the other players and came back around 7:30 to see if I could find the battle. I located the table, but no players except for Quartermaster Chris giving a demo to two interested gentlemen. I know from reported Summer of Plunder games that the BFG did happen, but unfortunately, I know absolutely nothing more than that.
Not an End, a Beginning
Mike knows that there is a Firelock community served by Historicon, and he wasn’t happy to just drop the convention like that. Firelock might have eaten the cost to attend if the dates were a little better. Mike has said that in lieu of Historicon moving, Firelock is actively pursuing another convention to attend in this region.
The likely candidate for a new Firelock convention is NoVA, in Washington, DC at the end of summer. NoVA is under new management, and there are already people lining up Plunder gameplay whether or not Firelock attends.
What a new convention would mean for Plunder gaming at Historicon remains to be seen. Perhaps a shift to more narrative games, to better serve the smaller playerbase. I know I would be down for that.
There are already early plans to run the Great Swamp Fight at HMGS: Fall In in November, for those tuned into this space.