We’re just three days from our next online convention, SDHistCon Winter Quarters on Saturday, Jan. 31, and we have a tremendous schedule of events lined up. Convention badges are available here, and, once you have a badge, you can now add (free) tickets for the various events you’d like to attend. (Most seminars won’t have a limited capacity, but some game demos may.) You can also submit your own events up to Friday, Jan. 30.
Our Discord server for the convention is also live. All registrants to date should have already received an email with the link, and new signups will get an email with the link ahead of the convention.
But what about those events? Well, here’s the full schedule of what we had so far. And here’s a feature on at least one event to watch for each hour (in addition to the eight we previously spotlighted, and many others on the schedule), in order of what time they’ll take place:
Coffee with Andrew (7 a.m. ET/ 4 a.m. PT): We’re getting this convention rolling with some caffeine-fueled (if you so choose) conversation. As with our standard convention coffees, this event will be a place for designers and other attendees to hang out, discuss what they’re doing or interested in at this convention, and talk about historical games in general. Hosted by SDHist board member and Conflicts of Interest Online editor Andrew Bucholtz, this is planned to run for an hour and lead into…
Overlord: Insights into VUCA’s next release (8 a.m. ET/5 a.m. PT): The VUCA Simulations team has made quite the mark in the historical gaming world recently with games such as New Cold War, Traces of Victory, and Imperial Elegy. They’ll show us more on their upcoming D-Day game Operation Overlord, which is available for preorder now and expected to debut in a few months.
True Command (9 a.m. ET/6 a.m. PT): Designer and publisher Tim Densham of Catastrophe Games will take attendees through his True Command title, a fast-moving WWII game that places you in the shoes of a division commander. The game has you trying to conduct your own mission while figuring out and stopping your opponent’s plans, with impactful bag draws for both actions and staff officers.
1943: When in Rome: a very special Tank Duel session (10 a.m. ET/7 a.m. PT) : Members of Italy’s LudoStoria historical gaming club, led by Riccardo Masini of the SDHist board of advisors, will use Tank Duel to lead a discussion around the events surrounding the fight for Rome in the wake of the Italian-Allied Armistice of Cassibile in September 1943. This session is coming live from a very special historical location in Italy…
Demo Hubris: Twilight of the Hellenistic World (10 a.m., 3 p.m., and 5 p.m. ET/7 a.m., noon, and 2 p.m. PT): Designer Morgane Gouyon-Rety is offering three different opportunities to check out her Hubris game, which puts players in the roles of the dynasties established by Alexander the Great’s successors and takes them through remarkable conflicts in the late Hellenistic world. The game is shipping now from GMT Games.
Designer demo: 1943 Race to Rabaul (11 a.m. ET/8 a.m. PT): Designer Volko Ruhnke will show off his work on this game, coming soon to Gamefound from PHALANX. This builds on the logistics-focused systems used in 1944: Race to the Rhine (by Jaro Andruszkiewicz and Valdemar Gumienny) and 1941: Race to Moscow (by Gumienny), including by introducing opposed play; the game can see one to two players command the Americans and one to two players command the Japanese. Ruhnke will also be discussing this game with SDHist’s Andrew Bucholtz at 9 a.m. ET/6 a.m. PT.
Afghanistan: Decades of Strife (12 p.m. ET/9 a.m. PT): Get an early look at this Catastrophe Games title, covering 20 years of war in Afghanistan between the Coalition and Taliban in one-year turns. This uses the Conflict of Wills system modified from previous Catastrophe titles Judean Hammer and Arabian Struggle.
1916: Prelude to Blitzkrieg: Design update (1 p.m. ET/10 a.m. PT): Designer Paul Hederer will show off what’s going on in this upcoming game on a WWI campaign in Romania, coming soon from VUCA Simulations. This is an adaptation of the system previously seen in 1914: Nach Paris.
20 Years of Twilight Struggle: Ananda Gupta & Jason Matthews (2 p.m. ET/11 a.m. PT): SDHist’s Dan Bullock will moderate this panel of co-designers Matthews and Gupta looking back at Twilight Struggle and all the other games it has led to, as well as discussing their upcoming work.
Waterways Demo (3 p.m. ET/noon PT): Designer Andrew Braley will show off this title (seen at SDHistCon Summit 2025!), which has players finding different ways to ship goods in North America in 1836. Three to five players (plus unlimited observers!) are welcome.
Harold Buchanan interviews Todd McFarlane of Image Comics (4 p.m. ET/1 p.m. PT): SDHist founder Harold Buchanan will speak to Todd McFarlane (known for his work as an artist on The Amazing Spider-Man, as the creator, writer, and artist on the superhero horror-fantasy series Spawn, and as the co-founder of Image Comics) about McFarlane’s passion for historical gaming.
“Infernal Machine” demo with Ed Ostermeyer and Jerry White (4 p.m. ET/1 p.m. PT): The co-designers of this soon-to-be-released GMT Games solitaire title on submarine development during the American Civil War will give participants an idea of just what to expect from this game, using Scenario 10 (the climax of the game’s scenario booklet), “Breaking The Head of Passes.” This will be an hour-long demo followed by a 30-minute Q+A session.
Catch-18 Demo (5 p.m. ET/ 2 p.m. PT): Designer Nicola Saggini will show off this game, upcoming from SNAFU Design.
John Butterfield demos his upcoming game On Hell’s Highway (6 p.m. ET/3 p.m. PT): Legendary designer John Butterfield will take attendees through this upcoming Market Garden game, set to be published by New England Simulations.
Nothing But Victory: Battles for Atlanta (Blind Swords) (6 p.m. ET/3 p.m. PT): Designer Gina Willis will give a sneak peek of this upcoming Revolution Games title, the latest application of the famed Blind Swords system.
Demo of Hammer Bastion! Epic SciFi Siege combat (6 p.m. ET/3 p.m. PT): Designer Keith Tracton will show off his upcoming game, set in the same universe as his Raider Drop Zone but with a different scale. Attendees are welcome to play!
Wrap Up Show and SDHistCon North! (7 p.m. ET/4 p.m. PT): Mike “Zilla Blitz” Smart will host this show wrapping up the convention and also looking forward to the recently-announced SDHistCon North, coming to the Twin Cities July 11-12. SDHist’s Harold Buchanan and Jeff Dreher will discuss what to expect from that convention. Some special guests may show up for this as well!
Thanks so much to all who have already bought tickets to SDHistCon Winter Quarters 2026! It’s still easy to join us: just go here before Saturday!