Tacticon 2026

This year I was able to attend my first Tacticon. I wasn't able to do as much as I hoped or planned, but I had a blast! As you may assume from the usual focus of this newsletter I'm generally a RPG guy and had it in my head that Tacticon was basically only for wargamers. While they certainly have a massive presence, there were still tons of RPGs and board games being played too. Not only that but seeing all their astounding setups made me want to try wargaming for the first time!

Growing up I was a comic convention kid, but didn't start going to gaming conventions until the past couple of years. So I was amazed to learn that Tacticon has been going strong for 37 years! So I had to dig in a little to see how it got from then to now.

History

Tacticon got its start in September of 1989. Specifically Tactikhan '89 was held September 1-3, Labor Day weekend. They even got it listed in the Convention Calendar in Dragon Magazine #147. Real obvious difference is the spelling, clearly playing off Genghis Con, in fact it was called "Son of Genghis Con" at some point according to a Colorado Military Historians newsletter. It didn't last long though, as the next year it was spelled Tacticon '90. One thing that stood out to me in the original program is that very few of the RPGs were open to new players. For the most part they expected you to already know the rules. This is just in such stark contrast to how open and welcoming the convention is to new players today.

I'm amazed how sparse the info is here and which events are specifically called out. First thing is the RPGA, TSR's (later WotC's) official organized play group (fun fact: the RPGA was originally helmed by Frank Mentzer, the editor of the Red Box version of the D&D Basic Set). The second thing they point out is the Puffing Billy tournament! If you're not familiar with the Puffing Billy tournament (as I certainly was not), it is a type of train game tournament that spans multiple different train games and incentivizes close games. Finally the miniatures events were run by the Colorado Military Historians, a group that still meets to this day and that has an archive of their newsletters going back to the 60s!

I think a great way to bridge the gap between the early days of Tacticon and now is by quoting this Reddit post from Donny Arnold, who alongside his wife Andre'a now own and operate Tacticon.

"Back in 2000, I walked into my very first Tacticon, and to be completely honest, it changed how I looked at the tabletop hobby forever. I was blown away by the room: the sheer spectacle of custom terrain, long rows of board games in mid-play, and Game Masters completely lost in spinning epic tales for their players. For someone who loves the heart and soul of tabletop gaming, seeing that kind of genuine, grassroots passion under one roof stayed with me for years."

"When Andre'a and I stepped up to take over GenghisCon and Tacticon back in 2018, the conventions were in the hands of an outside company steering them toward a generic pop culture and celebrity spectacle. The soul of the conventions was getting lost, and the actual gaming was being pushed to the sidelines. We stepped in and bought them because we refused to let our local tabletop home turn into just another commercial expo."

"We did not take this on to run a corporate business; we did it because we love this community with everything we have. Over the years, we have poured our hearts, late nights, and personal savings into keeping these conventions strictly by gamers, for gamers. We fought hard to bring the focus back where it belongs: keeping table costs and badges fair, championing quiet and accessible rooms where people can actually hear each other, backing local independent GMs and designers, and treating every attendee like family rather than a ticket number. Every decision Andre'a and I make comes down to one question: how do we make our players feel valued, included, and loved?"

"Tacticon was always built for that exact kind of intimate connection. It is the convention where you can actually hear your GM whisper a crucial clue, where you can settle into a four-hour heavy strategy board game without shouting over massive crowd noise, and where nobody ever has to feel like a stranger standing alone in a hallway." - Donny Arnold

Present

As I mentioned in the intro my con didn't exactly go as planned. But I got to play a few games, see a ton of awesome ones being played, and hang out with friends new and old. I could detail my personal experiences, but I think the best way to represent what Tacticon is like today is to show you more photos of the show and to let other folks who attended and played games share some of their experiences.

Miniature Games

Certainly the show stopper at Tacticon, having the miniatures games in the middle of the show floor really puts on a spectacle. Even without knowing how to play or what exactly was going on, everywhere you turned there were amazing setups and players having great times.

A shout out to our wonderful photographer Victor Rollins. You can see more of his work or reach out about copies of these photos at someborrowedtime on Instagram. But now we'll take a look at pictures and experiences from some players' points of view.

"A couple of shots from Saturday's Warriors of Athena game And our adventures with The Jade Engine" - Steeeeeve

"Gaslands: Refueled on Friday Night. 6 players competing for a spot with a team! Gaslands Driver Academy! We had a clear winner who managed to collect 5 zombies, set off a Death Trap AND make a jump and exit the board...though another driver was on his 6 blazing away to prevent his escape....but failed. Three other drivers fell to Death Traps - one to the harpoon/death spike tower and two to the heavy machine gun tower. But fun and carnage was had by all, and I look forward to seeing new War Pups at Genghis Con!" - DependableSkeleton

"Moonstone had a well attended open play/learn to play and the first annual (?) tournament." - squishylink

"Malifaux winner and send off for one of our players, We had decent attendance for our Malifaux 4th Ed tournament..." - Macabreus (Trevor Jessick)

Roleplaying Games

"Got to run a few games of Parrot Borg this weekend at Tacticon. I was fortunate to get a lot of players who were excited about getting into crazy bird shenanigans and I highly recommend Harbourmasters running the module for your own group." - SlightKnightRole

"Tacticon was outstanding and a great reminder of what an excellent tabletop gaming scene we have in Colorado. I played Shadowdark, Ragnaborg, and Pirate Borg, and the GMs and players were awesome." - Colin Westerfield

"I had a blast running Savage Worlds" - Macabreus (Trevor Jessick)

"Super fun game tonight!" - Patrick PB

[Editor's note: Patrick is being humble here, he's become a regular of the Ship of the Dead meetups and always has these amazing set-piece ship displays.]

"I had a great time playing Pirate Borg at Tacticon ‘26 this year. I had an absolutely amazing group of players who totally had a crazy run at Anchor Drop Falls this year. The chaos that was brought to me and the insanity of a crew of barnacled bilge rats. I can’t wait until Genghis to see what happens next." - Cap'n Skarvin GreybeardRole

"I forgot to take a picture but we played Invincible, but in the vain of X-men who were discovering their powers. People drew power cards at random at they were in danger fighting in the street vs Giant robots. It was pretty sick! Genghis Con Session 2 everyone?!" - Tyler Stratton

"Tacticon 2026! GMed: Never Going Home - Belly of the Beast - Alien - Hope's Last Day - Vaesen - A Winter's Tale - The One Ring - A Troll Hole if there ever was one. Played: Sickest Witch - Eat the Reich - One Ring" - Rich Bonfanti

I started attending Taction in 2005, back when it was still held at what was then the Red Lion Hotel. The person in charge of the daycare was also the DM for my D&D youth group. I’d tend to the kids for a while, then go out to take my character through the organized play of Arcanis, which I still remember fondly to this day. As a teenager pursuing what was then still a relatively underground hobby, it was so cool to see a broader community that existed beyond my small group of friends. Since then, the number and variety of games has increased, but the core is the same: coming together to celebrate the worlds that have captured our imaginations. Now I get to enjoy the games and delight in seeing the friends I don’t get to catch that often. As an adult, my day-to-day work has become remote, asynchronous, and impersonal. That makes it all the more important to join other people in particular times and places like this. Meanwhile, the rising popularity of things like D&D, Warhammer, and MtG have brought so many more people into the tabletop hobby. That’s great. The more imagination and human connection we can help to foster, the better the world might be. – Leon Sandler

Healing Veterans

Some of the coolest programs happening at Tacticon were the Healing Veterans games. A series of RPGs held in a private room just for Military Veterans. I reached out to one of the organizers of this program, Dan Warvi (aka @DependableSkeleton on Discord), to learn more about him and the games.

Dan describes himself, "I’m a old skool gamer - I started with D&D right after the tiny books got replaced by the (still never topped) Players Handbook. I’m also a 20+ year US Army & Army Reserve Veteran, and I’ve been a very active Veterans Advocate in Colorado since about 2004. I retired from the Dept of Veterans Affairs in 2020 as the chief of Voluntary Service (I was also their Public Affairs Officer.)"

"I wanted to help set up an event where Veterans who wanted to play (or try for the 1st time) in-person TTRPGS but didn’t have the support network or knowledge on a place to play. So I’ll pulled together an offer from Andre’a and Donny to provide a free room away from the noise and bustle of the main convention halls, and worked with the Denver VA’s Rec Therapy program to recruit those Veterans who wanted to play TTRPGs."

Dan was inspired by programs like Roll2Heal and other VA's such as ones in Florida and Missouri. Thankfully he was not alone in his desire to help, as Dan mentioned Andre'a and Donny made the private play space available, the Denver VA’s Recreational Therapy Program helped spread the word, local GM's ran the games (Dan added "I want to thank the good adventurers at Gooey Cube for coming thru at the end to run their One-shot adventures!"), and the folks at Deck of Player Safety donated some of their safety tool cards for the GMs to utilize in their games.

 Wonderfully, all Dan's work paid off. "We had an amazing convention!" Dan said, "And I think Tacticon is also going to be an every-year event." He's also working with Andre'a on fitting into Genghis Con's schedule and is already looking into having regular gaming events at game stores around the metro area. A takeaway from this convention is that daytime events work better for these Veterans and Dan is specifically looking to setup earlier meetups at stores.

Asked how people can help or get involved, Dan replied, "If you’re a Veteran getting your health care from the VA and you’d like to play with us, you can contact the Rec Therapy program at the Denver VA. You can contact them directly, or through your Primary Care or other Providers.

For Tacticon, we really struggled to find Game Masters for the RPGs we chose to run... So, for Genghis Con, we’d really love it if we could get some commitments fairly early to DM (generic term) some RPGs for us.

For our non-convention events, if you’re a game store with gaming area and you could host a regular daytime TTRPG for our Veterans, that would also be amazing.

The best place to communicate for Tacticon ended up being the GamerGirlGames Discord Server – so for Genghis Con and the local events, I think we’ll stick with that. You can reach out to me (@DependableSkeleton) or post in the appropriate channel."

Board Games

"I had a phenomenal time learning, playing, and teaching board games. I love the diversity of the crowd at Tacticon, and it's always wonderful to share gaming passion with other like-minded geeks. I was really impressed with some of the custom board game organizers, upgraded pieces, and snazzy table-sized custom playmats some folks brought! My game of the con was definitely Recall. I couldn't stop thinking about it after we played. Russian Railroads and Camp Grizzly were close behind!" - chefox

"Tacticon 2026! Played: Formula D Racing - Sochi & Vietnam tracks - Carcassonne - Battle of Hoth - Golden Goal - Splendor" - Rich Bonfanti

Leon and I got to play a game of Dice Throne from the game library. While we do this newsletter together, and are at events together fairly regularly, we rarely get to play together. It was very nice to just sit down and play a game with my friend.

Exhibitors

Debbie Ngo Art

In addition to being the Art Director for Gamer Girl Games (and creating the Genghis Con logo and most of the convention graphics), Debbie Ngo is the owner and operator of Debbie Ngo Art LLC and illustrator at Bad Hare Productions.

Debbie "works in custom art such as portraiture, modern Kintsugi, cake decorating, costuming and embroidery". Her mugs, mimic and otherwise, are fantastic. And it was great to learn that shows like Tacticon have allowed her to produce art full time.

CheriLuna

Cheriluna is "a digital Illustrator and Graphic Designer living in the United States, in Colorado. I love D&D, the Fantasy Genre, and anything that allows me to create. Browse my shop, or check out the gallery of custom artwork I have made. Come for the cool artwork, stay for the vibes!"

That Sinners print really caught our eyes and Cheriluna filled it with all kinds of symbolism and references. If you get a chance ask about the blue/black cats and you'll get a lesson in color theory, superstition, religious history, and Gaelic linguistics.

Penfeather Games

"Penfeather Games creates atmospheric tabletop roleplaying games that feature themes like environmentalism, found family, and social intrigue. Our flagship campaign system Heliosail is a pulpy solarpunk space pirate game that was successfully crowdfunded in 2025.

Penfeather Games is an imprint of Quinnsilver Studios, an umbrella creative studio based in Aurora, Colorado. We are proudly LGBTQ+ owned and operated."

Uber Dungeon

"Uber Dungeon creates handmade embroidered dice bags, satchels, fantasy accessories, and one-of-a-kind resin dice for tabletop gamers and fantasy fans. Whether you're looking for your next favorite dice bag, a unique gift, or handcrafted gear for your next adventure, you'll find original designs inspired by fantasy and roleplaying."

Future? GenghisCon!

Tacticon will of course return next year, but if you can't wait that long then look into GenghisCon. Badges are on sale and event submissions are open for GenghisCon! Tacticon's older sibling returns February 17th-21st 2027. GenghisCon is more focused on Roleplaying Games, though next year will be a bit different. There will be smaller table and player caps for each room, the idea is to provide better play experiences instead of just maxing out room capacities. Sounds like it will be more enjoyable environments but it will be tougher to get a slot. So submit your A games early if you're planning on running some games!

Thanks for reading, hopefully we'll see you at GenghisCon and play some games together! Feel free to comment with your experiences at Tacticon or with your plans for GenghisCon!

-Jacob & Leon