Home » Articles » Convention Coverage

Tillercon 2005

	Author: Al Berke Article Type: Convention Coverage Publication Date: 7/8/2005 Developer: John Tiller Publisher: HPS Sims Related Categories: Business and Industry, Convention Coverage

Arrival

I pulled into the parking lot at the “Showplace” around ten am on Saturday. Just outside of Richmond, the area had the ambience of slightly decaying suburbia that that made me glad that it was daylight. From a historical war gaming perspective, however, the location was perfect – right smack dab in the middle of the American Civil War. It’s almost impossible to travel more than a couple of miles in any direction without running into a battlefield. From the fierce fighting of 1862 battles such as Gaines Mill and Malvern Hill to the botched Union assault at Cold Harbor, history is still alive here. 

Day 2 of Tillercon didn’t start until 11, so I wasn’t surprised to see a small knot of people hanging outside the door. It had been less than a two hour drive from my home in Virginia Beach, one of the main enablers that led me to attend my first game convention in over 30 years. I was looking forward to it, not just for the opportunity to play some games, but for the chance to meet some of the people that I had only communicated with electronically over the last few years. Not surprisingly, I wasn’t the only one with the latter objective; the impact of the information age can clearly be seen in that many of the game production team had never or rarely seen John Tiller, or each other, face to face. In fact the later start was due to John having a private meeting with his team.

Why (and perhaps what?) a Tillercon?

For the most part the answer is turn-based historical war games. John Tiller first came to prominence in 1995 with the Battleground series published by Talonsoft. These mostly Napoleonic and American Civil War grand tactical simulations were almost direct imports from board games and miniatures and proved to be quite popular with that crowd (Disclaimer - I still own eight out of nine Battleground games so am definitely part of that group).

In 1999 John Tiller moved on to HPS Simulations with the publishing of Smolensk ’41, the first of the WWII Panzer Campaigns series. This was followed by series on the Early American War, Civil War Battles, Napoleonic Battles, Modern Campaigns, Squad Battles, Modern Air Power, Naval Campaigns and the latest, Total War in Europe.

Most of these series follow the same pattern – turn based historical simulations that can be viewed from the perspective of either a board game with counters or miniatures. They are no longer direct ports of either, however, having multiple options to tailor the interface and game mechanics to the gamer’s tastes. The exceptions to the turn-based mechanism are Modern Air Power and Naval Campaigns, which depict their respective environments in real time.

HPS Simulations currently offers over 40 John Tiller games through on-line order. Their popularity has led to the establishment of on-line clubs that focus on a particular series, complete with organizational structure and opportunities for role playing as well as playing the games. For instance, in the Naval Campaigns Club I am currently a Captain in the Royal Navy, the commander of the 4th Light Cruiser Squadron and CO of HMS Inflexible. (Now if I could just find the time to actually play a game…)

The John Tiller Games Ring home site gives some insight on the clubs and other sites supporting this hobby. Club sizes range from about 50 to 500 members, resulting in a dedicated base and a flourishing, albeit niche, on-line and play by e-mail (PBEM) community.

Tillercon was born of the desire to bring this community together to meet both each other and the development team face to face, have discussions and of course to play the games. Three days in June were set aside, the Showplace was rented, invitations sent, money collected and computers stockpiled in preparation for the festivities.

Inner entrance to the Showplace.	The American Civil War Pods.