by Armchair Dragoons PAO, 22 October 2025
We assembled the Regiment for our annual Fall muster in Cary NC again, 10-12 October. We occupied a new assembly area, and had greater control over the hours, table layouts, and availability of adult beverages. Attendance ticked up again slightly, and we brought in some new players who had never attended before. Here’s our report!
The Calm Before The Storm
The Stats
Last year we had 27 register, and 25 attend. This year there were 31 registered, and 30 attended. Again, another 30%-ish turnover of attendees, but also a double-digit number of people who are on year 3 with us. The attendees seem to be split roughly 1/3 Dragoons-connected attendees from out of town (writing staff, regular convention attendees, etc), and 1/3 locals who are regulars at our game days, and the remaining 1/3 people who just found out about the convention and came to play. We had 17 total replies to our survey, so over half the attendees gave us some feedback.
As per SOP here at Armchair Dragoons, we always ask our audience to weigh in on their experience
- Did you have a good time? 53% “Hell Yes” and remaining 47% “Yes”
- What did you think of the event selections? 64.7% “Great variety – I had a hard time deciding what to do” and remaining 35.3% “There was at least 1 game I was really wanting to play”
Both of those shifted down slightly from the top-line option, but are still great numbers that most conventions would love to have. Truthfully, it’s likely to trend slightly down as the convention expands, but we’re going to continue to focus on keeping those numbers up
- $65 to attend…? 76.5% “About Right” with 17.6% “too much” and 6.1% “too little”. It’s crucial to note that this is the first time we had a real facility cost since we moved out of the store. The goal is to get rid of as much of that 17.6% as we can by making the event worth every penny.
- This was our first year not in the store. What did we think? 64.7% “It was great” and remaining 35.3% “It was sufficient”
- Coming back next year? 53/47 split between “Definitely” and “Probably”
So what got played this year?
One session, including pick-up games
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Two sessions each
We only had 1 game that was scheduled and didn’t go, and that was a single session of Mike Nagel’s Off The Line on Sunday morning when they left early to get home before a storm blew across their area. |
Let’s Check Out The Games
We shot a lot more video this year than most years, and compiled them into a playlist that’s on Youtube
Battles of the American Revolution – multiple sessions!
click images to enlarge
Fading Glory – also multiple sessions
Nathan’s tricked-out set for The Napoleonic Wars
There was a LOT of World at War ’85 that got played, often with Bruce in the game and with fellow designer Mike Nagel in one, also
images? clicken to embiggen
The SAS: Rogue Regiment game was turned into a 3d game thanks to GM Chris Cline and some 3d printing
Air & Armor has been a consistent presence at the Fall Assembly, and probably will continue to do so with another volume in the future
Dawn’s Early Light got one session and a bunch of photos
Tables in action
Among all the other stuff that got played? See the list above!
Participant Comments
These are direct quotes from our players
Things to Improve
And a couple of comments about the lighting in the building
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Things to Sustain
And a couple of notes specifically calling out the designers
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Plus this slightly longer “sustain” comment
Plenty of novice games available, in two senses: games suitable for all-around novices; and game sessions (regardless of the game’s inherent weight) that are welcoming to players who have not played that system before. This was definitely the case this year, and I hope it continues. Also, general vibe—I found the con very welcoming. (And thank you!)
The swap table abides. People use it, and we’ll keep it until the show gets too big to be practical.
Lessons Learned / Things To Work On
Last year’s points were:
- We need to find a good external venue. Check!
- Pickup games / convention library. We brought it, but need to do better with advertising it and expanding it slightly
- Event variety. We think we covered this fairly well and participant feedback seems to bear that out.
- BIG games. Did not do it this year, but might consider it once we expand to a larger venue.
This year’s lessons learned include
- Scheduling Variety — need to spread out event start times a bit more to keep a little more flow of events starting/ending throughout the day
- Pickup games — dedicated space/table for them and maybe that’s where we park the library, too?
- Designers! — We probably can’t dedicate a single table to each designer for the entire weekend, since they also want to play in some other games with people, but maybe we can set aside a table to two that are the designer-focused ones
- Keeping Score — just as a lark, Matthew asked us how the NATO vs Warsaw Pact standings were with games of Air & Armor, World at War ’85, and Dawn’s Early Light all featuring those two sides facing off. Next year, it might be fun to set up a big scorecard with some of the recurring conflicts and keep score of Axis vs Allies in WW2, and Union vs Confederates for ACW games, and Napoleon vs everyone, to go with NATO vs Warsaw Pact just to see how it unfolds over the course of the convention
Looking Ahead to 2026
The dates for 2026 will be 9-11 October. There’s a very good chance we’ll be in the same space next year. The year after? Well, it depends on how many of y’all start showing up!
Expect details to hit our site after Origins next year. We are likely to open up badge sales much earlier next year, and then specific event registration closer to the convention (mid August?).
We hope to see you there!
Thank you for visiting the Regiment of Strategy Gaming and riding with The Armchair Dragoons.
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