Britcon : Nottingham's Own Wargames Event !
The UK's Biggest Historical Wargames Convention, at the heart of the Lead Belt
The UK's Biggest Historical Wargames Convention, at the heart of the Lead Belt
Britcon 2025 is now a wrap!
With our third edition in Nottingham now well and truly done and dusted, its time to say a huge thanks to all our very many Tournament Organisers, Demo Game runners, Traders, Too Fat Lardies Participants and Lardy Game Hosts, the highly eclectically-attired band of East Midlands MegaGame Revolutionaries (!), Dan and the whole team from Wargames Illustrated (who brought The Perrys, Jervis Johnson, Andy Callan and some of the best demo games on the UK circuit to the Wi Room all weekend), Youtube "celebs" Pirate rich paints and The Terrain Tutor, Gary and the tireless team from The Lead Belt Arena running the Bring and Buy, Tim and the bars team (who this year didn't manage to run out of Britcon Ale or Ale Caesar - phew !!), Warlord Games, Gripping Beast and Mierce Miniatures who all brought their own flagship tournaments to Britcon this year, our headline sponsors Forged in Battle, Will at 7th City Collectables for introducing us to the League of Hobbits, everyone who donated their £1 beer glass deposit to our collection in aid of SSAFA, the Armed Forces charity ... and of course our just-over 500 Britcon Trade Show visitors who came, who saw, and ... along with our 400+ onsite players and 100+ trade stand staff and demo-game runners ... almost certainly made this our first ever 1,000+ attendee Britcon!!
We'll all now be taking a well earned rest for a short while, after which we'll get around to updating the Britcon web pages on our site with the 2025 info - after which we will most certainly be back next year over the weekend of 8-10th August here again in Nottingham - the heart of the Lead Belt !
We'll all now be taking a well earned rest for a short while, after which we'll get around to updating the Britcon web pages on our site with the 2025 info - after which we will most certainly be back next year over the weekend of 8-10th August here again in Nottingham - the heart of the Lead Belt !
Britcon 2024 took place over the weekend of Friday 9th to Sunday 11th August 2024 at the Nottingham Trent City Campus
Quick Links:
The Britcon Story:
The British Historical Games Society's premier event Britcon is the only wargames trade show and convention to take place in the heart of the UK's "Lead Belt" at Nottingham Trent University's City Campus.
Britcon encompasses three days of competition, social and organised play together with a two-day trade show, and in 2024 year will run over the Friday-Sunday of the weekend of 9-11th August, maintaining its longstanding "2nd weekend in August" date in the UK wargaming calendar.
The venue at Nottingham Trent is one of the largest and most modern (ie well lit and ventilated!) spaces that an UK Wargames convention take splace in, allowing us to stage all of the main competition events together in a single space as well as opening up a significant expansion into more non-competition gaming and a much larger trade show floor as well.
The City Campus buildings are right in the heart of Nottingham, and are well served by multiple transport links from across the UK and beyond. The 3-day format of the event has always been attractive to international players, with Nottingham being on the mainline from the St Pancras Eurostar Terminus, and the venue itself having a tram stop that connects to nearby East Midlands Airport right outside the front door.
This year Britcon will welcome competitors in over 20 different historical competitions and rulesets, with a number of "flagship" tournaments headed by the official Warlord Games Bolt Action GT. Even more rulesets will be on table at Nottingham's official Too Fat Lardies Games Day, with a host of Lardy favourites (including Rich and the team!) on full display. The East Midlands Megagames Group will also be running one of their "special events" and we have a number of other things in the pipeline too !
Weekend participants have the opportunity to stay on-site in our student-priced B&B accommodation - there is also a student-priced onsite bar too - allowing our gaming period to run over a variety of different timelines and formats across either a full the "Friday night + 8-8 gaming Saturday + more games on Sunday" timeline, or more traditional 1 and 2 day events and formats. In 2023 accommodation is bookable direct from the BHGS along with your gaming event ticket
This year the Britcon Trade Show will again run from 10-4 on Saturday and 10-2 on Sunday. The 2023 show featured over 25 traders and demo games including companies such as Warlord Games, Forged in Battle, Perry Miniatures, The Assault Group, Too Fat Lardies, The Pit and many others. We will again be running a ‘Startup Trader’ Zone showcasing small independent vendors who are new to market - expect to see a lot of 3D printing going on!
We are also working with the Nottingham Wargames Club and the Nottingham Board & Wargames Club (and Collective!) to support the event and run the Bring and Buy at the weekend tradeshow
We look forward to seeing you in Nottingham!
Quick Links:
The Britcon Story:
The British Historical Games Society's premier event Britcon is the only wargames trade show and convention to take place in the heart of the UK's "Lead Belt" at Nottingham Trent University's City Campus.
Britcon encompasses three days of competition, social and organised play together with a two-day trade show, and in 2024 year will run over the Friday-Sunday of the weekend of 9-11th August, maintaining its longstanding "2nd weekend in August" date in the UK wargaming calendar.
The venue at Nottingham Trent is one of the largest and most modern (ie well lit and ventilated!) spaces that an UK Wargames convention take splace in, allowing us to stage all of the main competition events together in a single space as well as opening up a significant expansion into more non-competition gaming and a much larger trade show floor as well.
The City Campus buildings are right in the heart of Nottingham, and are well served by multiple transport links from across the UK and beyond. The 3-day format of the event has always been attractive to international players, with Nottingham being on the mainline from the St Pancras Eurostar Terminus, and the venue itself having a tram stop that connects to nearby East Midlands Airport right outside the front door.
This year Britcon will welcome competitors in over 20 different historical competitions and rulesets, with a number of "flagship" tournaments headed by the official Warlord Games Bolt Action GT. Even more rulesets will be on table at Nottingham's official Too Fat Lardies Games Day, with a host of Lardy favourites (including Rich and the team!) on full display. The East Midlands Megagames Group will also be running one of their "special events" and we have a number of other things in the pipeline too !
Weekend participants have the opportunity to stay on-site in our student-priced B&B accommodation - there is also a student-priced onsite bar too - allowing our gaming period to run over a variety of different timelines and formats across either a full the "Friday night + 8-8 gaming Saturday + more games on Sunday" timeline, or more traditional 1 and 2 day events and formats. In 2023 accommodation is bookable direct from the BHGS along with your gaming event ticket
This year the Britcon Trade Show will again run from 10-4 on Saturday and 10-2 on Sunday. The 2023 show featured over 25 traders and demo games including companies such as Warlord Games, Forged in Battle, Perry Miniatures, The Assault Group, Too Fat Lardies, The Pit and many others. We will again be running a ‘Startup Trader’ Zone showcasing small independent vendors who are new to market - expect to see a lot of 3D printing going on!
We are also working with the Nottingham Wargames Club and the Nottingham Board & Wargames Club (and Collective!) to support the event and run the Bring and Buy at the weekend tradeshow
We look forward to seeing you in Nottingham!
To book a gaming ticket go to the Britcon Booking Page
To book a Trade Show Only ticket go to the
Britcon Trade Show Booking Page
Here's a gallery of photos from previous editions:
Here's a review of the 2022 show from the Retro Attic Man Cave YouTube Channel
And another from Storm of Steel, focusing mainly on the Lard Workshop games
Britcon is sponsored by Forged in Battle
Britcon is supported by the Nottingham Board & Wargames Club
Computer games giant Slitherine are supporting Britcon and will be providing a £15 discount voucher to all of our players at this year's show!
Britcon ....
- ... is the UK's biggest residential multi-period, multi-ruleset historical wargames competition
- ... has events covering over twenty different rulesets and periods for you to take part in
- ... offers onsite student-priced accommodation and an onsite bar all priced at discounted "university" rates
- ... includes Nottingham's only current wargames tradeshow
- ...takes place over the weekend of 11-13th August 2023
As well as competitions you are welcome to come along and visit the Britcon Trade Show at the weekend
(I already know I'm going - just take me to the booking form!)
What's happening this year?
- Periods being played
- Venue and onsite accommodation
- The Britcon Trade Show - trader details
- Britcon Bring & Buy
What else to look out for...?
- Free Food ! OK, not quite... this year all player entry fees include "grab bag" packed lunches (sandwich, crisps, a drink and some fruit) for Saturday and Sunday, maximising your time at the gaming table / trade show / bar and cutting out the need to queue for food when you could be rolling (or buying) dice !
- The return of the Britcon Fiver - we will hand back £5 per player (for all of the 2-day periods) in the form of the very popular "£5 off any £10 purchase with any trader" deal.
- Accomodation bookable with your entry - Nottingham Trent University have allocated one of their top-rated student halls for Bed & Breakfast accommodation for our players, literally 5 minutes walk from our gaming venues. This year you can reserve these rooms at the same time as booking your gaming ticket. You are of course also free to book and stay elsewhere if you wish, but the easy, closest and best priced option is to book through the BHGS
(I've read enough - sounds brilliant - take me to the booking form now!)