UnionCon' 2026

UnionCon 2026 was an event to remember!

Earlier in October, I was fortunate to be able to attend the third annual UnionCon 2026 gaming event hosted by the Union Gang Wargaming Club. The event lasted two days and had a variety of hosted wargames including historical, fantasy, and science fiction. Some of the games being demoed included Arena Rex, Space Gits, Omentide, and Netjammer. The event had a very friendly atmosphere and was the perfect place to meet new gaming friends and learn a new game or two. I foolishly did not sign up for any of the hosted events before arriving, but still managed to get involved and play a few games.

UnionCon was held at the historic Brookeville Academy in Brookeville, Maryland. The building was originally used as a private academy in 1810. The Brookeville Academy was a really cool small venue with two floors; perfect for a small gaming convention!

Jarrett (anger_worm) set up two boards filled with amazing futuristic cityscape terrain to demo his cyberpunk/Neuromancer-inspired skirmish game, Netjammer. He also had a whole case of cool models that you could use to build a list and play.

Netjammer plays like a streamlined version of Malifaux. Like Malifaux, to successfully perform an action you use a deck of cards instead of dice, flipping cards off the top of your deck and comparing the card value with the cards your opponent flipped. Whoever has the higher value wins. You also have a control hand of cards that you can use to replace the cards you flip from your deck, to help modulate a bad flip on a critical test.

In the demo game I watched, the opposing crews were searching for special terminals to hack and steal funds. While you can easily play pick-up games, the game works best when played in a campaign structure. This allows you to further customize your warband, even allowing you to modify the composition of cards in your deck.

Some of the different unit types in Netjammer had abilities to hack into your opponents deck and manipulate the cards on top. Others could summon drones (which could also be hacked) to help in combat or to seize objectives.

Netjammer looked to be a really fun and engaging skirmish game. The card-based system worked really well and I found it to be more satisfying than your standard dice mechanics. I will certainly be keeping an eye out on the game and look forward to playing it in the future.

Mike (cosmic.kraken) was excited to find a new copy of Chaos Marauders at the event. It is a card-based board game released back in 1987 by Games Workshop. All of the artwork in the game was done by John Blanche, including two decks of cards with illustrations of orcs and other fantasy monsters.

The two decks of cards used in Chaos Marauders. Remarkably, all of the sets of cards for the game were still safely sealed in their original plastic shrink wrap!

Gabby (gabrielle.delbianco) and Daniel (draugr._) take advantage of a table set up for painting and other hobbying.

The event even had a sticker table where you could put stickers for others to take!

The event on Saturday had a cool Warhammer Skirmish and Warmaster Siege mini-campaign called Bogenhafen Will Burn! 

Of all the games being played at UnionCon, the one I was most excited to see was Man O’ War!

James (james.d.barker) from the Union Gang Wargaming Club hosted a six player game of Games Workshop’s Man O’ War! Man O’ War is a classic Warhammer fantasy game of naval combat released in 1993. James acted as the Game Master and did a wonderful job explaining the rules of the game and making sure everything ran smoothly. 

In addition to running the game, James (james.d.barker) provided all of the ships! Each player was able to choose which fleet to command. Sadly no one decided to play the Bretonnian or Nurgle fleets. 

Mike (cosmic.kraken) and I took command of a Plaguefleet of chaos followers of Tzeentch. We excitedly picked this fleet because it had an amazing floating castle (Bane Tower) which housed a Chaos Sorcerer!

The Tzeentch fleet was led by an equally awesome Great Winged Terror. This flying ship, similar to the Bane Tower, has a unique energy mechanic that is used for both movement and shooting. The ship starts out with six energy dice (D6s) that can be allocated for moving and shooting. Any dice allocated for movement are rolled to see how far the ship can move that turn. Any dice not used for movement can be used to strike enemies with Bolts of Tzeentch! The rulebook has some amazing and evocative Wayne England artwork of the ship (excitingly many of the ships in the game were illustrated by Wayne England).

The objective of the scenario we were playing was simple. Destroy the opposing forces' Coastal Bastion! These bastions were very formidable, boasting five cannons with a 360 degree firing arc. Each bastion also had five crew members defending the structure.

Each side had three different fleets. The forces of good were represented by the High Elves, Dwarves, and Empire. The forces of darkness were represented by the Chaos Dwarves, a Khorne Plaguefleet, and a Tzeentch Plaguefleet.

At the start of the game the direction of the wind was randomized. The direction of the wind can change throughout the course of the game, but only in the initiative phase if both players tie in their roll. The wind was in favor of the forces of good (and unfortunately never changed throughout the entire game).

The Chaos Sorcerer in a Bane Tower overlooks the battleline of ships as they approach the enemy Bastion. They begin drawing on the powers of the warp to start casting spells on their unsuspecting opponents!

The Tzeentch armada at our command had a small fleet of Chaos Deathgalleys. These are the standard line ships available to Chaos, each of which have a single bow-mounted cannon. These ships were stationed to be the main line of defense for our coastal fortress.

The wind in their sails, the forces of good steadily advance on the Chaos Coastal Bastion. An ancient High Elf Dragonship leads the assault. The High Elf fleet has the fastests ships in Man O’ War, each able to move twice in a turn (for a total of 12 inches). Additionally their Hawkships have their own unique turning template allowing them to turn 90 degrees (compared to the normal 45 degrees).

Chaos magic in Man O’ War can be very random and deadly (for both the enemy and the sorcerer themselves…). Our sorcerer was the only magic user in the game that we played.

Daniel (draugr._) commanded a Khorne Plaguefleet, complete with a unit of Ironsharks! These brutal mechanical shark-headed ships have always been some of my favorite models in the Man O’ War model line. The ships are focused solely on close-quarters combat and ramming, making them heavily reliant on movement and positioning.

The exact moment Mike (cosmic.kraken) realized Ironsharks are awful. Having such a narrow battlefield role makes them much more difficult to use effectively as opposed to the more generalized ships the forces of good were using (which can shoot, ram, and perform boarding actions).

Utilizing most of its energy, the Great Winged Terror speeds across the sea in an effort to outmaneuver the Empire forces and strike them in the rear.

The Chaos Sorcerer succeeds in casting Abject Terror on the High Elf fleet, forcing all of the ships to skip their activation for a turn cycle!

An Empire Wargalley boldly rams the Tzeentch Great Winged Terror and the brave crew attempts to board the flying monstrosity. The mighty chaos warriors aboard the Winged Terror make short work of the raiding Empire soldiers. Unfortunately, none of the slain crew turned into Pink Horrors to bolster the forces aboard the Great Winged Terror!

The Chaos Dwarf Thunderfire Battlebarge unleashes a devastating volley of rockets on the Coastal Bastion of the forces of good. The ship hits the Bastion with a staggering 10 rockets, causing significant damage and destroying several of its defensive cannons. In the following turn the Battlebarge succeeds in inflicting 10 more hits on a High Elf Eagleship. This success was short-lived because when firing again, the rocket battery misfired resulting in several explosions aboard the ship, nearly sinking it.

Despite our best efforts, the forces of evil were only able to sink a handful of ships in the enemy fleet before being mostly dismantled. At the end of the game all of the Ironsharks were stranded without any ability to move. The poor hungry sharks were unable to get into combat the entire game, cementing our negative opinion about their quality in the game. But despite this, I am eager to try and find some to build and paint in the future!

After playing my first game of Man O’ War, I went home and immediately began looking for ships to buy on eBay. Presently, I have a small orc fleet growing!

UnionCon 2026 was an amazing experience and I am looking forward to going again next year and being more involved! I am particularly interested in building and painting a small Man O’ War fleet to bring next year and play with. If you are in the Maryland area or want to attend a smaller, less hectic, and more social gaming event, I can’t recommend UnionCon enough! 

-Adam Wier