DunDraCon War College

Sequoia Room

Dana Lombardy’s 2026 War College spotlights Dana's 50-plus year career as a historian, author, editor, and game designer. This year features new seminars by Arthur Prospero on the history of poison gas, and Tom Vallejos on alternate scenarios if America entered World War One two years sooner. Ken Hite also joins Dana again on examining what-if historical turning points.

Sponsors

War College Schedule

Friday

2:00 PM Bloody Omaha Dana Lombardy
3:00 PM Play Bloody Omaha Dana Lombardy

Saturday

3:00 PM Fun with Poisoned Gas!Arthur Prospero
5:00 PM Alternate Histories Ken Hite & Dana Lombardy

Sunday

10:00 AM Teddy Roosevelt Can Do It! Tom Vallejos
3:00 PM NORAD game: 50 years later Dana Lombardy
4:00 PM Play the NORAD Game Dana Lombardy

Seminar Information

Bloody Omaha

Where the D-Day Invasion Almost Failed
Friday 2 PM in the Sequoia for 1 hours
Presenter(s): Dana Lombardy
The June 6, 1944 massive Allied invasion at Normandy, France called D-Day consisted of five beaches code named Gold, Sword, June, Utah, and Omaha. Of these, the American forces at Omaha disembarked onto a confined area with high cliffs, few exits off the beach, strong German fortifications, and immense firepower. It nearly failed.
Historian and game designer Dana Lombardy will present new artwork by acclaimed illustrator Keith Rocco along with several what if possibilities using his new game Bloody Omaha to demonstrate how history unfolded and could have been different.

Bloody Omaha Game

Friday 3 PM in the Monterey for 1 hours
Presenter(s): Dana Lombardy
Play Dana Lombardy's Bloody Omaha Game

Fun with Poisoned Gas!

Saturday 3 PM in the Sequoia for 1 hours
Presenter(s): Arthur Prospero
Join former combat engineer and history teacher Arthur Prospero for a delightful romp through the history of poisoned gas in warfare! From its delightful origins on the battlefield during the Great War to the lovely present-day weapons of mass destruction, we will take a merry hour to liven up our convention with holocausts, bleeding lungs, and nerve agents. It'll be a...GAS!

Alternate Histories

Saturday 5 PM in the Sequoia for 1 hours
Presenter(s): Ken Hite & Dana Lombardy
We look at possible changes to history, from battles to assassinations to inventions, and riff on the what-if. What if Hitler went South, not East? What if George Washington died of his smallpox? Bring your favorite change points and try to stump Ken and Dana! Free Hand Out: get our handy guide to sources for alternate histories.

Teddy Roosevelt Can Do It!

America Enters World War One in 1915
Sunday 10 AM in the Sequoia for 1 hours
Presenter(s): Tom Vallejos
Tom Vallejos explores how different the Great War and the world might have been if Teddy Roosevelt instead of Woodrow Wilson was president in 1914.

NORAD game: 50 years later

Sunday 3 PM in the Sequoia for 1 hours
Presenter(s): Dana Lombardy
Dana began his wargame career in 1972 and one of his most famous designs was published the next year. He will talk about creating this unusual game and why it was called nuclear checkers by one of the players. A demo game will be played after the presentation.

NORAD Game

Sunday 4 PM in the Monterey for 1 hours
Presenter(s): Dana Lombardy
Play Dana Lombardy's NORAD Game

Speakers

Kenneth Hite

Kenneth Hite has been a special guest at DunDraCon for many years, speaking about city building and villains and evil overlords for role-playing, what’s new at Pelgrane Press, and what’s currently “cool” in gaming. He is an award-winning writer and RPG designer with extensive books on the Cthulhu mythos, GURPS Infinite Worlds, Night’s Black Agents, and The Nazi Occult among his many published works. Ken and Dana will explore alternate histories.

Dana Lombardy

Dana Lombardy began his game design career in 1972 when he started Simulations Design Corporation (SDC) in San Diego while he was still in college. He has worked on board games, card games, role-playing supplements, magazines, books, battlefield guides, videos, and educational exhibits. Dana will show two of his games: NORAD 3, a new edition of Dana’s original 1973 design recently published with Banzai magazine; and Bloody Omaha – The Big Red One on D-Day featuring art by acclaimed artist Keith Rocco.

Arthur Prospero

Arthur Prospero is a former high school history teacher from Petaluma, California. He holds two history degrees, as well as degrees in education and natural science. He is an Alum of San Francisco State University, and the University of San Francisco. Arthur was a Combat Engineer in the United States Army, serving in Iraq in 2004. His current gaming pet project is developing an educational board game cynically exposing the military industrial complex.

Tom Vallejos

Tom Vallejos is a regular attendee of DunDraCon, a GM for historical and scifi games, and a loyal War College supporter since 2003. He is a lifelong history buff and became an alternate history fan when he was 10 and watched the “Parallel Time” storyline on “Dark Shadows”.