Houston Beer & Pretzel Wargaming is thrilled to welcome Mike Denson as our special guest at Texas BROADSIDE! 2024.

Mike will be demonstrating and/or hosting games of The Last Hundred Yards all weekend. He will be our guest lecturer on Sunday, December 15th, from 2:00 pm - 3:00 pm. Mike will be talking about his experiences as a wargame designer.

​Born and raised in Palestine, Texas, Mike has always had a deep appreciation for history and strategy. After earning a degree in Industrial Technology from Texas A&M University in 1972, he embarked on a diverse career journey. For six years, he worked in manufacturing and fabrication of heavy industrial steel products for the energy sector. He then transitioned to recruiting, spending five years as a headhunter at various firms in Houston before founding Denson & Associates in 1985. The firm specialized in recruiting petroleum engineers for the Oil & Gas industry.
 
An avid historian and lifelong wargamer, Mike has been playing strategy games for 61 years, focusing on the American Civil War, Napoleonic Wars, and World War II. His passion for wargaming led to an unexpected foray into game design in 2012. While introducing his Vietnam veteran cousin to wargaming, Mike aimed to simplify complex systems like ASL, developing a unique game system that captures the behavior and chaos of small units in combat. Over time, these efforts evolved into The Last Hundred Yards.
 
With encouragement from friends and guidance from renowned designer Dean Essig, Mike presented the game to Gene Billingsley of GMT Games. The game's publication marked the culmination of years of dedication and creativity. Today, The Last Hundred Yards reflects Mike’s creativity and lifelong passion for wargaming.
 
Married with three children, Mike continues to read explore history and play wargames.

Houston Beer & Pretzel Wargaming is thrilled to welcome Tom Castanos as our special guest at Texas BROADSIDE! 2024.

Tom will be running a game of Blood & Steel on Sunday morning, December 15th, and will be our guest lecturer on Saturday, December 14th, from 2:00 pm - 3:00 pm. Tom will be talking about his experiences as a podcaster.

Tom has been wargaming since he was 12, painting HO scale Airfix figures from his local toy store. He is the Director of Interpretation at the Alamo. He is retired from 24 years of service with the National Park Service.

In his early life, Tom was a radio host at stations from San Antonio to Boston. He is currently the host of the Anything But a One wargaming podcast as well as the Paranormal Curator and the soon to launch N Scale for Everyone podcasts.