Purchases from Origins 2024

Exhibit Hall at Origins 2024 -- picture taken by another attendee's FB post (thanks Scott Brady!)

I didn't have high expectations for the Exhibit Hall at Origins. It is a multi-genre convention, and to be honest, the role players and board gamers probably outnumber the miniatures folk handily. So, I wasn't expecting a lot of miniatures or terrain that I would want to buy. I do play a decent number of board games, though. There was one I was looking to pick up, and who knows? I might find another one that looked interesting.

    I was looking for this but couldn't find it in the Exhibit Hall

To start with, I couldn't find the one game I was looking for (Aliens: Another Glorious Day in the Corps). It is four years old, but that's not exactly Ancient. So, I was surprised none of the board game companies in the Exhibit Hall carried. it. As for another board game that might catch my eye, most of the big board game companies were not in attendance at Origins. Instead, there were a lot of smaller or mid-size companies in the Exhibit Hall. I glanced at their games, but it was really sensory overload. Dozens and dozens of brightly-colored boards with brightly-colored pieces or counters. Lots of "cutesy" style games, with cartoonish boxes. Nothing really jumped out at me, and other slightly older board games I'd been considering picking up simply weren't on the shelves.

    I liked these 3-D printed "Gatorfolk" miniatures from Beldolor Studies & eventually bought some

I did find one 3-D printed miniature booth that always had a crowd around its table. It was Beldolor Studios. Their figures are anthropomorphic gators, frogs, fish, and other such things. They also had some bizarre, creepy monsters like their Xenocats. Prices were a bit steep at $8 for a 28mm figures, but they also had a bin of misprints. I went back to their booth several times, pondering what to buy. I eventually settled on five of their Gatorfolk -- three misprints that I will change the weapons out on and two Gatorfolk "Thagomizers." Yes, that is Thagomizer, as in a spiky tail from the Far Side cartoon! I will probably use them as aliens for Sci-Fi skirmishes.

 

    I picked up these two bags of 3-D printed bottles to use as debris on the bases of my post-apoc figs

I also stopped by Elrik's Hobbies a number of times, too, deciding what to buy. In the end, I picked up two small packs of 3-D printed bottles to use on bases for my post-apocalyptic and zombie games. I already am tossing 28mm scale bricks onto the bases, as well as rubble, broken pieces of wood, etc. I thought small bottles would be perfect scatter for the bases, too. In fact, I've already snipped off a number of the bottles and put them on the bases of some post-apocalyptic survivors. I also picked up a cavern bridge -- just because it was a very cool model and only $11! Think of the chase scene under the Misty Mountains in Peter Jackson's The Hobbit and you'll get an idea what it looks like. 

    I also picked up this Cavern Bridge Set, which at $11 I felt was a steal (it's more than a foot long)

And that's it! Despite being given a $100 Visa gift card recently by a friend, and despite having money from rules sales, I didn't buy anything else. I suppose I will not be so restrained on my purchases next month when Historicon 2024 rolls around. Still, if you look at my tally below, I am still in the green! I've painted more miniatures in 2024 than I've purchased. We will see if that trend keeps up...!

Miniature Painting & Purchasing Tally for 2024

• Miniatures acquired in 2024: 64
• Miniatures painted in 2024: 74