Historicon 2024 Purchases

    My haul from Bad Goblin Games at Historicon 2024 -- some amazing 3D printed trailers and more!

For the first time in a long time, I was attending a major convention and NOT running a game. I have attended a few here and there when I was just playing in a Saga tournament, but I honestly think it has been nearly a decade since I went to a big con just to play games. Why? Well, maybe my recent retirement from teaching got me in that relaxation frame of mind! Either way, I would have plenty of time in the vendor area this visit. And what's even better, I also had some "mad money" burning a hole in my pocket so to speak, with possibly more on the way.

    I bid adieu to my 15mm SYW armies in the Historicon flea market, gaining a nice influx of cash

The first influx of finances to spend in the dealer area came from my friend Dave W, who gave me a $100 Visa gift card at my retirement party. This was incredibly unexpected and generous! I immediately earmarked it for hobby purchases. Since I like to support the local vendors as much as possible, I used about 2/3 of it to buy the Aliens: Another Glorious Day in the Corps board game. We had played Keith's copy a few weeks back, and I really liked how it worked. I envisioned it being a good game to pull out when Jenny and I want to play a game some evening. Being cooperative (and possible to play in campaign mode), made it all the better! The second influx to my finances was another $100 gift card that came in the mail the day before we left as a rebate for my annual contact lens prescription. SCORE!

    A closeup of the two fortified trailers that I purchased -- out of more the dozen or so styles they sell

The "possibly more on the way" refers to the fact that I was taking stuff to sell in Wally's Basement -- the Historicon flea market. It had been more than a decade since I gamed with my 15mm Seven Years War collection. I figured it was time to get something out of it. I went with my usual price -- $1 for a painted foot figure, $2 for painted cavalry (or cannons). Then I took 25% off if the purchaser bought the entire army (my preference). Thus, the smallest army, the British, would go for $100. I would accept $175 for the Prussian and $165 for the Austrian army. The night before I left, I found my ziplock bags of unpainted 15mm Ancients and Seven Years War figures. I tossed those in a bag to take, as well.

    Flickering LEDs come with these scatter pieces -- a dumpster fire, barrel, and pit fire

My friend Jason M from South Carolina usually books a couple sessions of flea market tables, and usually lets me put some of my stuff on his table. I decided to sit alongside him during his Friday 10am-1pm session. In the end, I sold everything -- ALL OF IT! I credit Jason for selling the unpainted lead (for a lot more than I was asking). I was at the table and sold the painted armies, also for more than I expected. In the end, I made more than $400 off the flea market. Tossing in the gift cards, it meant that it would pay for all my purchases in the Exhibit Hall and my share of the hotel room. I was definitely feeling like a thrifty retiree after realizing that...ha, ha!

So, let's get on to the purchases! After all, that's probably why you're reading this blog entry -- not to listen to me rub my hands together in greed. My biggest purchases were from a new company to me: Bad Goblin Games. I played in their Saturday running of Trailer Park Warlords of the Apocalypse. This slightly tongue-in-cheek game is set in a world of hillbilly gangs battling it out with mutated animals and plants for control of a post-apocalyptic world. I enjoyed the game quite a bit. In fact, it was my favorite of the four games that I played over the weekend. We each controlled four figures and were shooting it out with each other to gain control of a monster truck stalled in the middle of the table. The key to gaining control was an ornery pig who had a "kill switch" implanted inside him by the former owner that would allow the truck to be started. It was a blast and I may likely pick up the rules when they are published.

Anyway, what drew my eye towards their table in the vendor area was the amazing selection of 3-D printed terrain and scatter. My favorites were the dozen varieties of trailers, most designed in a "ruined" or "fortified" state. For only $25 a trailer, I knew I simply could not pass them up. I picked up two varieties of the fortified trailers on Friday (before I'd played in the game), as well as a very cool porch to place alongside the one Sarissa Precision MDF trailer I have yet to build. After playing in their game Saturday, I made another visit to their booth to buy more! The GM told us our game tickets would be $5 off any purchases. Jenny handed me her ticket, so I added even more to my haul from Bad Goblin Games.

    Water tower & large porch I also purchased from Bad Goblin Games -- wonderful pieces of terrain!

One of their signature pieces, besides the trailers, were the huge, 28mm scale water towers. At only $25 ($15 with the two $5 off tickets), I couldn't pass it up. I have a 15mm water tower already, but this would be an amazing piece of eye candy for the tabletop. And speaking of eye candy, they also had a number of pieces of scatter terrain with built-in LEDs, batteries, and translucent material to look like flames. I picked up a dumpster fire, pit fire, and barrel fire. Afterwards, my friends and I were marveling at their prices and how incredibly affordable they were. In all, I spent about $100 at Bad Goblin. We agreed that at many other places, these terrain and scatter pieces would have cost much, much more.

    I wanted smaller zombies to match my 3D prints, and Lon of Brigade Games found these for me

My first actual stop in the Exhibit Hall was at Brigade Games, owned by Lon Weiss. He was inducted this year into the Historicon Hall of Fame for lifetime achievement. He carries most of our First Command Wargames rules and is always friendly and helpful with finding poses or specific miniatures. And that was exactly the quest I sent him on! I wanted a post-apocalyptic survivor armed with a crossbow. He walked me immediately to a box and quickly found a pack of four survivors, one of which was armed with a crossbow. When I mentioned I was looking for some smaller zombies to match my 3D printed zombies, he picked out a pack from his Drug War Z line of figures. It was two children zombies, but they looked like they'd match my current zombies perfectly. 

    

Finally, I picked up a set of rules on whimsy. Yes, I know that Jenny will tell you that I am the antithesis of "whimsy." Don't listen to her. My friend Keith F of OrcaFinn's Basement has run a number of "hunt" games for us in the past. Usually they are dino hunts, but we have done cavemen hunting mammoths and other fun games with him, too. Once, we even did dinosaurs hunting Nazis! Anyway, I saw this set of rules, "Mexican Jack Squint Presents the Lion East Tonight" by Howard Whitehouse and immediately thought of him. Hopefully, he'll find that they make for a good game and entertain us with them at some Sunday evening gaming session.

    These plastic zombies seemed to be smaller scale and will hopefully fit with the ones I've painted

And as long as we are talking about zombies, I may as well show you my only purchase from Wally's Basement (Historicon flea market). In general, I thought items in the flea market this year were priced WAY higher than I expected. I did a walk through on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday and found many a table with the exact same stuff on all three days. Little seemed to be selling -- at least on what I considered the higher priced tables. That's why I discount everything I am selling. I don't want to take it home. I'm not looking for "what it is worth," but instead the highest price that guarantees it will be sold. It's a fine line, and I'm thinking some folks missed high when aiming for that line this year. Anyway, I found a gentleman selling this box of 30 plastic zombies from Wargames Factory. They definitely seemed to be smaller sized for 28mm -- like my ones I purchased from JS Wargamer Printing. I talked him down from $25 to $15 and now I have to figure out a way to glue them together! Some come with separate upper and lower torsos, left arm, right arm, and head! KEEIITTHH! Maybe my friend Keith, who is much handier with gluing things, will do them for me...

    'Refugee Car' from Miniature Building Authority -- some of the scatter I picked up at Historicon

Speaking of favorite vendors, it was great to talk to Kirk from Miniature Building Authority. We compared notes on retirement, as he has recently retired from all but MBA. He said he WOULD be coming to Advance the Colors 2024 as a vendor, which made me happy. He did really well at our show in 2022, but then not as well last year when an estate sale masquerading as a flea market sucked the hall dry of the cash many people had brought to the show to spend. I promised last year's vendors that I would do my best to keep that from happening this year. Anyway, MBA's buildings and scatter terrain are phenomenal and an industry standard. Since I still have some of his buildings left to build, I focused on picking up scatter from him that I could use. I couldn't resist the "Refugee Car" this time around, and snatched one up off of his rack. I also picked up some other miscellaneous scatter that I am hoping I can use to create "noise markers" for my zombie games. His displays at conventions are always so inspirational. I'm sure when he comes to ATC this October 11-12, I'll be picking up even more of his buildings!

    Two more 28mm 3D printed vehicles I picked up from Diabolical Terrain, and a Sci-Fi building

I also always enjoy talking to Ron from Diabolical Terrain at conventions. I had just seen him at DayCon 2024 when he regaled me with the results of his Atlantic cruise that was supposed to include stops in Greenland and other places. Nearly every shore excursion was canceled because of dense fog, he said. I had been looking forward to his travel notes from one of the places I haven't visited and want to go, but felt awful when hearing about his and his wife's experiences. I had picked up some 28mm 3D printed vehicles from him at DayCon, but couldn't resist getting some more at Historicon. I want to take the large ambulance and see if I can use it as a core to convert into a recreation vehicle/camper. Jenny encouraged me to pick up the vintage VW bus, too, which I will have fun decorating up in a suitably stoner way! I also grabbed a large 28mm Sci-Fi building for either Xenos Rampant or Five Parsecs from Home. Ron will also be at ATC this October, so doubtless I will snatch up more of his amazingly smooth, 3D prints.

    This 'NYC Terrain' box was at 40% off and was a deal that I couldn't pass up

I have forgotten the name of the vendor, but I had one final "can't resist" purchase. At many visits to our local Guardtower East game store, I had ogled the terrain for the Marcel Crisis Protocal game. I even picked up one box of four wrecked cars, which painted up nicely. There is much other very nice stuff, but I feel it is way too expensive of a line. However, it was 40% off, and with it containing two buildings, two dumpsters, two cars, and two street lights, I felt I had to get it. I am actually trying to find a way to do street lights for my urban set ups, so I look forward to seeing if I can duplicate these pieces using craft store materials.

    Bag of "fool's gold" from Pastimes on the Square makes excellent concrete rubble when painted

Oops - I forgot! There was one final purchase (my cheapest, actually). I have bought scatter terrain from Pastimes on the Square at conventions for many years. They make many of the small shrubs and bushes that I place hear and there across my battlefields to give it a more realistic and irregular look. Well, for my zombie figures, I've been putting small pieces of what look like concrete rubble on the bases. My tiny bag of "fools gold" I was given years ago was about empty. What did I see at their booth but another massive bag for only $5? So, my final purchase was made, and I was ready to call my shopping at Historicon a success. The visa gift cards were all used up and some of my flea market money, as well. However -- as mentioned earlier -- I still had enough left over from my sales to pay for my share of the room. So, not only was my visit to the Exhibit Hall at Historicon 2024 a success, it was a bargain, too!

Miniature Painting & Purchasing Tally for 2024

• Miniatures acquired in 2024: 104
• Miniatures painted in 2024: 95