Buckeye Game Fest Acquisitions (and some other recent ones)

    One of Miniature Building Authority's Vietnam resin buildings Vietnam I picked up at BGF 2025

My Acquired vs. Painted always takes a hit around convention time. And this weekend's Buckeye Game Fest, where some of our HMGS Great Lakes game masters ran miniatures games, was no exception. We were there to showcase miniatures and hopefully recruit some new members or attendees to our upcoming events. Despite the convention being a mostly board gaming event, Miniature Building Authority was going to be in attendance. He also brought along his friend from Discover Games, so there was some shopping to be done!

    Also picked up MBA's Vietnam barn, figuring I might only need a half dozen buildings for a hamlet

I picked up four buildings from Kirk at MBA, three of his resin ones and a newer 3-D printed hut on stilts. Kirk is steadily shifting from old school, heavy resin to lighter 3-D printed terrain. These buildings were intended for my 28mm Vietnam project. He carries three buildings (and numerous bunkers, etc.) for Vietnam, and I bought one of each of the buildings. These included Vietnamese Farmer's Home and Barn, as well as his 3-D printed Jungle Hut on stilts. The fourth purchase that I thought might work for Vietnam was from his Shanty Town range. His Noodle Shop looked great, and I thought it wouldn't look out of place plopped down in Southeast Asia.

    MBA's 3-D printed hut on stilts for Vietnam - an example of his steady shift from heavier resin

MBA also carries a LOT of scatter. In fact, I have way more of Kirk's scatter in my unpainted stash than I do his buildings. I picked up his Japanese Fishing Village Items that would look good in a Vietnam village, too -- various baskets of fruits, fish, and other stuff that might be found in a village or Asian market. Kirk also saw me setting up my trailer park and handed me a 3-D printed dog, saying every trailer park has to have a mutt tied up or wandering around. Earlier, he'd given me a Galapagos tortoise in honor of my February trip to the islands that he'd enjoyed seeing my pictures from.
 

   3-D printed village scatter I picked up for Vietnam, as well as a dog & Galapagos tortoise he gave me

    3-D printed sampans that I also picked up from MBA -- he has two sizes (I got the smaller ones)

I also saw a couple small 3-D printed sampans on his racks of scatter and figs, and snagged those. I figured I can locate a Vietnam game in a village on a river, and the sampans will be great eye candy for those. He had larger ones, too, but since they're likely just going to be on the board for looks, I thought I could get away with the cheaper ones.

    Couldn't resist picking of some Fishfolk to possibly show up in my Sellswords & Spellslingers games

And speaking of fish, I couldn't resist picking up a half dozen of his 28mm 3-D printed Fishfolk, too. I figured they would be a cool addition to the creatures my "Splintered Band" of anthropomorphic animals that my heroes could encounter in my solo Sellswords & Spellslingers campaign. 

    Flower tufts, blackened rubble, and a rust effect paint were items I picked up from Discover Games

Kirk had talked his friend Alan from Discover Games to make the trip up with him from Georgia for Buckeye Game Fest. He had some interesting board games, but I was drawn to his painting and basing supplies. I picked up a box of different colored flower tufts. I think it is the identical box I got last Historicon from Michigan Toy Soldier Factory, and I am running low on those. So, it was good to find them in his booth. I was also interested in his bag of "Blackened Rubble," which I know I can use on bases of miniatures or buildings. And finally, I saw a bottle of Dirty Down's Rust effect. he showed me some examples of miniatures and terrain that he used it on, as did my friend Todd. I thought I'd give it a try, though he cautioned me it is not a paint per se, and to watch the YouTube videos on how to use it.

    Been meaning to pick up these rules for awhile, and Shieldwall Gaming's 50% off sale was the time!

My purchasing spree had actually started the weekend before Buckeye Game Fest. My friend Jeff Gatlin of Shieldwall Gaming was having his 50% off "I really mean it -- I'm closing sale" of all his inventory. Jeff has been a loyal vendor at conventions in the region and we will miss buying from him at shows. I wanted to help him out a bit since he said he needed the cash to finish off his taxes, so I laboriously went through every page of his store website. Much of it was already out of stock, of course (from his previous going out of business sales!). However, I had been thinking of picking up Rangers of the Shadowdeep rules for awhile, and couldn't pass up a 50% off price on the booklet.

    I picked these Warhost Orcs at 50% off -- they're really nice metal (which I prefer) castings!

While scrolling through his site, I also saw a new 28mm fantasy miniatures line called Warhost. Apparently, it just was released at Adepticon 2025 last month, so I was surprised to see such a complete collection on his site. My friends and I are big fans of the "Rampant" series of games, and will likely pick up and begin playing Dragon Rampant when the second edition is released in October. There was some confusion on how many figures were actually in each pack or box, but it seemed like a good price. Fantasy figures are not cheap nowadays, with Games Workshop's ridiculous influence. So, I grabbed four packs of Orcs. They ended up being in blister packs of four (not the 2, 8, or 10 alluded to in the description). So, I have a start on an Orc force if I ever need one. This was definitely an impulse, "help Jeff' type of purchase -- not for a definite project. 

    The 4th building I picked up from MBA - a Noodle Shop from their Shanty Town range

MINIATURES Acquired vs. Painted Tally for 2025

• Miniatures acquired in 2025: 143
  
• Miniatures painted in 2025: 60 

TERRAIN Acquired vs. Painted Tally for 2025

• Terrain acquired in 2025: 19
  
• Terrain painted in 2025: 22

SCATTER Acquired vs. Painted Tally for 2025

• Scatter acquired in 2025: 54
  
• Scatter painted in 2025: 55