Cincycon 2025 Purchases

    Do you have one of these? You would if you had attended Cincycon 2025 like I did this past weekend

It's Monday after Cincycon 2025, so that means it is time for a quick overview of my acquisitions from the convention. My spending was certainly not over the top at this convention, partially because there were only so many vendors that carried things I needed. I would also like to take credit for being more disciplined in spending, but I know that is likely a matter of opinion! I spent about $100 at the show, but did not attempt to offset that with flea market sales or similar. I did recently receive birthday money, so I guess I could say I was just buying presents for myself!

    3-D printed "dead trees" from A Critical Hit to enlarge my growing (??) dead forest

I dropped the biggest amount of money at the booth for A Critical Hit. Blair carries 3-D printed scatter terrain and has greatly expanded her line since I first saw her last year at Cincycon. She makes lots of useful scatter for modern, fantasy, Sci-Fi -- you name it! What first caught my eye were the "dead trees" in various sizes. I grabbed five of them (only $3 each, and they are fairly large!). These will "paint up" very quickly. I intend to just do a base coat, dry brush, and black wash on them. After flocking their bases, they'll be added to the dead tree collection I've picked up from Jarl's Workshop and Mantic Games. Expect to see them done quickly, as I want to keep my Acquired vs. Painted at a reasonable ratio...!

    I love A Critical Hit's Sci-Fi scatter -- especially the pieces that use the 'color shift' filament

Some of my readers may remember the Sci-Fi scatter I painted up from A Critical Hit last year. I was struck by the "color shift" effect the material she uses to print some of her pieces. I asked her about it and she said it is three separate colors spiraled together into a filament, which causes the surface to change colors when viewing from different angles. Even though I knew I had plenty of Sci-Fi scatter, I couldn't resist buying a handful more pieces. One is another weird vegetation-encrusted alien nodule. Three are Sci-Fi containers for objective markers, and the last has three cylinders that look like rockets laying on their sides. These may not get painted up immediately, or at least until I start my Sci-Fi gaming back up.

    These tables & chairs will likely be the first thing from my purchases that is readied for the tabletop

What may be the first to be done are the two wooden tables and four chairs. Already printed in brown, I will likely do a dry brush of tan on them and a dark brown wash. Hopefully, they'll look just perfect after that and I won't have much else to do on them. They'll work perfect for any modern, post-apoc, or zombie game.

    These capitals, or tops of Greek or Roman columns, will take almost no time to be ready as well!

Another purchase that should take even less time is the "capitals" or tops of Greek or Roman columns. They're already in printed in gray, and I will likely do only a dry brush and black wash on them, too. I'll toss the three of those that I bought in with my ruins scatter that I can use in various games. 

    I like how they print much of their scatter in colored filament so that you can use them 'as is'

For modern games, I picked up four fire hyrants and four trash cans. These will also take very little time to prep for the tabletop, mainly just a dry brush and wash again. I like how Blair prints much of her scatter so that it can almost be used straight off the shelf. Some people may use it that way, but knowing how quickly a dry brush and wash can be done and how much better it will make it look, I have no problem putting in this amount of time. The 3-D material used has a slight sheen, though, so at the minimum I would suggest people doing a clear coat spray on the pieces to take that luster off.

    Even though I have no current need for them, I couldn't resist these colorful crystals

The final purchase from A Critical Hit was a series of variously sized crystals. I bought two larger ones, two medium ones, and three smaller ones. The larger and medium sized ones do not have a "base" and will take zero preparation. They don't have ground depicted on them and will be used "as is." The smaller ones have a surface depicted. I plan on giving them a black rocky surface using a coal ballast material I picked up from the train store. I want to get them completed soon, too, as I know how little time they'll take...!

    I think I can handle putting together these MDF double-barreled turrets from Dad's Armies

I also visited the booth for Dad's Armies, who carries MDF structures and buildings for various periods, especially Sci-Fi. The genesis of many of his products was from the Impudent Mortals line of MDF products, which he purchased and now produces. Last year, I bought four packs from him at Advance the Colors. However, I struggled to put them together. I am not good at jigsaw puzzles (nor do I enjoy them). After attempting to put the simplest of the four together a month ago or so, I gave up. So, I brought the two more complex ones with me, knowing he would be at Cincycon. I placed them on his table, and confessed to him that I suck at jigsaw puzzles. I offered to give them back to him so he could sell them to someone else. Unexpectedly, John asked me, "Do you want me to put them together for you?" I said yes, and asked him how much. He said no charge, but it might take awhile. I told him to take his time -- no hurry. Much to my surprise, he had the largest of the buildings ready by Saturday at Cincycon! Now, THAT is service!!!

 

    In gratitude for John at Dad's Armies generosity, I purchased this laser pointer from him

Since he wasn't charging me anything, I felt that I had to buy something from his stand. I picked up a laser pointer for doing lines of sight on gaming tables, and an MDF kit that looked so simple even *I* could do it. It was a pack of 12 MDF double-barreled turrets ostensibly produced for Gaslands. To me, they looked more like something for a space station or Sci-Fi game. If I ever get back to doing Space Station Zero, they will come in handy. They can also be used in various other Sci-Fi games as perimeter defenses or whatever. I think I should be able to handle putting these together...!

    This book covers the Big Red One's engagements in Vietnam -- which is exactly what my new project

My last purchase was a great find at The Nafziger Collection. George is from Ohio and a loyal vendor at regional conventions. He sells books and other source material and has been coming to our conventions since I can remember. He had a book that covered the engagements of "The Big Red One" (1st Infantry Division) in Vietnam. I was actually planning on having my platoon that I paint up for my Vietnam project be from the Big Red One, so this was a serendipitous find! So, this was a great birthday present to myself!

 

    Individual, 3-D printed cinder blocks from Bad Goblin Games -- I requested these & they delivered!

My final acquisition was not a purchase at all (I think...I hope!). Two members of Bad Goblin Games, who make the amazing 3-D printed trailers you've seen here on my blog, were going to be in Cincinnati for several weeks for work. Since their visit coincided with Cincycon, they told me they were planning on attending when I saw them at Siege of Augusta in January. I told them that if they wanted to run a game, I would be happy to bring down a game mat and terrain for them. They messaged me a month later to say they had signed up to run a couple games. They had their miniatures and plenty of scatter, but would I bring some of my trailers? Absolutely! I brought all five of my trailers and two other buildings for them to use. In gratitude, they brought me a pack of individual cinder blocks (I'd asked if they made them, and in response, they printed some out). They also brought me three of their 3-D printed, 28mm miniatures for my post-apocalyptic, zombie, or Sci-Fi games. They didn't ask for money when they handed them to me, so I hope they were meant to be a thank you for bringing my terrain (and promoting their products on my blog and on Facebook). If I was meant to buy them, that would be a giant-sized, "OOOPS!" 

    These are the 3 figs that Bad Goblin brought with them to Cincycon for me (pics from their website)

Oh wait, there was another "acquisition" or two! Attendees to Cincycon receive a free 28mm Cincycon miniature. It is always a pig-faced humanoid of some sort. Jenny always gives me hers because she doesn't want them. Appropriately enough, this year's figure is a Sci-Fi one. So, two of them were added to my collection of anthropomorphic "oinkers" I've collected over the years of my attendance.

So, yes, expect to see some of these items being prepped and ready for the tabletop here soon. Otherwise, what is on my desk at the moment? I have a batch of eight mounted Dark Age Welsh cavalry under way. I also have just finished priming two scratch-built shipping container buildings. I got the idea from a Miniature Building Authority purchase, and converted two Reaper plastic shipping containers. I'll start painting them as soon as tomorrow. Otherwise, it may be a few more days before I publish another post. These things on my desk will likely take a bit of time! In the meantime, check out the hit my Acquired vs. Painted has taken below...!

MINIATURES Acquired vs. Painted Tally for 2025

• Miniatures acquired in 2025: 100
  
• Miniatures painted in 2025: 15 

TERRAIN Acquired vs. Painted Tally for 2025

• Terrain acquired in 2025: 10
  
• Terrain painted in 2025: 9

SCATTER Acquired vs. Painted Tally for 2025

• Scatter acquired in 2025: 51
  
• Scatter painted in 2025: 5

Purchases from Siege of Augusta 2025

    Damaged Trailer #2 - one of Bad Goblin Games' excellent 3-D printed pieces of terrain

My first convention of the year was a drive down south to visit my friend Jason in South Carolina. He usually attends Siege of Augusta every year, taking his two high school age kids along with him. Jenny and I drove down Thursday and spent the evening with him before we all headed to the convention for Friday and Saturday. I'll do another post covering the games I played in at Siege, but here is my overview of what I bought while there. Knowing ahead of time that both Miniature Building Authority and Bad Goblin Games were going to be there, I expected to drop some cash!

    Fortified Trailer #2 - which is the 3rd of Bad Goblin's fortified ones that I own - can't wait to paint it!

My first purchases were at Bad Goblin Games, since I knew how quickly their products sold out when I first saw them at Historicon 2024. I picked up two more of their 3-D printed trailers, one fortified and one "damaged". These are truly excellent pieces of terrain. All of the sandbags, tires, wooden palettes, and such are all printed on. All you have to do is prime and paint them. Once these two are done, that will put me at five trailers for the tabletop. This will give me the chance to run a game set exclusively inside a trailer park and not have it as the "bad side of town" on a city board. I am looking forward to painting these up!

    Cinder block walls & random scatter I picked up from Bad Goblin (& a free pack of ladders!)

Also purchased from Bad Goblin Games were some 3-D printed cinder blocks. They were out of them at Historicon once I decided to go back and buy them, so I wanted to make sure I got them before they sold out again. They have two packs -- one of straight cinder block walls, and another of more random piles of them. I am curious to see if I can cut some of the walls up so that I also have individual cinder blocks. I could use them for various pieces of scatter on the bases of walls or even larger figures. Either way, at $8 a pack, these are incredibly affordable -- as are all of Bad Goblin's products.

    Besides making very cool trailers and other scatter, I love Bad Goblin's LED lit fires and other items

Another of the products that Bad Goblin makes that I love is its range of fires. At Historicon, I'd picked up one each of their Dumpster Fire, Barrel Fire, and Pit Fire. This time, I grabbed two packs of their generic fire markers, which has the battery and flickering LED light contained underneath and inside the fire marker. I can place these anywhere on the board, and honestly, should probably have bought yet another pack of them...ha, ha! I'd forgotten about their Scrying Pools and such. These come with different colors and also LEDs that slowly fade and brighten. I couldn't resist grabbing one of the scrying pools. Very cool stuff to have on the tabletop of a miniature game! Oh, and in thanks for my previous posts on Lead Legionaries about their products, they threw in a free pack of 28mm Ladders, too. I'd said they should sell those separately, instead of just including them in the trailers and water towers, and they aparently agreed!

    Miniature Building Authority's two story Customs House with balcony which I picked up on sale

Awhile back, a friend of mine urged me to stop at Miniature Building Authority early on when visiting a convention they were attending as a dealer. He said they often have special deals, so this time I actually followed through on his advice! I found this two story Customs House on sale for just $40!! Now, it was marked down because there was no roof (not sure if it had been lost or damaged). However, I can easily make a roof myself. I do also need to make a second floor to place atop the first floor room walls, but that will be equally easy to cut to size. I really look forward to getting this piece painted up and on the tabletop. It'll make a great anchor piece for a modern city street.

    This MBA "Souq" will match my other buildings I have from them and can be used in many periods

I had intended to pick up 2-3 more buildings from Kirk at MBA while at Siege, but I waited till Saturday to pick out which ones. MBA has so many cool buildings with character, that it was simply a matter of deciding which ones I liked best. I have a number of their stone buildings which are intended for the Middle East, but can be used for just about any era -- including Sci-Fi. I ended up picking up their "Souq", which is a stone building with three small storefronts. I'll likely paint it to match the other MBA buildings I have.

    MBA's Shanty Town range has a number of flavorful buildings I can use for  Modern & Post-apoc

I have to admit, that in addition to picking up the "Contractor's Office" (which is a building ostensibly made from a modified shipping container) from Kirk, I am soooo stealing this idea! I have at least one or two Reaper shipping containers sitting amidst my unpainted terrain. So, I'll be making my own, too! Anyway, this piece is very cool and could be used on a modern construction site, for post-apocalyptic games, in a trailer park -- you name it! I'm thinking it should paint up very quickly, so it will be one of the many buildings jostling for position at the front of the line on my painting desk!

    Some of the great scatter terrain that Kirk brings to shows and hangs on his racks to entice buyers

As some of you may know, I keep a list of all unpainted terrain that I have sitting in my closet waiting for its turn to be readied for the tabletop. A number of those items on the list are from MBA's extensive line of resin scatter terrain. I love spinning the racks and searching through what he brings at every show. I picked up a few more this time, one for a project under way this year and another couple for a "one day" project. I have visited many Mayan, Aztec, and Incan sites in my travels. I really want to game the period one day, but have never gotten around to it. That hasn't stopped me from collecting great terrain and scatter pieces, though! So, I picked up a couple small Olmec heads and a very cool Aztec calendar to add to my collection. I also grabbed a pair of Asian water buffaloes for my Vietnam project I'm starting this year.

    A new vendor I'd not encountered before had some amazing 3-D printed Sci-Fi terrain

My final purchase at Siege of Augusta wa from Bryan Stroup, who I believe is calling his 3D-printing business Garrison 3D. He had a huge display of amazing Sci-Fi buildings, as well as some Ancient, Medieval, and Western, I believe. I almost bought in big, but considering my larger purchases already at Bad Goblin and MBA, I limited myself to a half dozen Sci-Fi Transmitters. These were really cool looking scatter pieces I can add to my Sci-Fi tabletop. Six of them for only $10 was too good a deal to resist. My friend Jason went bigger, though, and grabbed his huge, domed Ancient temple, which appeared to be modeled on the Roman Pantheon, for his Stargate games. Great stuff! And I hope to see Bryan and his prints at another show.

    Not the greatest pictures, but here are Ragnar Lothbrok from the Vikings TV series & friends

The final purchase in this post was actually done online. It did arrive while I was at Siege of Augusta, but I'd ordered a week or so earlier. I've decided that for my Viking Town Raid game that I will be running at shows this year I will use Ragnar Lothbrok and his friends and family as the leaders of each player's group. I went online and searched various 28mm miniatures that evoked (or were modeled on) the characters from the Vikings series, and chose the ones from Brigade Games. These will be the next miniatures to be painted, as soon as I finish the six on my desk that are mostly complete. So, expect better pictures of Ragnar, Lagertha, Rollo, Floki, and Bjorn soon!

MINIATURES Acquired vs. Painted Tally for 2025

• Miniatures acquired in 2025: 7
  
• Miniatures painted in 2025: 4 

TERRAIN Acquired vs. Painted Tally for 2025

• Terrain acquired in 2025: 5
  
• Terrain painted in 2025: 4

SCATTER Acquired vs. Painted Tally for 2025

• Scatter acquired in 2025: 9
  
• Scatter painted in 2025: 1

Purchases from Advance the Colors 2024

    My acquisitions from ATC 2024 all laid out on my purchased "Frostgrave" snow neoprene mat

Advance the Colors is my local HMGS chapter's flagship convention. As such, it is the "biggie" for me as far as time and effort I put into helping organize and run it. This year, I was the vendor coordinator, flea market coordinator, and all-around assistant for Convention Director Randy Miller. At any convention I attend, I like to support the vendors and make (probably) more purchases than I truly need. However, without dealers at a convention, something is missing, I feel. You need gamers, GMs, and vendors -- the three legs of the stool -- for a truly fulfilling, good con. My opinion, of course!

So, it is no surprise that I spent a lot of money at ATC this year (um...again). I thought I'd do a blog post running down what I acquired at the show. I say acquired rather than purchased because I actually won a couple things in the raffle - woo-hoo! I can pretty much guarantee this will be the last major purchase(s) of the year for me. In fact, it may be my last convention of the year. There's an outside chance I will go up to Fort Meigs in Perrysburg, OH, for World at War, Nov. 1-2. Considering I leave for Morocco less than weeks later, there is a possibility it won't happen, though. We shall see.

    I picked up both of these boxes -- not for Stargrave -- but for my Sci-Fi skirmishes from Shieldwall

Let's talk about the simplest purchase, first. I need some Star Wars style "rebels" for my Sci-Fi skirmishes. I have painted up quite a few things I can use for mercenaries, corporate security, imperial stormtroopers (see next post), criminal syndicates, and even some Mon Calamari ("It's a trap!"). However, I really don't have anything that screams rebellion type figures if I am doing a skirmish in the Star Wars universe (which I want to do). I knew my friend Jeff Gatlin of Shieldwall Gaming carries the Stargrave plastic kits, so I searched online through the various sets on his website. Sure enough, one of the "Crew" sets seemed to fit the bill. Since he's such a great guy, and I wouldn't be purchasing any Saga stuff from him this show, I bought both the "Crew" and "Crew II" boxes. And yes, for some reason, I can actually handle assembling these plastic figures. Normally, I hate putting together multipart figures and avoid them like the plague. However, since I already have successfully done so with the Troopers and one of the Mercenaries boxes I bought from him, I figured (ha, ha) I could handle these.

    A section of my 6'x4' snow and ice or 'Frostgrave' mat I purchased from Griffons Lair

Speaking of Stargrave, which I do not play, I did pick up a 6'x4' neoprene mat for the original game in that series, Frostgrave. I wanted it because it is one of the few types of terrain that I don't have a big mat for. I have jungle, desert, plains, rocky, etc., but no ice. It just so happened that a new vendor to ATC, Griffons Lair from Erie, PA, had a nice selection of mats. I noticed the snow and ice one right away after they finished setting up on Friday. I waited till Saturday to buy it -- probably not wise, in general -- but luckily no one else had picked it up, yet! I know that I won't use it all that often, but it was something I had been looking for to have waiting when I did need one. Remember - I always try to support the vendors at the conventions I attend! 

    My raffle win from ATC -- I know nothing of the game, but thought a couple minis looked cool

Speaking of Griffons Lair, they were the vendor who donated the raffle item that I won this weekend. They are from a game (or line of miniatures?) called ABC Warriors. The tag line on the Warlord Games website says, "Supreme military robots, created for a conflict that ended centuries ago, the ABC Warriors are built to endure warfare in all its deadly forms – atomic, bacterial and chemical.." My friend Mike S pointed them out to me as we were cruising the three tables stocked with raffle donations. I am generally not a fan of "big stompy robots", but who knows? Maybe I could find a use for one or more of these very interesting looking miniatures! Anyway, if you look at the price tags on each box in the picture above, you see how incredibly generous Griffons Lair (and all the other vendors who donated items at ATC), truly were! Thanks, Steven and James -- it was nice to have you at our convention and hope to see you back again next year!!

    More purchases for my Sci-Fi games from RRB Minis & More -- lots of robots/droids!!

Another of my "acquisitions" ended up costing me no cash, as well. I had picked out a few things from my friend Rich Brown of RRB Minis and More's website before the convention and asked him to bring them down. I have a few of his Sci-Fi scatter items painted up and part of my collection. I picked out a few more -- 3-D printed Large and Very Large Habitat pods, as well as a large Arcane Energy Collector. What I really wanted from him were some robot or droid like figures from the venerable Reviresco line of metal miniatures. Particularly, I wanted ones with tracks like the Robot Power Gun I painted up almost a year ago. I picked up a half dozen of these figures. There is a very good chance I will cannibalize one or more of them for their tracks. I plan to paint up/model a variety of droids and robots soon for my Sci-Fi skirmishes, and these are a big part of my plan. Oh, and I say "acquired" rather than purchased because I traded some painted Splintered Light Miniatures for them (see below).

    My purchases from Diabolical Terrain include three large, 3-D printed Sci-Fi buildings

Speaking of my Sci-Fi games, I have picked up quite a bit of scatter for those games from my friend Ron Weaver of Diabolical Terrain. Ron and I regularly give each other grief, but he does some of the cleanest 3-D printing around. You have to struggle and look closely to find any print lines. Normally, they disappear immediately once you prime the model. I appreciate him taking the extra time to print a high quality product. This time, though, I was picking up buildings. I got three relatively large Sci-Fi buildings that wouldn't look out of place on Tatooine for what I feel was a very good price. They will be painted up relatively soon, and will likely be ditching other buildings that were in line ahead of them! In addition, he had some cool Sci-Fi trucks that would look good at a spaceport or something, so I grabbed one of those, too. My final purchase from him was some textured round bases for Sci-Fi figs. Just in case I want to mix things up and use something besides my "asphalt" look, these will come in handy.

    Not exciting looking now (bag of MDF) but these are really cool pieces of terrain from Dad's Armies

Another vendor who made the trip to Springfield, OH, from Pennsylvania was Dad's Armies. Sorry for the lack of a link, but reach out to me in person for an email of one of the owners. I believe they are still working on getting a webstore up and running. Anyway, John and his wife Patty Elbro purchased the Impudent Mortals line back in 2021, I believe. They carry a variety of items besides that line, but I was excited to pick up some of their MDF Sci-Fi terrain. Much of it has of a gritty, industrial look -- perfect for the Star Wars universe. My friend Mike S went to town and bought quite a bit of it. I limited myself to a really cool saucer-shaped building, a Rylos Arctec TL-42 space fighter, a "hopper" flying vehicle, and a leaf punch from Green Stuff World.

    My friend Derek J kindly gave me a couple retirement gifts - modern scatter for my games

The last "acquisition" was a gift from my friend Derek J from Indiana. He and I have a running joke that he's going to steal my scatter terrain off of my tables (especially my tree stumps). In honor of my retirement, Derek (one of the nicest guys you will ever meet at a game convention) bought me a handful of various modern scatter. One box was a Scenics Accents Street Accessories in HO scale. The other looked 3-D printed and includes three soda machines, ice cream cart, dumpsters, trash cans, fire hydrants, and street lights. These are all painted or printed in color and will need only a small base and a dark wash to be ready for the tabletop. Thanks, Derek!

All of these purchases were actually more than paid for, though, by a couple sales of painted miniatures that I made (or delivered) at ATC. I mentioned the Splintered Light Miniatures that I traded to Rich of RRB Minis, above. In addition, a week or so before the convention, I asked him if he'd be interested in my collection of Mice, Squirrels, Raccoons, and Foxes that I had painted up long ago. They were based on large hexagons for a fantasy miniatures rules system that I never got around to writing. I knew Rich played and enjoyed Mice-at-Arms from Grey Area Games (same author as Zombie RV). I figured he might want these to use for that game. Unfortunately, those big hexagon bases of Splintered Light Miniatures have sat on my shelf, unused, for a decade or so. They have all kinds of cool custom banners and are painted to a high quality, I feel. He bought the whole set from me for a very fair price, I felt. In addition, at the show, I let him pick through my individually based Splintered Light animals, and he grabbed enough to offset the RRB purchases I was making from him. Finally, a newer Saga player borrowed my Republican Roman army to use in the Friday tournament at ATC. She had fun with them and I asked her if she wanted to make an offer for them. We agreed on a price. So, like at Historicon, all of my purchases AND my hotel and food expenses were funded by my own sales. Score one for being a (relatively) responsible retiree...ha, ha!

Miniature Painting & Purchasing Tally for 2024

• Miniatures acquired in 2024: 226 (sigh...well, I WAS in the green for awhile!)
  
• Miniatures painted in 2024: 183 

More Purchases and Acquisitions to Ruin my Painted vs. Unpainted!

    Most of the miniatures I buy from JS Wargamer Printing were STLs designed by Papsikels

So, each time I have gone to a convention this year my 2024 totals for Painted vs. Unpainted takes a hit. Then, I get painting again, and pretty soon I am back in the black, so to speak. Or green in my tally at the bottom of my posts. I had just recovered from my Historicon 2024 purchases when I made another order from JS Wargamer Printing. So, now I am in the red, again! I thought keeping track was supposed to help me keep my spending down...right?

   Alien Grays that I picked up -- cool figs, eh? They'll work for any of the Sci-Fi games I'm playing

What did I buy? Well, I was so impressed with the Aliens I painted up (especially how quickly I could complete them), that I decided to order some more. Knowing that I would be charged shipping, I figured I should defray that a little by ordering more. Makes sense, right? Makes the shipping cost less "per figure"?

    There were actually 11 resistance figures that John sent me -- all have lots of character like these

So, I picked up a pack of the Alien Grays, which looked so cool. They'll fit in with the retro look of some of my Sci-Fi stuff, as well as be a good enemy for Five Parsecs from Home. I also really liked the look of the Terminator Human Resistance figures. They'd make good survivors for a post-apocalytpic campaign or even zombie games. I think John appreciates the promoting of his company that I've been doing, too, because he tossed in two extra resistance and two extra Alien Grays. 

    The female zombies Keith gave me came from this pack, I believe...

Finally, I mentioned in my previous post Keith gave me 10 female zombies from Wargames Factory. Not technically a purchase, but I should count it in the "Acquired vs. Painted" totals. So, that puts me behind, again, as you can see below. I expect to catch back up relatively quickly with the Aliens and zombies going fairly fast. Oh, but wait! I have that upcoming trip to the Michigan Toy Soldier Company at the end of this month! And I did say I was going to pick up more of their Retro Rayguns Sci-Fi line...

Oh, no! Will I  get back in the black only to slip back into the red, again...?

Miniature Painting & Purchasing Tally for 2024

• Miniatures acquired in 2024: 149
• Miniatures painted in 2024: 130

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