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

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

Drums 2024 Purchases

    'One of these days...' I will get around to doing Mesoamerica gaming, so I bought some more terrain

In reading Convention Director Doug Johnson's posts about last weekend's Drums at the Rapids 2024, I saw something about Armory Hobbies going out of business and liquidating their stock at the convention as a vendor. The name sounded familiar, but I couldn't place what they carried. Turns out it was convention regular Dan Straub and he was getting rid of as much as people would buy - 50% off. One of the things he carried regularly was terrain by my favorite, Acheson Creations. I knew that I would be picking some stuff up, as I love me some Acheson!

    A nice-sized Sci-Fi building, and at 50% off, was definitely worth picking up for current projects

He brought quite a few things I had not seen anyone stock for awhile, including the pier/bridge set, the American Frontier blockhouse, Native American palisades, and more. However, I had enough of those, so concentrated on things for current or potential future projects. An example of a "one of these days" projects is my growing collection of Mesoamerican terrain and figures. I currently don't game Maya, Aztec, or Incan periods, but plan on doing it one day. When my friend Bryan Borgman was getting rid of his Acheson stuff, I picked up some of the Acheson line he had in stock. So, I snagged all three of Armory's Olmec heads, his only reclining Chac Mool god, and a more generic tumbled ruin.

    A Marx footbridge (or gallows?) that will also work great in 28mm scale for a number of things

In the category of good for current projects, there was a nice, big Sci-Fi building that I picked up, as well. I have a number of smaller Acheson Sci-Fi scatter buildings that I'd painted up, but this was a bigger one, and I could use a few more bigger ones. It will paint up quickly, I'm sure. Once I get my first game of Xenos Rampant under my belt, I am sure I will snag this one off the shelf and get it ready for the tabletop soon. There was also a pair of non-Acheson pieces that caught my eye. They look like a small wooden plank footbridge, but it could be used for multiple things -- even a gallows! It is probably meant for Marx's 54mm scale stuff, but hey! A bridge is a bridge and it will work fine for 28mm, too.

    At $1 each, it was hard not to pick up a handful of these concrete traffic barriers

And finally, I could resist picking up some more urban scatter for barricades or walls. The tall, concrete traffic barricades can be used in anything from modern to post-apocalyptic games. I have a set of 15mm that I picked up (I believe) from Miniature Building Authority. These were painted up with appropriate African graffiti for my 20mm modern Africa games. I will likely leave these 28mm Acheson ones more generic, though I will doubtless be tempted to paint some graffiti tags on them to make them look more worn and urban. They will also paint up quickly and will supplement my existing (and growing) collection of urban scatter.

    28mm Acheson tire and oil drum barricades -- a bargain from Armory Hobbies at 50 cents each!

The last piece of urban scatter was one Acheson piece I hadn't seen, yet. It was another barricade, but build from a combination of stacked tires and oil drums. I have quite a few Acheson tire scatter, but collected into a barricade was something new. These were marked $1 each, and at half off, were only 50 cents each. I was definitely envisioning these for my post-apocalyptic games. Like all the others, they should paint up quickly, too. By this time, I have painting Acheson terrain down to a system. Its deep detail makes these pieces fairly leap onto the table with just black priming, dry brushing, and a few details. So, hopefully, with me being retired now, they will see the tabletop very soon!

Miniature Painting & Purchasing Tally for 2024

• Miniatures acquired in 2024: 64
• Miniatures painted in 2024: 67

Purchases from DayCon 2024 (More 3-D printed Goodies!)

 

    Some 1:50 scale 3-D printed vehicles that I purchased at DayCon 2024 from Diabolical Terrain

I went to DayCon 2024 this past weekend, looking forward to Adrian John's Saga tournament. I was also looking forward to Diabolical Terrain being there, as well. Ron has been a regular vendor at DayCon and makes it to Advance the Colors in Springfield, OH, as well. I have purchased a number of his 3-D printed items and his prints are always of high quality. Lots of 3-D printed scatter or terrain has the little ridge lines, but his are almost always smooth and clean. 

One of the main things I wanted to see was his collection of 1:50 vehicles meant for modern or post-apocalyptic games. I brought along one of my 1:48 scale die cast vehicles that I'd purchased for my upcoming County Road Z games to see how they matched size-wise. They definitely looked close enough. Ron was having a buy one, get one free sale, so I picked up two land cruiser jeeps and two SUVs. My recent die cast purchases included pickup trucks and vans, mostly. So, these would round out choices for my players as their "ride" in the games I'm planning.

    Some more Sci-Fi scatter terrain that I picked up from Diabolical Terrain at the show

A couple posts ago, I had featured some of his Sci-Fi scatter terrain. I saw more pieces that I hadn't seen before, so picked up a good double handful of them, as well. I really liked the small ones that looked like...um, not sure what they were. But they looked science-fictiony! Ha, ha! These could be power stations or whatever, so they'll come in handy to make my Xenos Rampant games look better.

    Rocky formations of various sizes that caught my eye at the convention - they should paint up easily!

Finally, Diabolical Terrain's booth had a large selection of rocky outcrops of various sizes. I was drawn to the really big ones, but decided instead to purchase more of the small and medium sized ones. These will really make a tabletop look more wild and foreboding. I'm drawn between basing them on plastic styrene or just painting them up free-standing. If I don't put them on a base it will likely be harder to add various bits of vegetation around them, which I think will really make them blend in well on the battlefield.

    10-drawer organizer that I picked up from Container Store to house my scatter terrain

With retirement only about five weeks away, I wouldn't be surprised to see these get painted up sooner rather than later. Where will I store all this stuff? Well, I recently made another purchase to help out with that. I went to Container Store and found a standing cart with 10 drawers to store my scatter terrain. I put white felt on the bottom of each drawer to keep it from moving around, and didn't install the clips that prevent the drawer from coming out. That way, I can just pull out the drawer and walk it over to the tabletop to help with setting up. I liked this cart so much I am thinking of going out and buying a second one! Not sure if Jenny will like how the gaming closet is migrating outside its double doors and taking over the basement, though...ha, ha! We shall see. I put a lot of things in the cart that I might put back onto the shelves in my gaming closet. There's a lot more free space in there than before!

    

    A closeup of one of the drawers already filled up with scatter terrain

What's next on my painting desk? Two things are primed are started, currently. I picked out a bunch of miscellaneous items from the Terrain Crate uber-box I'd purchased at a flea market from my friend Bryan Borgman. I'll need these for objective tokens for County Road Z games. So, they are black primed and sitting on my desk alongside my first batch of 3-D printed zombies. I even have "flesh" painted on those, so my next update will likely include the first zombies I have ever painted up...

Miniature Painting & Purchasing Tally for 2024

• Miniatures acquired in 2024: 64
• Miniatures painted in 2024: 47

Sci-Fi Scatter Terrain from 3 Companies

    Three Sci-Fi scatter terrain pieces (power generators?) from Diabolical Terrain

As I get closer to staging my first game of Xenos Rampant, I felt that I should paint up some of my recent acquisitions in Sci-Fi scatter terrain. These primarily came from three different sources. One is a regular attendee at area conventions -- Diabolical Terrain. Owner Ron Weaver is big into 3-D printing. I have purchased post-apocalyptic terrain from him, ruined buildings, wrecked vehicles -- you name it! Last October, he had some Sci-Fi scatter terrain on his shelves that I picked up. They are from the Lunar Kolony range. If you're interested in picking some up, Diabolical Terrain will be at DayCon 2024 in a few weeks. I know that I will likely be buying more stuff from him there!

    This large drill unit is 3-D printed from Sea Dog Games (makers of the game Sailpower)

Another vendor is a relatively local one, Sea Dog Games. The owners live in the Central Ohio area, and are regular dealers at many regional and national conventions. You've probably seen them running their large-scale sailing ship game, Sailpower. They were one of the early adopters of 3-D printing, and have quite a diverse range of terrain. Some of the modern dumpsters you see in my Mean Streets games are from Sea Dog.

    The largest of the scatter pieces I just painted (refinery?) and two smaller ones from A Critical Hit

Finally, at Cincycon 2024, I discovered a new vendor in 3-D printed terrain: A Critical Hit (link to their Instagram page). I showed a number of the things I bought from them in a blog post a week or two back. You are seeing of those painted up in this post. Blair uses a number of interesting looking colored materials in her prints, intending for them to not necessarily need painting. All of the ones in this were painted up, of course. Two of them are probably my favorite pieces from this batch of scatter terrain. I hope to keep seeing Blair and A Critical Hit at upcoming shows - great stuff!

    This is probably one of my favorite pieces of the lot - another power generator from A Critical Hit

For all of these pieces, I prepped them identically. I start with a spray of Krylon acrylic matte black. Once dry, I brush on a 50/50 mix of water and black acrylic paint to make sure all the crevices are filled. I like to use metallic paints for my Sci-Fi scatter. For example, I have four different shades of what would be considered steel. The darkest is Iron Wind Metals "Steel." Next up, are a trio of craft paint shades from Folk Art, continuing from dark to light: Gunmetal Gray to Pewter and finally, Silver. My favorite accent color is also from Folk Art and is called "Metallic Brown." 

   Another 3-D printed piece from Diabolical Terrain and another thing I'll call a power generator!

I actually purchased and used something very new that I only recently became aware of in painting. Have you heard of "color shift" paints? They go by other names, too, but typically involve the color painted on looking different (or "shifting") depending on the angle you view it and how the light strikes the painted object. I first saw it at Cincycon 2024 in a game run by John Leahy (owner of JS Wargamer Printing -- more 3-D printed goodies!). John had painted a unit of flying Arachnids in iridescent colors. He explained what color shift paints were, and said his had come from Vallejo. Another model paint maker, Turbo Dork, also makes them. At a recent visit to Michaels Crafts, I was surprised to find that the craft paint brand Folk Art also make color shift paint. I bought a bottle of their "Black Burst" to try out, because it looked like a good metallic color for scatter terrain.

    A color shift paint from Folk Art called "Black Blast" - can't really tell from the picture, though

How did I like it? Well, I feel it does gleam and reflect light more than a typical metallic paint. This was not one of the prismatic color shifting paints, though. Maybe I'll try those next. Anyway, it goes on much thicker than typical craft paint. It says it is acrylic, but it has an odd smell. Most craft paints are relatively odorless, I think. What's more, it is self-sealing, Folk Art's website says. In other words, you don't want to spray seal it. I accidentally got a bit on my thumb and can verify it did not come off when I first washed my hands. I had to specifically try to scratch and rub it off. Their website also recommends black priming first, then doing a gloss coat over the black. I did the first, but did not try the second because I didn't read their website till after I'd painted that terrain piece. More experimentation is in order, I think...

    A second look at the Diabolical Terrain (you guessed it) power generators!

Speaking of techniques, what I have begun doing on my Sci-Fi scatter terrain (or even the weapons of Sci-Fi miniatures), is to paint it gunmetal gray first. Next, I highlight areas in pewter, with only the brightest highlights in silver. Finally, I do a reasonably heavy black wash over the piece. Take a look at the really large piece in this update -- an oil tank? That demonstrates how I have been doing this type of terrain. It goes very quickly and look good on the tabletop, I feel.

Cincycon 2024 Purchases

    Some of the 3-D 'Scatter Terrain' I bought at Cincycon for my Sci-Fi games

Heading down to Cincycon 2024, I had a pretty good Miniatures Purchased to Miniatures Painted Ratio for this year. I had painted 31 figures so far, while purchasing only 15. I knew that once the convention season arrived my surplus would take a hit. Well, it did in a big way, as you'll see below.

    Not sure what they are supposed to be, but they'll look cool on a Sci-Fi tabletop!

Despite buying from only two stands at the convention, I still dropped about $100. I do feel an obligation to support the vendors at shows I attend. They take time out of their schedule to show up and give us somewhere to browse and shop. Often times it is a money-losing proposition for dealers. They go more as a form of advertising, to get their name out. They hope that, later on, people will remember them and make purchases from them online. Or at least that's my take on it!

    Mounted gorillas for my Planet of the Apes force - these are 3-D printed from JS Wargamer Printing

The first vendor I bought from is one that I've mentioned on here before. Cincinnati area gamer John Leahy started JS Wargamer Printing a year or so back. My Terminators that I painted up where from him. He carries mounted "Planet of the Monkeys" gorillas. I thought they'd be a great troop addition for my Xenos Rampant "Planet of the Apes" detachment. I have three mounted gorilla figures from Battle Valor Games, and I need some more to flesh out a squad of them. There's a troop type called Berserk Infantry (or something like that) in the game, and gorillas charging in to close combat would be perfect for these.

    I am a big fan of 'The Last of Us,' so if I'm purchasing zombies I'll definitely get some infected!

My other purchase from John was part of a new project that I will be working on after I get Xenos Rampant underway. I have finally decided to take the plunge and do a zombie branch-off for my post-apocalyptic games. My idea is it will be a mash-up of Gaslands Refueled and Wiley Games rules. Each of my players will have a vehicle -- pickup truck, SUV, van, whatever. They will have three characters in it and will be road-tripping across the United States. They're heading from the zombie-infected and densely-populated East to the wide open spaces of America's Great Plains and West. Less people means less zombies, so the thought is to make it to the relative safety of "flyover country."

    John from JS Wargamer Printing had three types of zombies -- this was the other type I ordered

The problem is that I own no zombies. Well, I didn't before Cincycon! I sent a message to John asking if he had any zombies he could print up. He did have some files. One is of standard zombie apocalypse folks and the other is the "infected" variety from the great streaming show, "The Last of Us." His prices are hard to beat, so I ordered two packs of 10 each. So, that's 40 zombies plus 4 mounted gorillas. John also gave me some freebies -- 3-D printed figures of Planet of the Apes Dr. Zaius, Cornelius, Zira, and the humans George Taylor (Charlton Heston) and Nova. 

    More of the 3-D printed scatter terrain I purchased at Cincycon - this from A Critical Hit

Since they were free, should I count those as purchased? Well, I guess I could technically call it "Acquired," just in case I trade for miniatures in the future! So, I added in 49 miniatures. That raises my total to 64 acquired for 2024. And no, I haven't finished any other batches, so I've sunk to 31 painted vs. 64 acquired. Oh well...it WAS a good ratio while it lasted!

    Two picnic tables, a phone booth, and Coca-cola machine from A Critical Hit

The other purchases were from a vendor that was new to me. They are called A Critical Hit (Instagram link), or email Blair Oyler at dungeonmaster@acriticalhit.ne. Critical Hit's shelves had quite a bit of 3-D printed scatter and buildings. Much of their printing was done in appropriately colored material so that they wouldn't technically require painting. I would at the minimum do a wash on these, but will likely paint most of them up. I showed my friend Keith their tables and he immediately snapped up even more than I did! Good stuff!!

    A few more from A Critical Hit -- I will likely paint the pipes but do a black wash on the container

Most of these purchases were Sci-Fi related. They'll likely end up on the tabletop for various Xenos Rampant games or Wiley Games skirmishes. It's been awhile since I've painted up a big batch of terrain, so I may likely pop in these pieces and others ones I purchased at Advance the Colors last October from Sailpower and Diabolical Terrain. You can never have too much atmospheric scatter on the tabletop. Now, storing all that terrain is a different thing entirely...!

    You can see the interesting colors that A Critical Hit print their terrain in with the second piece

What's next? I am almost done with the next batch of five "Blue-Skinned Aliens" squad. At some point, I really do need to come up with a name for that faction! With that squad complete, they will be ready for the tabletop. So, look for that update soon...!

Miniature Painting & Purchasing Tally for 2024

• Miniatures acquired in 2024: 64
• Miniatures painted in 2024: 31