Historicon 2018 - What I Played, Saw & Bought

I made my annual trip to Lancaster, Pennsylvania for Historicon last week.  I planned to meet my friend Mike from Ohio Thursday afternoon. We usually have a larger group, but this year was a throwback to my first trip to Historicon with Mike way back in 1995.

Registration this year was a big improvement, all you had to do was scan the code you received by email when preregistering and everything printed out for you.  On the negative side, the Lancaster host is in the middle of an extensive remodel and was a mess.  I am glad I reserved a room at the new Hilton next door.

Despite a long traffic jam due to a burning semi, I made it up Thursday in time for my first game: Once Upon a Time in the West Country (ECW).  I often pick a theme when I register for games and this year it was English Civil War.  It is a period I enjoy reading about and playing, but I have never found a set of rules I am completely happy with.  I played the right side of the Royalists (on the left of the first picture) and did well with my horse, but not so well with my foot.  An enjoyable game.

 

 

 

 

 

Friday afternoon I played in Clodwig the Red Strikes Back using the Dux Britanniarum rules, a set I have heard a lot about but never played.  I was one of the Roman players defending our lands against some pillaging Franks.  I liked the rules mechanics and we drove off the Franks, although they did manage to loot half of the village.  I am in the early stages of painting a Romano-British army for Saga, and it was a bonus seeing a lot of the same miniatures painted and in a game.

 

 

Friday night and Saturday morning I ran two sessions of the same game using the 7TV rules, Dial 'X' for Missile.  I will cover that in a separate post.

The rest of Saturday I wandered around looking at some amazing games and capped it off by playing another ECW battle, Naseby.  I ran the New Model Army foot and we won, though the Royalist foot did not advance as in the real battle.  It used the Carnage & Glory II computer-moderated rules.  I was a bit hesitant, as I had played several Napoleonic games using those rules many years ago and did not particularly enjoy them.  But Naseby is one of my favorite battles so I though I would give them another try.  I am glad I did, it was a great game with good players.  While I would probably not use them at home, the rules did a good job of handling a large game with 7 players.

 

 

 

Here are pictures of some of the games that caught my eye:

 Battle of Pelennor Fields

 

 

Isandlwana

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A spectacular game of Frostgrave

 

 

 

 

 

Historicon loot (clockwise from top left):
I did not have a large shopping list this year.  I came home with a pack of flower tufts; a pack of 2 boats by Things from the Basement; 2 Sarissa Sturmboots from Wargames Tools;, 4 packs of Crusader miniatures for Saga from Pictor's Studio; Gripping Beast Viking standardbearer from Badger Games; Saga Roman dice and LBMS Muslim transfers from Cotton Jim's; 3 bottles of Howard Hues paint from Dayton Painting Consortium; a free pack of flag cards; Army Painter static grass from the Warstore.

When I arrived home, I found a box from GMT waiting for me.  I had ordered a copy of Washington's War (AWI) and a mounted mapboard for Unhappy King Charles (ECW) during their 4th of July sale.  I am planning on a solo game of Unhappy King Charles this weekend.

28mm Post-Apocalypse Survivors from Hasslefree

A selection of 28mm Post-Apocalypse survivors from Hasslefree Miniatures that I started painting in December 2017 and finished early in 2018..  They have a wide range of modern/P-A models in different styles to choose from and are good quality.  I will use them in my games of Across the Dead Earth, This is Not a Test and 7TV:Apocalypse.  I'd like to try the new Osprey rules Last Days: Zombie Apocalypse too.

Rihanna (l) and Kendra (r).  Rihanna reminded me of Rosita from The Walking Dead so that is how I painted her.  Kendra appears to be ex-military or maybe she looted an Army-Navy surplus store.

Four giant beetles from Reaper's Bones line.  I bought these at Historicon 2017 and I consider anything under a year to be a quick turnaround.  I washed them in the dishwasher, sprayed them black, then gave them several drybrush coats of Army Painter Vampire Red, which resulted in a dark red-brown color.  Mutated to a giant size by radiation, now they are ready to terrorize unsuspecting survivors.

A picture with a human to show the scale.

"What is that noise behind us?" -  Maria (l) and Laurie (r).  Laurie is my favorite of this group for several reasons.  She is armed with a bow, which you don't see enough of in post-apoc miniatures.  I also love the pose and the sculpting is great.

Post-apoc Wolsey (l) and Finn (r).  Wolsey is a post-apoc version of Shaggy from Scooby Doo.  Hasslefree make the whole gang including a not-Scooby.  I don't have the others but might get them the next time I place an order.  Strangely enough, while googling images for my painting research, I learned that DC Comics began publishing a post-apoc comic of Scooby Doo in May 2016; I think these miniatures pre-date that.

This miniature is listed as Kat in the Hasslefree catalog.  It appears to be based on the lead character Selene from the 'Underworld' movies played by Kate Beckinsale.  I thought the first movie was okay, but the later ones were a significant drop in in quality.  Zombies or other human survivors had better watch out for her sword, she looks ready to take some heads off.  If I remember correctly the arms came as separate pieces but were very easy to pin.

The whole gang minus the beetles.  With 4 pistols, a sword, an axe and a bow, they are not heavily armed but make up for it with superior elan.

Historicon is in 2 weeks and I am running 2 games of 7TV, so I'll be back with pictures and a convention report in July.

Thanks for looking,
Jason

Ruined Cathedral

I have wanted a terrain piece like this for years.  It is a great centerpiece for post-apocalyptic games I play such as Across the Dead Earth and the upcoming 7TV:Apocalypse.  In addition it can be used for a range of other eras from medieval to modern.

Early in 2018, someone in one of the wargaming groups I follow on Facebook mentioned a terrain manufacturer named Wild Land Store.  After looking at their Facebook page, I communicated with them and asked some questions about their products.  I eventually ordered the cathedral, a smaller intact church and 2 bus stops.  Wild Land is located in Ukraine and were very helpful in arranging payment and in less than 2 weeks I had my terrain.  I highly recommend them.

I will note that there are not any written instructions.  However they sent me pictures from different angles and the small number of parts made it easy to put together.  Each wall is 2 pieces of MDF (1 for each side), and the wall supports each have 2 pieces.  It was very easy to assemble.

The detail is cut fairly deep and really lent itself to drybrushing.  I sprayed it black to prime it and added some black paint on spots that didn't get enough coverage.  I drybrushed a dark gray, a medium gray and a light gray in succession.  After painting the outer area brown, I applied static grass and added some bushes.  I also wanted to add some vines, so after consulting the Facebook group Tabletop Commanders Forum, I used pva and flock.  I think it turned out well.

Most of the pictures have 28mm miniatures from Studio Miniatures or Dead Earth Games to show the scale.  When I took these pictures yesterday morning it was cloudy and so the light varies.  The actual color is what you see in the brighter photos.

One of the good things about this building is that it is really 4 separate pieces.  You can use all or some of them in a game.  It also makes storage much easier.

28mm Vikings For Sale

SOLD!!
I have a painted 28mm Viking army for sale.  It was originally built for use with Saga rules, and is 7 points in that system.  There are a total of 45 miniatures, consisting of:

1 Warlord (free)
3 units of  4 Hirdmen (3 points of Hearthguard)
1 unit of 4 Berserkers (1 point of Berserkers)
2 units of 8 Lesser Hirdmen (2 points of Warriors)
1 unit of 12 Thralls (1 point of Levies with bow)

Most of the miniatures are from Wargames Foundry.  There are 1-2 Hirdmen by Crusader and one Old Glory model in the Lesser Hirdmen.  The bowmen are Old Glory except for 2 which are from Foundry.

The shields are a mixture of Little Big Men Studios transfers and hand-painted.  They have been in storage since I painted them and have never been used.

I am asking for $370 including postage in the continental US.  Other postage depends on the destination.  If you are interested, contact me at miros AT sc DOT rr DOT com.

Click on the pictures for a larger version.

The entire army:

The warlord:

 

1st unit of Hirdmen:

 

2nd unit of Hirdmen:

 

 

3rd unit of Hirdmen:

 

 

Berserkers:

 

 

 1st unit of Lesser Hirdmen:

 

 3rd unit of Lesser Hirdmen:

 

 

Unit of Thrall bowmen: