Historicon 2017!

Three months since the last post, but Historicon 2017 has got me off my duff and moving.  In truth work has kept me quite busy but I have been working on a Normandy Beach invasion scene in 15mm using Battlefront’s Flames of War, more on that in a later post (they are coming back I promise), but for now a quick review of Historicon 2017!

(Remember to click on the pictures for full size images!)

This year I was there for two days of gaming and classes and returned on Sunday for a quick trip through the vendor hall to pick up some items I had forgotten to grab and take advantage of the deals that take place on Sunday with vendors who do not want to pack up and transport their wares back home.  Warlord Games provided the complementary figure again this year, with it being Kurt Knispel, Germany's top tank ace to go with the theme of 100 Years of Tanks.

After a quick trip through the vendor hall to see who was there I settled down for my first game: Osprey Publishing's Frostgrave!  I have had my eye on this game for a while and was excited to get a chance to play it finally.

The game is simple and straightforward and was easy to pick up play, though having half the players being experienced helped out a lot too.

Our particular game was played in a good vs evil set-up with four war-bands per side as opposed to the normal, every war band to themselves.

We also played on a much larger board than the usual three feet by three feet.  The board provided by host Jeffrey Hiley was absolutely gorgeous.

While you can’t see it in these pictures there were several lights throughout; a blue one on the tower in the harbor and two green ones in the crypt.

I played a Druid accompanied by his apprentice, a barbarian for the captain, an archer, four soldiers, and a summoned bear who took the place of one of my soldiers. 

By the end of the game I had secured a level 3 treasure (with a second one almost off the map), a level 2 treasure, and had killed three enemy soldiers, an enemy knight, an enemy apprentice, and an enemy wizard.  Our side ended up winning 185 points to 150 points.

I had some time before my Hobby University class so I checked out some of the other games.  Three of the boards really caught my attention (though overall, most of the boards were really well done this year).

  

The first board was for a pirate game and was a beautifully well
done lagoon with walk-in access to the center.

The board was very detailed and showed how well aquarium plants and terrain can be used to great effect.






The board included a river through a canyon, a church, a jungle temple, a town with a harbor, and a fort in addition to the numerous ships.

The next board that caught my eye was a French and Indian War board with Native Americans attacking Virginia Militia.  I did not catch the name of the game and it is not listed in the program but it was well presented and looked interesting.

The last board was a small Great War board of trench lines, no-man’s land, and early tanks.  Nicely done up with lots of attention to detail.

My Hobby University class for the day was Painting 15mm Infantry with John from What Would Patton Do? (WWPD).  Unfortunately, John did not make it so Lee Howard from Old Glory filled in.  Lee did an excellent job even with thunderstorms playing havoc with the lighting and having only old, dried out paints and used up brushed to paint with.  

 From this I learned some German camouflage techniques as well as some tips for knocking out many miniatures at once.  I also walked away with 15 x 15mm German soldiers for Flames of War.

Left Side of Board,
I start by the fuel tanks.

Right Side of Board.

Saturday, due to horrible traffic on the I-95S before 0800, I just barely made my game for Doctor Who Miniatures Game with host Jason Mirosavich.

Turn 2 - Moving on Objectives
with a Dalek in pursuit!

Turn 3 - Dalek getting behind my
Particle Gun.

We played the Lock, Stock, & Two Smoking Daleks scenario which is based on the Battle of Canary Warf from the Series 2 Episode Doomsday.

Turn 4 - Dalek Sec has arrived to
Inspect how the invasion is going!

Turn 5 - Daleks float up to attack!

I played the Torchwood faction and accomplished all my mission objectives (scanning three areas and capturing the Doctor).

 

Turn 6 - Dalek down!

Turn 8 - Cybermen surrounded!

 I was also the first player in over 10 games to manage to kill the Dalek, much to that player’s chagrin, and assisted the Preachers in killing the Cybermen, allowing the good factions to win the game.

Turn 9 - The last Cyberman falls!

Saturday’s Hobby University class was supposed to be a speed painting class according to the description but was actually a speed painting competition.  The majority of us opted to paint and chat while two participated in the competition.  Had I my own brushes I might have done the competition but the worn-out brushes provided just did not cut it.  I did walk away with two samurai from Wargames Factory (the same ones being used in Warlord Games Test of Honor game).

My speed painted Samurai and an extra.  Worn-out brushes led to a rough paint-job and a determination to bring my own brushes for any future classes.

I walked around checking out some of the other games after this and tried to catch the DC Hobbit League doing NOVA practice but could not find them (they were there I just kept missing them in between other things).  I did get to watch a Gondor vs. Umbar Naval Battle using The Hobbit Strategy Battle Game rules on Friday though which was interesting.  The Team Yankee and Flames of War National’s on Friday and Saturday respectively looked decently attended.  Unfortunately, I did not get any more pictures as my phone died. 

The first Beyond the Gates of Antares anthology
published by  Winged Hussar Publishing LLC

My haul this year was pretty extensive but this will be my major purchase for the year and focused around two games systems I can swap figures between (Frostgrave and SAGA (Historical gaming set in the years of the Viking Age and the Crusades), and diorama projects I have in the works.  I will provide more in depth breakdowns and reviews of some of the products in latter blog posts but here is the overall haul.

On the right is the program in free figures.  Also there are bare trees, a snake rail fence kit,, and shingle from Battlefield Terrain Concepts for various 15mm dioramas I am working on, which is what the Old Glory Corp Confederate Infantry are for.  On the right are more terrain pieces from Stonehouse Miniatures: a battle mat; a Temple Platform Modular Wall Kit; and small and medium Hewn Broken Walls packs for use with Frostgrave and SAGA.  Also are two cans of Army Painter Uniform Grey Primer from Your Hobby Place.

 Here are all my SAGA purchases which came from a combination of  Cotton Jim's Flags and Brigade Games and Hobby Supply, LLC.  I picked up a Viking 4pt plastic war-band, a Scots 4pt metal war-band, some plastic Dark Age Archers, decals for the shields, the core rule set and two expansions, the dice for each faction, a female viking warlord, and a Norse Traders Shop from 4Ground.

Brigade Games and Hobby Supply provided all my Frostgrave figures, which were purchased in mind for the kids to play and include a set of Gnolls, Small & Medium Constructs, a Frost Giant, Ice Toad & Snow Leopard, Wild Dogs, Treasure Tokens, Siglist, Beastcrafter, Elementalist, Female Elementalist, Enchanter, Chronomancer, Thaumaturge, and Barbarian Wizard.  I also got free Wizard Sheets for my purchases as well.

Harmony House Hobbies provided the 20 sided die for Frostgrave and Hot Wire Foam Factory provided me the Hot Wire foam cutting kit and accessories to help with my terrain and diorama building.

Thanks for checking out the post and I will be back with the remaining Army Painter paint guides for Thorin's Company and my normal Weekly Workbench posts next week! (Assuming my wife does not kill me when she reads that last section!)

Weekly Workbench 26 Feb 2017

So this week I came up with a weekly schedule for myself to help both focus and diversify my work to keep from burn out.  Monday is to work on my historical armies, primarily Bolt Action and soon Test of Honor miniatures when they come out; Tuesday I publish the tutorial posts as I have Cub Scouts that night as well; Wednesday I work on Sci/Fi with a focus on Beyond the Gates of Antares and Doctor Who: Into the Time Vortex; Thursdays is a wash due to other commitments; Friday I delve into Fantasy with a heavy focus on The Hobbit/Middle Earth Strategy Battle Game.  As I usually only have 60 to 90 minutes a night I devout to painting/building the weekend allows me to hit bigger projects or finish things up as I see fit.

Bolt Action:

Monday I dug out my Bolt Action army case and pulled out a Browning .30cal Machine Gun Team Firing and a 60mm Light Mortar Team.  Already primed in Army Painter Army Green Color Primer I did the flesh and eyes.

Bolt Action USMC .30cal MG Team and Medium Mortar Teams

Today, I pulled out some of the figures I had mostly completed about nine months ago and started to base them.  The terrain is done, I will be adding flock and paint as needed next now that the Okinawa sand is sealed.  As happy as I was with these figures I have seen some improvement in my skill and definitely would like to update these, though they are perfectly great for tabletop standard.  I will probably do some highlight on the skin to lighten them up some.

Bolt Action USMC various

Beyond the Gates of Antares:

Ghar Assault Squad member front

Wednesday, I initially broke out my Boromite Work Gang and Boromite Gang Fighters but realized the base coat/primer of The Army Painter Skeleton Bone was too light for the scheme I was now looking to do.  So they went into the jars of Simple Green and I started work on a single Ghar Assault Squad member to figure out a color scheme, settling on Blue and Black.

Ghar Assault Squad member rear

Saturday, I pulled out the Boromites and scrubbed them down, first with an old toothbrush and then with a wire brush wheel on my Dremel. I then proceeded to glue heads back on bodies and bodies onto bases with some Gorilla Super Glue.

Boromite Gang Fighters

Today, I took them outside and primed them with Testor's Model Master Grey Primer.

Boromite Work Gang

Middle Earth Strategy Battle Game:

Radagast front

Friday, I worked some on Radagast and almost completed him today.  I just have some touch ups on the model and finish the hedgehog, staff head, and base.  I think he is coming along nicely, though I do not enjoy the scenic base as much as it is a pain to get to all the parts to paint.

Radagast rear

Today, I added the sand to Gandalf's figure and will likely add the flock when I do the Bolt Action figures as well.

Gandalf

Also today, I primed Gollum, who, while not part of the Escape from Goblin Town set, will be added to the end of the tutorials as you cannot have Goblin Town without Gollum.  The stinker did not take the primer well though and I will have to go back for a second light coat.

Gollum

Lots of different things going on in each genre this week.  I would guess in about two weeks everything will be settled down and I will hopefully be getting single models completed each week or majority portions of a squad size units completed each week.  Hope you enjoyed and remember to click on the pictures for a larger view.  See you Tuesday for Kili's tutorial and feel free to leave some comments.