One of My Men Became Restless: September 2022

Tuesday, September 6, 2022

25/28mm Armorcast - Terraform - Quarried Stone Walls

Yes, yet another entry of stone walls - You know you like it!

The literary minded, or one bent like an amateur psychoanalyst, will conclude these walls stand in for my inability to paint actual soldiers - they are both a literal and figurative barrier to accomplishing something that could enable the occurrence of an actual game. It'd be a stretch, but I can see how you could get there.

I tell this story all the time. One Historicon many years ago, one of the clerks at this Armorcast booth, plucked one of their buildings out of my hand and threw it to the floor. He beamed as he picked it up to show me they were virtually indestructible. Sold! And I remain attached to those turn of the century prices. These are really great products that are now, I believe, OOP. (please be wrong)

Tan primed, then wet-brushed with Vallejo Stone. Then I picked out odd colored stones for variety.

Over this I added a new wash with no green, and very little black - just shades of brown inks. Still too dark though for my tastes. I wish I had another set that read tan or sandstone instead of this gray stone they become.

Couple progressively light stages of dry-brushing and la! Finished walls.

Cigar Box - European Fields (no roads) seen underneath.

As always, thanks for looking - questions, comments and followers are welcome and encouraged! I'm doing more and more on Facebook so follow my page there too! https://www.facebook.com/One-of-My-Men-Became-Restless-100659928063858

Friday, September 2, 2022

NOVA Open 2022

I'm so firmly ensconced in the historical part of the miniature gaming world that I was surprised at my discovery of the NOVA Open convention held annually in Arlington, VA. Indeed, were it not for a former colleague from my NYC days, who announced he was coming to my neck of the woods to attend it, I would never have known of it. It focuses almost exclusively on the Fantasy/Sci Fi side of things, but miniature table top gatherings always have something to offer.

It's no Historicon, of course (what is?), and I attended NOVA Open in much the same way I do the former: dealer hall primarily, followed by a tour of the gaming. Surprisingly, I didn't find anything in this particular hall but it's a decidedly different mix than HMGS offers. Lots of paints and lots of innovative work with laser burned wood - trays, storage, dice towers, and trackers. Green Stuff World was well represented and I don't often see that product line in the flesh so that was fun to pick through.

A staple at GenCon is that vendor (Toledo something?) the 100+ cases of second-hand Citadel/GW models. A cursory glance through the Mordheim and Empire boxes offered nothing of interest to me.

I did get a chance to chat for a bit with Adam Loper of Tabletop Minions who you may recognize. So that was fun.

On to the tables!

Lots of Sci-Fi space tables, Star Wars tables and other things I didn't recognize.The best tables, for me then, were for LOTR. I learned from an organizer (THE organizer?) that he commissions, stores and transports enough terrain to provide dozens of tables for folks to play on for both open gaming and the more serious tournament gaming. Extraordinary enterprise - one of the unsung heroes of gaming.

Like the FOW tables at HMGS cons, there competition tables are pretty nice!

My pal's game where his wood elves were badly mauled later. Love those hedges!

I love this one! A good mat can really sell a scene.

Some pretty good scatch-built work - it's nice to have a shire to scour once in a while.

Hirst Arts

This Endor table caught my eye for the tree trunks.

I need these - anyone know the manufacturer? They appear to made from a gray colored light plastic or resin. They were very light, but didn't feel hollow. Let me know in the comments please.

Yours truly between a man and his wife!