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!
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| My pal's game where his wood elves were badly mauled later. Love those hedges! |
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| I love this one! A good mat can really sell a scene. |
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| Some pretty good scatch-built work - it's nice to have a shire to scour once in a while. |
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| Hirst Arts |
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| This Endor table caught my eye for the tree trunks. |
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| 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. |
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| Yours truly between a man and his wife! |
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
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