What I Saw at Nova Open 2026

 Number Three and I headed over for a couple of hours yesterday to see what there was to see. Yes, the parking was obnoxious and far away. My preferences are definitely suburban: pull up to the venue, park, walk in. Not drive around, hunt for an open space up one block then down another, finally surrender and find a lot. Pay over 20ish dollars, walk half a mile up/down hill in the heat. Arrive sweaty and uncomfortable. There was a time when city living was all I wanted, but having had plenty of it over the years, my tastes have evolved toward comfort. More importantly, I value my time more than ever and resent having it wasted. I've got plenty to do without having to cushion events for finding parking, let alone dropping that kind of cash for it. 

In any event, the distribution of crowds was a bit different this time around as we entered. For once, we had easy access to the painting contest area, usually a space that's too crowded to approach without patience. That and the crafting area seemed especially quiet. The main GW ballroom was relatively light compared to the independent room that has all the LOTR, Star Wars, Age of Sigmar, and Trench Crusade games and all that.

I mention all that as it determines what I can comfortably shoot without disturbing any particular pair of gamers. The crowds were thick, and it was difficult to navigate the narrow lanes among the tables. My camera roll is significantly smaller than it has been in the past. 

There seemed to be fewer oddball angry trans folks around this time. We also saw fewer YouTube famous people: no Uncle Atom, no Vince Venturella, no Miniac, nor Ninjon. Maybe they didn't go this year? We were only there for a pair of hours, but we did see and talk with Brent of Goobertown Hobbies and Goblin Games. He was busy demonstrating his stampin' kits. I was on the fence and bought new brushes and some new Pro Acryl paints instead. I may still get some of that stuff, but not this month.

Like the HMGS cons, Saturday seems to be a bad day for vending (my principal pursuit at these); a lot of stuff I was looking for was out of stock. There is a guy who carries Krautcover, for example, but he had a skeletal supply left when I got there. No Your Hobby Place this time, nothing really interesting for Number Three either - no whimsical or brightly colored 3D-printed toys that she was hoping for. 

Increasingly common, I had no purchase list at all but still found some impulse buys. 

Overall, I cannot judge the health of this side of the hobby. YouTube is always harping about how GW sucks, and the new rules or miniatures are expensive and /or unavailable. People are quitting left and right. Maybe attendance was down, or I'm there at the wrong times. Seemed solid to me, especially in the non-Warhammer games area. 

On to the pics! And, wow, I did not take many. First up - the Capital Palette, the painting competition:

Oh - oh - oh! A Colonial thing! Well done!

More historical things!

Jolly clever with the gunman's shadow telegraphing his fate. Really well done!

So that's it for the painting competition - on to the competition spaces

This was in the main competition ballroom, kinda neat. Most of the stuff in here is pretty ugly sci-fi industrial-type stuff. Despite the similarities, not really my hobby. 

Some have some crossover appeal - like this cool adobe building- but not much. 

 

... And ... that's it. I didn't find a lot that excited me much this time around. There may have been crowds around some of the other things I would have normally shot. The place was rotten with the younglings and the generational divide between us remains fairly wide. That said, the grognards don't care for my take on fantasy much either, so I have to wear a snowflake badge with some pride, as usual! 

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

What I Saw at Nova Open 2025

 I was able to pop over for another Nova Open for a few hours. Maybe it's my advanced age and temperament, but for the first time, I felt this convention wasn't aimed at me at all. In past years, there was often more variety in the games - yes, even a few historical ones. But this one is so laden with Warhammer junk, it was a tad hard to stomach. Sure, there were tons of nice big games with equisitely crafted "stuff" piled high all over. Over detailed, garish colors -- all put together well, demonstrating many hours of craftsmanship, but ugh, so ugly. And worse, everyone's revealed preferences were not my own. It's kinda like books; "readers" all have books in common, but a wide spectrum of tastes within that almost creates different sub-hobbies. "Music lovers" is the same - one could find two self-proclaimed music lovers who wouldn't stand each other's auditory choices. Tabletop gaming, too, is reaching a point for me where a certain section of the hobby is mostly repellent in terms of content. I'm what I like to call a Sci-Fi and Fantasy sympathizer, but the path this convention has gone down has left me in the cold. New this year was a large section devoted to Trench Crusade. For this, I am also a sympathizer, not exactly a fan, but again, woof, so ugly. 

Table clutter, too, struck me as contributing to an aesthetic nightmare - a technicolor yawn over everything. 

On the plus side, I will credit NOVA Open for contributing to the excellence in the painting hobby. The competition is always spectacular, but it included a few political-themed entries that I find distasteful. I felt a lot of the space was more politicized this year than normal, which is a shame. I hobby, often to get away from cultural war garbage that has either spoiled or retarded the advancement of a number of areas of interest of mine, from books, comics to RPGs. It's a pitiful state and is actually killing off the possibility for the creation of many things I once enjoyed. 

Let's start with the contest entries. For many gamers, just getting the basic colors correct and in the right places is peak achievement. For competition painters, it's about light. Where is it coming from, what kind of light is it, and how would it play over the surfaces I am painting? That's the heart of it. You'll see what I mean below. Look for Object Source Lighting and Bounce Lighting in particular. The latter is a trend I see rising in importance. Painters who can pull that off effectively will score well. Not all of these demonstrate these techniques; many are just neat models: 

A WW2 thing!

The plaid is what caught my eye on this one.

Bounce light at its best - marvelous!

Firelight from below - neat!

On to the display tables. The best ones, for me, are the LOTR ones. This area was uncrowded, so it was easy to take pics. But they are also the exact same as last year, so I tried not to duplicate much if I could avoid it. 

I do like Bretonnians, though I'm more of an Empire man, meself.

Dank, and dreary - is this my style?

I love these modified "hamlet" buildings from Warlord. Can't resist sharing them again this year.

I didn't go in with the intent of documenting ugly tables. I just politely skimmed those areas. I snapped a few though of what seemed popular. But, as I've suggested, this is not my hobby. 

This was a display among the vendors of some cool ancient-themed models.

The exhibitor area on Friday was not overwhelming like the rest of the con, but underwhelming. The guy with bins of Citadel bits seems to have given up on the Hilton location, and my local chain, My Hobby Place, also wasn't there. I'm mostly interested in stuff coming out of the UK and didn't see anything new or tempting at all until I found one guy selling Krautcover basing products. We lamented the predicted impact of tariffs and were both concerned about it. For the present, though, a lovely exchange was made, and I got my hands on the hard-to-get-a-hold-of A Tale of Grimdark, and an excellent one for beaches (pirates), and yet another for forest floors. All will be featured here later.

Don't get me wrong; there is a lot of energy, passion, and life at Nova Open. Nothing like it existed when I was coming up. The kids today probably cannot appreciate the scarcity of readily available minis. The occasional hobby shop or via mail order was it. Today, one is spoiled for choice, and a regional con is just one of many options for this kind of material. The star of historical gaming seems relatively underlit in comparison. I'm very open to being spoken to, but heard no voices -- little to tempt me, and a lot to annoy me. Screw you clouds! Get off my lawn!

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