Cancon 2018 trip and the loot bag

Another year and another trip to Cancon.  I entered my Anonymous bust, the Spirit of the Forest and the Antarctic Explorer in the Crystal Brush competition but as per usual didn't place.  Starting to get annoyed about my lack of progress on this to be honest.  The wife has learnt not to bother talking to me on the way home :)

The second hand stall was in a bigger area this year which was great.  But with all the pre booked/early access tickets I didn't get in until after 12:30pm and I suspect much of the good stuff was gone by then.  Seems the prices were higher than previous years with more people wanting to make some money rather than just offload stuff they don't want.  Things were cheaper than retail normally, but not cheap enough for impulse buying.  Plus there is always the unknown of buying an incomplete game.  I did see Talisman Dungeon (which I already have) in box for $30.  A 30 year old Talisman expansion still in box!  Why not Talisman City, why!

Second hand stall purchases

Supermarine Spitfire Mk1A 1/72 - $5 

Why not?

Ospery Battles of WW2 - $5

Some nice photo references for 1/35 work

Stormcast Eternals - $7

I wanted some dramatic figures to paint/modify.  $7 for 5 figures was great.

Little Buildings expansion for Carcassonne - $4

The kids wanted it.

Great Battles - Leipzip - $2

Ospery Napoleon's Guard Infantry (1) - $5

Time to embrace that inner Napoleonic painter in me this year I think

How to draw comics the Marvel way - $5

More for a sculpting reference.  A number of sculptors have referred to this as a good guide.

HR Giger's Retrospective (1964-1984) - $15

Love HR Giger.  His issues have issues.

Purchased Items from vendors.

Various Reaper Bones figures - $15 (I think)

Some for me, Mouslings for the kids

Games Workshop Lord of the Rings figures - $40

Faramir mounted and on foot, Isildur and Elendil.  Wanted all of these for awhile.  One day will get around to painting out the rather sizeable Gondor mounted force I now have (18 now?)

Battlefield accessories Village Ruin 2 - $14

For Terminator Genisys.  Nice and cheap base of a building that I can add to.

Greek style pots - $16

Nice for the diorama work

Cancon 2017 and Crystal Dragon

Well Cancon is over for another year.  I failed to place with any of my entries in the Crystal Dragon but my daughter not only got a Gold in the Hatchlings (Junior) section she also got Best in Show!  The Darth Vader quote “The circle is now complete. When I left you, I was but the learner; now I am the master.” seems rather apt.  At least she was nice and asked “When are you going to win an award daddy?”.  Pictures of the mermaid piece, award and prizes below…

Mermaid in the sea - Gold award

Hatchlings Best of Show

Prize pack

The second hand store was run differently this year with staggered entry which I think worked out ok.  The horrible crush from last year was missing thankfully.  I also scored pretty well.  There were also some great purchases to be had however I already had the items in question.  This means I’m getting older and my classic cool games are now moving into the “old crud no one wants” category ;)

Second hand store purchases

- Urak-kai scouts $18 - Always wanted these to add into my existing force.

- Gondor Knights $22 - I’ve got one box already so now I have enough for a decent size force (5 calvary figures alone don’t do much in LoTR I found).

- Gondor bolt thrower x 2 $12 - Only wanted one but at that price why not.

There were a number more LoTR box sets but I resisted.  It was hard.  I’m sure I’ll regret it later.  Maybe I did need another 10 wargs..

- Divine Right $10 - I purchased mine for $70 off eBay many years ago :(  This will be gifted to a friend who remembers the good olde days.

- Reaper Bones Wyrmgear dragon $15 - Clockwork dragon for $15, why not.

- Ex-Manus Explorer in Void Suit $3 - Really like this figure and can see a sea (narf) diorama with it.  Plus I saved $5 over the normal price!


Purchased

- Ex-Manus  Sinister Suit  - love the Cthulhu head on a carnival ring master.

- Reaper  Bones animals - animals good.  Just because I could really.

- Eureka Miniatures  figures - Count Brass and an Order of the Wolf from the Hawkmoon range.  Love the wolf figure.  Some more animals as I wanted some lions for my gladiators and some ravens for the Mr Sinister figure.

- Rowboat - cute little mdf rowboat from Battlefield Accessories  Some great stuff there.

I also got some more Reaper Bones for the kids (Son got some skeleton archers, the daughter a female wizard and a female rogue) and some mdf buildings from Knights of Dice for them to make as they have been enjoying playing with the existing 28mm terrain I have.

Cancon 2015

Packed and ready to go

Once again I made the journey to Cancon and like last year took the whole family and made a little holiday of it.  I entered both my 54mm Knight and Samurai that I have been working on during last year.  Didn’t win any prizes, but the judge that I talked to last year remembered my 54mm El Torres figure and was very encouraging in his feedback.  Always nice to be told that what you did this year was marked improvement from last year.

Still need to work on my blending and still need more light into the top of the figures.  The fact I made sure everything on the Samurai base was off square (i.e. the wall,road,etc weren’t in parallel to the sides) was noticed as was the effort spent on the wall.  Got some good tips for shading yellow (use crimson for the darkest shades) and some general painting tips.

Lady on a bench

My daughter entered her “lady on a bench” figure and was awarded a certificate and got a Cancon dice (something all the junior entries get which I consider to be an excellent idea).  She was well proud and had a big smile for some time.










The second hand stall was a bit of a let down.  I estimate there were over 100-150 people lined up so by the time I got in wasn’t much that I wanted.  Note there were plenty of bargains to be had, just nothing that I was after.  So given that I don’t really buy 28mm figures anymore the swag bag was pretty light on.

- Burfitt Tools drilling jig - $25

A special holder for odd shaped items (e.g. roundish things) for drilling.  Just liked it and not a thing you can easily find.

- Burfitt Tools tweezers - $10 each

Some very nice fine tweezers to replace the $2 store ones I have currently.  Time to make some more trees one leaf at a time.

- Field Tool Shop 1/35 - $5

Second hand store purchase.  At $5 happy for that to go into the spares box.

- Soviet tank crew, winter 1943-45 - $5

Second hand store purchase.  No real need or use, just felt I had to buy at least two items from the bring and buy.

- General Stanislaw 1/35 - $5

I very nice 1/35 resin figure from Scribor miniatures.  Great pose and a good face so purchase just for painting.

- 6 Secret Weapon pigments - $12

These were on sale at $2 each.  So grabbed some lesser used colours just because I could.

- Victorian fence - $15

From The Combat Company store.  They never seem to have these in stock when I visit so I grabbed one.  Very nicely the kids each got a glow in the dark d20 as well.

- 3 Reaper Bones figures - $15

Two for the daughter to paint, one that the wife liked and wants me to paint for her.

That was it.  The problem with only painting a handful of figures a year is that I don’t really need to stock up on figures or supplies like I use to.  I’ve got more 1/35 scale bits than I will ever get through, lots of 54mm stuff and still all the old 28mm Ral Partha figures in case I get bored.  And Dungeon Saga if I get really keen.  A bit sad that the days of mass purchasing are over, well at least until the kids get into some new army game :)

Cancon 2015

Well I survived Cancon with two small people but it wasn’t easy.  3yr olds don’t sleep well in strange hotel rooms.  I went to three painting classes on the Saturday and two on the Sunday.  I’ve never been to a painting class so was a bit unsure of the format.  But they happen pretty rarely so I went in as many as the family would cope with.  Most of the techniques I knew about and had trialled sometime in my life, but seeing them done well by someone who knows what they are doing make a huge difference.  With El Torres I kind of taught myself glazing through trial and error, but having someone else show me how much they dilute paint (which was way more then thought) was great.  I liked the speed of two brush blending but I’m not sure on it over glazing.  Plus licking all that paint did leave a strange taste..

I entered El Torres in the painting competition but missed out.  Talking with one of the judges afterwards I got a number of good pointers.  Most of them tied pretty much directly back into the classes I had attended :)  More contrast, more washes, more ground elements on the base.  Good news is I managed find another 54mm figure in the bring and buy so I’ve got a few options for next year (or maybe even wintercon).  Also most of my items I took to the bring and buy sold.

But now onto the best part of a post convention blog entry, the swag bag…

DBA version 2.2 $10 - always wanted a copy (I first played 1.0 when it came out) and didn’t really want to pay $50 for the new 3.0 version.  It matches up with HoTT 2.0, which the wife plays, so now I can buy those 28mm romans and not feel guilty.

Main Event wrestling $1 - no idea, but I can’t go past a $1 game.  You only have to play it once for it to pay off.  Failing that I get a zip lock plastic bag at least.

Fight City $3 - The Cheapass games are usually pretty good and at that price why not.

GW spider set $4 - for use in dioramas

Small dog by Eureka $1 - 28mm dog, he’s going into the next Dark Age village

Tribal Warrior (orc) $20 - A cancon release for Twelve Elements of War.  A nice looking resin figure who is 40mm tall.  Something different to try.

Allied Vehicles accessory set $5 - some bits missing but much better value than the $15+ retail price.  I’m pretty sure I’ll keep doing the odd 1/35 scale items so things like this are always good.

Lots of Fernvale Scenics terrain - well this was going to be a terrain blog, so I need some more bits :)  Just like the durability of the resin so I picked up two long (flexible) hills, a mid size rock formation and the Oasis.  The rock formation wasn’t anything I couldn’t make myself, but the resin is just going to last so much better over something made from foam (like my old LoTR stuff).  Also when the pieces cost $5-10 each, I’m in.  The oasis I wanted after my last one was ruined by the awful water effect pellets I used.  I also got a small rock formation for free when the owner saw me with the kids.  Seeding the next generation of customers.

MA-19 Albericus, prince of Novograd $10 - a 54mm knight by Soldiers, from Italy.  The figure is helmeted which isn’t great but at $10 I need all the practice 54mm figures I can get.

25mm Hex bases $2 - Last time I wanted hex bases, no one had them.  Now I find 20 of them for $2.  Into the stock pile.

I resisted all the old $10 war-games that needed a good home, I have enough of those now.  Also hats off to the MOAB crew for running the Bring and Buy.  It's always a highlight of the experience.