MOAB 2018

Well, been a bit quiet.  Home life has been kicking me around recently with lots of 'around the house' projects that took up most of the last month.  Those now are finally done and I can get some free time on the weekend to do my stuff instead of home stuff.

MOAB 2018 was once again on over the long weekend and I headed for the bring-and-buy.  After waiting in line for 45mins (every year I'm having to go a bit earlier :) ) it was into second hand game heaven.

Every year I love seeing the gaming trends come and go.  This year it was obvious that X-wing was on the decline with lots of items for sale.  I found quite a few bargains and some just random things I didn't want but were priced at the 'why not' price point.

* Various lego sets - $38

Not only were all complete, but the boxes had all been opened very carefully to avoid ripping.  Plus they had been stored away from the sun and not crushed at all.  Some true anal retentive behaviour there.  The kids of course just ripped them apart.

* Bane 75mm $30

A cheap 75mm figure as a painting project.  

* Walrus 1/72 - $10

I've been after this kit for some time but it is out of production it seems.  I have dreams of dioramas around this plane.  Too much Biggles as a kid.

* Barn - $5

Awesome buy at $5, plus inside the box were three sprues of the Renada wattle fences as well.  $45 for $5.  Already built the barn.

* Reaper Bones Fire giant (old) - $10

Another figure for painting just because.

* GW LotR Balrog - $20

In pieces and paint stripped (badly) but complete.  Not really for playing LotR (a game and figure range I love) with but more for a huge figure and only at $20.  Will need a fair amount of putty work. 

* Tree set - $10

Purchased this mainly for the plastic tree pieces for dioramas.

* Battlemasters map - $5

Huge hold out vinyl map with a hex grid.  Purchased to keep the kids occupied for a day or so over the school holidays

* DS game - $3

For the kids, can't complain at $3

* Gamer's grass - $10

The only thing I actually purchased from a retail store at MOAB because they were on special.

So some good buys and the kids were pretty happy with all the Lego.  Resisted all the Walking Dead sets there that were very cheap and other things I just didn't need.  There were some great MDF laser cut sets on sale from various retail sellers.  But I just can't justify buying them given that I'm not playing anything at the moment.  

MOAB 2017

I’ve been away on holidays for the last two weeks hence the lack of posts.  I did manage to get to MOAB 2017 on the final day.  I mainly go to MOAB for the bring and buy (second hand stall) so I expected that by the third day it would be pretty picked clean.  However to my surprise there were still items there.  Makes me wonder what was there on day one.

I also got a few normal purchases from the various traders as well.

- Billionaire card game $3

Very fond memories of playing this as a kid so got it to add to the family game stash.

- Roman pillars $5

Some plaster casts of Hirst molds, for dioramas.

- Egyptian bits $5

Some plaster casts of Hirst molds, for the kids.

- Israeli paratroopers $2

Four figures for $2, why not.  Just couldn’t help myself.

- Misc 1/35 germans $6

19 figures in total from various sets.  Got it for the Tamiya tank loaders, but some of the others are good.  One day will start painting all these 1/35 figures I’ve collected.  But again, at $6 for 19 figures why not.

- Renedra fence $15

Nice addition to the diorama stash.

- Ex Manus demon figure $15

Interesting figure that I liked.

- Reaper Bones Spirit of the Forest $12

Another figure that I saw and just could see so much fun to be had with all the extra details on the figure.

MOAB 2016, Dungeon Saga and Amy Johnson bust

Sorry for the irregular postings, been away on holidays.  Should be back to regular weekly postings for awhile now.

It’s that time again for MOAB and the joy of the Bring and Buy store.  Last year was great so I had high hopes again.  This year the store was in a larger location (at last!) so there was room to move and breath.  Unfortunately my hopes for new toys were dashed.

There were lots of good things there if you were into 28mm armies, both fantasy/scifi and histories, but I’m not anymore so pickings were slim.

- Afrikakorps in action - $6

Lots of nice black and white photos for reference

- The American Plains Indians - $5

Light reading and some good colour plates as always

- A4 resin flagstone road? - $4

I huge A4 size flagstone area made out of resin.  No use for it, but couldn’t resist at $4.  Might even make a cast of it.

That was it :(  No cool 1/35 or 54mm figures this year (or someone else got them).

Dungeon saga skeleton archers

I finished off another three skeletons for Dungeon Saga (in the picture I’ve still got to finish the bases).  These are just a slow burn project when I feel like doing some quick and dirty painting.

As my Violinist diorama is so big, it doesn’t fit the carry case I made last year for transporting figures.  So I spent too much of the weekend making a larger one for dioramas.  Don’t make boxes when you are dead tired.  Took twice as long and lots of silly mistakes which cost time and wasted wood.  Anyways it’s finished now.

Amy Johnson bust - primed

Finally today I started on the Amy Johnson bust.  Never done a bust before or even a figure at this scale.  Being female I’ve got to avoid my usually extreme ‘weathered outdoor man’ face look and keep things much smoother (very hard at this scale) and lighter/paler.  The good thing is there is less to paint and really only four areas on the bust.  The face, cap, fur collar and the jacket.  So at least I only need to work out 4 colour mixes.

Starting the face

MOAB and Sy-Co conventions 2014

Once again I made the annual pilgrimage to MOAB and the Bring-and-Buy store.  I never get that much as I don’t play Warhammer or 40K which is probably 75% of the content.  However I’m always on the lookout for old Ral Partha figures, boardgames from the 1970’s that no one plays (but I have fond childhood memories of always wanting) and hopefully some special thing (like getting 30 back issues of WGI from Cancon on year at $2 each - yeah!).  So below is the swag from the Bring-and-Buy.

Academy German tank crew at $3

More 1/35 figures are always good practice, and this included 40 odd American and German jerry cans which someone had added to box - score!

Hail Caesar at $40

I managed to avoid collecting Fields of Glory (which I never would have played, just wanted a copy) but couldn’t resist Hail Caesar.  All those battle reports in WGI were definitely a factor.

Pegaso Models St John Order Knight at $40

This was the special item.  I’ve been wanting to get a large scale, good quality figure as part of my painting journey.  I keep looking at ordering one online (from Pegaso, Scale75, etc) but keep putting it off thinking I’m not ready, etc, etc.  However I was hoping that there would be something like this at MOAB this year and there was.  The god of lead dollies was kind to me this year.

I had to resist strongly a box of 28mm Warlord Romans at $20 and various Germanic war bard figures.  Still have that little voice telling me I need to have a large historic army (or two) before I die.  Buying Hail Caesar was an effort to get that voice to quiet down.  But 200 28mm Romans would look so good…

After enduring the smell of the Bring-and-Buy I made some retail purchases to get the swag bag up to size.

7 norman infantry (Conquest Games) at $9

I wanted a Norman war band for Saga but I’ve put that on hold for awhile.  However these two loose sprues (5 figure normal sprue and 2 figure command sprue) is enough to make up most of the 8 figure Flemish mercenary unit from Saga.

Vallejo air colour - basic colours at $50

16 air colour paints, what’s not to like

Vallejo Black surface primer at $19



That night I went out to The Combat Company for their Sy-Co convention and big kids night.  Had fun, played Zombicide, chatted about painting with Luke from The Sound of Machines, etc.  I went in the 20 minute speed painting contest which was great.  Wet on wet blending whether you like it or not.  Tried my hand at the dice rolling game but lucked out.  While there I picked up something from the specials bin.

Degra Miniatures - 54mm El Torres at $9.50

A really interest looking large scale figure which at that price was an easy purchase.  Another adventure into non 28mm scale figures.

So a good, long day in what is usually the second biggest figure shopping day for me after Cancon.  New rules, new paints and some great new figures.