A Week Before Historicon or the Geek Prepares to Sally Forth

Well it's a week before my trip to Historicon.  This will be the first time I've gone on a multi-day trip to one of the HGMS shows.  Usually it's up for a 2 -3 hour excursion and ramble through the vendor booths.  I'll be attending the show for a few days and helping my friend, Ernie, with the debut of his new miniatures company "Architects of War".  I'll be helping around the booth and generally trying to look much more important than I really am - standard executive stuff.

As for my planned purchases, as I've posted before, I've got my eye building up a 28mm Imperial Roman Army and really like the Warlord stuff.  On the other hand, after seeing some of the Warlord 28mm ECW stuff in person, that seems to be a very interesting line also.  I'll also be getting some terrain pieces and the odd shiny bauble.  The wife has declined to attend this grand event, but has given me the green light to go, albeit with the slightly mocking attitude on the worthiness of playing with toy soldiers.  I did think about pointing out that my "mid life crisis" involves miniature gaming rather than silly things like Ferraris and women half my age but thought better of that as a conversation started on that premise has no possibility of ending well!

:)

On the modeling front, I've been focusing on finishing up some projects, namely my 6mm ACW and a some 28mm WWII stuff from Warlord's Bolt Action line.  I've finished three full divisions for both the union and confederates for my planned ACW campaign which will be held after Historicon.  My total in painted 6mm figures is just under 2,700 so it makes for a pretty impressive game on the table.  I still need to add scenery to some bases and finish up the limbers.  6mm plays really well with the black powder ruleset so I'm looking forward to hosting the campaign.

I've included some pictures of the US Paratrooper platoon and Hetzer I'm trying to finish up this weekend.  All the items are from the bolt action line.  The paratroopers are very nice figures and fun to paint.  I've got enough for a platoon of 3, 10 man squads and a small HQ / weapons unit.  I'll likely want to pick up a mortar at Historicon.  The Hetzer is a OK model, but the packaging is a bit on the minimalist side - no instructions or decals and for the price charged I would have expected a bit more.  Despite my whining, I think the model will finish out nicely.  I need to add some German opponents and perhaps some terrain pieces for AofW's WWII line.