Return to Blogging

Yours truly running a game at Nashcon 2025

What have been doing the past 12 years? Why return to blogging now?

I mostly stopped blogging because of the friction of posting, compared to the ease of posting on Instagram. However, I've stopped posting there, too. And I keep finding myself going back to my blog, to reference past projects, remind myself of what I've done, etc... So, I'm taking a stab at blogging again. No guarantees I'll keep at it.

Historicon 2013: Saturday

2013-07-20 08.53.19, a photo by The Gonk on Flickr.

Stayed up late again, got up early again. Still, no real plan. I wandered around looking at the games, and fortunately was able to hop into one of the best looking games at Historicon-- a speculative game of the Battle of Fort DeRussy, an ACW Brother Against Brother game.

Historicon 2013: Friday

Towards Devil's Den

On to Friday! I suppose technically Friday began Thursday night, as I stayed up late drinking Yuengling and just hanging out. I then work up early and hit the ground running again, in a hurry to do nothing. I may not have had any plans, but I can sleep at home! I cruised around, taking in the sites, strolling through the vendor hall, and hit the flea market. And in that flea market, I found...more Russians! For some very great prices, I picked up (if I recall correctly) sixteen stands of guns, two and a half regiments of cavalry, and another twelve battalions of foot!! At this point, I'm thinking this is about three, possibly four, divisions of Russians. That's more than I was planning on in the first place!

Historicon 2013: Thursday

Little Round Top

I traveled to Fredericksburg, VA, again this year for Historicon. I honestly have yet to have had a bad Historicon, so if I tell you, yet again, that I had a blast, I'm not sure how you should take it! I will say that I had concerns this year. I typically hunt for games with interesting rules I haven't gotten a chance to see in the flesh and try to get in those. However, this year, every set I could think of that fell into that category-- notably Maurice and Dux Britanniarum-- wasn't being run. In fact, I only preregistered for two games, and wasn't particularly enthusiastic about either (and, in fact, played in neither). There were a few things I was definitely interested in, though. Of primary interest was the Vauban's Wars playtest, an unofficial game.

Blogging from Historicon

It will be done here, on Twitter. With mercifully little typing.

Historicon 2011

Corner Kick!, a photo by The Gonk on Flickr.

Historicon 2011 was a lot of fun. The drive was very long, ten hours, but the facilities were nicer than the usual Lancaster Host (usual for me-- I missed last year, so this is my first HMGS East con away from the Host in ten years). I played in several great Piquet games, which have been spotlighted on Blunders on the Danube, as well as a game of Fireball Forward, which I'm looking forward to seeing published. I also finally made time to sit down for Bob Wiltrout's soccer game Corner Kick!. Ed: AND former local Brian met me for a midnight Blood Bowl 1-1 mauling of my Skaven by his Ogres, leaving 3 of my 4 Gutter Runners missing the next game-- one of which had to be retired-- and killing one of my players! All the games were really fun, and here you see my Number One Son (wearing his Germany jersey) back at home stomping my Argentinians in a game of Corner Kick! with his Subbuteo figures. I had two definite vendor purchases in mind-- D-Day bunkers from Armaments in Miniature and more Primaeval Designs prehistorics from Acheson Creations. Neither was there!! Naturally, I didn't let that stop me from blowing the budget in the vendor hall...

Five Weeks

Cybermonkey, a photo by The Gonk on Flickr.

Five effin' weeks my family is out of town. You know what all I got done in that time? This. Ammon Miniatures' Cybermonkey. Between being sick, being lazy and going to Historicon, that single miniature is the only thing I completed. Disgusting! This is the first resin gaming piece I've painted, and I have to say I think it's not really an acceptable material. Sorry, Citadel Finecast. Resin has been used for years in thicker and larger scale casting, but at this scale, it's just too flexible and fragile. Painting this guy, I snapped the radar dish off its stand. I shouldn't say snap, that implies something more like a plastic break-- this felt like chocolate cake coming apart. The reglue is probably a stronger joint. Resin can-- CAN-- deliver superior quality casts, and I figure most of these boutique resin castings are more for painting and displaying, rather than gaming. However, this figure was just too cool not to add to my growing super apes collection...

Out of My Mind On Saturday Night

Khalith, Mummy King, a photo by The Gonk on Flickr.

Productivity, bah! My wife and kids leave me alone and the very next day I am struck down by a nasty cold/sinus infection that has taken me two and half weeks to finally get completely rid of!! TANJ!! I have gotten just about spit done since my last post, but here is a Reaper Mummy Pharaoh I had kicking around primed for a few years and finally finished before I got too sick to do anything but lay on the couch and watch NetFlix. With any luck, though, all these antibiotics and steroids I've been taking will keep me healthy for Historicon next weekend!! I'm looking forward to it, although I just realized the new location is about an hour further than usual...google is estimating a 10.5 hour drive for us. Eh, it's worth it.

Theft at Historicon

Conquest Miniatures is reporting a theft of a display miniature during Historicon-- take a look and see if you can help find it.

Historicon is now a holiday!

So, at work, I'm given eight scheduled holidays and two floating holidays to be used at my convenience. I used them for my Historicon trip, thus officially making Historicon a holiday!

More Historicon Pictures

I got the rest of my Historicon pictures uploaded. I'm back home now and tired, having gotten a couple of months worth of gaming in during a weekend!

Fri and Sat Pictures

I'm uploading these now. I'll probably have them up Monday morning.

Historicon 2009 Was Awesome

So, yet another Historicon has (mostly) gone by, and I have to say, I had a great time. Think what you like about HMGS East, about the only way they actually effect me is in how they run their cons, and so far, I think they have done a great job. There was a lot of complaining about the move to Baltimore next year. I don't know-- the host is a bit of a dump, but it has a nice atmosphere. I really take it for granted that we'll be able to drink beer at our games for Historicon, and it sounds like we won't next year. That will affect a lot of people's enjoyment. No more coolers (or mini kegs!) at the game tables. The free kegs on Friday night might have been a bit much-- I heard one guy was found passed out on some stairs and the police were called in-- but they were still appreciated. Anyway, 2009 ranks up there as a great con for me.

Goodnight

Too drunk to upload pics tonight...spent the night drinking with Piquet and Wargames Factory guys...g'night...

Historicon Pictures

Here are the Historicon 2009 pictures I've taken. I'll update them in the evenings as I get more. I also made a little video of the vendor hall.