Interesting Finds at Historicon

   One of the big draws (for me, at least) to Historicon is the cahnce to see a lot of stuff that I never would have sought out on my own. All of the vendors, and the flea market, are a simply dazzling source of ideas. Plus, you get to see some things up close and personal to make a decision about them. Photos on the internet are nice, but they don't take the place of the Mk. I Optic. I thought I might share a few of the finds I found while wandering the many stalls. These are things that I may not have bought (yet!), but that definitely interested me.

   Top of the list has got to be the 25/28mm airships being scratch-built by Mister Rick Stakes. If you saw my post on the Sky Galleons of Mars game, I believe every ship on the table was built by Rick, and many of the guns for them as well. The decks are magnetic sheeting to hold the crew figures and guns securely in place. They are lightweight, made of layers of insulation foamboard, and well detailed. Every one of the common vessels of Space 1889 was represented. Very impressive. I have his email and website address if you are interested in them, but be warned - they ain't cheap! I think the decked out Aphid-class was about $100, if I recall correctly.

   I also saw some very nice figures at the Iron Wind Metals booth. Everyone knows about their BattleTech figures, but they had a couple of other items I thought worth mentioning. First, the Sanwar range. These guys are perfect for post-apocalypse desert types. I am thinking of making them a Martian Deep Deserts culture. Racially the same as the City Martians, but dwelling in the Deep Drylands, in the sand-buried ruins of their ancient cities beside canals long choked to death with the ever-shifting red sands of Mars. The other interesting bit was a vehicle I saw in a post-apocalypse game being played on Thursday night, something like a sand sailer. Imagine a giant windsurfer on three off-road wheels. Somewhat perfect for Mars! The range is called "Warlands", from Aberrant Games.

"Nice Harpoon Gun Ya Got There..."

   Speaking of post-apocalyptic roadways, Stan Johansen attended H'con, and his booth had some interesting bits. His Road Warriors line includes guns, armor plating, turrets, and even motorcycles scaled in roughly 20mm to match up to Matchbox/Hot Wheels cars. perfect for Car Wars, Mad Max, or whatever. I'll be getting some of these in the future.

  Back to VSF-y things, another booth, sort of a FLGS come to the con kind of place, had some model balloons for sale, from the Wings of War series (a Balloon Buster expansion set). Already painted, impressively large... these are a future definite maybe.

   I suppose the point to all of this is that there is a lot of really neat stuff to shop for there. If you can get to a Historicon, I recommend it at least once.