Historicon 2008

Historicon is a convention that I’ve really come to look forward to. It's "Historical Miniature Gaming's Biggest Summer Vacation". Lots of games, vendors and a chance to see some friends. A journey to Amish country in 2008 was to be a quick one this year. I took my son (Consul Kyle, who’s 9) and we headed on up to Historicon 2008 for a weekend of gaming, shopping and talking. I got lucky as my boss let me have Friday off, which originally wasn’t planned so Consul Kyle and I packed up and headed out a day earlier. After a 3 hour ride and some traffic on Route 30 we finally made it!

First thing to do was check out the flea market that had just opened. Too many people in too small a space. I couldn’t move. I am beginning to wonder if this configuration isn’t a fire hazard. Luckily Consul Kyle, being 9 years old, could squeeze by most people. I am finding more and more that the flea market is simply not meeting my expectations. Many sellers would rather pack their stuff up than sell it off at the price they put on it. Heck, if it isn’t 50% AND negotiable, then I’m not interested. So most of the stuff in the flea market isn’t of interest I guess.

From there we walked around the rooms of gaming to check out what was going on and headed to the first round through the dealer hall. After buying a heptereme from Old Glory we met up with some of my friends, Brian and Patrick. We got a quick bite to eat on the patio in the back of the host. Apparently the Host decided we did not need to sit down to eat. They removed all the tables and chairs! Sorry no pictures of that!

Saturday Consul Kyle got to play in THREE games! The first was a 54mm or 1/32 scale WWII game. He had a great time and the GM was gracious enough to make room for him to play in.

The terrain was fantastic as well as the miniature collection! It was so much fun I wished that I could play.

Consul Kyle played in two other fun games. The last one was later at night. It was a siege game using some home rules. That’s two strikes against what I consider a fun convention game. Wow, was I proven wrong. The GM was very nice and attentive, he let Consul Kyle play the part of the Caliph of Baghdad. Unfortunately, I didn’t bring my camera Saturday night.

Sunday we hit the dealer hall again. We ran across Bwana Bill and his family by surprise as apparently we had missed each other all weekend. It was great seeing them again and maybe next year we'll have some more time to talk and enjoy a game! This day Consul Kyle took pictures of almost every vendors displays, or portions thereof, in the hall. I had no idea the boy had such a desire to take pictures. A couple of pictures he took:

Warlord Games Preview of their Testudo

Dealer Hall on Sunday
This turned out to be the best Historicon EVER. I was able to talk to a lot of friends, play a game and shop. I even joined the Old Glory Army this year. Consul Kyle can now get his 28mm sized ships at 40% and even with his allowance will be able to buy once every 3 months or so.