Back From Fall-In!

Mik and I are back from Fall-In! I had some concerns that, after having been to Historicons and Cold Wars, the smaller Fall-In! might not be worth the time and cost to get up to. We drove almost 600 miles to get there. Despite being somewhat smaller, it was definitely worth it, though. I can't go to more than one a year, and that one would tend to be Historicon, but Fall-In! was fun.

I went content in my hobbiness and not really looking for anything new, just hoping to pick up some bargains. Yet I started two new periods! Actually, I have been on the verge of "big game hunting" for prehistoric mammals or dinosaurs since Historicon 2009 when I picked up the Tooth and Claw rules. My nine year old son is a big prehistoric animal fan-- much more so than the WW2 games I've subjected him to. Plus Mik bought some Primaeval Designs Neanderthals and other figures. So, what the heck, I bought two packs of Neanderthal hunters and two woolly mammoths. Only on the drive home did I realize I now had just about everything I needed for Tusk!

My son has also been reading a lot about Romans. Plus, he and his older sister have been painting a bit for me. So I was already thinking about getting some plastic Romans for him to paint. However, in the flea market, I picked up something like 150 Wargames Factory ancient Germans and 40 or so Warlord Games Romans. I have no clue what I'm going to do with that many figures. Ah well. He will not run out of things to paint anytime soon, and hopefully it will be great practice for him.

One of the coolest things I saw at the con was the use of flickering LEDs for fire markers. They would be tucked away inside a rather traditional puff of cotton smoke, and really looked good. I ordered 12 from Amazon, determined to make my own. Only later did I realize how cool they would look as fire markers in a 25mm Tusk game!

I now have my Neanderthals glued and based, and my Woolly Mammoths assembled, waiting for time with the kids to get painting on them. Prehistoric big game hunting and ancient Romans will largely be "with kids" painting. This will allow me to continue to focus on 15mm WW2, while also giving me incentive to spend more time painting with the kids. At their current rate of $2.00/hr, it's cheaper than having Sri Lankan children paint!