Con report: Cold Wars

Last weekend Maurice drove me up to Cold Wars in lovely downtown Lancaster, PA. Just a quick day trip to check out the dealer's room and see what are the haps. 

"I am a weapon of massive consumption..."

I'd been told that, yes, despite it being a historical gaming con, there would be plenty for me to buy. But I doubted! And my doubts were unfounded. Most of the gaming was historical, but there was certainly more options for things for me to buy than I had money with which to buy it. The only thing I wasn't able to track down from the hot topics shopping list was Crooked Dice figs. Old Glory owned a lot of the dealers hall, and there was a lot of interesting terrain and older toys to browse through. Maurice was patient with my slow pace, and man, it was gangbusters.

And oh, the Basement. Essentially a flea market, gamers get to set up tables to hawk their own wares. After seeing many things on those tables selling that I had gathering dust in my basement, I decided that I would shoot to hit Historicon and try and unload a lot of toys I no longer desire. eBay might bring in more for some of it, but not having to fuss with eBay fees, shipping, and the like, very attractive. 


(Amusingly, I all but bumped into Howard Whitehouse, as he was browsing one of the same tables I was. Our industry isn't very large.)

Right, there was some gaming there as well. Many attractive and inspirational tables there. Above was a shot of a game setting up, "Beruit '82: Cross the Green Line." We were drawn to those excellent shacks, and the layout of the courtyard is both realistic and clearly could drive more than a couple scenarios.

And while, yes, it was mostly historical, there were a handful of games to appeal to my interest. We wandered by one Doctor Who game, and past some other fantasy/pulp scenarios. Above was a massive multiplayer pulp Weird War One-ish game. At its heyday it looked like it has about twelve players. My amigo Jake was hip deep in part of it. He was running a secret agent trying to help a disguised princess cross the board to safety behind the battlefront. Each of the players ran a few figs and possibly a vehicle, and had their own objectives. Looks like a real challenge to keep the game flowing and everyone interested, but it was a raucous event every time we showed up, so they seemed to be doing a great job.


(EDIT: a-ha! Accidentally found the above game. Check out "Goodbye to Guns" here.)

Rebel was there, and had quite the setup. Picked up a few blisters from them. The pics of their paint jobs on their website don't do much for me, but in person, wow. Maurice cleaned them out of VIPERs for Aaron, and a good time was had by all. Oh, and they were sharing a booth with Splintered Light, and now I think we're doing 15mm fantasy too. Damn you 15mm! Why are you so affordably tempting!

I also didn't know Brigade was going to be there, because I don't like checking these things ahead of time, apparently. Could have spent my bank then and there, but tried to show restraint. A little. The above two pics show some upcoming figs, and wow. Pulp 15mms and 28mm and wow. 

And the haul. Part one above. Cheap carrying/storage case. The d3s I'd been hunting for Pulp City. Blue Moon and Atomic Cafe for 7tv. One Monsterpocalpyse beastie, some Rebel and Blue Moon for Gruntz or whatever in 15mm. Oddzial Osmy space worms, because wow. Etc.

And part two. Some cheap clicky Mechwarrior figs to be repurposed. Some old Old Crow resins, used and primed black, for my convenience.Terrain odds and ends, including those Proxie Models ruins. One of the hot finds was the buildings in the top row there. The walls snap together, and the roofs sit right on top. I'll be rebuilding them for scifi, likely for the starport terrain I've envisioned. Was apparently from some old railroad terrain called Guidance Town USA. Mongo has a good thread with some links on it here. It is that good, and I will definitely pick more up next time I can find it.


Lots of ideas for the future. In addition to selling junk at Historicon, we're talking demo'ing a game for Gencon. More as that takes shape. Leaning towards Songs of Blades and Heroes for 15mm fantasy, but checking out other options (FUBAR? is there a fantasy version of In the Emperor's name?)


I think that about covers it. On the way home we had Sonic. Which I had never had before. Still not quite sure why it's that popular, but it certainly wasn't awful.