ReaperCon 2023 - The Entire Thing

 

This year I'm going to do one post for the entire convention experience. I found that daily posts just didn't have enough information for my taste so instead you get one after it's done. Also, that way I didn't tell the part of the world that reads my blog that I wasn't at home. Gotta think of these things, you know.

I drove down this year since I had the time to do it and I brought my cat rather than boarding her or having someone spend ten minutes a day at the house to feed her. I think it was the right decision. I don't know if she's saving up to punish me when I'm least expecting it.

Overall it felt like, well, ReaperCon. Same kind of vendor setup. Same kind of general space setup. Same pretty much everything. And that's the problem for me. It's the same as it has been for the last few years.

Don't get me wrong - it's a good all-around convention with the added bonus of having the well known artists as guests. People enjoy themselves thoroughly. But I've reached my saturation point. Hence it was my last year attending.

The pre-game was the Meet and Greet. I chose the package that came with the limited edition 100mm version of the convention Sophie miniature. Sadly the extras sold out before I could get one for my friend. My roomie and I went shopping after I got settled in the room and I was able to catch the tail end of the food options for MnG. The options are limited to what the hotel can provide and it's been hamburgers and hot dogs the last few years. That might not sound good but it's leaps and bounds better than the 'pizza' they served before that. Trust me.

I also had a Buccee's brisket sandwich I'd purchased but saved that for another day. I think Buccee's BBQ is overpriced and overrated now that I've had some. But hey, I had it. We'd gone to Buccee's for my roomie and he picked up some merchandise he wanted. We also hit the local Walmart for basic supplies like water, booze, and snacks.

Since there's no more metal trade-in at the convention I don't have to keep Thursday open to go through the Boneyard (their unpackaged minis). I'm still sad about that. It was one of my favorite parts of the convention. But it left me the chance to take classes during that time.

I took two classes - one on freehand for non-artists and one on painting tiny text. The freehand one was good but I already knew the material from other classes. The text one was, well, not so good. Let's leave it at that. My class experience wasn't a stellar end to the series. I also crashed my friend's class on using paper and brass foliage so I learned a little there and got some goodies.

One class was Thursday, I crashed the course on Thursday, and my other class was Friday.

I did sign up for some of the Hobby Hijinks events. Those are free things like speed painting, conversions, etc. This year you could register for them like classes but with no charge. I liked that because in the past it was whoever got there first. So I had some fun with doing silly things and being kind of social.

I signed up to play a game but bowed out. I'd had a long, hard day. I was hurting. And the GM had allowed their friend to be an additional player that made the table one person larger than the event showed. I don't like either of those things so I gracefully gave them my seat and went back to the room. I would have liked to have played but I wasn't in the mental state to be a good player. I only showed up because I didn't want to leave the table down a player so having the extra person was a good thing in the end.

I didn't do any vendor shopping this time around for two reasons. One is that my knees didn't allow me much mobility. The other is that I didn't need or want anything from the vendors. I made one sweep through to get a punch card filled for a free mini and that's when I took stock of who was there and what they were selling. So I kind of did a speed browse to confirm that I was right in what I didn't need.

I did enter into the painting competition. I wanted the extra convention money (which I never spend), the badge ribbons, and I pretty much expected to bring home a bronze medal. Once again I grabbed a few minis off the painted shelf, touched them up, and entered them. They picked the one I thought they would pick to judge and it was a solid bronze. See for yourself.

I forgot they make you name your entry so the 'Redemption' thing was very last minute. It doesn't really mean anything. But I nailed the face on that one and I'm proud of that. Plus I don't think people use enough copper in their armor colors.

I now have two bronze medals to hang up by my painting area. As much as I don't seem to think much of them I'm going to show them off. I did win them at a convention painting competition, after all.

I spent more time talking with the artists I know than doing much else. I didn't paint because I didn't bring anything to paint or any paints. I was going to spend time at the basic paint and take table but the hobby events were enough painting for me. I really don't like painting away from home and the plan to practice what I'd learned in classes wasn't necessary. I did bring home a few minis that I would have painted, if I had been at the paint and take table.

I have a battered folder with all my class notes and handouts from every class I've ever taken at ReaperCon. It's got a lot of history in it. Since I wasn't coming back I felt it was acceptable to have the artists sign it - sculptors on the front and painters on the back. I'll cover those over with packing tape to preserve them as part of the whole. I do refer back to those notes at times so it's a nice way to remember everyone.

I stayed a day later than I normally would because it meant spending time with my roomie. Last convention and all that. He left early the next day to get to the airport and I wonder if the room felt as empty for him when I would leave early in previous years. It was nice not to have to rush but it was sad that he was gone and I'll probably never see him in person again.

The attendees seemed to have a good time like they always do. This is their convention now and it's a good one for them. It's a nice mix of the art side and the gaming side with the chance to socialize all weekend. And it's one of the nicest, friendliest conventions I've ever attended.

That being said the unthinkable happened. This was a convention where you could leave your stuff out all weekend and be sure it was safe. The artists left their minis at their tables so you could see them even when the artists were out and about. This year someone went through - twice - and stole minis from the artists. That really bothers me and I'm hoping desperately that it wasn't a convention person who did it. I also hope they can get the minis back. But it's going to change the tone of the convention going forward. I could have done without ending on that note.

I don't know if I would drive rather than fly if I were going back. It was a very long, boring drive broken up into two days on either side. If the hotel were closer to the cheap airport I don't even think I'd need a rental car now that I have no reason to go to the factory. If I'd been running games and needed all the accessories then driving would be the way to go. I've seen how careful my roomie is with his luggage weight and how much he has to bring. Driving means it's whatever fits in the car.

I don't have pictures of the convention itself. I didn't find any reason to take them. It was an event hotel with all the generic fittings and some Reaper specific decor. The painting contest entries are on the ReaperCon website so if I feel the urge to see what was there I can scroll those. There's a lot of entries if you want to see some good painting and imaginative work.

Last year I didn't think much of missing the convention. I have a feeling that I'll get a pang when it rolls around again but no more than that. It turns out my roomie only showed up this year to force me to show up so we could have a proper goodbye. I think that's sweet in a number of ways. I needed this last visit all around.

So there it is. After all these years my last ReaperCon. And it goes out with a whimper, as it should.

No ReaperCon for Me

Alas life decided that I wasn't going to ReaperCon this year. Not only was it the first year I was going to teach it was going to be my last year attending.

Short version on why I didn't go. Changing my driver's license to my new state resulted in getting a paper temporary one TSA won't accept as identification and then credit card fraud required I get a replacement card. Both of these happened less than a week before the trip. With no TSA valid ID and no credit card flying and renting a car wasn't going to happen.

Why was this going to be my last year? Good question. I'd been enjoying this convention since 2005 (artist con that year but still) but things change. My interests have changed. My painting level and direction have changed. The convention has changed. All those changes combined means this isn't a convention for me.

Conventions are expensive. Travel, hotel, tickets, classes, meals. It adds up quickly. Weighing that against what I got from the convention started tilting the scales in the wrong direction. That's not to say ReaperCon isn't fun. A whole lot of people have fun. I'm just not one of them anymore.

I missed seeing the few people I know. I missed seeing the artists I know. I missed getting to teach my class. I missed the fun classes I chose to take as my final ones. I missed some of the regional restaurants. I missed them more because I knew I wouldn't experience all that again.

I wish I'd taken many, many more pictures of those early years. I tried but it never really happened. They've long ago been scrubbed from the Reaper website in updates and changes. I'll rely on my memories and let them rose color the whole thing.

ReaperCon was the last convention I'd been attending. The ones that were local to me either changed direction away from what interested me or failed. GenCon was always a shopping trip and I don't need to shop anymore. I don't know that there's local conventions where I am but we'll see. I'm not holding out hope and none of the other conventions around the country had interested me enough to consider going. At least not in the last decade or so.

Fifteen conventions and at least two artist conventions later it's time to let this one go.

ReaperCon 2021 - Day 4 and Wrapup

 

Day 4 barely exists for me now as a convention experience. I say goodbye to people and fly home. There's a few classes and until this year the biggest Sunday attraction was the auction where you could use your ReaperBucks. Way in the early days I was part of the auction (it was fun and informal) but that changed and I didn't see a reason to stick around.

The last few years they started having prize drawings and you could buy additional tickets with ReaperBucks. This worked out well for people who weren't there for the entire convention.

This year there was no auction and no raffles. They did a straight up booth to buy stuff with convention money. I heard the prices ran the gamut from reasonable to not so much without much sense in how they were assigned. I don't need anything so I ended up handing over mine to someone buying up discontinued terrain tiles.

I did pick up my painting contest entries and got my medal since I wasn't at the award ceremony to get it then. I'll do another post to talk about my personal experience with the painting contest now that I sold out and entered one.

After that is was all packing and travel back home.

My ribbon collection isn't impressive but it pleases me. I don't try to accumulate them on purpose so if I get them I get them. This is the final result for 2021. Notice that "Bronze" ribbon in the lower left because you don't get those until you pick up your entries so they're hardly noticed at all at the convention itself.

I'll hang this on the corner of the bookshelf with all the previous passes. It's quite colorful over there.

As I have for many years now I wonder if the convention was worth the time and money. I do ask myself that every year. And so far the answers have weighed towards going again.

I'm thinking about it this year and the balance has shifted again. Some rumors about next year are making me hesitate but since they're rumors and the convention is almost a year away I can set those aside. My class experiences are making me wonder if I've learned all they have to teach me, given my interests. Then I wonder if maybe it's time to try teaching again. I know very few people at the convention now and it's fewer every year so the social aspect has dwindled to almost nothing. The main swag was purchased online by anyone and the convention swag will hit the store anyway. There's a lot to drop into the hopper as I put this one behind me and think of next year.

One thing that never changes is my hate for Texas weather. I could accept it more before my move but now the whole concept of 'humidity' is unpleasant in the extreme.

Reading back over the daily posts to correct stuff (I typed them on my phone for reasons that made sense at the time) I noticed a generally negative tone to them. Some of that I'll put down to being in pain. It comes through in my writing. Some of that I'll put down to be just stupid tired due to travel and socializing after so much time being alone. The rest? That's because my convention experiences just aren't all that light and fluffy. I go there expecting to have fun and then rediscover that the events and general activities aren't what I enjoy very much. 

Don't think the convention isn't fun if you like painting, gaming, hanging out, etc. ReaperCon is still the nicest and friendliest convention I've ever attended. Where else do you feel people could set up their large paint stations in the main hall on Thursday and leave them there until Sunday, unattended at times? No one gives that a second thought. Overall people are friendly and there's plenty of things to do. I think my personal experiences come from having been to so many of them and seeing the changes in the convention, the attendees, and the company. I accept that things change. My question is whether I want to be there for them.

ReaperCon 2021 - Day 3

  

Day 3 should be a shorter post. It was my 'day off' as it were. No classes, no obligations, etc.

I spent the morning hanging out. I would have liked to have shopped the small selection of vendors but on my first pass through on Thursday to get the punch card done I saw there weren't many that interested me. So that was out.

Because I entered the paint competition I was eligible to vote for Best in Show. I made a pass through the entries and didn't find anything I really liked so no one got my vote. I'm harsh on that kind of judging.

My Best in Show choice has to 'catch' me. It doesn't need to be the best paint job or anything. There has to be something that makes me want to take it home. I didn't see anything like that this year so I abstained.

I made good on my promise to myself to at least do a Paint and Take. That's where you sit down, pick a mini, and paint it. It's a nice way to introduce people and get them started - free mini and they provide brushes and paint.

I painted a bit on this one and realized a few things. I really dislike painting direct on their 'these minis don't need primer' models because they do need primer unless you want to wait forever and have to keep throwing paint on until it covers. I also didn't like the strangers who don't understand painting etiquette. The person who I think was supposed to be keeping an eye on things seemed more inattentive than they should have been. So I stopped after that bit of paint on her thorax. 

That experience let me cross off all the scheduled paint events from my list.

I physically overdid it when I took the factory tour. Walking isn't my best thing and by this point I was in bad shape. Even after being here so many times I enjoy the tour. This year they included new areas that they bought and/or built out since the last convention so I was excited to see them.

Unfortunately my knees were not of the same opinion. I expected to have to skip the upstairs portion. I did the last few conventions. I didn't expect to have to miss other sections. The owner giving the tour was nice enough to ferry me over to the new buildings in the company golf cart tho.

One new building will be warehouse. That makes sense. The other is mostly for their streaming stuff and that didn't interest me. I may blog about that later.

In the building with the studio is a wall of names. We were asked during their last Kickstarter if we wanted our names painted on the new building. I certainly did. Instead they put them on an inside wall so they wouldn't be exposed to the elements so our names will last a lot longer.

It was nice to find my name in there. It was even nicer they're in alphabetical order.

The studio areas were efficient and they find them useful. The other areas are still being made less industrial, except the room where they make their newest type of plastic minis. I'm still not sure of that process or material. I'm also not interested enough to ask.

After a brief look at a couple of specific vendors I cleaned up what I had at the paint table and took it back to my room to pack. I still have the gift certificate that came with our VIP ticket to spend. They didn't have what I wanted in stock but they should be refilled tomorrow. 

Finally there's the paint contest results. I never go to the awards ceremony and didn't see why this year shod be any different. I got a text that I won a bronze medal for this dude

Not too shabby for the amount of work I put in. I did spend time replacing the broken dagger. I also think he looks better with the replacement.

So that's day 3. Tomorrow there's more going on but I leave before the official end of the convention. 

ReaperCon 2021 - Day 2

 

Yup. Still ReaperCon.

Yesterday we got a note from the hotel giving us coupons for breakfast. I guess people who weren't staying here were taking advantage. It's a nice idea but not very practical. They took the coupon at the official entrance but everyone would go back for refills using the 'exit' and no one was checking anything.

No biggie. Brought the coupon and had a nice breakfast.

I took some pictures of the main room again. I will admit to these being carefully framed to look like there was a good crowd. In fact there were sparsely occupied areas to be found as well as dense ones.

My first class was on weathering. Even I admit this looks pretty darn good for a class mini. However the instructor did a LOT of prep work for us. The bulk of the darker rust areas were from them sponge painting rust, using a product to mask areas that would be rusty, then spraying on the main color. Our part was rubbing off the paint/mask to reveal the rust.

We did do the streaks and scratches.

As always I like this instructor and after seeing how well it works I may buy the product depending on price.

My second class was a mistake. I was too advanced for the material. The instructor was also reading off their handout like it was a PowerPoint presentation. No pictures because I didn't feel it warranted any.

I chatted with the instructor after class and found out they learned all this from someone I learned it from before they every started painting.

I demurred about going to the second class that was supposedly more advanced material. They even gave me a copy of the handout to help me make my decision. My decision was to give away my ticket.

If you're going to read off the handout for your class there's isn't a lot of incentive to sit and listen to it. 

A lot of people would find inspiration in that class. I'm not one of them.

I did finish painting the dagger. I remembered paint dries a lot slower here than at home and planned accordingly. With that done I could enter them into the contest.

I pre-registered even though I was on-site. They seemed to be trying to speed up the process by having us enter the bulk of the information online rather than filling out paper forms someone else would enter into the computer. I found out that was the way to get the special coin anyway so it's all good.

I chose to gave them take the display pictures. There was a self service photo booth but there wasn't a line and I'd rather have a good picture from a good camera that someone other than me took.

Toxic Blue

Hangry Dwarf

Appearances are not always deceiving 

These are much better. I had to come up with entry names and since I'm not vested in the results I picked what came to mind.

The rest of the evening was spent socializing.

I mentioned I'm wearing my old convention shirts as a flex on the majority of attendees. Someone else I know is wearing the same range of shirts for the same reason. We never said we were nice.

ReaperCon 2021 - Day 0 and Day 1

OK. Days 0 and 1 get a single post since Day 0 isn't very picture worthy in my opinion.

Day 0

Day 0 was travel, more travel, hotel stuff, shopping, convention check-in, and a 'Meet & Greet' dinner.

There was nothing special about any of that. We got our convention welcome pack then went to our room to start the process of making big piles of stuff.

There's also a gift certificate usable only at their convention booth and convention money (Reaper Bucks). They said each hotel got different special minis and I'll be checking into that when I go shopping.

We snuck in a day early to do our metal-by-weight shopping. We've always set aside Thursday for that but it seems the company only wanted it to happen Friday and Saturday. Our bad. We did our shopping anyway. There's some advantages to being old timers.

The factory, looking back towards the store entrance. This is all product storage now.

The mold racks. They have a lot of molds. Casting is done in a room behind these.

Way in the back are the unpackaged minis you buy by weight, either with cash or trade in metal value.

I'll have better pictures when I take the official factory tour Saturday. 

The pizza Meet and Greet was burgers and hot dogs this year. That was a welcome change since I think the pizza the hotel serves is vile. The last couple of years I've resorted to scraping off and eating the toppings. They also had cake.

Food and food serving stations are not picture worthy to me.

These have been the standard type of badges the last few years. The ribbons are given out both by the convention and attendees who bought their own. Some people try to get them all and end up with huge tails that hit the floor. I take the ones that I earn at the con and the ones that I happen to acquire. This will grow throughout the weekend.

I'm going against my nature to enter minis in the painting competition. I'm only doing it for the Reaper Bucks. The minis are ones I grabbed from my dungeon crawl case. I have no interest in being judged which takes all the stress of competition away.

One of them broke in transit. His fragile dagger finally succumbed to my casual handling. Since I feel it's the best of the bunch I felt the need to fix it. My attempt to sculpt a replacement was a dismal failure. I found a suitable dagger on the pile of returned metal and pinned it in place. That's acceptable and will be easy enough to paint.

I pre-registered for the competition to get the special coin. I was mistaken in what I thought it would be. All Resper Bucks are cardboard coins and you get a 'special' silver one for doing that. It's still cardboard.

These are the terrible pictures I took to pre-register. They'll take better ones when I submit them. I hope.

The day ended with me chatting while I fixed the mini and my weekend table buddy painted.

Tomorrow will be much busier.

ReaperCon 2019 Review

I already posted a summary update on Twitter but there's only so much you can do with a series of 140 character posts.

These are my own experiences and thoughts about the convention. I've been attending since the artist convention in 2005, missing only 2012 (I needed a break for reasons). So I remember the days when it was at the factory, missed the first move to a hotel, then have been there through the remaining venue changes.

I've also got the comparison between pre-Bones and post-Bones conventions. I'll be making reference to that in my review. There will be more on that following the review.

Day 0 - Wednesday

Travel wasn't so bad. It started out not so great when I got the text that my flight was going to be delayed for an hour, then another text that it wasn't delayed, and then an unannounced gate change. The gate change was a bit of a scare since I'm using the wheelchair service at the airports so they had to push me and another person to the new gate in a hurry. But we made it.

I did have to use two pieces of luggage for the trip down due to bulky/heavy things. I had expected to need the second bag so I had the soft duffel from my GenCon trip ready. The suitcase was three pounds overweight but a quick switch of one item to the other bag fixed that easily. My airline 'gives' you two checked bags without an additional fee, which was part of why I selected that one.

I was the wheels for four other people going to the convention with about an hour's spread between our flights. Eventually we all gathered up and went to the rental car area. I'm a rewards club member and get to skip the rental desk, choosing whatever car I want from the designated aisle. I was a bit concerned about fitting five gamers and our luggage into a sedan but funny enough the only vehicle in the area was a minivan so I got to take it with no upcharge. Fate was smiling on us.

The hotel was the same as last year, if slightly more 'into' the convention now that they had a feel for what we were. Custom room keys (probably paid for by the company), colored lighting, etc. We got our room block goodie bags and dropped our things. Then a quick Walmart run for supplies and we were all set.

The check-in line was long and moved slow, which is about normal. They were having printer problems for tickets, which is about normal. But I got my badge, my class tickets, and a BUNCH of swag bags since two people had me purchase additional ones for them. All that got dumped in the room.

There's a Meet and Greet pizza dinner included in the VIP badge. They didn't get better pizza this year. It's pretty bad pizza. I resort to eating the toppings and leaving the crust behind. It makes for an interesting plate when I'm done and the servers never know whether or not to take it.

After that there's no real scheduled events so everyone breaks off into groups. I hit my room to rest.

Day 1 - Thursday

Hotel stay includes breakfast and this place is nice for having real food on it. I won't repeat this for each day but breakfast consisted of lots of scrambled eggs, a nice amount of bacon, fruit, and milk. Carbs are cheap and easy to get, protein not so much.

I set aside the entire day for shopping. Here's where ReaperCon shines for me. They have an area where all the cast parts are kept before they're packaged. Given the name of the company the area is called The Boneyard. ReaperCon is the only time of the year you can trade in old metal and get new metal ounce-for-ounce. Which means you can get figures for far less, relatively speaking, than buying them retail.

I do a lot of shopping. And I was shopping for three other people so that's even more shopping.

This year I remembered to bring a lot of plastic baggies so I could keep large multipart models together (it's a right pain to sort all that out) as well as keep things organized as I went. It helps with shopping for other people as well.

It's in Texas and there's no air conditioning in that area. It's a concrete floors with shelves six feet high. The minis are kept in those heavy yellow plastic bins so it's a day of standing, bending, stretching, reaching, and generally more exertion than I do at once. This is why I set aside the full day.

Whatever they didn't have on hand they'll cast so once I put my passengers to work on shopping for other people while I finished mine (long list this year) we filled out the casting slips and left. I would have stayed longer but one person had a class that afternoon and I didn't know that when I agreed to be his ride.

I don't like time limits on my shopping.

That night was me being tired so it was a drink at the complementary cocktail hour then a break until cheap appetizers at the attached restaurant. I was also told to try the tomato soup because it came with deep fried cheese fritters. The soup was all right, the seared tuna was overpowered by the relish, the chicken and avocado egg rolls were the best of the bunch. I ate too much.

Day 2 - Friday

I had one class on Friday. I try to take three classes per year, just to keep learning. It gets difficult at times given that I've been taking classes for so long and there's a lot that doesn't interest me. It doesn't help that there are instructors on my 'do not take classes from this person' list either. But I can generally find some classes.

The class I chose wasn't very good for me. The instructor focused on two things that I pretty much already knew how to do and didn't show any different ways for me to try. That and they both depended on dry layers and that doesn't happen quickly in Texas. So instead of nice clean lines we ended up with smeared messes. Which the instructor then tried to give suggestions on how to improve. He stopped looking at mine when I said I could have done it if the paint had time to dry.

I'm not sure if that instructor went on The List or not. I'm leaning towards it.

The rest of the day was me going through the vendors. You get a punch card in your swag bag and if you get it punched by all the vendors you get a free mini. It's a nice way to get you to visit all the booths. I like to shop, chat, and then ask for the card to be punched. I'm in the minority. This was a shopping day anyway, not a buying day.

The selection of vendors is eclectic. One big problem is that the convention is held over a holiday weekend and some of the more desired vendors won't bother. Another big problem is that a huge convention is happening at the same time so if they have to choose one it won't be this one. The last big problem is that the convention isn't that big and it's manufacturer sponsored. Until last year they only had to deal with the last problem. The other two are making themselves known.

After wandering the vendors (missing two because they hadn't arrived yet) I spent time catching up with artists and other people I knew.

I took the factory tour because I like to take the tour. I like to see what's changed, have some pleasant memories of what it used to be like, hear the history, etc. I can't do the upstairs part because of the stairs but I had a bit of shopping to do so I peeled off the tour early and did that. It's allowed. I met up near the end and still got to enjoy the last of the tour itself.

A couple of people I know were arriving this evening so I kept an eye out for them. I had brought stuff for them and I rarely get to watch people open presents. I was able to meet up with one of them, the other hadn't arrived.

Solo cocktail hour but free drinks are free drinks.

I made the mistake of ordering a pizza for dinner. It was a mistake because the tiny fridge in the room would in no way hold pizza leftovers even if I had a way to wrap them up. I really didn't think that one out. So I was back to eating pizza toppings and ignoring the crusts.

Day 3 - Saturday

Two classes today, separated out. I spent my day hanging out, going to a class, hanging out, going to a class, hanging out, etc. It's odd to have that break between classes because I didn't want to start anything with the short time I had. So it was kind of a wandering time.

The first class of the day was great. It was a demo on airbrush usage and I've taken classes from that instructor before. It's been agreed that this one is an inconsistent teacher - on point for some classes, not so much on others. This time there was an assistant of sorts to keep them on track and it helped a lot. I'll bring up my airbrush at the end after the review.

The second class of the day was me giving the instructor another chance. They didn't do well, in my opinion, teaching a class the previous year. But I liked the topic of this one and they had already taught it at GenCon so I hoped it would be better. My hopes were in vain. This one was another wasted class. And this teacher is on the 'do not take their classes' list going forward.

Cocktail hour again. The hotel had some special con-themed drinks so that was fun. I had the Dragon Tears blue thing and it was tasty. Actually I had two of them this time. I only had one the night before.

I socialized a bit and then had dinner at the attached restaurant. I just realized I had a coupon for that place I could have used, maybe, but oh well. Dinner was all right and far more than I'm used to eating.

The painting contest awards are held on Saturday evening and there's nothing of interest for me there. Everyone I know puts entries in the contest so I'm on my own during that time. I hung out in my room and read.

Day 4 - Sunday

I leave early on Sunday now because I have no interest in the auction and that's the big event of the convention after the painting contest. It's kind of bigger because there's free stuff. It's free because you can only bid using convention money you get from participating in convention events. There's nothing I want or need so there's no reason for me to stay.

Once again an unannounced gate change at the airport but that was the only hiccup in my travel. My suitcase was lighter than when I brought it because I left a lot of things there and had all my shopping shipped home. It was worth the cost.

Home

It seems like my cat suffers from separation anxiety. She's been a perfectly trained cat until this weekend when she did unspeakable things to the pet bed and my bathroom floor. According to the person watching her that happened on Saturday some time. So it was after I was gone for a few days and she was left alone more than I would like. They could only visit once per day during the week and I think it was more of a 'food-water-litter box' situation than spending time with the cat.

I think she's better because I spent Sunday and Monday making sure she could find me and get attention any time she wanted. I did have to unpack the suitcase and I've made sure she has no ability to do unspeakable things to it. I hadn't planned on going into the office this week so she'll have me around more than just that time. That plan was made to give my knees some time to recover.

Summary

I didn't do any of the fun painting stuff I had planned and I'm not exactly sure why I didn't. I walked by the area any number of times. There were open spaces. But for whatever reason I didn't sit down to paint the free minis. I'm going to have to think about that one.

I'm never quite sure why I keep going to this convention. I don't socialize much and every year there's fewer and fewer people I know. I take a few classes. I don't enter the painting competition. I think it's the shopping that keeps me going and habit. If I didn't go to this one I wouldn't go to anything. It's a sobering thought.

Bones

What the heck are Bones you may be asking? Until several years ago everything Reaper put out was in metal. Then they used Kickstarter to start their plastic injection molded line. They call those Bones. That was a turning point for the company and their customer base.

The Kickstarter got a lot of attention and a lot of people who had never been a part of the hobby dove in. The site forum exploded with new people and everything was Bones, Bones, Bones. Then there was the second Kickstarter. And the third, And the fourth. The fifth is starting in a month. Plastic is the thing for the bulk of the attendees. I'm a metal snob so I don't bother with the plastic stuff at all.

The vast majority of the convention attendees have never painted metal minis. They're all about the plastics. I don't really blame them. The cost difference is significant and most of the new stuff is in plastic. It's the old timers who have more affection for metal. And the competition painters but resin is good enough for that as well. Metal is becoming sidelined.

Airbrush

I almost forgot I was going to put in something about my airbrush.

I have four Badger airbrushes. I really only need one but anyone who knows me knows I go big when I go into something. One thing I did during a sale was buy replacement triggers for them that are taller so there's less hand strain when using the airbrushes. That means taking them apart and replacing triggers.

It wasn't bad to do that. It's always good to know how to disassemble and reassemble your tools.

Except for one of them. That one didn't slide like it should, didn't move like it should, and there were air bubbles around the cap. Fine. I set it aside and didn't think much about it. Then the convention started getting closer and I had two chances at having professionals look at the thing to find out what I did wrong and learn how not to do that again.

The owner of the company was there. He looked at it briefly and told me to send it to the factor for service.

The instructor for the class looked at it and said "Sure. I can take care of that." and started it soaking in a cup of isopropyl alcohol. He also showed me why part of it was sticking ("Just ram it back and forth a few times until it moves smoothly. It gets junked up with whatever they put on it at the factory."). Once he cleaned it out it was working perfectly. Turns out I did reassemble it correctly or when they were mucking around with it the piece went back into place.

The final thing was the kicker. The bubbles that were coming out around the cap? "Those just happen. Ignore them."

So the only thing truly 'wrong' with it was needing to have the factory lube worked off the needle due to the very tight tolerances of that model. Which means nothing was wrong with it.

A couple of pictures of my elf army

I hope to have good detail shots in the near future but until then feast your eyes on the army on the table.

Elf Army 01

Elf Army 02

Read and post comments | Send to a friend

Unprepared, as always

Somehow I forgot both the cable and the adapter card to take pictures from my camera to the computer.  I may have to prevail on a friend or two to move them from my camera to my thumb drive so I can post them in something resembling real time.

I've taken some pictures and hope to take more as the convention continues.  I've been lax the last couple of years but I have excuses, as some of you know.  If you don't know, then just consider me a slacker.

Events and commentary so far:

Wednesday afternoon - Rastl's Hot Tub Party was a great success.  More than double the number of attendees.  We had a good time and I think the guys' nads have once again returned from being drawn up into the warm safety of not being in cold water.  Outdoor pools are not heated in Texas and they're a bit of a shock after the hot tub.

A group run to the package store for booze.  Lobotomy Boch, Devil Dog and much Shiner made their way back to the hotel.  Preparation is key.  We love having a package store in the parking lot of the hotel.  Just makes things so much more convenient.

Wednesday evening - Reaper Meet and Greet.  A very informal way for Reaper to put on a spread of food and for folks to start the socializing.  Since July is Reaper's 18th birthday and none of us are around then they celebrated early with cakes.  I don't have pictures but I'll get some from other people.  Each cake had the logo from a different product line.  quite tasty.

Wednesday night - And so it begins.  ShinerCon (which doesn't really exist, is an urban legend, etc) was once again hosted in my room ~sigh~ but it was nice seeing everyone again and having some fun.  We even kept the noise down because there wasn't one complaint from the hotel or the other con folks staying on either side of us.

Thursday morning - Reaper decided to put on a pancake breakfast.  Freshly made pancakes, sausage, bacon and fruit.  It was wonderful.  I even paced myself and didn't eat too much.  Some rather blurry memories of talking to lots of people and finding out if my army survived being dropped from 4 feet right in front of me while being carried to the car back in CO and how it survived the trip.  A bit of wear but nothing broken.  Many people wanted to see it.

The tournament organizer has been trying to get awards for "best painted army" used in the tournaments because we put in a similar number of hours as the competition painters but just paint more of them.  I don't see that going anywhere this year but maybe next year.  Right now my personal goal is to get the last figures painted and the basing done.

I participated in a few dungeon crawls, 2 of them to make up enough players.  I'm trying new strategies in each game just to make things fun for me.  First it was a standard crawl of picking up loot.  Second was trying to get loot and get to the central room where the good loot was.  If you didn't get munched on by the dragon.  I was very, very lucky in that one and got the maximum value for treasure.  Then I got munched.

Tomorrow I think I'm going to see about taking on the other parties and stealing their loot.  I like trying new things.

I have a game tomorrow morning and the rest of the afternoon to paint minis,  My friend Kris brought a lamp with him (thank you Kris!) and some grass tufts that will make finishing the bases sooooo much easier.    After my game is a lunch break then I think I'll sit in on Kris' army painting class.  I helped proof his class handouts and I'm very interested in what the class has to say.  I neglected to print out my own copy of the handout but will get one so I can take notes for making it better next year.  If he cares what I have to say.

I can't get the pictures off my camera just yet but will see if someone can move them to a thumb drive so I can put them online.  Nothing too interesting but let's see if we can change that tomorrow. :D

OK - off to bed for far too little sleep.  As I've said in the past, if we don't look like death on toast by Saturday morning we're not doing it right.

Read and post comments | Send to a friend

More mini progress!

I keep getting distracted by phone calls so it takes me a little longer to get the minis done but I also get the fun of talking to my friends.  Go figure.  Of course I could use my Bluetooth earpiece and try to do both but I hate fixing the mistakes that happen when I attempt to multitask.

I've got Saturday to try to finish painting the last minis and paint the bases.  At least try to paint the bases.  I can always do the basing while I'm in Texas but it would be nice to actually have a mostly finished army for once.

I'm hoping time permits me to put up the light tent and take pictures of what's done.  Well, mostly done since the bases aren't painted.

Once again the newly finished stuff is in green.

Here's the total list of what's being done and what has been done:

Troop 1
Larnach the Grey
Lysette
Caerwynn
Royal Guardsman x 4
Death Seeker x 2
Vale Long Thorn x 2

Troop 2
Chiral, Centaur
Centaur Warrior x 3
Hunting Cat x 2
Faery x 2

Troop 3
Silvermaine, Unicorn

Troop 4
Mossbeard the Treeman

Read and post comments | Send to a friend

6 more minis painted

No pictures - I hope to set up my light tent this weekend and get pictures of what's been done.  The bases aren't painted yet but I might take some time to do that since it's pretty relaxing end-of-the-night work.

Here's the total list of what's being done and what has been done:

Troop 1
Larnach the Grey
Lysette
Caerwynn
Royal Guardsman x 4
Death Seeker x 2
Vale Long Thorn x 2

Troop 2
Chiral, Centaur
Centaur Warrior x 3
Hunting Cat x 2
Faery x 2

Troop 3
Silvermaine, Unicorn

Troop 4
Mossbeard the Treeman

The ones crossed in green are the latest ones done.  The unicorn and the treeman have base coats on them so they're "in progress".  Next up are the centaurs since they're kind of grunts as well so they don't need as much attention.

Two of the centaurs have their torsos done and one has the horse body started.  I'm trying to get away from the 'brown with black socks' that seems to be a standard horse color.  Of course it takes longer to paint but looks SO cool.

If I push myself I should have 2 of the 3 centaur warriors done before Saturday and the third one started at least.  Saturday is the monthly paint day so I'll bring a solo figure (one of the ones from Troop 1) and see about getting that done during the paint day.  Maybe 2 of them since I might even finish the first one.  Gotta love army painting.

Oh, and for the record.  Spraying varnish on fairies feels like spraying them with bug spray.  Icky.

Read and post comments | Send to a friend

Some work in progress shots

The colors are tinted yellow even after correction so they're not quite as vivid as in person.  The blue is really a nice blue-green that I love.  I'll have true color pictures when they're painted.

I'm making this army for the ReaperCon Warlord tournament.  I know, I know.  I've been painting dwarves like a fiend but didn't want to field them this year.  And then there's the troop of battle nuns.  But those are for later.  This year, elves take the field.

WIP Elf 01

WIP Elf 02

WIP Elf 03

Obviously the armor isn't nearly done yet.  The plan is to pick out some details with a thinned metallic blue and then wash all the silver with green liner.  That should get me the blue-green to match the dominant color in the minis. I'm a big fan of color washing my silvers.

I got myself all confused by trying to work blues and greens into the colors to go along with that blue-green I like so much.  For the record, it's the Ocean Triad by Reaper.  I love using it as a skin tone too.  But I digress.

A friend of mine helped me talk colors and that's why almost everything else is a neutral.  The leather is a red-brown but not heavily so.  Mr. Color Wheel says it's the compliment of my blue-green and I think it looks pretty darn good.

I did spend a good chunk of tonight fixing and cleaning up the work I did here with inadequate lighting.  My paint table lamps has been packed away, along with the chair I've used for over 20 years at my work tables.  Excavating in the small bedroom resolved both of those issues.  The lamps are yellow shifted but I don't use them for picking colors so it's all good.

I also got most of the rest of the army based and primed in the last couple of days.  The last pieces are on order so I'll be painting like a fiend for the next few weeks.  I need this to keep myself occupied.

Read and post comments | Send to a friend

Post ReaperCon and back to the real world

I crashed once I got my butt in my seat on the flight home.  I woke up for beverage service and on landing.  I guess I was tired.

Monday evening was spent watching the last 2 episodes of Bones.  Now we have to wait until fall to find out what they're going to do.  You know it was a good season ending when both of us yelled out "No!" at the very end.

I'm not painting anything right now as I get back into the groove of things.  I have ideas but I need to step back after the overwhelming event that is ReaperCon.  I've been getting better about it but I don't paint for at least a week after the convention.

Mr. Rastl has taken this camping trip on his own.  I'm in the 'coming down with a cold' phase of life, he's unemployed now and wanted to get up there well before I could get out of work, and this is more his type of camping weather anyway.  He also spent last weekend at a convention with a friend and let's just say he needs a little time alone.

I'm kind of unpacked and all my pewter ended up getting shipped because something I bought wouldn't fit into my luggage if I also wanted to bring back my clothes.  And I realized I never made the last trip into the Boneyard to get the items that were being cast.  Oh well.  They weren't that important.

I'm working on some sewing projects but those are in a different blog so I won't be detailing them here.  This is for my gaming hobby so if you want to discuss sewing and stuff click on the link to the right for the FashionAeons blog.  If not, don't go.  This way you have the option.

Read and post comments | Send to a friend

ReaperCon - Day 4

And so it ends.  Not with a bang but with an auction!

I got there late because I'm a big slacker.  With a hangover.  And no breakfast because I got up late and it seems most fast food places are closed Sundays.  Or at least Sunday mornings.  Grr.  Sonic for breakfast.  I had avoided that all convention long by getting up reasonably close to on time and eating the hotel-provided breakfast.  Yay waffles in the shape of the state of Texas!

I spent the (rest of the) morning catching up with friends and then I got to play my usual role in the auction.  Flit and I display the items currently being auctioned so Heisler can keep things moving.  Obviously we alternate.  It's great to watch the auction from the front - I can see everything happening.

Note - the auction is for cool fun stuff and only uses the 'money' you earn by taking classes, playing games, etc.  So technically whatever you get is free!

It's all over now but the packing.

Read and post comments | Send to a friend

ReaperCon - Day 3

Yes, I know I'm posting on day 4.  That pretty much says it all.

I got my .. errrr ..  head handed to me in the Warlord tournament but I pretty much expected it.  I did have a darn fine lookin' army on the table, at least for a little while.  Pictures (thanks Spike!) will be forthcoming.

I'd tell you what I did the rest of the day but that tournament took me until mid-afternoon and the rest of the day is kind of a haze due to some very late rabble rousing.  I think we can stay in this hotel again next year.

Read and post comments | Send to a friend

ReaperCon - Day 2

Why am I recording this for posterity?  What foul acts will come back to haunt me?

Nothing I'll be writing here, let me tell you.

Today was rather like yesterday except that I did have a class.  This one was on painting red - one of the 5 most difficult colors to paint.  I learned a few things that might be interesting to try but overall I'm probably going to keep working with my 'quick and easy' methods.  They've worked this far.

I did get through my first batch of Boneyard selections.  Now I get to work on the next set, which includes all the lists for other people.  Those will be easier since there's very little choice involved - I'm working straight off the list.  My hands still get dirty.

I did try painting a water elemental tonight but my hands weren't cooperating for some reason so I gave that up.  Hopefully I can pick it up tomorrow but I doubt it.

My first tournament round is at 9:00am - which is (check clock) less than 6 hours from now.  So with sleep, shower and food I'm going to be more than a bit tired and hung over in the morning.  This will either work to my advantage or I'm going to get spanked.  My money's on option 2.

Read and post comments | Send to a friend

ReaperCon - Day 1

Well, days 0 and 1 actually.

Last night was the Meet and Greet where we all hung around and chatted.  Actually we caught up with people, etc.  Reaper provides a very nice meal for everyone and it's a nice start to things.

Today was the first official day of the convention.  There was some confusion whether it started at 9:00am or noon.  The schedule shows that classes didn't actually start until noon but they opened the doors at 9 so people could register and buy tickets for classes.  And those of us slackers who just show up and don't leave.

What did I do today?  I didn't have any classes scheduled and my army is complete.  My plan was to spend some time at Paint and Take to try a few new ideas for painting and mostly hang around.

Yeah.

What I actually did was spend a lot of time talking to people, play test the rules for one of the games, and then spend a LOT of time picking my way through the Boneyard getting all the bits and bobs I wanted in exchange for the unwanted metal I shipped down.  Yes, a LOT of time since I wanted lots of little weapons off the sprues so I can use them in conversions and terrain.  That's very time consuming.  But as of today I'd say I'm around 95% done with the planned purchases (they needed to cast more of things that were gone) so tomorrow I'll get that finished up so I can do other things.

As with previous years there was much laughter and some of it was even at stuff that might be considered funny later.  We're already getting silly and it's only the first day.  I'm going to be quite amused by the rest of the weekend.

I did finally get to Paint and Take around 10:00pm and picked out a mini to paint but she didn't tell me what color she wanted to be so I stuffed her in my brush box and went off to talk to other people.  Go figure.

Read and post comments | Send to a friend

So who's surprised that I'm cranky?

First of all, the stores here aren't the same.  You would think that going into a Wal*****'s would result in the same products I have at home.  Heck no.  Which leads me into my rant.

Why can't I find unsweetened teas?  I know several companies that make them.  The stores carry the sweetened versions of them but I'll be darned if I can find one without HFCS or artificial sweeteners.  I don't want sweetened tea!  I want iced tea.  Plain, regular iced tea.  Is that so hard?  Down here, I guess it is.

I won't even get into the lack of brand of candy I wanted since that isn't nearly as annoying as the lack of a type of beverage.  I don't want to go to the grocery store and buy a multipack since I'm not at any one place long enough and at ReaperCon they have Sonic in and they will have unsweetened iced tea.  And with any luck they'll give us the same "pay once, drink all day" deal since this is stuff they just dump at the end of the day.  That's a nice deal.

On the mini scene I did get all the bases painted and the first coat of varnish on.  I'll put the second coat on tomorrow (today?) morning so they have all day to dry before I pack them back up.  One of the larger figures needs to be put back differently since her sword extends higher than the foam and it was slightly bent when I pulled her out.  That's not acceptable so I'll probably have to turn her on her side.

I did get craft paint to edge the bases and it took 3 coats before I was happy with the depth of color.  I grumbled a bit but realized I use at least 2 coats of the mini paint to do it so another coat of cheap craft paint isn't that bad.

The real problem is that I didn't think ahead about the availability of the color of static grass I wanted.  For whatever reason I thought I could find something close enough and dry brush the ends once I got to Reaper.  Yeah, silly me.  I ended up sending an urgent pleading e-mail to Skullcrafts asking for a small bag of the flame static grass so I can add it to the bases.  He'll have to send it to my next hotel so I get it.  I'd really like something less vibrant but Skully stopped doing the larger variety of colors so I'll take what he's willing to send me.

This army does look darn cool.  I'll try to get some pictures while they're in play so people can see just how cool they look.

Read and post comments | Send to a friend

I can't believe I'm done

I finished painting and lining the last dwarf for my tournament army last night.  And I had enough time to put the basing material on all the other models.  Including time to putty up the holes in the slotta bases.  Wow.

Today I attached and varnished that last fella so tonight I'll be getting his base material in place.  I can prime everyone but him (the glue needs time to set) so they're ready for painting when I get to Texas.

I still can't believe I'm actually done.  Yes, I still have one figure for the larger pickup army and she's been started but I could field her as-is without being less cool but it would be nice to have that one done as well.  I just don't paint to my standards when I'm painting away from home.  I guess I'm too used to my setup.

I will have to paint a familiar (little beastie) for her and I'm thinking of using the tortoise.  Seems appropriate for a dwarf.  That is something I can paint while at ReaperCon since it's a fun little paint job.

The mercenaries aren't even an issue right now since I haven't bought them yet.

So now my plans include creating the cavities in the foam inserts for the carry case, getting all my melt boxed up and shipped down, shopping for those things I have to bring with me (not including the bakery items for my father I have to get on the way to the airport), and making about 37 lists so I don't forget things.  Which I will.  And which is why they have Wal-Mart.

After all this I'm still excited about painting other things.  I didn't burn myself out too badly getting this army done and I credit all my tabletop paint jobs for that.  And Mr. Rastl for just letting me do what I felt I needed to do.  I did try to spend some quality time with him every evening but generally he just sent me off to paint.  He knew that he wouldn't get me back until after my trip.

I am taking my camera with me (of course) but I won't even try to post pictures while I'm down there.  Once the convention kicks in I won't be spending much time at all at the hotel if past years are anything to go by.  Here was last year's schedule:

07:30 - meet for continental breakfast in the hotel lobby
08:30 - gather up folks who are riding with me
09:00 - arrive at convention
23:00 - get kicked out of convention for the day
23:30 - meet up for beers
01:00 - stumble back to my room

Lather, rinse, repeat.

I really feel my age after this convention.

Read and post comments | Send to a friend

Age is not kind

I really didn't do what I would have thought to be an extended painting session today.  5 hours, broken up a few times to get up and do other things.  But by the end I knew I had enough and couldn't do anything else of value.

I didn't get nearly as much done yesterday as I had planned but it was too nice of a day to spend closeted in the paint room.  I won't say it was wasted because it wasn't.  I still got a couple of hours of painting in and I didn't burn myself out by trying to do 2 marathon paint days.

Of the remaining figures the fiddly one is done.  It's still in 2 parts since it is much easier to varnish them separately and then epoxy together.  Epoxy is clear so I'm not worried about a little overflow.  She turned out quite nicely and the hair was so well sculpted I had to spend extra time to make it look good.

I started on the last figure and I'm guessing he's about 1/3 done.  Knowing the colors really does make it go faster and if I hadn't been starting to wander mentally I probably would have gotten more done.  But he's well underway and I can see him getting done in short order.  Then my army is fully painted!

For the pickup army I only needed to add 2 figures from my stash.  I painted up one of them at paint night last week (yay easy paint jobs!) and the other one is either going to be easy or hard.  I won't know until I get started.  She's prepped and mostly primed so I can try painting her after I finish the required ones.

I'm going to work on building the bases this week so they're all done by Wednesday.  As previously noted I'm not that concerned about painting them here but priming would be great since that works like glue to hold the basing materials down.  I also need to cut the foam inserts for the transport case for these figures.  Again, time.

At least for next year I'll have at least one completed army so I won't have to go through this again, right?

Read and post comments | Send to a friend