Not every game at Historicon is traditional. Some folks start up some science fiction or pulp fiction games and others create alternate history scenarios. Some play purely historical games but with non-traditional miniatures. A
major disclaimer with this post, don't think for one second that "Weird and Wild" diminishes these games in any way(in fact, they were some of the most interesting games and miniatures that I saw at Historicon).
This leads me to
my favorite find of Historicon '09. On the first day of the convention my son and I came across a Battle of Platea simulation that was very unique- it made use of the creator-dubbed "
Craftees" miniatures. These are wooden miniatures made from craft store bits(and in my opinion they were show-stealers!)...
These figures were pioneered and displayed by their creator, Matt Kirkhart, who, as you can see, is one creative guy. His Greek Hoplites are displayed above and below...
Here are some Greek skirmishers, including some Thracians with their famous crescent-shaped shields...
And some Persians deploying for battle...
And the entire Persian invasion army ready to engage the foe...
I am already delving into making Craftees myself and I believe they will be popular with our Military History Club. In the meantime, be sure to check out the Yahoo Newsgroup for more information about making and playing games with Craftees
here.
Here is a "Monster Island" scenario using oversized Godzilla-series figurines for some daikaiju(giant monster) battling action...
And I couldn't resist posting pics of these unique figures from Eureka Miniatures. What's that you say? You don't recognize this battle? Well its the famous Battle of Pharsalus of course between Caesar and Pompey(you probably just never saw it depicted with Teddy Bear legionaries!)...very creative...
Then there was this "Wild West Shootout" game with the obligatory stagecoach and wooden barrels...
When I decided to attend my first Historicon I decided it would really be just as a spectator- as I didn't know much about signing up for games and such protocols. That being said, on the first day, my son and I were watching a gamemaster(a nice guy named Grant) set up a Pulp Fiction game called "Dr.O. Lightning Ball", which, for lack of a better analogy, was a James Bond type spy game. It was a neat, three sided scenario with evil agents(Dr.O and company) vs. secret agents(Agent Steele and company) and the police(Bauhaus militia). Well, Grant said he had an opening and let my son and I join in the fun(Agent Steele faction). We played for four hours and had a blast. If you go to Historicon you have three ways to get into games: 1)pre-register via mail or email, (2) register for games on site, (3) scout around and people might let you play on the spot. Now that I know how it works, I'll be sure to pre-regist er for games next time. Here's some pics of the game that Gareth and I played in...
The guy standing next to the yellow car is one of my undercover agents that I can activate at any time(the gamemaster worked in a lot of tricks and twists like this into the scenario)...
