CanCon 2022

After a pandemic hiatus, CanCon was back for 2022. It suffered from dealer and participant uncertainty, not to mention not enjoying a public holiday long weekend, and was reduced in size. However, it still felt and looked like CanCon and there were a few new traders. It wasn't as blisteringly hot as previous years, either.

Entry was (cheaply) ticketed for the first time, to allow for venue capacity limits and attendance tracking with QR codes. Masks were compulsory. The second hand stall wasn't as mosh-pit-like as usual due to this, which was great!

I didn't grab a lot of photos, but concentrated on scenery which grabbed my attention. The system which was booming was Star Wars: Legion.

Crashed walker

Crashed flyer

Crashed pod

There was a bit of Bolt Action as well.

Battlefield Accessories continue to reinvent themselves with photo-realistic pre-printed MDF. They also have backdrops you can see in these photos.

There was a participation game which I think was the 1941 Battle of Fallujah, with the British Habbaniya Brigade (including Gurkhas) having to capture and hold a bridge from the Iraqis.

My loot: A few impulse buys and second hand bargains.

Eldar Rangers

I've always liked these 1989 Jes Goodwin sculpts, and found some on eBay. I did them in the white & green Biel-Tan scheme which I think is quite striking, and made their camo cloaks reversible.

Thirty years of scale creep. I'm not the only one affected by the snapping of this rifle, and haven't got around to fixing it.

"Stay away from me and my son!"

Éowyn, Dernhelm and Merry

Then Merry heard of all sounds in that hour the strangest. It seemed that Dernhelm laughed, and the clear voice was like the ring of steel. 'But no living man am I! You look upon a woman. Éowyn am I, Éomund's daughter.'

JRR Tolkien, The Return of the King (1955)

Éowyn masquerades as the Rider Dernhelm, pulling the wool over the eyes of Théoden, Merry and the Witch King. This is a gorgeous 2019 plastic kit. You get a mounted Dernhelm and Merry- and Merry is detachable. He sits solidly without pinning or magnets and is easily removable. The join is not apparent. I enjoyed painting the cloaks, with a more grey tone for Merry's elven one.

sans Merry

avec Merry

You also get a dismounted Dernhelm and Merry.

"Her eyes grey as the sea were hard and fell,
and yet tears were on her cheek."

I also had a metal Éowyn - if I'm already painting two Éowyns, what is one more?

"... the helm of her secrecy had fallen from her,
and her bright hair, released from its bonds,
gleamed with pale gold upon her shoulders."

And I dug up an older metal Éowyn and Merry for completeness. I painted these over ten years ago, and was really happy with her face. I prefer my old Merry's underjacket colour.

"... maiden of the Rohirrim, child of kings,
slender but as a steel-blade, fair yet terrible."

Firefly

I got a copy of Firefly Adventures: Brigands and Browncoats. I painted it rapidly using mostly Contrast paints and by lowering my standards appropriately. I'm very happy with the outcome. The game comes with cardboard boxes that can double as terrain- even the box base is a big hangar/ warehouse.

Each crew figure comes in a 'Casual' and 'Heroic' pose that have different actions available to them. The 'Heroic' abilities will tend to attract the attention of the baddies!

Serenity crew- Heroic

Serenity crew- Casual

Cowboys

Thugs

Dr Simon Tam

Shepherd Book

Captain Mal

Kaylee

River

Inara

Zoe

Jayne

Wash

These were pretty quick to paint. The female face sculpts lack a lot of definition. The Cowboys and Thugs would be great for Stargrave.

I haven't had time to play it yet...