My Day-Trip to Fall-in! 2019

The last three years, I've managed to get Fall-In! into my convention cycle.  Cold Wars is supposed to be my "guys weekend", Historicon is whatever suits the family's schedule, but Fall-In! has been the weekend I take my eldest daughter Maja to the con.

This year, a recent promotion at work and trouble in that paradise kept Fall-In! as a last minute decision.  So last second, in fact, that I didn't register for the con and get things settle until late Thursday afternoon.

The plan was to put my youngest, Millie, on the bus, and take Maja into work with me for an hour so I could leave for Philly with a clear conscience.  We (Maja included) ended up having to deal with every executive in my company with "Chief" and "Officer" wanting to talk to me about issues that could wait, and it was almost Noon before we could dash out of the office and hit the turnipike.

Fifteen bucks in tolls later (and a stop for Roy Rogers), we were in the parking lot for the Radisson, trying to figure out which way the registration desk and pre-reg pick-up scan were.  Its location made perfect sense to me after the fact, but a few more signs to 80% idiot-proof the process would have been greatly appreciated.

When Historicon made the move to Valley Forge in the aftermath of the Baltimore fiasco, I have fond and distinct memories of running and playing games near the dealer hall, in an area which is now the casino proper.  The only noteworthy walks I remember were through the byzantine passages to get from the convention center back to the hotel (first H'con), as well as the horribly steep parking lot (second H'Con).

I'm still amazed the labyrinth-like hallways are still there, and even more amazed that the hallways rise and fall with ramps when I swear the casino/dealers hall is downhill from the Radisson.

We didn't even make it to the dealer's hall on the first attempt over three, as we happened upon Hobby University, and everyone's favorite gnome guy, Jim Stanton.  We hung out there, caught up on things, and were happy to say hi to every other friend who happened by Hobby U.

A LOT more space for Hobby University here than at the Lancaster Convention Center

We made a single foray into the dealer's hall and left half-satisfied.  Literally half of the items I was looking for were available because half of the items weren't brought to the con.  I get that some of the dealers can't  haul their huge catalogs of figures, and I also get the concept of a simple email from me to the company asking if they were going to bring Chilean dragoons or Buddhist monks in thongs ensures that the company will bring something related to the desired item.   But some of the items were brand new releases within the last 90 days, so by Friday at 3:30, we should have some stock available, or at least point at the empty spot where the figures were.

Finally, the dealers!

After a trip to Chili's for dinner, we came back and celebrated Toys for Tots with a Squighopper (aka Gnome) Joust.  The great thing about the joust is that it doesn't matter if it's knights, goblins riding squigs, or gnomes riding roosters, it works. 

Maja was ruthless in her jousting and did far better than me.

I got knocked out early, not by the usual run of kids, but the opposite, a senior citizen brigade that included the Gnome King's mom!  For her first con, she performed more than admirably, finally falling in the finals to the Fall-In! 2019 Joust Champion, Todd Pressley.

The Gnome King working the joust brackets.

Even better than previous years, this year's joust raised funds towards the Toys for Tots program run every year. 

The Toys for Tots volunteers do a great job each and every year.

With that, we were a few minutes short of Wally's Basement (aka the flea market), so Maja and I went back to the car, drove it over to the casino side of of the facility, and by that time, descended in the debauchery of sales already in progress.  Twenty minutes later, we were in the car and heading back home. 

The Valley Forge Casino & Resort/Radisson:  My last two conventions here, I didn't have much time to explore.  This time, I needed to explore to find the bulk of the games.  Most games appeared to be in rooms centralized in the Radisson, but there were so many rooms all over the place.  Air flow and climate control were bearable, although in any warmer weather, I might include a box fan as my gear.   The only on-site food we suffered through was horribly overprice Dunkin Donuts (even for casino fare), which we grabbed on the way out.  My iced coffee was wrong (who screws up cream and sugar?), and my daughters' drink had bits of plastic in it.  An angry letter to the casino and Dunkin were sent before I typed this up, for what it's worth. 

And yes, a few people I know actually won money at the casino.  No one stole any dice.

Parking:  The old bugbear of the Host is a non-issue at this site. I never had a problem finding a reasonable parking spot.

Dealer's Hall:  Good assortment of dealers, a few local vendors.  I didn't have an extensive list built up for the con, but about 1/3 of it was products the dealers didn't bring, and our limited time at the con didn't allow for restful perusing. 

Swag:  Again, with my limited list, limited stock, and limited patience with the flea market, it really wasn't much:

• The obligatory pint o' mdf bases (with extra mdf "dust" this year).  
• A few Post-Apocalyptic figures from Brigade Games, plus one of the brand new French Gnome Cavalry riding a snail (They are fast in the rules, you should see them escargot!)
• Windsword:  A few Reaper Bones and Wizkids Wardlings figures my local shops simply do not get in, plus some mushrooms and Egyptian terrain 
• Badger: A lone 1898 Teddy Roosevelt mounted figure, but I'll get my old Grenadier dragonmen via an online order. 
• Eureka: Maja got some frogs and a steampunk dog.  She's also excited to get an official HMGS badge holder.   
• Wally's Basement: outside of the sheer pleasure of knocking aside a few absolute jerks of human beings (and confirming why I don't go shopping on Black Friday).  Sixty Wargames Factory zombies on a sprue, a zombie hunter, and an old Hackmaster mini.
• And a big thank you to Kevin, Brad, and any other "Canadians" hiding at the con, who gave Maja a copy of Quarriors.  She greatly appreciated the gesture and is excited to try it out.

For a rushed trip, I had a good time.  I reconnected with a bunch of friends, I have an itinerary for Cold Wars, and I've confirmed a few folks' interest in my "birthday party" at Mepacon in April.