Mepacon 50 Review

Let's be honest, Historicon is the pinnacle of conventions for me.  

But by golly, a well-run Mepacon is a close second. 

Even mid-afternoon on a Friday, the place is jumping!

As faithful readers of the blog have seen repeatedly, this past weekend for Mepacon (Originally the Mid-Eastern Pennsylvania Convention).  This year the convention remains outside of Allentown, PA off the PA Route 100 exit, a fine facility that can barely hold the majesty of the local convention.  

In addition to the four different events I was running, I had the pleasure of bringing my daughter, Maja, with me.  She drives now, so she drove down from Albany after work, with a surprise guest: her younger sister, Millie.  Millie games as well, but her plan was to spend a weekend of AAU basketball as a  spectator, watching her best friend play two levels up at 17U during a college coaches showcase.  

Friday

I took all of Friday off, and it was a good idea, as I was still formatting and printing off handouts for my games up until noon.   We finally ventured down the PA Turnpike, with no issues and arrived at the The Delta by Marriott Hotel with plenty of time to unload my stuff, let Maja figure out the compact arrangement of the convention, and for me to set up my afternoon Burning Plastic game. 

Burning Plastic, a game where green army guys represent robots on a futuristic landscape where 100% casualty rates aren't just acceptable... they're expected.  We started playing this at cons in the mid-90's, sold a few books along the way, and for the 50th (and nostalgia-fueled) Mepacon, it was a no brainer.  

I was placed within the "hallway" area, mixed within the solid Battletech contingent, although my request for a square/rectangular table was seized by the B'Tech boys for a layout that I never saw an actual game at.

Note to self: Specifically request Table #52 for Mepacon 51... all slots.

The infamous table 52....

I had the best of both world in my first game.  Two brand new players who slowly learned the twisted insanity of Burning Plastic... and two old buddies, Cyrus and George, who played the game back in the 90s.  

I have finally joined the internet trend of taking a picture with my players, post-game (and post-clean up!)

No matter your experience, when robots start self-destructing, and air strikes (chucked dice) make the men line up like it's a penalty kick, you can throw that right out the window.  

Friday night was supposed to be my Talislanta "The Crystle Dungeon" game.  This was my first ever convention game I GM'ed back at Lehicon IV in March of 1991.    The plot was the same, with lots of wiggle room, the characters still pulled off of the 1988 2nd edition rules (the classic heavily tattooed Thrall on the cover).   I was prepped for a classic, successful convention game, updated to more modern accoutrements and set-up. 

Despite the "Looking for Players" placard, I had none, and after 45 minutes or so, I packed that up and wandered the con.  

The silver lining?  The entire game is finally in a file folder, and two separate files digitally.  

Maja participated in an Improv seminar and played in a playtest promo of a fun game called Community Cats, which, when it becomes available, will end up at her house, to be gleefully played by her sister and mother. 

The one thing that always impresses me about the Mepacon is its history giving burgeoning game designers and companies a platform to show off their games, and playtest their new ideas.  There was quite literally a corner of the main ballroom labelled "Break My Game" were designers gleefully recruited players of all sorts to try out their concepts, some with simple mock-ups, others with more elaborate set-ups and specific artwork.  It's always full of players, but always looking for more.

I spent a good portion of the night waiting for Maja to finish the nightly LARP.  I can probably blame Carcosa Creations with Maja quitting basketball and focusing on drama and music more.  It's not a complete coincidence that the timelines converged after her first LARP experience at an earlier Mepacon back at the Bar with No Name at the (former) Holiday Inn off PA 512 in Bethlehem.  The only thing she asked about going to Mepacon was if there was a LARP.  She was in her glory when she found out there was one each night!

After midnight, we got in the car and drove over to my Mom's in Easton to crash for a few hours.

Saturday

Pure nostalgia for me, as we left my Mom's early and drove 2 1/2 blocks to the Palmer Diner for breakfast.  It's always been a little hole in the wall diner, with fond memories of the 80's, my sub-zero weekend deliveries of the newspapers, always had my Dad sitting in the truck, keeping the cab toasty, just in case I need a moment or two to get warm, then, as I finished the last paper on the top of Greenwood Ave and John St, we'd turn around and grab breakfast at the diner.  There's nothing particularly special about those memories, or perhaps that's what makes them special.

After a solid breakfast, we made record time back to Fogelsville and I set-up for round two of Burning Plastic.  This time I was away from the Battletech crew, and sort of shoved in  corner.  But if the corner involves the "cupcake ladies" aka Quigley's Cakes.  There have been professional geek-themed cupcakes at Mepacon for the better part of ten years, maybe more, and even if money is tight that weekend, there's a two cupcake minimum.  

At better yet, for my own health's sake, no random Burning Plastic airstrikes made their way over to take out the cupcake displays.

A low-key casual ViscountEric, sporting a Next Gen jersey.

The game was another rousing success, with my players pushing the limits of the ruleset (adding buildings to the table brings up new questions that a traditional empty expanse of microchip and hydraulic fluid death do not.  

Saturday afternoon was thwarted by the most adorable six-year old girl.  

Going for nostalgia, I went with running the older River Horse Press version of the My Little Pony RPG.  I ran plenty of two-hour sessions of it back in the day, and I thought I had the perfect set-up.  

A mom, a dad, and their simple brilliant and delightful six-year girl... and my 17 years old Maja, feeling nostalgic for the game.  We had made Ponies, we were two seconds from rolling some Rory's Story Cubes to set up the plot for the adventure, and the youngest lady had a "Code Brown (Upper)" that made quite a mess.  

Obviously, the game was scrapped, the parents could attend to her.  The con staff (as always) was super responsive and within twenty minutes the hotel staff had the area cleaned, sanitized, and a new tablecloth on the table.  

No pictures of the catastrophe, but here's an explosion on a SILENT DEATH (!) table.

6pm-8pm Auction Time:  For the times before Mepacon there has always been a two hour mandatory break, with no games.  Some grab food, some take a nap, but most show up in the ballroom for the raffle, the winners of the dice guess, and the costume and coloring contests, and the auction.  

I've ranted about the auction in my Mepacon 49 review.  It's a different time, a different economy, and with that, there was a lot of mid-range stuff that simply did not garner bids because the opening bids were too high.  Not the fault of the auction rules, just a newer group of folks trying to use the auction to make money.  

The most heartfelt part of the two hours and Katie Brad, the convention director, holding back just the right amount of tears to thank everyone who had helped the con achieve it's success over the last twenty-five years.  The same extended group of friends volunteer and operate the con in some capacity since 2001.  In fact, when Katie did ask for a number of showing of hands for the classic "Raise your hand if it's your first Mepacon... Raise your hand if you've only been at Mepacon at the Delta... or if you were at White Haven... Scranton, Clarks, Summit.. or even the lone con in Jersey."

When she got to Mepacon 1, she brought those folks up... Of that small contingent of less than a dozen, only my friend Scott and I were not wearing current con staff (Ed Leheman, who retired from con, is con director emeritus by default).

And then I remember I was auction director for that first con.. so Scott was just a normal paying attendee...

The back of this year's con t-shirt.  It's been a most unusual ride....

And since we're old enough to remember "the good old days," we realized afterwards that for genealogical sake, there are only a half-dozen of us who can trace our con lineage to Lehicon 2 or 3 in the early 90s.  

God I'm old. 

I ended Saturday night with another much-demanded event: TOON - Cthulhu Comes to Springfield. What was once multiple one-hour "episodes" has been shrunk down to a two-hour "very special episode" of "Krusty the Kultist."

The first hour, the Springfield kids worked hard to make their secret prize to Krusty's sleep-away camp a nuisance for the adults to find them.  In the end it was the heroic group of Marge Simpson, Grandpa Simpson, Principal Skinner, Groundskeeper Willie, and Duff-Man who may have saved most of the wee children.  There were heroic but gruesome deaths for Grandpa and Nelson... but the most sanity shredding was the complete murder of Maggie. 

I'm proud to say that there were a circle of at least four more old players of the scenario, playing at the adjacent tables. 

Maja's day was lounging about in the morning, hanging out between the Burning Plastic and the cupcake ladies, played a game of Rock-n-Roll Brouhaha, took a nap in the car before dinner with me, snagged a game of Penny Black from the board game library, and made me stay till midnight with the LARP.  After a Wawa stop, we were home by 1am.

Nothing like waiting for the LARP wrap-up (This was Friday).

SUNDAY

Unlike Mepacon 49, I did not go Sunday, preferring to clean out the car, and coordinate the return of the youngest child, Millie, from her friend's basketball tournament in Lancaster.  As it was my birthday, we had some ice cream cake, the girls got me some extremely practical minis from the local game store, and I got to hang out with them before they headed back to upstate New York.

SWAG:  I honestly tried to peruse the multiple vendors, but, in the end, I grabbed some Car Wars stuff from the Auction buyout.   

Maja, I realized, is the bloody demographic they're looking for with the vendors I would call "peripheral"  She bought crafts and book pouches, and even some stuff for her sister, coming back to dear old dad to fill up her coffers again. 

Let's not take my downplaying of the vendors fool you, there were some heavy hitters showing up for a 500 person con. 

Mepacon 51 will be back at the Delta, November 13-15, 2026 | Lehigh Valley, PA.  The theme will be sci-fi, so I'm thinking about claiming Table 52 early and running on-going Fistful of Lead, although I still have a contingent that wants to me to run more and more Burning Plastic.   I guess it will be time to set up another poll!

(Savage4) Tomb of the Serpent - #4.4 - The Thing in the Well

As Napoleon's armies drew near, the master of the nearby castle fled into the woods and dropped a small bundle into a stone well.  He had hoped to return and retrieve it, but fate was not so kind, and there is remains to this day.

Centuries later, Bethany LePage and her entourage  find themselves in the Netherlands, a stone's throw from Leiden, looking for the stone well that plagued their dreams.  They knew the item was in the dark, cold water, but what they didn't realize was that the Servants of Apophis had been following them the whole way...

The cadre from the Soviet Union had found one of the artifacts of Apophis hiding in the States, the gang of "El Dobbie" Gato failed to find one up in Scotland.  The dreams of the end of the world had led dilettante Bethany LePage to the Netherlands, to that odd well that kept beckoning her in her dreams.

Our Continental Explorers (L-R) Bethany LePage, Suzanne Verlaine, William Scott, and Claire Halloway

I figured that our heroes had an advantage in the scenario.  They were already at the well and needed to spend a turn to go down the well, then achieve three different task successes, one per turn, I figured a decent contingent of cultists when put enough pressure on them, but the heroes would succeed. 

Miss LePage took it upon herself to go down the well....

I did not anticipate a statistical impossibility. 

For this game, my daughter Maja ran the third and final league of heroes for the campaign.  She had picked her figures, giving her leader, Bethany, no weapons, and the only thing bigger than a pistol was William Scott's shotgun, and William was a mook/minion level character with a Shooting die of d6 (Short range is a 4+ to hit and you can roll higher dice for better characters).

Luckily for her (I thought), the appearance of one cultist with a pistol, one Serpent Priest with spells, and the rest being cultists running amok with big swords should be sufficient.  

Early one the cultists attacked William Scott, managing to make him Shaken.  The old man shook that off like a winter chill, knocked the cultist out with the butt of his shotgun, and proceeded to track the others down like it was cultist season and there was no limit.

Oh the cultists tried, but William's shotgun kept hitting, and when they tried to reconnoiter around him, Suzanne would turn a corner and gun them down, with enough damage to take out a three-wound hero, much less a one hit mook.

Even the Serpent Priest, the poor Serpent Priest.... he threw curses at the visible characters.

They all saved...

He threw Eldritch Bolts at Claire, she took no damage.... then promptly shot at the priest and hit!

Damage:   6+6 (+1).   Dice explode in Savage Showdown, so roll the 2d6 again.

6+5

and again for the final raise

3

Twenty-seven points to the priest was three wounds over maximum, and he failed his feeble attempt to try. 

These cultists stood no chance, with none standing turn four, when LePage emerged from the well with the artifact. 

Maja's die rolling might have been the most most impressive thing I've seen someone do over the age of ten.  She made all but one of her rolls, which she used a Benny to re-roll, and each time she hit she rolled close to maximum damage each time.  Meanwhile, the cultists were rolling just below average and couldn't catch a break.  

We don't know William's backstory, but he might think pulp adventuring is a relaxing vacation. 

I had the pleasure of having my daughter over the Thanksgiving weekend, and I'm proud to say, the first visit as a licensed driver!  Her mother and I did run escort duty for her first visit, she driving behind Maja halfway down, and me taking her the second half of the way.  She shopped, visited friends, and was super excited to drive me down to my college buddies (+25 years) SATLOF.   

Maja completing this episode means her younger sister, Millie, has one, maybe two more scenarios until the campaign moves to Egypt.

After the game, I introduced her to Fishing28 to play while I got ready to go to a get-together with some college friends.  She approves of the system, provided some optional rules, and determined Tropical Fruit Swedish Fish are sub-par. 

Maja knew her drive was consisted of (a) a trip to her grandmothers in Easton, followed by a (b) a drive to the other side of Allentown for SATLOF.  Knowing I needed to do two things around my mother's house, and it's a home of a chronic smoker, I chose a detour to take up extra time. 

The Lehigh and Keystone Model Railroad Club open house in Bethlehem. 

From their website.  It was an all-Steam weekend.

Maja used to be my little train show companion... engineer hat, a million questions, and begging me to do the train races...

From the Allentown Train Show parking lot, 2013

We've only managed one show post-COVID, so I was worried about the weird surprise I was directing her to.  

She might be a teenager, but the second she realized the L&K recreates the Lehigh Valley Railroad (and Reading, and CNJ) and she knew all the locations, it was like she was tiny all over...  

I heartily recommend visiting the club during one of their open houses, it's fantastic.

Finally, after my mom's we headed to SATLOF, and none of my back-up games were necessary, as Steve (the host... Squiggles the Worm in our Gamma World games) had gone to PAX and picked up the complete set of Thunder Road: Vendetta with all the bells and whistles! 

Another hearty recommendation, we had ages 5 to 51 playing it, it was raucous and exciting... even if all three of my cars crashed into rocks! 

Next: Pulp Season 4, Episode 5:

The Historicon 2026 Gnome Wars Mega-Game is Back!

I recently announced that neither I nor my daughter will  be attending Fall-In! 2025 this year.  Our gnome-positive side of HMGS Next Gen will not be running any Gnome Wars games at Fall-In, and I'm unsure how much we're going to do for Cold Wars in February.  

This past week, we had a meeting after our weekly game session, and it's official as a blog post can make.  

Historicon 2026 (July 15-19, 2026) will see the return of the true and proper...

GNOME WARS MEGA-GAME!!!!!!!

It's been awhile since we had one of our multi-table spectacles...  It's will be over 14 years since the last three-table  game involving colonialism, volcanos, and a flotilla of gnome-helmed ships!  

The Island of the Cannibal Gnomes

The concept is pretty simple:  We have three separate tables, three separate events with their own objectives, running simultaneously.   The best part, figures, units, and armies can travel to and from each game...  Of course to get from one end of the other, one needs to commandeer a sailing vessel and traverse the sea, where a no-holds-barred naval brawl is taking place. 

The Sea board, between the Cannibal Island and New Providence

It might take the entire session, but I have seen figures to completely across the ball room before we call the games.

New Providence has their own problems...

I figured the south seas, pirate, cannibal theme game was good to return to, especially with the recent casting of the Hawaiian/Tiki/Pacific Islander Gnomes.    Each table will have 8 normal slots for players, with the Gnome Rule applying to all (Bring a fully painted Gnome Wars unit from Brigade Games, and we will find you a spot.) Obviously bringing your own Island Gnomes (or Pirates... or British Marines) might get you a better command/objective. 

As of this moment, we're definitely looking at a Saturday afternoon timeslot for the Mega-Game.   "But what about all the normal Gnome/Next Gen mayhem you guys in the cool baseball jerseys normally put together?"

Fear not gnome-believers! 

Of course there will be other gnome games, probably with palm trees for the Island Gnomes.  The joust is still Friday night (although we probably won't run overlapping ones like last year. Then again...).  

The newest game in our arsenal isn't new, just not as far a throwback as the Mega-Game.

Enter Palaeo Diet: Seafood Edition.

Palaeo Diet: Eat or Be Eaten is a fun rules set for playing prehistoric animal hunts. In one of his fever dreams, friend of the blog, and fellow Stout Gnome Mike Lung created an underwater version of the game, which did make an appearance at the rogue Historicon 2021 (In November in King of Prussia of that year).   Details are loose, but I certainly foresee gnomes games, and smaller games of Palaeo Diet entertaining attendees. 

Of course, all of this is subject to change... but it's an exciting start... and maybe I'll get the Island Gnomes finished by then. 

Historicon with Tiny Painted Heroes

Our good friend Steve over at Tiny Painted Heroes took a month to post about Historicon, and with #RPGaDay, it took me a month to repost it for him!  Thank for all the kind words, hopefully we'll see you at Fall-In! 

Historicon 2025

Another July, another Historicon!  I'm trying to to type this up Monday morning sore, probably still dehydrated, but otherwise in good spirits after a long and glorious weekend!

Personal stuff to get out of the way:  My daughters and their mom recently moved to Upstate New York, but I've had eldest daughter Maja for most of July, as she finishes her social obligations in Pennsylvania (grad parties, filling in for the local volleyball team) as well as taking over my living room.  The plan was to leave for Historicon Wednesday, run seven games (5 for me, 2 for Maja), and then drive back Wilkes-Barre to finally hand her off to her mom on Sunday.

We made great time, even if we took to scenic route by way of Reading to use up a gift card to a local frozen yogurt that Maja had gotten years ago.  

The heck with price creep with miniatures, froyo is outrageously expensive.  I'm assuming tariffs on sprinkles. 

We arrived after dinner, got a spot on Level 4 of the attached parking garage and both of us managed to check in registration in one minutes.  

The army of orange-clad HMGS volunteers eager to serve the oncoming horde.

Wednesday did have a number of games, all well-attended that I saw.    We checked into the hotel, absconded with a barrage cart, and lugged our gaming crates to our permanent location in the Commonwealth Foyer, at the base of the escalator. 

Thursday morning:  Maja dragged me out of bad to use this thing called the Jim?  Maybe it was Fitness Center?  Needless to say, the objects are very heavy, and the jogging path goes nowhere!  

After showering, we took a walk over to breakfast at La Dolce Vita with Maja grabbing her favorite macaroons at Bistro Barberet. 

Thursday I ran two games of Gnome Wars on our trench table, with the Gnome King himself, Jim Stanton running the "Bring Your Own Gnome Army" mega-game at 7pm that night.  

The Swiss Engineers were not humoring the California demands to more environmental regulations

A few key artillery hits early one, and the defenders became sparse and panicked.

However, the German advanced halted in the craters with the trenches within reacd.

The Sikhs find a hole in the wire... and a lack of pointy hats in one spot of the trenches, and advanced.

The fabled Red Maxx unit reaches the trench, and stiff resistance from the Swiss

Game one was a success.  A unit of Sikhs had seized the end of the trench line, making for an amusing set-up for the afternoon slot.  One hot dog and a quick zoom around the dealers later, and I was ready for game two. 

Second game, second sell-out, and we even had a special guest appearance by some fearful Russian reinforcements. 

For dinner, we kept it close, if not fast, and went to Plough inside the hotel.  Rumors of expanded bar hours made many staying in the hotel joyful.  Food was good, service erratic, although we amused ourselves watching the upcoming musical act that night  pose throughout for what we guessed was social media.  

She can drive, and still order a hamburger, ketchup only. 

Thursday night I snapped up a bunch of pictures, before settling in as a reinforcement for Jim Stanton's big gnome game. 

I'll mention this later, but the lighting in some areas seemed far worse than previous years.

Friday:  Hit the gym thing first thing in the morning.  It did not hit back as hard.  Sent Maja out for something from the French bakery.  They were empty before 9.  I survived on a breakfast sandwich from the kindness of Next Gen friends.   Gone was the trench line, replaced by a motley assortment of sci-fi terrain as Miss Maja and I ran back-to-back games of Fistful of Lead.  

I had procured something like 160 West End Star Wars figures from Wally's at Fall-In, and we've been painted about half of them, along with a random assortment of resin cast, 3-D printed, and Amazon packaging materials for new buildings for the town of Carf.  

For her first time running the system, she handled the system and seven players well.  I tried to keep myself occupied with running the special events on the table and not interrupting her.  She got me in-line the first half-hour and we were well set-up for the continuation in my afternoon game. 

Lunch was pizza from the place in South Market. Palatable but below average.  They've usually been better.  

The five-year old me screamed to have this all the awards.

My afternoon game of Fistful of Lead was full and continued the chaos.  Between the third rate Star Wars characters, the crew of Firefly, and Space Gnomes, and even Santa Claus, fun was had by all, even after the Gnomish Asteroid Miners kill Megatron and send him tumbling off a building onto his Jawa minions (Hey, it's a generic system... if I've painted it recently, it was on the table!).  

I mean... why not?

I do not remember eating dinner...  I know Maja ended up Door Dashing Wingstop and being content with the world.

Friday night was our double Joust?  I had confirmed our events with Jim, to avoid the pleasant harassment from our own Next Gen team, and the Historicon events coordinator.  Maja and I would cover the morning and afternoon session Thursday through Saturday, and I put the Joust under my name 7pm Friday.   

About a month ago, I perused the events on Tabletop and happened to notice a second joust, this one under Jim's name at 8pm.  

Despite my protests and concerns, nothing was done with this... and we managed a 16-player, kid-heavy tournament in 80 minutes for 7pm, and the 18-player "grown-up" joust, staring at 8:25pm, in just over an hour.    I believe our winners were 7 years old and 51, respectively.  The dear reader can make their own guess as to which one I actually won!  

A good late night of libations with friends later... 

Saturday:

....and I still showed up to the gym early to get the lead out and start re-hydrating.   A breakfast sandwich from Kom Essa (aka: "The Mennonite Girls" from the Lancaster Central Market) and I was ready to be a fill-in player for Maja's Gnome Wars game on the Old West table, brought up by good friend and contributor to the blog, Mike Lung. 

My debut as the Kemper Missouri Medical Militia, was short-lived, as I gleefully took over a side-game with a few younger kids that wanted to play.  While the German Gnomes were rushing to save the Crown Prince and his favorite riding bunny from the hangman's noose, Blazing Saddles style, I conducted a search at the far end of the board, looking for the Crown Prince's lost collection of ducks.  

That led by my chaotic Fistful of Lead game in the afternoon.  More players, definitely fewer figures but more zaniness.  My cardinal sin of the convention.  This was the game I was holding off using unit cards, deluding myself that I would base the units of the results of the morning game.  

Duck Hunt 2025 was only a minor excuse, but I scrambled to assemble basic four-man units for eleven players.   Huge shoutout to Jon Lundberg, for getting three younger players next to him and being awesome with them (but seriously, when is Jon not awesome).  I owe you a beverage, a meal, and a seat at a table away from (very well-behaved) kids.

I'm still amused that everyone had a good time two copies of the rules were purchased from that game, and NO ONE even came close to achieving the primary objective, retrieving the missing Crown Prince... who was in the unsearched saloon the entire time.  

After clean-up, Maja and I wandered down to South Market for chicken sandwiches.... and I staggered upstairs for the greatest 45-minute nap of my life.  

While Maja swam in the pool, I wandered back down to play in Jim's big Gnome Wars game, to mostly chill with a beverage or two, but make the big Gnome Wars game debut of the Kemper Medical Militia.  Good thing I designed the sheet and didn't hand it out to another player (my Californians and Mormons are mainstays), as I noticed stat typos! 

In the end, the Znombies were vanquished, everyone hates the Irish, loves the magic snail, and I may have solved the Znombie curse at the water source.  

After clean-up, a luggage cart was obtained, and most stuff was packed into the car.  A number of crates and boxes were taken out of the car, as I pondered my Sunday.  

The Iron Paintbrush was quieter than the Union Band..

Having an ex-wife and two teenage daughters meant no schedule was safe.  I had pondered bring down some stuff to the free Wally's Basement on Sunday, leave mid-morning, take care of yardwork at my Mom's in the Lehigh Valley, and a drive back home to drop Maja off with her mother by mid-afternoon.  

Two corrections:  Maja wanted to attend a musical at the local Little Theatre of Wilkes-Barre.  Maja had been in the previous production, and it would be the last time to see a few friends for at least the summer.  Of course I caved.  

Let's add that her mother did not come down for the weekend, so I needed to tack on another two hour drive each way to drop Maja off at Newburgh.  

Sunday:  NOT a gym day, I snuck down at 7:20 to Wally's to see five or six folks already set up.  I quickly got my stuff down there, and we didn't leave till 10:45.    

The main purpose was to possibly sell, or at least get some info on a number of wooden ship kits that the Aunt gave me to sell from my late Uncle's massive model collection.  Got some good info, albeit no bites.  I did manage to get rid of a pile of books and stuff, as well as a solid liquidation of unpainted Pulp figures I'll probably get around to using.   For not sorting them out, I only needed to fish out about a dozen figures from the pile, so that says more about my choice in purchases than anything.  

Ninety minutes later (and a much needed Wawa stop halfway there) we made it to Wilkes-Barre, watched the teen/children workshop production of  Descendants, and won the 50/50, which lessened the pain of driving I-84 to Newburgh and back. 

Overall:

Lancaster Convention Center:   We've been here enough that I know when to do things, and when not to do things, due to pedestrian traffic.  I avoid the convention center elevator (that goes from Freedom Hall up to the 3rd floor) like the plague, but off hours, I had a few straight shots from the 3rd floor to the dealer hall without any stops.  My old feet were grateful for the few steps avoided. 

My previous complaints about lighting palled in comparison to the big games in the hotel lobby.  Even mid-day the lighting for the Test of Honor, 55 Days in Peking, and a WW2 game was horrible.  The flood lamps made things bearable in the darker Commonwealth foyers but I was not a fan of the ones in the hotel lobby.  I think a roaring campfire in the center would illuminate better, and one taller attendee walking through could cause an inadvertent eclipse on the table.  For the quality of the events, it felt disrespectful, despite the initial intent.

Hotel:  The Marriott is great, if you can get in.  Maja swam everyday, I used the gym, and there were not issues with the room.

Parking: I was in the covered section of Level 4 until Saturday night, when I found a spot right next to the shack at the exit.  Correct me if I'm wrong, but Level 4 has a step for the elevator, not a cut out ramp.  Minor inconvenience, but my full cart Wednesday night, meandered down to 3 to used the elevator.  

Tournaments: Never my strong suit, but they filled up nicely, even before the alleged 40k tournament took place.  

On-site Food:  I know things are getting expensive elsewhere when nine bucks for a hot dog and diet Pepsi didn't make me flinch, and the beer prices around here have become equally obscene.   I did hear one story about the Meatloaf dinner "Borg ship" that I won't relate, but there was at least one. 

Vendors:  Biggest complaint?  Our bulk base sellers were not at the con.  I managed to get a sufficient horde of them from Dave's Baggage Train for a bit more, but I think everyone wants to run around with a Chinese container holding bases in it. 

Rant:   I enjoyed the historical re-enactors, but could the Union Band not start playing the moment my daughter started explaining the rules to new players? 

These guys were much quieter in the vendor hall....

Swag:  

• The aforementioned pound of 1" bases from Dave's Baggage Train.
• A bottle of Zap-a-Gap (plus a surprise appearance from my friend Dave working that vendor's table, whom I haven't seen in over 20 years)
• A unit of the new Hawaiian Gnomes from Brigade
• The Hawaiian Gnome Pineapple Catapult
• 15 of the American Bears, plus a truck from Billy's Toy Box
• Five of the old Pondsmith/Eureka Teddy Bears on hobby horses from Wally's
• The original Critter Commandos from Wally's 

Maja was content with her macaroons, some Bad Squidoo figures from Cotton Jim, her theatre tickets, and hanging out with dear old Dad.

Early Tournaments

Fall-In! 2025 is up next  and is November 7-9 at the Wyndham Resort in Lancaster.  The theme is the 250th Anniversary of the US Navy and USMC

Historicon 2026 remains at the Lancaster Convention Center, July 15-19, 2026.