Off to Fall In!

Well, I'm off to Fall In! tomorrow. This will be the last year for Fall In! in Gettysburg, which in itself is a good enough reason to attend. This year I'll be travelling with and enjoying the company of my good friends of the Harkness family, Alex, Vicky, and AJ. Alex and I are regular gaming partners and his son AJ, when available, joins the group as well. Beyond our mutual love of the hobby, Alex and I share something else hobby-related. We have adult sons who enjoy pushing around toy soldiers with us. As the young 'uns bitch and complain around the table, Alex and I can reminisce about when they were small and still impressionable. Ah, the good old days when my kids actually listened to me (who am I kidding?).

If you're at Fall In!, come visit the All The King's Men Toy Soldiers booth. I'll be there with Ken flogging the new War of 1812 line and running demo games all weekend. On Saturday evening, we'll be playing a large ATKM game with Bob & Matt Lehman, devoted customers and good friends from Ohio (we never hold that against them!). Seeing these games is believing! A table sixteen feet long crammed with Bob's and Ken's magnificent terrain and line after line of painted 54mm AWI figures. It's a sight to behold! Ken and I will also be enjoying some well-earned cigars and drinks at the end of each day of the convention so if you can find us, feel free to come on over and join in the tall tales and camaraderie.

Oh, and don't ever confuse Ken's website with this one: http://www.atkm.com/. Of course, if you'd like Ken to make some figures to match those on this website, well....let's just say it would take some serious convincing!

My shopping list is rather small this time in comparison to past shows. I have few figures on the list (hardly surprising given the enormous lead weight sagging the floor of my painting room). In fact the list of things to pick up for friends and family is much longer than my own. It's always fun shopping with other people's money!

My Fall In! Shopping List

1) 28mm Carlist Wars figures from Age of Glory: AoG was trying to get rid of these at Historicon with a 30% discount. I'm hoping the discount is still in effect. I'd like to add some Carlists to my collection to counter the growing government army (and I may get some for Vidal as well).

2) GMB Flags: I'll be looking for flags for my French Imperial Guard cavalry units. I've started painting these Front Rank figures and should have the first unit up on the blog soon (Grenadiers a Cheval). GMB make some of the best flags around and although a little pricey they are excellent value for the money and by golly, my guard deserves it!

3) Front Rank: I'm looking to add some eagles and lance tips/pennants to my guard cavalry as well. FR make small add-on eagles etc that add that final touch to a unit.

4) Carlist Wars books: I'd like to pick up, in particular, Edward Brett's The British Auxiliary Legion in the First Carlist War in Spain, 1835-8. This looks to be an entertaining read. It's actually surprising how large the bibliography is for the Carlist Wars. I've been compiling a list of works and despite the obvious abundance of Spanish sources, there are quite a few in English. Most of these are memoirs (or works based on them) of British officers and men who served in the Auxiliary Legion. Maybe I'll post the list in a future blog.

That's about it for my list but there are always other things that catch the eye. I've been contemplating for a while picking up some Wings of War models and a starter set. The models are beautiful and the rules are easy and fun. And then there are the Eureka Revolutionary Wars figures in 28mm, and.....


I'll try and post at least one blog from the convention so keep your eyes open for photos of drunken gamers with wisps of cigar smoke swirling about their contented faces!