Nashcon 2000 has come and gone, and depending, upon who you talk to, it was either the best one ever or worst one. People really liked it because of the great dealers and fantastic games. I have heard from several different sources that the folks in the Mid-South put on the best games, not only from a playability standpoint, but also in the scenery department.
The people who hated Nashcon this year were the poor souls that had the hotel rooms. We've heard horror stories, everything from flooded rooms to hay and straw in bathtubs. From what we've heard, these problems will be easily fix by changing the venue to a new location. Stay tuned for further details.
As far as what is new, Dixon has made great strides in completing their Han Chinese range. Two different four horse chariots are now available as well as eight more infantry figures. Measuring out at between 25-26M on the Barrett scale, they are up to the usual Dixon high standards with good, solid, clean castings. The addition of these figures to the line now gives all of the WAB fans a single source to complete their Han Chinese army.
The Foundry has also been busy in releasing new lines of figures. If you look at the last seven to eight pages of Wargames Illustrated, you will have noticed how busy they have been. Everything from New Kingdom Egyptian to Hundred Years War figures. What is really interesting is that they are considering bulk packing their product. From what we have heard, there will be 32 figures in a bag for $35.00 including shields where necessary. If this is done, this will pull their prices down to $1.10 per fig, which is pretty dam cheap for figures as high a quality as Foundry. We will keep you posted as we find out more completely what is available.
For those of you that are really interested in ancients, Steve Barber Models has come out with their SETTLEMENT game. These are REAL ancient, as in stone age period. The game comes complete with rule set, various resources and resource cards, wildlife (mastodons, deer, etc.), burial mounds, Neolithic villages, and enough 25mm figures for two tribes.
I have not had a chance to play the game or study the rules, but it looks straight forward enough. The figures scale out at about 28M and are absolutely beautiful right down to the slopping foreheads and flint weapons. Really little works of art. Now this is probably not every ones cup of tea, and at $120 for the whole game, it is a little pricey, but it does look like great fun.
On the rules front, Tactical Command Games has released their CONFLICT 2000 set for modern warfare. This is a skirmish scale system with one figure equaling one man, one vehicle equaling one vehicle, and so one. There are about forty pages of rules and a like number of pages for charts, and vehicle and weapons stats. This may sound Re a lot, but given the complex nature of modern warfare, it is not. Sadly, the main problem with these rules is the disjointed structure of the charts. The "to hit" charts are located with the troop and equipment charts as opposed to being in with the weapons charts. Other than this, they are a good, useable set of rules. The price is $29.95 which seems to be the going rate for main rule sets these days.
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