We recently returned from the July HISTORICON. It's always a pleasure to meet some of the people who send me samples and to see a great range of their products.

As figures go, the show was a bit of a letdown. This may have been due to the fact that the Origins Convention was held in the same area only a few weeks earlier and drew many dealers, at least some of whom obviously felt there was no advantage to coming back to the region so quickly.

The New Minifigs were there but with none of the display presence that the old company had. Considering the current high prices, I'd have liked to see what they have before plunking down my money for a catalog order. With only some seen (see previous reviews)the new Minifigs aren't much like the old ones. They are much thinner,but they are equally well sculpted.

The bright spot was that this was the first time I'd seen Museum Miniatures (from England, available from Military Miniatures of Texas, 925 South Mason Rd. Suite 142, Katy, Texas 77450, 713-395-8902).The Texans had a nice display of black-washed figures. The Napoleonics consisted of a good range of 1812 French, British and Prussians all in 16, 17, 18mm scale. This variation in scale seemed to be most evident in the cavalry which might be due to different horses. The detail and animation was done well, the gunners all seemed to be at "stand by for action." What they really excelled at was rolling stock (this was the only stuff I bought).They've got at least twelve different types of wagons and all kinds of miscellaneous equipment--all suitable for Napoleonics. These wagons are great, from fodder and water haulers to engineer's equipment. These look terrific and are easy to assemble. My only criticism is that there are some filled in areas around the axles, probably due to old molds. This was the first time I ever found out how hard pewter was to trim--geeze.These are highly recommended, so send them an SASE for the catalog.

As many of you know, I am a confessed terrain and building junkie. The regulars were there and with painted buildings aplenty at cheap prices. One new venture was Architectural Heritage, P.O. Box 9462, Fayetteville, NC 28311. Included in these well done buildings were standard types and such historical items as the Granary at Essling, the Hassenhausen church and yard and the Krippendorf windmill. Available both painted and unpainted at reasonable prices, so suck 'em up real estate junkies.

Then there was TERRAIN. Well, I schmoozed up all the terrain guys. I first visited Murff-Turf, (634 Thunderbird Trail, Carol Stream, IL 60188, 708-668-8675).I had only reviewed his stuff from a video, but he had a ton of material there including a set piece for a customer to pick up that featured a river. The stuff was gorgeous--a real assortment of prepackaged terrain features, but as I said before, Murff features commission work. Some of the neatest stuff he offered was "layered" hills--not exactly Napoleonic, but 3-D labyrinths--and I know many of you need these.This was really wonderful stuff and quite affordable. I must admit one of best things about talking to the artist is you realize the reason the quality is so fine is that the artist really loves what he's doing.

This also applies to Tom Brokaw's FLEX TERRAIN (3611 Quaill Ridge Lane, Matthews, NC 28105. Much to my surprise, Tom remembered me from an old ('70s) convention where I won a bunch of awards for a huge fantasy army I exhibited. Tom's roads, rivers, banks, etc., are delightful and look great. Tom is also full of knowledge about the care and feeding of Flex Terrain--which he passes on to us in well written instructions. Get roads, get rivers. This is your man.

On the low end of the price scale is "Wet Places 'R' Us" from Schmid, P.O. Box 384, Sewell, NJ 08080. They feature rivers,swamps, beaches, anything wet, interconnecting modules for no more than $3. These are not 3-D in the Geo-Hex sense but they give a really excellent impression and the 3-D feel and craftsmanship is evident. Since these items are used on flat areas of a table (and in reality these features would have no more than a three foot height drop anyway) it doesn't really matter. This is a neat little product; send an SASE.

The other item was the "bag o' Hills," at least a third of the big dealers carried packaged terrain made "somewhere"--no address was given on any package. This is a very good styrofoam flecked product consisting of all kinds and sizes of rolling hills and stuff. Really nice, and definitely affordable. Check your hobby store for this modular product. As of now, they've never, to my knowledge, advertised and the lack of any address leads me to believe they're just selling to the dealers.

My conclusion from the convention is: figures=so-so, terrain=time to make a real killing in Real Estate. Buy, buy!

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