Historicon 2002

Dealer Area: Tennis Barn

by Russ Lockwood


Well, there's not much to say about the dealer area except that if a particular historical miniature or related item is not in here, it doesn't exist...and wow, does all of whatever "it" is you're looking for exist!

Rudy Scott Nelson, owner of Time Portal Hobbies and editor of Time Portal Passages Magazine, shows off his wares.

Thursday was an absolutely fabulous day, Friday was calm, Saturday was hectic, and Sunday was busy. My guess is that the pent-up demand from the grognards explodes on Thursday, they game or attend lectures on Friday, the "one-day" folks come in on Saturday, and the last-minute purchasers enter on Sunday. Whatever it is, MagWeb.com had its second best convention ever...hard on the heels of our third (now fourth) best show in six years: Cold Wars 2002.

I'm not quite sure how to describe it, but there's an underlying buzz of optimism which is much different than shows both pre- and post-9/11 2001. I contend that the shaky economy, which started heading south in late 2000, spent most of 2001 with folks painting up what they had and finishing projects already started. You know how many figures you have waiting.

Bert Floyd of Historical Miniatures Unlimited holds up his latest creations. My apologies for not capturing the quality of his painting skills. I have to remember next time to do a close up of one of his dioramas with my camera as well as with my eyes.

Well, I suspect they were used instead of taking on additional periods. By mid 2002, the economic slowdown remains tolerable for most folks, as if the news can't get any worse. The corporate pillagers are starting to be carted off for indictment, the layoffs have flattened out, and folks I know who were laid off have started to get new jobs. Of course, that's not in every case, and I don't intend to minimize job or other financial losses, but things seem more "up" this year than last.

The Tennis Barn is a large square rectangular building that fits dealers in row upon row of tables. According to the program, 95 dealers attended the show, selling miniatures, books, videos, paints, bases, magazines, board games, dice, rules, terrain, on-line archive memberships, and other products.

Chris von Fahnestock of Outland Games shows off his painting skills.

It is amazing. It is astounding. If you attended, you know what I mean. If you ever go, bring plenty of cash and a credit card...or two.

So Many Booths. So Little Time.

Ivor Janci, editor of The Zouave, holds up the first volume of his Gettysburg scenario book. Ivor runs a graphics company and is a talented artist himself--the inside is absolutely wonderful.

Wally Simon, he of the just retired PW Review, stopped by to drop off some back issues for the archive. I'll be seeing Wally relatively soon, as we'll be going down to a show in the Maryland area and I'm stopping by to say hello, and perhaps catch a Wally-game.

Craig Martelle, editor of The Gauntlet, stopped by the booth with his wife Wendy. He's settling into retirement from the Marines and is fixing up his new house. I hope this provides more time for his Russian translations.

I met Craig, the new owner of Gajo, for the first time, sitting down and chatting for a while...and of course, forgetting to pull out the camera. You know, I finally learned to put the camera in my pocket for such occasions. Now I have to learn to actually pull it out and use it more often!

He took over from George (who I also spoke to at the show) and is doing pretty well. He was sitting next to Tom of Tommygunner, who does a lot of 15mm WWII business. Spoke to Greg and Jim of GHQ, which was right across the aisle, and Doug of Battlefield Terrain Concepts, which was the booth next door to us. I spoke to Annie and Pete of ATAK Miniatures, who are about a 1/2 hour from MagWeb.com--we talked a little about getting together for a little wargaming in the months after the show.

Dennis Shorthouse, owner of On Military Matters bookstore, takes his first step to becoming a drag queen in a Monty Python revival.

Of course, I walked around the dealer area as well. If you go to the Cold Wars 2002 recap, you'll see many photos of other dealers that were also at Historicon. I apologize for not mentioning them all.

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