Historicon 2002

Flea Market: Bargains

by Russ Lockwood


The flea market tables used to be placed around the perimeter of the Lampeter. Now they are in a block so to speak at the rear of the room. I think that's a better idea, because you're not disturbing the tournament players as much.

Typical flea market activity during a relatively quiet time.

Thursday and Friday were relatively quiet flea market days--I guess about half the tables were in use. Saturday was pretty full. E-bay et al. may take away business from the good ol' fashioned flea market, but there's still something to say about examining painted figures yourself, or looking over books, games, terrain, or whatever. I never got over there on Sunday.

I purchased a few things--a couple magazines (probably defunct) I had never heard of, but then again, that's more business than pleasure. I didn't pick up any lead this year, which come to think of it, is somewhat of a surprise. I'm starting to feel bad already.

I did pick up The Gamers' boxed Tunisia game for $20, and then some tables down, picked up another company's zip-locked Tunisia game for $10. Guess it must be a trend--the WWII bug is starting to hit. I'm mostly an ancients to medieval kind of history buff, with a strong interest in Napoleonics, but I've been reading a lot of WWII lately (most of these you'll find in the MagWeb.com book reviews section), so I guess it's contagious. Plus, I listened to a John Hill lecture about the USAF in Tunisia at the USAF Connections Conference earlier this year, and he's a pretty good speaker, so the after effects have clouded my usually non-mechanized brain. And I recently finished my year-log study of Hannibal's route from Spain to the Alps (in the MagWeb.com WarLore section) and was starting into Operation Cobra, so WWII was also on the brain. And John Fernandes' GHQ Microarmor WWII rules and Rich Hasenauer's Battlefront WWII rules were fresh in my mind...

Anyway, I bought more magazines and books in my various trips through the flea market, was tempted by an army or two, and then went on my meandering through the Convention.

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