Back from Gencon…Guess What?

Yes, the picture above is me with Jen and Alissa from The Screaming Heretic, in the WarStore/Secret Weapon Booth!!

Gencon was an amazing experience. This was my first time, and I can guarantee it will not be my last. The people I met for the first time, and the folks I got to catch up with who I don't see but a time or two a year, the city and the time away with the wife. All of it was an experience I'm counting down until the next time.

Yes, I'm aware this post is a touch late, but ah well.

So what all happened?

First and foremost…I WON A GOLD AND A BRONZE IN THE MHE PAINTING COMPETITION!!!

Yup, I entered into the Open Competition for the MHE painting competition and came away with a 1st Place in the Large Figure category, and a 3rd Place in the Unit category. I don't have pictures of the Coins yet as they are being mailed to me, but I'm told they are similar to the P3 competition coins. For my 1st Place win, I did receive a set of the Games and Gears Ichiban brushes!! These brushes are killer, and I can't wait to break them out and start using them.

My Bugman I repainted made it to top shelf in the Single Figure category, so I'm pretty pleased there. Next year I'll be trying even harder, and may put a piece into the Master's Competition. Always pushing to do better, learn more and challenge myself. That's the whole point of painting competitions I think.

What else did I do? I got to meet the Screaming Heretic folks, who are a bunch of seriously nice people, and I'm bummed I didn't get to see them in their Guardians of the Galaxy Cosplay outfits, though I swiped a picture off of Facebook and will share it here.

Speaking of Cosplay, I didn't take near enough pictures, but the ones I did take I'm happy to share! I'll put them at the bottom of the post, along with the shots if other entries in the painting competitions.

I also got to meet some serious players in the Infinity Community! I caught up with the Warcor for Illinois who's based out of Springfield! Seriously great guy who also helped me get my copy of Operation Ice Storm. I got to talk with Kip and Tom from MayaCast and thank them for the shout-out on Episode 2. Stand up guys those two. I've admired Tom's work for years, and love the effort him and Kip are putting into the Infinity community as a whole. I also got to meet Dexter from The Krug podcast and talk with him for a while. Happy to see him back safe in the US, and had a great time watching his game, then chatting for a few. Dexter and the whole cast of The Krug also put in a ton of work to help grow the Infinity community, and I can't wait until I get the chance to fly out to Colorado for an Infinity event!

I got my picture taken with Tabitha Lyons who was cosplaying as a Neoterra Bolt from the PanO faction in an amazing costume...

…AND got to watch Angel Giraldez paint the new Penthesilea Bootleg model! Talk about some eye opening techniques and methods with an airbrush in just 20-ish minutes of watching. I wish I could have stayed longer, but my wife was getting bit tired just standing there.

I got to talk to Kevin Siembieda from Palladium about the upcoming Robotech Tactics, stop by Badger Airbrush and pick up some killer templates from Brush4Hire, talk with the Wargamers Consortium folks, meet Chung and Caleb for the firs time, and wander the main hall for hours when it was all said and done.

And that's not even all of it!

Needless to say, I am looking forward to next year when I'll be playing in the Infinity events, come hell or high water, entering the painting competitions once more and catching up with good friends I just don't get to see enough of.

Who else was there?

- Tim