So it's the last full day of my vacation and I must say I feel much more relaxed. A short trip to my sister's family was fun and then I went up to Cincinnati for a few days. While in Cincy I had several trips to Gold Star (I really wish there was one here in East Tenn). I hit a few comic and game stores and caught a couple Reds games. I had seen quite a few games at Riverfront Stadium, but this was my first time to catch a game at the new Great American Ballpark. It was a very fan friendly stadium and getting to check out the Reds Hall of Fame was a lot of fun as well.
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| I got a really good seat, and had arrived early to watch all the practice on the field |
But partway through the second day was the highlight of the tip. About mid-afternoon during a conversation at a game store where BattleTech came up, I remembered that Iron Wind Miniatures was based out of Cincinnati. I got lucky and arrived an hour before they closed up for the day. It's a really nice casual place. I got the short tour which was pretty cool and then the real fun begins. You can buy loose unblistered miniatures by the pound. You get a box and then get turned loose in the aisles of metal goodness. I ended up with just a hair of 2 pounds of miniatures which cost me $50 which I think ended up as a massive deal. I'll definitely be taking another trip to Cincinnati when I need to expand my BattleTech forces again. As an added bonus, one of the fellows packing up orders had Sabaton's newest album playing so good music to listen to as well.
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| One of FIVE rows of shelving just for BatteTech, At least that many more for Ral Partha fantasy minis |
So what does 2 pounds of miniatures come out to? Let's check it out. First up is some naval vessels for my SLDF Fleet (that has never been used, but it's fun to collect). I got a Sovetskii Soyez Heavy Cruiser, 2 York Destroyers, and 2 Lola Destroyers. I'd have liked to have grabbed some Essex as well but they weren't available in the loose at this time.
Next we' to ll look at the vehicles. I grabbed 4 Pikes for my fledgling ComStar force, 4 Hetzers that will be going into a Tamar Pact world militia unit to back up my Donegal Guard company and my 2 lances of Arcturan Guard. And then lastly is a pair of Demolishers that I haven't decided what to do with yet. But as these are expensive in the blisters, it was too good a deal to grab them this way.
Now let's look at the mechs I got. There is a lance of Urbies (one of which will be traded to Cheef for a II variant) and a lance of Commandos. All these will be going into the previously mentioned militia unit. Then there is a Vulcan to deal with pesky infantry the next time I manage to get a game against Cheef. A pair of Flashman help round out the haul and will be joining ComStar. Last of all is a lil love for my Ghost Bear unit in the form of a Kingfisher.
And then we come to the Aerospace fighters. Most of these will be going into finishing off my 21st Striker Regiment of the Eridani Light Horse. The rest of them will be going into the ComStar unit. There are 4 Shilones, 2 Seydlitz, 2 Transgressors, 4 Stukas, 2 Lucifers, and 4 Sholagars.
So all in all, quite a nice haul that will take me a while to get all sorted out, cleaned up, and assembled. I also got some other things along the way including a couple new books, an Invaders graphic novel, and at one game shop that was running a sale a Davion Sourcebook (newest one) and the source book for the Reunification War. All that's left now is to get a game in which looks like will be this evening either in the form of Rogue Stars or Kill Team. Either way should be plenty of fun. Thanks for reading all and I'll see you all next time.
