Hotlead, a good trip to Stratford Ontario

 

So lots of fun stuff at Hotlead this year! Beyond some really excellent looking games the big thing for me, as always, is the bring and buy. It is often an expensive weekend as I often find plenty of must have items and this year was no exception.

This year I managed to plant myself at one end of a long line of tables conveniently hovering over a couple of items that I wanted. In this case it was an old GW battle mat and a box of styrofoam Epic buildings. So with elbows out I readied myself to stand my ground. Thankfully some extra items were placed right where I was standing, a 28mm minaret by Miniature Building Authority and a 4' x 8' neoprene ocean mat. The minaret was scooped up and placed in front of me while the large mat was just out of reach behind the main tables, but was out of sight to most other casual observers, the fools! So, when the 'bell' rang I was first off the mark claiming the water mat and getting my stuff paid for first. There were of course other items, a board game, some Victorian figures etc etc too many to mention.

There were many vendors beyond the bring and buy including two estate sales. The estate sales do kind of put things in perspective but at least there were more completed miniatures than bare metal on display. Nevertheless I did find stuff from both estates including some All Quite on the Martian Front miniatures which were quite unexpected.

Then there were a few other vendors some that were liquidating their own personal items along with some store inventory. I picked up some Dystopian wars Russian ships and some 28mm scenic stuff from one of them.

Armorcast ruined cathedral

Armorcast refinery

I also managed to snag quite a few rule sets just what I need!

It was not all spend, spend, spend, there were some excellent games on display, but I confess my main reason for attending was to pick up some bargains and maybe find some treasures!