Author: Jenny Mathiasson

Recently we packed a hire car full of stuff and went to Derby for the second ChillCon this year! That’s right, those crazy guys decided to do two shows this year and we wanted to join them as we always have a blast at ChillCon. This time it was held at Allestree Woodlands School which was jolly nice. We were in the slightly smaller hall but it was a bright and, uh… spacious… space so that was excellent!

Our immediate neighbours were Cozzmic Cakes and the painting corner so we had terrible influences on both sides: we sampled fudge, cookies, AND cupcakes from the lovely Coz while also drooling over the paints, brushes, and recording equipment set-up in the painting corner. And yes, those cupcakes were divine but I think the fudge was our runaway favourite of the day! We didn’t take photos of the fudge. It didn’t last long enough.

One of the highlights of the day was when Gav Thorpe, one of the fathers of Gorkamorka, came to our stall and said hello. Fox had seen him wandering around the hall and said to me, “That face looks so familiar…” and the penny dropped only as he came over for a chat. Better late than never!

Despite the anecdote above we are finding that we now recognise a fair few of you regular convention people. It’s one of the lovely things about going to shows like this: you start to make friends with other traders and also get to say hello to customers and visitors you realise you’ve met before. It’s a good feeling!

Speaking of visitors: we didn’t catch this legend’s name but he rocked up in a homemade ork jacket with glyphs and everything! We absolutely loved it. More of that sort of thing, please!

We brought along a show exclusive as usual: the first glimpse of a new vehicle! We actually only managed to cast a handful of copies for sale because the mould was giving Fox terrible trouble in the days before the convention so it was super limited edition. But it came along and here’s the (mostly) painted version of it: meet Krissy, the goblin gun truck. She’s little, she’s fierce, and she’s based on a cab-over-engine design. She’ll be on the website in a little while, don’t you worry. Who wouldn’t want this adorable little bugger?!

As the day drew to a close there was another amazing convention cake which I managed to see just before it was cut into magnificent slabs for us all to enjoy. Just look at that beauty! It was also very, very tasty. Cake is supposed to be tasty as a general rule but some cakes are made of lies. This cake was made of truth and tasty.

As usual we came away from the show with a small haul of goodies: I splurged on paint brushes, treasure chests, tombstones, and green dust that will haunt me for months (this is why I’m not allowed glitter, people). Fox was more sensible and bought paints for business purposes (although he got over-enthusiastic and accidentally bought a wash of some sort). Oh, and more brushes. We always need more brushes in our household. (We probably don’t need tombstones. Realistically.)

We wanted to blog about this sooner but you might have noticed that the website was recently very much on fire. It’s stopped smouldering now so blog entries can sporadically resume!

I think we may have been bitten by the convention bug (which is much better than being bitten by the convention squig — a very unforgiving biter) because yesterday we went to another wargaming show! This time we set up our stall at Barrage Wargames Show in Stafford: three glorious halls of traders and tabletop games with plenty to see and do. (Trust me: there was even a zombie hunt for kids.) For those of you who don’t know we currently live in Rotherham so we hired a car and made a day of it. Fang it!

Our stall was in Hall 3 which we alternated between calling The Kiln and The Furnace throughout the day (Fox: The forecast was for 23º and rain! I brought backup trousers and a jumper!). We drank plenty of water and occasionally took a break by wandering through to the (slightly) cooler other halls filled with fun stuff.

One such fun thing was the Mad Mekz Build-Off competition which we’d given a big box of miscasts and spares to. Nothing like watching your bitz come to life on the collective workbench! Six beautiful vehicles were born at the table during the day.

There were three prize categories: the Gorkiest, the Morkiest, and the Orkiest! The lucky winners won prizes from Kromlech and every entrant got a limited edition sculpt from us. His name is Grodbukkit and he’s inspired by a certain friendly mechanic from the Mad Max video game.

My favourite finds all day were two models from Oakbound Studio of my chap-hop heroes Mr. B the Gentleman Rhymer and Professor Elemental. I also picked up a carry case for my Shadow War team! Fox was a bit tighter so here’s a comparison picture of our respective halls. I’m the winner. Not financially but in nerd points.

Shout-out to Dave’s Wargames; he had Fox kicking himself that he’d not brought more spending money! (Fox: He’s still wrong about Gorkamorka…)

By the way, the Bloodbowl and Saga tournaments were clearly popular as they were still in full swing when everyone had packed up. I’d call that a resounding success!

Cheers to everyone who organised Barrage and see you again next year!

Yesterday we packed our bags (six bags in total with one dedicated solely to snacks and lunch options) and took a hire car to Ecclesfield School in Sheffield — the venue for the first ChillCon gaming convention. We set up shop (pardon the pun) in the sports hall along with twenty-odd other traders and got ready for a full day of wargaming fun!

The Big Mek had made the display stands himself and I’d made the oily-lookin’ table banner. We’d been prepping for weeks and we were really excited to finally be there. By the way: unexpected side effects of preparing for a trade show include several cuts, scars, and the sheer amount of Euro hole shapes to be found around the house… They’re everywhere.

Anyway, back to the convention. We’d brought along several exclusive previews with us and a few just-for-the-day offers to tempt passersby with. You’ve probably seen us shout about them on social media in the run-up to the show (fear not: the products will soon be available in our online store as well). We even gave away some freebies!

It was really good fun meeting some of our customers in person, catching up with a few old friends, and meeting lots and lots of new wargamers of all varieties. Chatting to Chill Con goers about greenskins and terrain options practically made the day fly by – thanks to everyone who came and talked to us, whether for a few minutes or a good deal longer!

Another great thing about the day was meeting all the other traders and oohing and aahing over their stalls and products. I had an excellent time running around, talking to other stallholders, and rummaging through their goods (I gave in and bought a few things). I think we made some new friends and everything!

As we were there as traders we didn’t get to see nearly everything on offer but in the hall next door there were all sorts of things afoot: tournaments, participation games, and cake. Yes, cake. We both had a glorious slice each before we went home that afternoon and it was delicious.

Thanks to everyone who organised ChillCon – see you again next year!

The Big Mek has been hard at work lately and we’ve got a new product ready to ship. But we just can’t think of what to call it. Maybe you can help?

We were going to call them “Goblin Assault Rifles” but that could be a bit misleading.
Here’s the bit that’s getting us in a tizzy:

• They’re not all assault rifles – there’s a support machine gun (RPK), a rocket launcher (RPG-7), and several carbines
• They’re not just suitable for goblins! They’re human scale too. Here’s a GW model holding one:

We briefly considered calling them “Goblin Assault Weapons” but that’s a bit of a politically charged term in the US with a fair bit of controversy attached to it that we’d rather steer well clear of!

So if you’ve got any good ideas, let us know in comments below or on our Facebook page (or tweet at us).