Historicon - History Geek City!

Last weekend I made the trek (actually only a 2 hour drive) to Lancaster, PA which is the site of the annual Historicon odyssey. What is it you say? I guess the easy answer is that it's the biggest convention of war game players in the free world. Maybe the universe. When I pulled up to the convention center, I had to park on the lawn like it was Woodstock or something. Crazy!

I don't play war games (God knows I don't need another hobby) and I had no idea how big of an industry it is. I was enticed by my friend Keith Rocco to make the trip, meet him there and check it out. Keith is a great guy and I knew that regardless of how the show went, it would be worth the drive just to hang out with him and have dinner. So, off I went.

My first impression was absolutely overwhelming. I mean every nook and cranny of that convention center had gaming tables crammed in. The games ranged from simple board games to huge, elaborate affairs complete with realistic terrain (think model railroading) and thousands of tiny hand painted figurines (which may cost in the 10's of $K) . Some required only measuring sticks and dice to play, while others used more sophisticated computer software. The games continued far into the night.

Then there was the vendor area. Cavernous. Most of the vendors were geared toward gaming supplies but one could also find tons of books, movies, artwork....you name it. I had a great chat with the folks at Casemate Publishing who do mostly military titles. Their marketing guru, Simone Drinkwater, did a short seminar on the history book publishing industry. That was especially interesting to me since I'm contemplating writing a book myself. We may be reviewing some of their titles right here at History Geek soon, so stay tuned! By the way, if you are interested in doing a review, drop me an email.

I also had the pleasure to meet with Gerald Swick, online editor of Armchair General and History.net. Unfortunately I missed his seminar on How to Write History (without putting people to sleep!. I know, I could probably use a few pointers. Anyway, I may get the chance to practice by being a monthly contributor for them. Stay tuned on that too!

Oh yeah, and I did get to have dinner with Keith and the convention's guest of honor, Rene Chartrand. You can check out his full bio here. He's the editor for the Company of Military Historians series of plates. They will be using one of my paintings for a color plate next year and I was eager to meet him in person. Basically, he's a French Canadian with an encyclopedia for a brain, a quick wit and a million stories. It was a great evening.

OK, so let's face it; when someone mentions "wargamers" you get a not-too-flattering image in your head. It's prejudice, I know. What I found was a cadre of very intelligent people who are serious historians and, to be honest, just plain fun.

Even if you aren't a gamer, there is a tremendous educational experience to be had. The list of seminars alone is worth the price of admission.

The New Face of an Ancient Art Form

The fellow at the left is miniature sculpture I did a few years ago. It's only about 2 1/4 inches high and has been painted in a realistic manner, with shading and highlighting to enhance the form. As you can see, this is no toy soldier, though, the art form did develop from them.

Going back to the 1950's or 60's modelers have developed the notion of realistically painting these mini-sculptures to the point where it has become art. Yeah, I saw The 40 Year Old Virgin. You're thinking, "Art? No way. That's just the ultimate geek hobby." Maybe so, but before you pass judgement take a look at these photos from the recent World Expo event held in Spain a few weeks ago. There are even more here. Collectors are buying these works as they would an original painting or bronze sculpture.

Ok, so where's the Ancient part? 1960 is not exactly antiquity now is it? Well, remember all of those gleaming white marble sculptures that typify ancient Greek art? According to archaeologist Vinzenz Brinkmann, they were painted. Time has erased almost all traces of paint - at least those visible to the naked eye. He's employed high-intensity lamps, ultraviolet light, and cameras to re-evaluate these ancient sculptures for color. Then he reproduced some of them in living color! Vivid color:

According to an in depth Smithsonian article, he has even found evidence that techniques for painting the statues developed over time. After a while, the ancient Greeks may have used subtle shading and highlighting or cross hatching to enhance the forms and volumes. You have to wonder how sophisticated they got with their paint jobs. Maybe that flat painting style like the one reproduced in the photo above is only the under-painting. One thing for sure, it certainly changes the image of those austere, white Greek temples into one of dazzling color!

So, there is real historic precedent in the ultimate history geek hobby! And, we all know that those ancient Greek dudes were pretty cool too.