Hello from Upstate New York, USA

[ignis-fatuus]

After a silly snafu involving me entering my own username in incorrectly--fixed now--I just figured I'd say hello and introduce myself. I've painted miniatures on and off for a good number of years now. I remember my first mini I "painted" was a Mithril orc fighting a great eagle wherein I glopped on a bunch of high gloss enamel paint with a brush large enough to paint a house. Thankfully my skills, paints, and tools have improved since then. I have, however, taken a bit of time off from painting from which I am only just now returning. Turns out graduate school has a way of shelving your hobbies for longer than one would expect. The upshot is that I find myself eager to pick up the brush once more and I look forward to explore the newer painting techniques that I've missed out on over the past ten years or so.

[Bravo Six]

Welcome Ignis!  Growing up in Ottawa Canada, our US cable feed came from Upstate New York. More specifically Rochester NY and the PBS station from Watertown/Norwood.

[has.been]

Welcome & I hope it will not be long before
we see some of your current work.

[OSHIROmodels]

Welcome 

[Grumpy Gnome]

 I am originally from Upstate NY myself. Welcome aboard!

[Froggy the Great]

I'm once again back in Western NYS, so yeah.  Welcome.

[RichCitti]

Where in Upstate?  I am currently located in Syracuse and consider Upstate anything north of the NY Pennsylvania border, but when I worked in NYC Upstate was anything north of White Plains.

[ignis-fatuus]

Where in Upstate?  I am currently located in Syracuse and consider Upstate anything north of the NY Pennsylvania border, but when I worked in NYC Upstate was anything north of White Plains.

I am actually quite far away from where I consider home (Santa Cruz, CA), but I moved out to Binghamton for grad school and have decided to stick around. What can I say, the cost of living is very reasonable and there are enough hobby-related resources to get by on. I will say that at times it feels like Binghamton is about three hours away from any major city, but we have a couple of good nerd stores and I'm looking forward to engaging with the gaming community more now that I have a bit more free time on my hands.

[RichCitti]

Binghamton is not a bad base if you want to go the HMGS conventions in Lancaster, PA.

[ignis-fatuus]

Binghamton is not a bad base if you want to go the HMGS conventions in Lancaster, PA.

HMGS Conventions? Can you elaborate? We have a couple of small cons here in Binghamton but I'm pretty sure their more RPG oriented. Lancaster, PA, isn't too far of drive. I'll certainly have to look into convention options. Thanks for the heads up.

[RichCitti]

They usually do two a year.  Cold Wars (a winter convention) and Historicon in late July.  You can get more info at https://www.hmgs.org/mpage/HconHome.

[marianas_gamer]

Welcome, I also spent years in Binghamton during grad school and my early career.  I was lucky to find good gaming groups there at two different times. Unfortunately,  mostly scattered now. Heck, I've been in the Pacific for 25 years. RichCitti is right.  Bingo is a good base to get to the HMGS cons. I went twice a year for a decade.

[ignis-fatuus]

Welcome, I also spent years in Binghamton during grad school and my early career.  I was lucky to find good gaming groups there at two different times. Unfortunately,  mostly scattered now. Heck, I've been in the Pacific for 25 years. RichCitti is right.  Bingo is a good base to get to the HMGS cons. I went twice a year for a decade.

Hey, cool. Nice to meet another BU grad. I've been looking to find some gaming groups around here. It seems that most people I have met around these parts play 40K. That's cool and all, and I do have two or three armies laying around, but I'm kinda tired of giving all of my hard-earned money to Games Workshop. I'd really like to check out some other miniatures games (maybe something historical) but I've been out of the hobby for a while and I'm still trying to figure out what else is popular.

[has.been]

I'd really like to check out some other miniatures games (maybe something historical) but I've been out of the hobby for a while and I'm still trying to figure out what else is popular.

Take a look at the Fistful of lead family of games (Wiley Games)
Simple, quick to play, only a few figures needed to get started and... FUN.

Due to only needing a few figures, to get a game, means you could try
several periods quite quickly & for low cost. Nothing to then stop you
moving on (getting more involved in a period) & trying other rules later.

[Cat]

For another great con in the Northeast : Huzzah! in Portland Maine is a topflight miniatures con at a nice venue.  4 days in May this year (usually 3, but here's some lost time to make up for).
https://mhwa.info/huzzah-may-12-15-2022/