2023 ACOTS Convention

 GETTING THERE

This year's convention was in Adelaide so I had an interstate journey from Victoria ahead of me. They say half the pleasure is the journey to the destination. Even the mishaps are all part of the adventure.

First up I packed my hiking backpack and shoulder bag. The majority of the volume was taken up with plastic toy soldiers, not particularly heavy, but with other items, I had a total of between ten and eleven kilograms. Split between the two bags, I could take them as carry-on luggage, my preference to avoid waiting for getting check in baggage.

I had over 200 kilometers to travel just to get to Melbourne. My friend Mat dropped me off at the local train station and I got the train to just outside of Melbourne where I stayed a night with my cousin, Kerrie. A .... (Continued below photos).

BELOW:

In one of the quieter moments some of the lads enjoys a game of Memoir 44. (A much simplified version of these rules was used for our 1/32 tabletop medieval games the following two days).

    Below: the many and varied plastic and metal toy soldiers on offer at the swap-meet:

Bob's Fritz forces, repaints of Britains hollowcast into an imagi-nation by Palmersaurus, the former owner.

                               Bob's wargame tables loaded down with toy soldier goodness

  Some raindrops came in, through leaks, to Bob's backyard tables but everything survived.

The toy laden tables continued into the house.

                           These lovely painted metal figures I bought from Bob for $5 each.

   This swag of old hollowcast cost me a total of $40. Most of the 80 or so figures have damage but at least eight were intact. I'll never repaint all of them but a goodly selection, I certainly shall. (More on this down the track).

 This was my, relatively meagre display (except for the toy garage which is Bob's). I sold the Airfix box of Indians for $70.

THE JOURNEY (continued).
As mentioned in the previous post, cousin Kerrie and I did the rounds of the local op shops, and I picked up some interesting stuff.

Next day, Thursday, I bid farewell and got the train to Melbourne, a local train and a bus to the airport. All this was free for me as a Seniors Card holder. (I didn't take the Sky Bus to the airport as it costs heaps). However, I did underestimate the journey time and I arrived at the airport at 12PM when my flight was due to depart at 12:10! To make matters worse, I first went to the wrong airline where I was told I was too late, before realizing that Virgin Airlines was upstairs. Anyhow, I was told by Virgin the gate had closed. But wait, maybe I could make it if I was quick as I had no check in luggage. I ran! I got frisked by airport security and questioned about the knee pad that was supporting my wonky knee. 

Then there was more running, weaving in and out of the plodding mass. I arrived at the gate to find no-one had boarded and the line of nonchalant passengers awaited the call to board. The plane had been delayed ten minutes. I could breathe easily. The flight took an hour and a half. No meal was served, at least not a free one so I ate nothing on the plane.

Adelaide was having a warm day so I got the bus to Glenelg Beach and sought somewhere to leave my backpack so I could swim a couple of kilometers. Fish and chip shop said no but Mr. Potato said yes. I sweetened the deal by buying a potato stuffed with avocado and assorted fillings. It was a $10 well spent. The, very young, manager, James Leigh, incidentally, told me he was an actor who had appeared in various TV shows. He liked my cartoons and sketches. Unfortunately, Anyhow, I recommend his shop.

The white sandy beach was sparsely populated and watched by a tall, singing Ferris wheel. The water was pleasantly tepid. I swam parallel to the beach, in about six to seven feet of water, under the pier and towards a distant point. I swam for about an hour, rinsed off under a beach shower and dried off. My backpack and shoulder bag were safe and sound. 

Next, I bid farewell to the friendly manager and got the trolley bus to Adelaide central where I found a bus to get to my northern suburb destination. The first driver I approached told me that I needed to get another bus but then followed me out of the bus to tell me he could take me part way to where I could get another one. He then called up the other bus driver as he arrived at that stop so he would wait for me to board. That is service.

ARRIVAL AND THE SWAP-MEET

Fortunately, the bus stopped quite close to Bob's home. Bob hosted the convention's swap meet and Steve hosted the wargames on Friday and Saturday. Thursday was setting up day for most of those with tables. It was also unofficial swap and buy time for we people. 

Bob had rigged a tent for his stuff in the backyard but his enormous wargame tables in his gigantic shed were also covered with his items. Bob really goes hard on the auctions to increase his collection and to provide figures for those who want to buy them.

Friday's swap-meet saw a great number of figures and a great deal of money change hands. Seventy people came through the door. Not all are the actual members of ACOTS who attend both swap-meet and wargames. Most of us are in our forties, fifties and sixties, and, increasingly, seventies. I was glad to see that we had a visit from three young people in their early 20s or late teens. The young man and one of the young women liked to assemble and paint tank kits. I saw some of the woman's paint work which was amazing. Anyhow, they obtained an arm full of large-scale kits from Bob.

As usual, I spent more than I sold but not a huge amount. My main revenue raiser was the Airfix Indians boxed set which I sold for $70, I also, pleasingly did quite a few swaps of figures. My biggest expenditure was the $40 worth of old leads, four kilograms in weight. There isn't a huge interest here in old, battered leads. However, getting them like this they cost about forty cents apiece. (I have plenty of homecast spare parts for repairs). I also bought some lovely painted modern metal figures from Bob for five dollars each. In addition, I bought the usual wild assortment of plastics. I buy based mainly, on what I'll use in wargames and conversions but also figures that just take my fancy. I'm not huge on completing sets, except for the odd set I am much drawn to.

Figure prices (other than my bulk lead buy) began at 50 cents for old Hong Kong and made in China green army men. There are particular poses and types I have a conversion and wargame use for so bought a couple of handfuls of those. There were also the Big Boys like King and Country and others that I don't buy. Roger was there with his imports of the fantastic Mars and Expeditionary Force figures.

The founders of ACOTS are, myself, Bob, Alan and Brenton. Our once little group has grown by leaps and bounds in over thirty years. Poor Brenton is recovering from Covid and is feeling very poorly. Although unable to attend his lovely wife, Debbie brought his stuff to place on a table. We all missed the affable Brenton and wish him well.

On the bright side this does mean I won the 'competition' of being the sole founder to attend every ACOTS convention. Unfortunately, the medals had all run out. Ah well, perhaps my dedication and endurance will be remembered next time.

NEXT ACOTS REPORT - Wargames and victuals, same blog channel

Below: One of my snapshot sketches as the boys play Memoir 44 and Bryan strokes his beard as he contemplates some figures.