PAX Australia 2015 - Show Recap

I was a bit late in posting this due to Fallout 4 related issues, so PAX is well and truly old news at this point.

So, PAX is done. Three full days of non-stop noise, spectacle, and crowds. Since my milieu is war gaming, tabletop, etcetera, that is what I will focus on, and the milieu in question at the event was huge. The board game library and play area took up almost one eight of the main hall, and by mid morning, every day, it was completely packed.

The Reaper Paint and Take at midday

First up the Reaper Paint and Take came as a bit of a surprise to be as to how large it was, and how popular it was with the punters.

 The event in a nutshell was basically a combination of a free mini give-away combined with a free paint area with all the paint equipment provided. I ended up sitting with people that have never painted before or hadn't for some time, this seemed to be true for the majority of the people doing the event. The event also ended up requiring a queue to get seated on the busier days. Painting classes and a Speed Painting event were also offered, though I did not participate, therefore can't meaningfully comment on them.

Day two result, getting better.

First up, the provided minis were not primed, which was well, frustrating. If you're reading this, you probably are a war painter or mini painter of some kind and I shouldn't have to say how important it is to start with a layer of primer to put some tooth on the mini, combined with the fact that the minis in question were Reaper Bones assorted, it made building up those first few layers an exercise in frustration. I certainly saw lots of the new people clumping on the paint to try and get some quick opacity, which is not a great habit to get into for a beginning painter. In the end, I 'primed' my minis with a quick layer of black, which didn't really work as the paint at the extremities of the minis buffed off from being carried around in my bag. Also, while I know I'm being unreasonable at this point, but the minis still had their mould lines. Considering the amount of people and free minis being given away, cleaning them up before hand would've been prohibitive for the people running the event to clean them up. But still, mould lines...

Day one result, my assessment, meh.

They were also running a best painted of the day competition. I entered on both days and won neither, but the ones that did well and truly deserved it. I suspect, like me, there were more than a few competent to high level painters amongst the painters striving for the first second and third trophies of the day. Perhaps I was taking this comp a bit too seriously, but I digress.



I don't know how some of the winning results were achieved with the brushes on offer. The detail brush was something equivalent in size to a Size Zero Windsor & Newton Series Seven. Though size was the only thing they have in common, it couldn't hold a tip, which made the eyes and details impossible to paint. I was tempted to run back to my room and get my W&Ns, but that felt like cheating. A larger flat head brush was also provided, though likewise it frayed up after not much use.

The loot haul.

The paint on the other hand was a very pleasant surprise. Each table had the full starter set of Reaper Master Series colours. In terms of consistency it feels a lot like P3 though slightly thicker, which is quite nice. I ended up doing both glazing and two brush blending on both my figures and I'm pleased to say that Reaper worked extremely well with both techniques. I was impressed to the point where I may have spent a lot of money on buying up many of the colour triads from the Aetherworks people, and will probably order more if it continues to work out well.

In terms of acquisitions, I bought my first two Knight Model figures, Rorschach and the Comedian. Normally I dislike the superhero genre, due to market over-saturation and I always found the whole genre, one that glorifies vigilante justice, somewhat creepy. Which is probably why the characters from Alan Moore's deconstruction resonate with me a great deal. In any case, I'm going to attempt to paint up Rorscach for the Crystal Dragon if my current Guild of Harmony project doesn't pan out. The rest of the haul isn't directly related to painting I bought up the new X-Wing starter after finding out the damage deck had been revised in the new release. The black case in the left is a small figure case that I picked up for hauling around small model count armies, I intend to use it for hauling around my Frostgrave, Malifaux, and Infinity armies.

For the most part, that is extent of the painting and war gaming content of my PAX experience. The rest of it consisted of attending a variety of panels, the Warren Spector playing through Deus Ex and the Masters of Orion remake were particularly memorable. I also played a few tabletop board games on the last day, less than I was intending throughout the entirety of the convention.

Overall, I'm glad I went to PAX. Though the full three days, combined with the insane crowds, made the event extremely exhausting for me. If I go again, it'll probably be for one or two days rather than the full three. I'd also like to see panels and more and varied classes that focus on the tabletop war gaming and painting side of things, I suppose the offerings at Cancon have really raised the bar in terms of quality in that area, and PAX may not be the most appropriate venue for that sort of thing. Either way, nothing else I have been to can compares to the raw spectacle and scale of the event, it is something that I'd recommend people do at least once.