Day 3

The first two days of Nova were pretty busy as on Thursday I had to travel from New Jersey to Washington DC to then attend a class that same night as well as have two 4 hour classes on Friday. My poor scheduling decisions continue though as I had to wake up quite early on Saturday so that I could get ready for another 4 hour class that started at 8AM.

Luckily for me and the wife there was a little hole in the wall donut/breakfast place right across the street on the venue’s side entrance. We actually discovered it the day before but it had a line out the wazoo due to the number of people attempting to grab a quick breakfast before the tournament. However, since we got up so early we were able to beat the line and grab a couple of Bacon, egg and cheese sandwiches and some coffee to go. Once again I was reminded of how fortunate I am to live in an area where a good breakfast sandwich can be found in any food truck in NYC because these were okay at best.

Mediocre breakfast notwithstanding we headed to our respective morning classes which for me was a class on magnetizing and assembling miniatures by Izzy Sanchez (@izzy_painting_studio). The class was very straightforward and the big takeaway for me from the whole thing was that having the right tools makes the whole process way easier. In this case the right tools are a plentiful supply of spare hobby blades, decent super glue (none of that cheap dollar store kind), various size magnets and most importantly quality drill bits that match the size of the magnets you use. With decent tools it’s just a matter of making a small pilot hole to guide your drill bit and drilling incrementally to make sure you don’t go too far into the model. It was actually a small class of only four people and Izzy was a very nice and energetic guy, I got a chance to meet him later and he was just as nice and energetic as the day before.

With the morning class done I met up with my wife and we decided to relax and grab some lunch from a nearby Mexican restaurant called Mi Casa. They were having a restaurant week course meal so we settled on that which included Chilorio Flautas as a starter along with some Chorizo Deviled Eggs that we added on, Baja Fish Tacos as the entree and ending it with some Churros with chocolate sauce for dessert. The food was pretty good and I definitely wouldn’t mind going back there next year to try some of their other options.

After lunch my wife and I had a ton of free time so we decided to properly explore the vendor hall. The vendor hall this time around was in a long hallway area that also housed the registration (see map above provided by Nova Open) so there were vendors on either side with a walkway running down the middle. The first thing I noticed is that there were more vendors this year than I had ever seen before at the convention. There were the usual suspects of Toledo Game, Death Ray Design and Atlantis Games but there several new faces like Arena Rex, Baron of Dice, The Griffon’s Lair and Your Hobby place which meant there was more variety than ever before. For me the standout winner was Arena Rex; I never got a chance to demo the game but they minis they made for it were simply superb and I ended up getting four different models from their range before the con was over.

I took the time to formally check out the Warhammer tournament which was in the large ballroom on the lower level. In contrast tot he long and narrow rooms of the Hyatt Regency where the tournament was held previously, the International Ballroom of the Hilton was wide with a high ceiling that could not only accommodate the tournament but the Games Workshop store and the giant terminator statue I saw at Gencon only a month before with room to spare. In fact they also had a large area of floorspace sectioned off for the titan walk and large scale adepticus titanicus game they held at night.

At night my wife went back to the room while I went and attended the Corvus Belli Release panel with Gutier Lusquiños goes over the upcoming releases as well as everything that went into the making of them. Unfortunately none of the information was really new because, as per usual, Gencon was where all this info first came out since it happened earlier in August. I slipped out of the panel and decided to check out the Capital Palette area as they were now in the process of judging the pieces for the competition. I had been around the area pretty often, hanging out with Ian and being introduced to everyone he knows seeing the judges pore over every piece is a little humbling as you can see them scrutinize every part of the model from every angle. It was here that I managed to snap probably my favorite photo of the whole event where you can see Erik Swinson and Will Hahn judging a piece with Dan Ozborne in the background also looking over something all being framed by the other competition models in the foreground.

After hanging around for a bit I ended up just hanging out with Ian and a bunch of other minipainters on the hotel terrace. I was feeling a little out of place because I was amongst some very talented painters but it was feeling that quickly went away as we just chatted about all kinds of nerd stuff. Evan (@evan.m.paints) and I got along famously as we bonded over Magic the Gathering. As the night went on though I could feel myself lagging so I said my goodbyes and turned in for the night because we still had one more day of the con left.

Day 4

Sunday was planned to be a fairly leisurely day as both my wife and I only had one class together in the afternoon. However, the big event of the day was to be the Capital Palette award ceremony that morning so we went to grab breakfast one last time at Jolt n Bolt Coffee where I had a very hot oatmeal with plenty of fruit. We also happened to run into Ian and Ethan where we chatted for a minute or two as they waited for their breakfast.

After breakfast my wife and I hit up the dealers room again where we picked up a few more hobby items. My wife has found that she enjoys making bases so we picked up some Woodland Scenics snow as well as different sized ballast. As for myself I picked up a couple more Arena Rex models as well as the Angry Chicken from Parabellum Games, which was the special 2023 event mini made to be used in Conquest: First Blood.

At around 10AM I went off the award ceremony where I met up with Dan, Ethan, Ian, Evan, Aaron and the rest. I didn’t enter anything myself so I decided to take as many pictures on my phone as I could as they all outdid themselves and placed in practically every category. Ian even got best in category for busts at the journeyman level and Dan Dugal got fan favorite for his piece “Coffee Break”. After the award ceremony I ran into Oscar (@o8o8das) who also entered and got gold with his classically painted Space Wolf Terminator

For lunch my wife and I headed to Lucky Buns real fast to grab some very nice burgers. We had both gotten the Lucky Burgers which had gouda cheese, charred red onions and their signature lucky sauce alongside some very nice thick cut fries with a killer malted vinegar mayo. However, we had to kind of rush lunch as we had to go to our last class of the convention which was a smooth blending class with Krzysztof Kobalczyk, an incredible minipainter who came all the way from Poland and was also one of the judges for the masterclass category for the Capital Palette.

The class was interesting as Krzysztof walked us through different blending methods he employed and how he approached each one. We started with layering followed by wet blending and finally with glazing; throughout the class he would demonstrate his technique and answered any questions we had as well as show variations of those blending techniques. The most striking feature of his painting is how minimalist or efficient it was. He employs very few colors, instead favoring mixing his paints and making a gradient on his wet palette so that he can pick whatever color he needs from it. Also, unlike other classes, Krzysztof doesn’t use additives at all; at most he will use a bit of airbrush thinner when glazing because it activates the previously layer and allow for a small amount of wet blending. Now you may be thinking “but wouldn’t that just tear the previous layer and cause a mess?” and normally that would be the case but his style of painting prevents that. He favors mixing his paint but he uses very little paint when he does, barely a drop of any color is used on his palette. Also, he utilizes only a small portion of his brush so when brings out the airbrush thinner all he does is lightly dip the tip in the thinner and then pickup some of the desired paint onto his brush. The amount is relatively small and his understanding of his paints and his dilutions is so complete that he has total control over how his paint will behave. It seems simple when you see him do it but it belies a deep understanding of his tools and technique.

After the class was over my wife and I took took one last look around the con and vendor hall as well as say our goodbyes to friends who were heading out on their journey home. As things wound done we decided to get some Thai food back to our room from a local restaurant with honestly the best name I have ever seen, Thaiphoon. With the remainder of the evening we preemptively packed up our belongings and settled in for one last night with some of the worst pillows we have had the displeasure to sleep on.

Journey Home and Final Thoughts

The next morning, my wife and I get up and get ready to head home. With our bags packed we check out of the Washington Hilton and I take one last melancholic look at the building before we make our way back to Union Station to take our four hour bus ride back to New York City. The journey was uneventful and as the familiar vista of the New York City skyline comes into view a somber mood washed over me as the end of journey is at hand. A quick train ride into New Jersey and one uber later we were finally home with two annoyed cats and the comfort of our pillows. Luckily for me I had taken a day off from work knowing I would need some time to recharge from everything that has happened at Nova.

This Nova was very different from all the past ones I have attended. The most obvious reason being the new venue which brought with it many changes both good and bad. However, I should note that most of the changes were good; a much shorter commute, more diverse and plentiful options for food as well as more space to just hang out with friends. The only real downside to the new venue was the room itself since it was markedly smaller than the rooms at the Hyatt Regency with worse pillows. But that can be easily remedied by bringing our own pillows or just getting rooms at a hotel just across the street from the Hilton which, from what I heard, had more amenities and room while being similarly priced.

As for Nova itself I feel as if they had outdone themself this year. The classes on offer were very diverse and were taught by some incredibly talented individuals. I was able to take classes from veritable minipainting masters just as Will Hahn, Steve Garcia and Krzysztof Kobalczyk and I’m not sure if that will ever happen again. Not only that I was able to meet up with and make friends with other very talented minipainters; I got to meet Nanbanzuke from the Minipainitng Discord in person as well as get to personally know Ethan, Aaron, Dan and Evan who I still talk to online when I can. The vendor hall this year was fantastic, as there were more vendors attending this year than any other year I have attended. Not only that the vendor quality was great as well with Arena Rex, Artis Opus, Dirty Down Effects and Game Envy being the highlights of the show for me.

Honestly Nova this year was fantastic and I look forward to attending next year as well. It’s jazzed me up to get to painting my models and to enter the Capital Palette next year so I can stand alongside everyone else on that stage. And now that we know the ups and downs of this new venue, we can tackle next year better prepared to have an even better experience. Hopefully, I can find the time to get back to my painting desk more consistently but at least I’ve learned to accept that sometimes life gets in the way and that’s okay. A hobby is meant to be enjoyed and so long as I don’t try to force it I think I will be able to do just that.

Till next time.