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I attended the Renegade Open held in Plymouth, MN on 19 November. I walked through most of the events with friends over about an hour. I saw the 40K Friendly, the Barbicon Front (Horus Heresy) event, and Operation (Bolt Action). Here's some photos and commentary from my visit. Part One: The GW stuff Part Two: The Boards/Hobby stuff Part Three: Swag and conclusion Part Three: Swag and Conclusion After taking some pics, I headed to the vendor room. The vendor room was much smaller than in years past, but it wasn't a total letdown. I bought some can covers to keep my adult beverages nice and cool. I used my birthday as an excuse to take advantage of some deals. For $130 US, I purchased: a shining spears box an autarch box 2 shroud runner boxes 1 rangers box 1 sector imperialis debris box That retails for $333! My little closet store continues to grow. Thank goodness there wasn't anything Drukhari or Harlequin on sale. Conclusion While I can't say I had a great time playing at the Renegade Open, it was nice to pop in, take some pics, see where the hobby is outside my group, and get inspiration from players and organizers. As we head into winter here, I expect to have more time for gaming and building/painting. While I'm not going to be meeting some of the quality at Renegade, I do have some ideas and goals to make this crazy hobby a little more interesting and enjoyable. Thanks for reading!

I attended the Renegade Open held in Plymouth, MN on 19 November. I walked through most of the events with friends over about an hour. I saw the 40K Friendly, the Barbicon Front (Horus Heresy) event, and Operation (Bolt Action). Here's some photos and commentary from my visit. Part One: The GW stuff Part Two: The Boards/Hobby stuff Part Three: Swag and conclusion Part Two: The Boards/Hobby stuff I love the B&C, but I love mini gaming in general. I think there's an opportunity for inspiration and practical advice from the historical scene. This post focuses on that, but there's still 40k boards for those that disagree. Space Hulk (?) Board I don't know if this was for a space hulk event, but since it was in the 40K Friendly room, assume it was regular 40K with some special rules. It's a nice mix of mat and plastic/resin. The paint job really unifies the board, making it look like it's an actual scene and not just some random terrain on a random mat. A Korean War Board Warlord Games was at the Renegade Open, and the author of their Korean War rules was there. He even did this board with a company partner. This really had me flashback to the mid-80s when I got started in historicals, even though I played games set in the middle ages or 19th century. The level of detail and closely placed pieces where what really sold me as a teen. If you look closely, the board is made of MDF pieces. These are cut similar to a puzzle. You can essentially build a modular board with these and easily store them in a very small space via stacking. It is a clever design for people like me without an attic or basement for their hobby. A City Board The Bolt Action event was called Operation :cuss:. While I don't know the details of that narrative event, there were some amazing examples of creativity and dedication that I wish I had the talent, time, and storage space to do. This board went crazy on the detail. The streetlights were actually lit, the craters went into the table, and several buildings had multiple floors that could be removed. Those rooms were also detailed with different paint jobs or wall papers in each room, complete with the burn marks and debris of a warzone. One touch I liked was the street sidewalks were made from foam rubber. This gave them an innate texture, were at the right height from the scale perspective, and were silent when placing stuff on them. Fighting in the Desert This gent definitely themed his army transport display. I'm sure you know the inspiration. The POW Camp Board I'm not sure what is going on in this narrative game, but there's a camera crew, and a military band running around in the game. There were a lot of little details that I wouldn't have expected to see in a Bolt Action game. Misc Cobblestone mats can look good if the terrain pieces are designed for them. MDF buildings look pretty good if they're painted better than what I usually see in 40k events. This one has a lot going on. More to Come Part Three will be posted later.

I attended the Renegade Open held in Plymouth, MN on 19 November. I walked through most of the events with friends over about an hour. I saw the 40K Friendly, the Barbicon Front (Horus Heresy) event, and Operation :cuss: (Bolt Action). Here's some photos and commentary from my visit. Part One: The GW stuff Part Two: The Boards/Hobby stuff Part Three: Swag and conclusion Part One: The GW Stuff The Renegade Open is one of the larger local tournaments for GW events including 40K, Fantasy/Age of Sigmar, and now Horus Heresy. It definitely has a "Minnesota Nice" vibe, and while I don't do competitive events, it is clear that fun is the goal and the organizers do a great job of logistics, fundraising and other sundry things required for a successful 3 day event. Given our host, let's proceed to some photos. While I don't play competitively, I have attended the totally anti-con Waaaghfest a few times. Some of that crew attended the Renegade Open. You can get a sense of their attutide by their board and scenario designs. I am unfamiliar with this scenario's details, but it involves candy and pint glasses. A Nurgle themed board This board reminds me of the original Lost and the Damned book illustrations. Yes, that is a giant ambull offboard. It is difficult to tell, but those "pestilent balls" are covered in flies. I didn't get a close up. :( Leave a request in the comments, and I'll post some pics of boards from Waaaghfest '21 that include chibi berserkers, a candyland board, and MN's own Prince. Some Heresy Pics Several of the boards used for the Heresy event really tried to drive home the scale of that setting. A closeup of that Dark Angels unit to give a sense of building scale. Some shots of another board that reminds me of Rogue Trader aesthetics. In parting, it was cool to see two Thousand Sons players. Both were running resin Magnus. Nice to see that model IRL. The 40K Friendly The tables were packed a bit tight to let me get pictures without potentially interfering with the players. These are far from all the factions or talent levels present. Some Aeldari Scouts Is it too late for me to use this scheme? I've already got the purple helms and brown leathers. Some Custodes I actually am quite drawn to the NMM models. The owner really got a good purple, which is something I struggle with. Some Knights/Armigers Some Necrons This is the first time I've seen that flagship monolith. I'm glad I don't need to transport these models! Some Orks Some Tyranids