MOAB 2026 - Mother Of All Battles this October long weekend

MOAB 2026

The main hall's retail area at the front.

This year's Bring-n-Buy bargain buy area located in the main hall.

MOAB has been on this long weekend. The Southerland Shire Wargaming Clubs Mother of all Battles, Sydney's largest wargaming convention is always well attended. Once again, I made the long journey to visit and spend way too much money on cool stuff. But it is always worth it. I managed to get around the main hall and some of the side galleries. But didn't get to see all the games in action. Here's the photos I took on the Saturday.

Chain of Command

Warmaster

Ogre Kingdoms

Star Wars

Display and Historical Games

This table was a display game for Fjord Serpents and Blade Wrath.

Ma.K. in both 28mm and 15mm from Slave2Gaming.

This was a 15mm historical game from Two Fat Lardies, I believe.

I have an interesting observation on MOAB recently that I shared in another post. But that's it for this year's MOAB.

MOAB - an observation

The game table allocations at MOAB 2026

Where has all the Warhammer 40k players gone?

I've noticed a trend at MOAB the last few years and it's been reflected in the mid-year ShireCon event as well. Warhammer 40K used to dominate the table space every convention. However, I noticed its footprint decrease over the last few years. Now, at this latest MOAB, its nowhere to be seen.

What am I missing here? I don't play 11th Edition. I stick to 3rd Edition as its still slightly gonzo (not as wonderfully gonzo as 2nd Edition however). I also play it in 15mm scale for that more epic feel.

I know 11th Edition is now more designed to be a tournament game rather than a fun wargame played with mates over the home gaming table. But to be non-existent at MOAB. What happened?

The Bring-n-Buy has always been packed with 40k models and they sell very well. So, I don't think the game has died. It's just no longer appearing at MOAB and perhaps 11th Edition isn't what players are gravitating too.

Warhammer 40k tournaments aren't even listed at MOAB this year.

So, what happened?

No painting competition

Sadly, there was no painting competition at MOAB this year. There is usually one with the finalists displayed in the glass case for all to marvel upon. But nothing this year. So that's a bummer. Some truly excellent paint work has been on display in previous years.

Rise of the Other Games

I noticed more of a presence of games like Warmaster, Turnip28, Bloodbowl, The 9th Age, Warhammer Fantasy 8th Edition, etc. What once was dominated by Age of Sigmar and Warhammer 40k is now taken over by Flames of War, Chain of Command and older GW games. That's a lot more choice and very welcome to see in my opinion.

Anyway, just an observation from a MOAB attendee.

A 3d FDM printed dragon

 

I've been experimenting with my Bambu A1 FDM printer, and I saw this great night-light on their online Maker World. It just looked too cool not to try it out. So here it is in all its fiery glory.

The paint job is my own and not from the ABS. I printed it out with the 0.4mm nozzle to see how it would print out. If I swapped to my 0.2mm nozzle the results would be crisper. But I am very happy with this as it is.

Now to get up to some more shenanigans with the printer.

ShireCon 2026

 

ShireCon has just finished for 2026 and although it's a smaller affair than MOAB, it's growing bigger each year. This year saw a larger Bring and Buy area and there were a number of demo and competitive games being played.

I wasn't able to get any photos of the games as the space where these were being played was fairly tightly packed. However, apart from the obligatory 40K and AoS / Old World games, there were at least four tables for Warmaster (my favourite), and a couple of excellent 15mm Historical Medieval and Ancient games as well. Upstairs was a Bloodbowl competition with around eight to ten tables. So, a broader affair than just the usual 40k or AoS showing.

Of the demo games, there was a jousting game from around the 80's era of White Dwarf. Very obscure but one that I have heard was well designed though I've never had the chance to play it. If I had more time, I would have given it a shot. Hopefully it will be there again at MOAB. Demo wise, there was a WWII naval warfare game and Ma.K as well, both by their manufacturers.

Slave2Gaming was there, as was the producer of the naval demo game. I spent some time chatting to the owner of Slave2Gaming. Their 15mm sci-fi and Ma.K miniatures are excellent. They also had their 28mm alien and Elvis miniatures there as well as some 28mm WWII stuff that another attendee was grabbing for Konflikt 47.

For my part I was taken by all the 15mm sci-fi stuff including their new line of near-future Australian troops set in an alternative conflict where Oz is divided and in civil war. The premiss is that a tyrannical government has arisen (not so farfetched a concept when we remember COVID and what the State of Victoria's lock-down government did to its poor citizens) and the forces of resistance are fighting back from the inland desert. You can see the 15mm Desert Australia Korps (DAK) below as well as their other 15mm and 28mm goodies. I grabbed the 15mm DAK for a 15mm version of Konflikt 47 that I am working on.

Slave2Gaming are considering making their aliens also in 15mm sometime in the future. Great for Earth vs the Invaders and they have a great idea for their Elvis miniatures that will involve their 28mm alien range and Elvis. Mum on that one for now, but you can get some alien Elvis impersonators from S2G right now.

So that's it for ShireCon this year. Can't wait for MOAB.