..back from the Redoubt...

Well I knew that it was going to be a bit of a lucky dip of a show, but in the end the show eclipsed all expectations for a number of reasons…

..first off, the weather was easily as good as it was the last time we went, which for this summer in the Britain is quite amazing – the sun shone all day despite the forecast, perfect day weather’wise.. sunny, and not too hot…

…second off, and the reason the weather is so important for this show, the traders set up outside in the main central area of the redoubt. Now I have to say that there weren’t a lot of traders present but those that were there were good, but they were mostly selling stuff I don’t game in – lots of Flames of War, plastics/20mm’s, fantasy/Warhammer, and of course Redoubt Miniatures (who seem to be mid-move for their factory so didn’t have a lot to sell..) so I was all set to go home with my money in my pocket and slightly disappointed with the show, when we then discovered that all the demo and participation games were in the actual museum!

…so third off, and for me turning the show into a bit of a triumph, was the games which were with a few exceptions (mostly parochial!), brilliant…

So, without further ado, here's some pictures of the games for your delectation:

This was the first game we saw – run by the Eastbourne Club guys - a 10mm WWII ‘set to’ in the desert – a personal favourite period of mine, just waiting a decent set of rules to get me going (I have the figures/tanks). Anyway, lots of Crusaders, Quads, 25pdr’s etc. on a lovely terrain. The rules were Charles Grant “Battle”, plus lots of mods… all ads up to a very tasty looking game! Figures were mostly Perrin’s I understand, and I think they look really nice en masse.. Recommended, as the guy running the game was also more than happy to chat to us and explain what was happening etc. so top marks..

Second game was Imperial Roman – civil war – in 25mm with oodles of Redoubt figures (I think) using DBM.. I really liked the artillery… when we arrived the “blue” cavalry had cleared one flank, but the “red” infantry were getting their own back – a tight game, very nice to look at and again the players were happy to stop and chat – in our case even mid die-roll!

Then came the piece de resistance for me, as the “Touching History” team were at the show with a 25mm AWI game which was absolutely mouth watering… they were using Perry figures – skirmish scale depicting an Indian/British raid on US settlements featuring fortified blockhouses etc. Lovely, lovely looking table… Best of all though, he was giving away Issue 1 of his magazine for free, and selling issues 2 & 3 for only £5 – I almost bit his arm off for issue 3 which contains the details on his Sudan game that I saw at Warfare last November (and reviewed here). I’ll put in a more complete review of the magazines (?? Books?) in a later post but initial perception is that they are top quality, chock full of hints and tips on how to build terrain, and oodles of full colour pictures.. excellent value when you consider issue 1 was in the order of £15 at Salute last year…!!

Last of the games I’ll touch on was a game by the Deal Wargames club representing the Allied attack across the Irrawady in Burma in WWII. Lovely muddy looking river, an excellent handout giving information on the figures and terrain (which was nice – not seen that before, usually you just get a potted history of the battle) but lots and lots of 20mm WWII figures and vehicles…. Apologies, the camera developed a blur for the Sherman picture, but the other picture should do the game justice…

There were also a number of other games including a participation HOTTS game featuring an army of “monstrous women” which gave me a chuckle… close run thing, but if you ignore the AWI game (as he is almost a professional!) then the Irrawady game was best, closely followed by the Desert game, and then the Roman’s…

I mentioned in the previous post that the Redoubt houses the regimental museum of the Royal Sussex Regiment as I was going out I happened to notice a nice booklet on the history and uniforms of the regiment so picked up one up - very nice quality - including pictures by Charles Stadden (!). The Royal Sussex were founded at about the time of the accession of William of Orange, the regiment was raised and fully paid for by the Earl of Donegal and presented to William by the Earl as a gift - quite apart from how much this must have cost the Earl, it was quite obviously a substantial, and well received gift. As a mark of his gratitude, the King gave the regiment the right to wear orange facings, the only regiment in the English, later British, army to have them..... and if that isn't enough reason to paint them as my next regiment of Allied WSS infantry I don't know what is!

We finished off the day with a visit to the “Battlegames” stand to say 'hello' to Henry Hyde - wished him well, and insisted he keeps up the good work! A genuinely nice guy, he even managed to seem pleased to see us, and at the end of what must have been a long day for him 😀

..and that was “To the Redoubt” for this year over with… an excellent day out and well recommended - but come on guys - do something with your advertising, and put together a show guide, even if it's only half an A4, I almost missed out on some absolute gems of games and that would be a real shame.. this is a show dying for a little more publicity!