I was more than looking forward to this as for various reasons previously and tediously mentioned this was my first wargame show of the year and I had cash to spend.. I also have a great liking for this little show, it always has a good vibe about it...
Having arrived then, and managed to figure out the truly anarchic car park payment system, first point of call as ever was the bring and buy (it's just inside the entrance) nothing majorly of interest, but they have also started putting a few traders in their and the Aventine Miniatures [clicky] stand definitely caught the eye.. look at these babies ! (click to embiggen any of the piccies in the post)
..I love elephants.. Achaemenid Persian?
...and I particularly like the red ears! Very effective.. Cartheginian I think, perhaps Seleucid...?
Anyway - on in to the main hall to check the traders..
...and no Peter Pig! Quelle domage.... was planning to have spent a fair amount of dosh with them - wanted anti tank guns, but also some more American Civil War ironclads/ships.. no matter I spent the cash with Forged in Battle for British and German anti tank guns... (and then spent some with Peter Pig online for the other bits I was missing and some more ships)...
DG also got very excited by the Neil Thomas "Wargaming: Nineteenth Century Europe 1815-1878" book (we're fans of his as a result of "One Hour Wargames") which was on special offer at the David Lanchester Books stand - only £10... I was sorely tempted, but the book covers a period of European warfare I don't have a huge interest in.... though DG pointed out it was full of luscious maps, rules, and other enticements... so I thought about it... and then bought it on Kindle (£9.19 in their Black Friday sale!).. by the way One Hour Wargames is available on Kindle for less than a fiver... foolish, if not ridiculous, not to at that price....
...I did have a chat with Sean at Newline Design's however, as I overhead another conversation he was having where this chap was persuading him to start an English Civil War range... to be blunt I told him, do that in 20mm and I would bite your arm off... turns out the other chap is a professional painter and was looking for 10mm, but he thinks that the new rules Simon Miller (of Too the Strongest fame) is putting out will provide a strong fillip to the period... hope Sean does, I like his figures and I like his prices...
...and then on to the games..... Warfare is mainly a competition show with a trade fair attached, but there were still some fine examples of the wargaming art for those who cared to seek them out... so in my usual descending order....
In 3rd place..
The "Combined Oppo's" group (they're all ex-services, and are loosely based round Plymouth/west country) put on this Samurai large skirmish game - what won me over was the (scratch built) castle... in fact most of the terrain was scratch built and they were telling me the river sections were only done the night before they came down..!
...the group is trying to persuade the builder to extend it, as they want to do a kind of Japanese based Dungeons and Dragons/role playing game.. apparently he's not keen...
In second place, "Cheriton" by the Last Chance Wargamers
Not a particularly good looking game..
...quite plain in fact....
...what made it for me was that one, it was English Civil War, two, it was my local battlefield, but three they had done an ENORMOUS amount of research to fully identify where the battle had actually taken place.. long time readers of the blog will know I've walked the battlefield at least three times, and both authors I referred to disagreed where it actually was.. these guys have investigated a huge quantity of original documents in the UK and also Australia and the US (!) so I've included it here for interest... b.t.w, they have written it up as an article for Arquebusier magazine and there may be a book in the future....
...and in first place
..this lovely American Civil War game by Earlswood Wargames Club depicting part of the Gettysburg battle ("Lee's Right Hook").. all figures were from the redoubt range, and superbly painted - difficult to beat the spectacle!
...love Zouaves (as you know) and these were very, very good...
...I have a similar signal tower in my collection!
...and that was it - roll on the next show season...
Having arrived then, and managed to figure out the truly anarchic car park payment system, first point of call as ever was the bring and buy (it's just inside the entrance) nothing majorly of interest, but they have also started putting a few traders in their and the Aventine Miniatures [clicky] stand definitely caught the eye.. look at these babies ! (click to embiggen any of the piccies in the post)
..I love elephants.. Achaemenid Persian?
...and I particularly like the red ears! Very effective.. Cartheginian I think, perhaps Seleucid...?
Anyway - on in to the main hall to check the traders..
...and no Peter Pig! Quelle domage.... was planning to have spent a fair amount of dosh with them - wanted anti tank guns, but also some more American Civil War ironclads/ships.. no matter I spent the cash with Forged in Battle for British and German anti tank guns... (and then spent some with Peter Pig online for the other bits I was missing and some more ships)...
DG also got very excited by the Neil Thomas "Wargaming: Nineteenth Century Europe 1815-1878" book (we're fans of his as a result of "One Hour Wargames") which was on special offer at the David Lanchester Books stand - only £10... I was sorely tempted, but the book covers a period of European warfare I don't have a huge interest in.... though DG pointed out it was full of luscious maps, rules, and other enticements... so I thought about it... and then bought it on Kindle (£9.19 in their Black Friday sale!).. by the way One Hour Wargames is available on Kindle for less than a fiver... foolish, if not ridiculous, not to at that price....
...I did have a chat with Sean at Newline Design's however, as I overhead another conversation he was having where this chap was persuading him to start an English Civil War range... to be blunt I told him, do that in 20mm and I would bite your arm off... turns out the other chap is a professional painter and was looking for 10mm, but he thinks that the new rules Simon Miller (of Too the Strongest fame) is putting out will provide a strong fillip to the period... hope Sean does, I like his figures and I like his prices...
...and then on to the games..... Warfare is mainly a competition show with a trade fair attached, but there were still some fine examples of the wargaming art for those who cared to seek them out... so in my usual descending order....
In 3rd place..
The "Combined Oppo's" group (they're all ex-services, and are loosely based round Plymouth/west country) put on this Samurai large skirmish game - what won me over was the (scratch built) castle... in fact most of the terrain was scratch built and they were telling me the river sections were only done the night before they came down..!
...the group is trying to persuade the builder to extend it, as they want to do a kind of Japanese based Dungeons and Dragons/role playing game.. apparently he's not keen...
In second place, "Cheriton" by the Last Chance Wargamers
Not a particularly good looking game..
...quite plain in fact....
...what made it for me was that one, it was English Civil War, two, it was my local battlefield, but three they had done an ENORMOUS amount of research to fully identify where the battle had actually taken place.. long time readers of the blog will know I've walked the battlefield at least three times, and both authors I referred to disagreed where it actually was.. these guys have investigated a huge quantity of original documents in the UK and also Australia and the US (!) so I've included it here for interest... b.t.w, they have written it up as an article for Arquebusier magazine and there may be a book in the future....
...and in first place
..this lovely American Civil War game by Earlswood Wargames Club depicting part of the Gettysburg battle ("Lee's Right Hook").. all figures were from the redoubt range, and superbly painted - difficult to beat the spectacle!
...love Zouaves (as you know) and these were very, very good...
...I have a similar signal tower in my collection!
...and that was it - roll on the next show season...