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...
Glad you enjoyed the show Steve and got new toys! The pictures of the games really showcase what is best in Display games at most events. Obviously I especially like the ACW game!
ReplyDeleteDavid - to be fair most of the toys were after the show! :o)
DeleteYour photos of the models and figures are stunning. The elephants are amazing.
ReplyDeleteJonathan - chuffed to nuts with the new camera.... only a compact but picture quality is outstanding...
DeleteThe Aventine miniatures stand was the first trader I look at and the figures were stunning. What a start.
ReplyDeletePeterPig won't do Warfare at the moment as (if I remember correctly) they want to do a small game promoting one of their rules and the organisers won't let them have one near. As Sunday isn't as busy and they haven't got a game they decided if wasn't for them. Shame really as I only get to 2 or 3 shows (all local) a year and colours and warfare were the shows I caught up with the piggys.
Dannoc - same here - having said that the show prompted me to place an order anyway, and the postage was only £2.50, so who's to say they weren't wrong? Warfare is a lovely show but in real terms 2 days is on the long side for the traders...
DeleteNice pictures / report, like the way you just concentrate on 3 games and then photograph them well. Was the ACW game 20mm or 28mm? I love the way that artillery piece is on an irregular style of base.
ReplyDeleteNorm - to be fair there were only three that ticked my boxes but I thank you for the kind words... the ACW game was 28mm - all figures were by Redoubt.
DeleteThanks for the report Steve, especially the bits on Cheriton
ReplyDeleteNo worries Will... I'm looking forward to the book when they do it - the guy talking to me was hugely (and therefore, infectiously) enthusiastic about it all... what also made me smile was that they were using WRG rules for the game.. not seen that set in years
DeleteAventine do indeed make the best Ancient figures and I also really like Redoubt for ACW so that was a treat to view that beautiful game here!
ReplyDeleteChristopher
Missed it this year due to travel. Great pictures and thanks for the Cheriton info. I have cycled over the battlefield (or where it was supposed to be) as it is near to my sister in law's house in the Meon Valley. Thanks for the maps!
ReplyDelete