Reveille II

Today I made my annual trip to Reveille II, a wargaming show in Bristol put on by Lincombe Barn Wargames Society. For the first time in a good few years I was not having a table as a private seller, so was able to actually have a good look at the show itself. When selling, or putting on a demo game for that matter, you never really have a chance to have a good wander and chat with people.

I had arranged to meet up with Craig, my regular wargaming partner for a chat and general look around the show. It was our first chance to get together since Colours. I was also to meet Guy Farrish of Warrfarr books who had kindly provided some prizes at MadFest in the form of book tokens, which I was fortunate enough to win, and Christian, another wargaming partner, who had kindly collected a Pendraken order for me at Warfare, again the result of my luck at MadFest.

Whilst walking the show we saw a few familiar faces from Portbury Knights that we hadn't seen for a few years, so it was good to catch up with them and have a chat in general. We all bemoaned the general lack of time that we have for wargaming, as by and large our kids are of similar ages, and naturally they come first! To a man we all wished we had a dedicated games room so that we could leave stuff out and pop in for the odd hour to play a few turns etc. This is something to dream of when the kids have flown the nest.

So enough waffling from me and onto the show. Spread over two main halls and a few side rooms, this is small by the standards of Warfare and Colours. However it is my local show and so I try and support it each year to keep it going. I arrived early to get a car space and then went to have a chat with Michael of Angel Barracks. Fortunately his new range of 6mm sci-fi figures that we had seen at MadFest had arrived the day before, so I eagerly snapped up a pack of each set. They are superbly sculpted and the detail has to be seen to be believed! As with all my other projects, I just need to find the time to base them up etc. As they are so nice I don't want to rush these and really want to do them justice with a good paint job.

After a quick tour of the halls with the usual traders, it was off to the bring'n'buy and the private sellers rooms. The B'n'B had the usual mass of Games Workshop bit'n'pieces that you seem to see each year, as well as quite a few FoW books. This was also reflected with the private sellers. Each year there seems to be a theme of stuff being sold with this years being FoW books. Alan Vowles of Portbury Knights fame was off-loading pretty much most of his extensive wargames collection. All beautifully painted and sad to see, but like the rest of us just lack of gaming time meant that he no longer needed to keep it.

So onto the demo and participation games. This is one area the I have found has been a bit hit and miss in the past at this show. Fortunately this year the quality was very good with a nice mix of games and scales, although predominantly 28mm. The only downside was due to the small size of the rooms, it was very hard to get a good view of the games or to have a chat.

AVBCW - 28mm - Exmouth Imperial Wargames

1776 AWI - 15mm? - Abbeywood Irregulars

Craonne 1814 - 6mm - Adrian Hussey

Craonne 1814 - 6mm - Adrian Hussey

WWII Pacific - 28mm - Escape Committee Burnham-on-Sea & SOTCW

Leutzen 1632 - 28mm - Steve Jones

So another year over and a nice few hours spent with some good friends. I will be returning for the Table Top Sale in the late Spring in the hope of offloading some of my excess wargames stuff. Hopefully the above has given you add good idea of the show and it would be nice if you were able to attend in the future.