It was only a week ago that I knew I would be able to attend this years Partizan wargames show, as there were many things in the offing that might have put a spanner in the works. So with the 'all clear' as it were, I got my act together and somewhat bleary eyed, hit the road at 6.00am yesterday to travel up to Newark, arriving at 9.00am. I was certainly tired by that time and it took me a while to fully wake up, helped no end by the rather cold wind and 10/10 cloud cover, a marked change from what we've been used to in Bristol this past month or so.
I joined the queue and had a pleasant chat with Ian, from the Shrewsbury Wargames Club, whilst we semi-froze awaiting for the doors to open. The queue stretched back out of sight, but once inside it was relatively quiet for the first 30 minutes or so, then it got very busy from then on.
So enough waffle from me, so sit back, grab a drink as there are an awful lot of photos to get through, before I give some thoughts on the show etc.
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Boondock Sayntes - The Battle of Aliwal, 1846
A modest offering from these chaps compared to previous years, but one still full of detail and delight. |
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| Kallistra/Forest Outlaws - The Battle of Forum Gallorum, 43BC |
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Like A Stone Wall - Back of Beyond
Using the 'Setting The East Ablaze' rules? |
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League of Extraordinary Kreigspielers - Wake Island 192?
One of my favourite games in the show, with just so much to see, and plenty of vignettes dotted around the table. As always, I just love the Inter-War aircraft etc! |
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Mr Steve Jones - 6mm. No prizes for guessing the battle!
Nice to see smaller figures in action, which really gives the look and feel of the large battle it is depicting. |
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Ken Riley - Again no prizes and using 'British Grenadier' rules?
Hard to get photos of this game (and others) due to its location and the fact it was popular. |
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| Westbury Wargames - The Battle of Sagrajas, 1086 |
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| Derby Wargames Society - Eastern Front 1941 |
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| Who doesn't love a Stuka shot?! |
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| Burton & District Wargamers - Zulu Wars, Skirmish at Intombe |
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Iron Brigade - ACW
A game in honour of a member who had sadly passed away. |
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Chesterfield Old Boys - Case Blue, the Georgian Highway
Another favourite game, with lots of great Soviet toys on display. |
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| I want a big, tracked gun like this for my games! |
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League of Augsburg - Dutch Raid on Hispaniola, circa 1675
As always Barry Hilton puts on a superb game, as can be seen here. |
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Perry Miniatures - Peninsular War.
Jervis Johnson desperate for his 15 minutes of fame! |
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The Bodkins - A Fictional WotR Battle
A nice 'fact sheet' was being given out, putting the game in context and very friendly gamers ready to chat with you, which was nice. |
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| Percy as yet undecided whom to support... |
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Glasgow Tradestone WGC - The Battle of Rocroi, 1643
Good to see a simple layout compared to many, to give 'new' gamers an idea about how they can start easily and cheaply. |
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Mr Bill Haskin - SYW?
I've chatted with Bill at several shows over the years, but I think this is the first time I've seen a game put on by his goodself. And what a cracker! Hard to do justice to his painting, conversions and terrain to be honest. |
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| The Ruckusteers - Never Mind the Ruckus |
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Barely Legal Wargamers - The Battle of Honey Hill, 1864
Paper figures and terrain, which looked pretty effective. |
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Gordon's Gophers - Rapid Fire Reloaded
Another good club game type of terrain and the sort of thing you could easily achieve at home. |
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Bramley Wargames Club - Sassanids vs Romans, Syria circa 295BC
Another club giving out info on the game and very happy to chat to all and sundry. |
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| 1st Corps - ACW |
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No Prizes For Guessing This Game!
Plenty of inspiration and ideas for my AVBCW games. |
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| Mr Simon Miller - Lust For Glory - Marlburian Period |
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| Several games had these end pieces to the tables, which were very effective and certainly gave a great feeling of depth to the game. |
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| Ardhammer Group - Franco-Dutch War, 1672-1678 |
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South London Warlords - Crisis on the Marne, September 1914
A nice game giving the feeling of a massive field of battle. I'm not sure at what level each base represented? |
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| Caseshot Publishing - The Battle of Pirmasens, 1793? |
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| DAK Attack |
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| LetsXcape - 15mm Dragon Rampant |
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| Sails of Glory |
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| Great Escape Games - Dead Man's Hand Redux |
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| KB Club - Manouevre Group |
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| Cowards Wargames Club - Landed Has the Eagle |
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| Too Fat Lardies - Baltic Balcony 1945? |
That's All Folks!
Well I hope you enjoyed that, as as mentioned above, it was very hard to find space to take photos, so i did my level best. There more more games, but not all of them took my fancy or were very much Fantasy & Sci-Fi, again none of them piqued my interest.
Thoughts On The Show
I'll try and give my impressions below and in no particular order, so without further ado:
- I did find the show a bit of a struggle this year, as I felt pretty tired on the day, due to the early start and lack of sleep caused by badgers making a Hell of a racket as 2.50am that morning! I could set off an hour later, but would most likely hit more traffic, so always a trade off. The earlier start means I can get a good 3 hours or so in at the show, before I need to head back to try and beat the traffic, which fortunately I managed.
- The show felt more cramped than last year and I felt it was harder to get a good view of the tables and the games on display. I did a whizz round first thing, so got a good view on what was on offer, but by the time I went round to take photos, it was a bit of a scrum at times to say the least. They seemed to have added more tables, which to my mind didn't work. Less is more!
- It was nice to bump into Matt Crump and have a chat with him. We hoped to meet up later but I never caught a glimpse of him after that! I did see a few other gamers I knew, but didn't manage to have a chat with them.
- I thought the quality of the games was still pretty high, but not quite to last years levels. The participation games were a very mixed bunch and somewhat sparsely attended. I would much rather we had fewer of those and more space for the demo games, which by looking where the crowds were, was what most gamers had come to see.
- I find it always a balancing act in what I can achieve in 3 hours at the show. If I stop to take in the games and chat, then I miss out on taking photos etc. Vice versa if I focus on that, then I miss out on the chats etc. This year due to the cramped conditions, I felt I was trying to make sure I hadn't missed anything, rather getting a good balance between chatting and taking photos. Maybe next time I'll get it right.
- For the first time that I can remember, I didn't have any pre-orders to collect from Pendraken! More on that in another post, but shopping was and normally is not high on my list at this show. I did pick up a couple of 6mm Battlescale buildings though, so at least I came away with something! I missed some traders who I would have liked to have a look at some products, others didn't have a catalogue to browse or didn't seem interested in engaging with the punters.
- I think for future shows a different layout might work better, with say the traders at one end of the hall, then the games taking up the rest. It was hard or nigh on impossible to see some games, due to being cheek by jowl with the main thoroughfares, so not ideal for either party. Being able to go and shop and then take in the games in a 'quieter' area would be ideal.
- Seating. There wasn't any in the hall, other than the cafe, or by one of the fire exits. With the new 'entrance', it made it hard just to wander outside and have a break. By the end of it my legs, feet and hips were hurting and I'm pretty fit, or like to think I am!
- Books. Some of the prices being charged were crazy! Needless to say I didn't dip into my wallet.
- 28mm as always dominated the show, with a few other sizes and scales on show. I can see why that is on many levels, certainly visually you can't beat it with all the vignettes on show, which are hard if not impossible to achieve in other scales. A bit more variety would be nice though.
- 3D Printing. Certainly there were many, many lovely buildings and terrain pieces on show this year, with less MDf ones, or so it seemed to me. It certainly is a Golden Age for terrain at present and I can only see it getting better year on year.
- Will I go next year? To be honest I'm not sure. As mentioned already, this year it felt a real struggle and by the time I got home, I was shattered. 6 hours of driving and 3 hours at the show took its toll for sure. I certainly felt my age!!! I think if they go back to a less crowded offering in line with last year and have a good mix of games (no fantasy or sci-fi please) then possibly. Of course it would be nice to attend with friends or share the driving, but that is not always possible.
So there we have it. I hope to put up another post soon, giving an idea of what's been going on, or not, this past month or so. Thanks for reading and as always, any comments greatly appreciated!
TTFN.
Splendid assortment of beautiful games and superb photos. I think you have the best photos of the show that I have seen.
ReplyDeleteThanks Jon and high praise indeed:)! Some of the games had so much to see, you could easily spend an hour just admiring all that is on show.
DeleteThanks, Steve. A terrific slew of enjoyable pictures there! Good to hear your thoughts on the show too; must get there one day. Starting tired like that is never much fun so you did very well to stay the course and take so many good shots, specially in such cramped conditions. Bravo!
ReplyDeleteThanks David and if you could only attend one show, then I'd recommend this one. As a vexillologist, I think you would have had much to admire! If it wasn't for those damned badgers, then I might have been OK!
DeleteI'm sorry about the badgers disturbing your sleep; hopefully you'll forgive them, as badgers in England have had a rotten time in recent years, with a massive cull of thousands which, despite the hype, has made no difference to bovine TB. It has just been a sop to farmers, effectively. A grim business...
DeleteThe cull has made virtually no difference here in the West country. No they are finally considering vaccination etc as per in parts of Europe. Our badgers are suburban and make noise raiding recycling bins and left over food, otherwise we rarely hear them.
DeleteCracking report Steve, some brilliant looking games on show, very enjoyable post.
ReplyDeleteThanks Donnie and you're welcome!
DeleteDespite the crowds and ensuing difficulty you have taken some splendid pictures of the games, certainly more than me. Sorry our paths never crossed, but Matt and I did try to locate you. I too felt every year of my age at the end of the day.
ReplyDeleteI'm glad you liked the photos David and I sometimes go back and have a ganders for inspiration, of which there is bucket loads each year. Maybe next time we should arrange and time and place to meet, or wear a pink carnation or something a la those old spy movies;)!
DeleteWow, that really was A LOT of photos Steve. Lots of fantastic looking games too. Re your thoughts, I guess maybe several of them combine into the fact we are all just getting that bit longer in the tooth..the crowd is too big, the day is too long, we need somewhere to sit and have a breather., others have made similarcomments.....you probably wouldn't have worried about these aspects twenty years ago?! That doesn't make them any less real...a six hour round trip fir a three hour show is a big commitment for sure. Perhaps the desire to see and photograph all the games so you can report here put an extra level of stress on your visit too?
ReplyDeleteAs I was taking them Keith, I did wonder if the memory card would run out before I finished a tour of the show! If I'd covered other games too, this would have been the case. I most certainly felt my age yesterday, and whilst recovering today. Mind you SWMBO told me there is a cold doing the rounds, which I might have had a touch of too, as I felt a bit off first thing at the show. The next visit I hope to get a better balance at the show...
DeleteYeah...don't feel obligated to rush around getting pictures of everything Steve....much as we all enjoy it....try and enjoy the experience of being there for yourself too!
DeleteI think as it was so crowded around the tables this year, I didn't feel it was as easy to linger as in previous years. Must try harder next time;)!
DeleteSplendid photos and I'm sorry I missed you, I enjoyed it but I only had a two hour journey each way and no badgers a bloggers meet up next year would be a good idea!
ReplyDeleteBest Iain
Thanks Iain and a shame I missed you and several other Bloggers I was hoping to meet and chat with, which is part and parcel of the fun of attending shows. I think a meet up as per Salute would be ideal, something to bear in mind for the next visit:).
DeleteYou got a great set of photos there! I started taking some photos, but somehow I lost heart after 20 minutes and decided to give it a miss this time. It was nice to see a couple of 6mm games - Steve Jones' ever excellent 1809 set-up and SELWG's (I think?) 6mm WW1 game. If anything, I thought that there might have been a bit more variety than in other years (sometimes it really can be wall-to-wall 28mm). It was quite busy and crowded, a little bit too much for me perhaps. But there were some really pretty games on!
ReplyDeleteThanks John! I set my mind to take the photos and once in the groove, I just focussed on that (no pun intended!), which was a bit tiring I must admit. The past few years have seen other scales/sizes on show, but I felt there were less this year and more of the over-28mm sizes, which seems to be a trend again. Certainly too busy and crowded, so I hope the organisers take our comments on board for next year...
DeleteThanks for all the photos Steve. TBH simply looking at all the photos was a big enough job so, as our American chums are wont to say, kudos to you for taking the pics 😉
ReplyDeleteSadly I haven’t been able to attend either event at Newark so far this year (Hammerhead and Partizan). A young grandson has kept me busy + the mother-in-law’s birthday was yesterday ☹️ Luckily I should be able to attend The Other Partizan at Newark in October and, better still, my local show - the Joy of Six in Sheffield in July. Newark is little over an hours drive for me, so that’s helpful.
The Newark shows are generally packed full of large tables with lots & lots of beautifully painted figures fighting on top notch terrain. Lovely stuff, but not exactly what I can achieve at home. The Joy of Six show concentrates, unsurprisingly enough, on 6mm games, so that’s a big positive (as big as 6mm can be anyway).
Cheers,
Geoff
I'm glad you liked them Geoff and when I was downloading them etc, I realised just how many I had taken! I think it took about 45 minutes to re-size them so as not to overload the system;). This years show did have some tables that were of the sort that you could achieve at home, which is nice and frankly something we need to see more off. Whilst the big show tables are inspiring, you do need to encourage new players into the hobby rather than putting them off. Hats off to The Bodkins and the Bramley Wargames Club for making a point of this when chatting to them, which was nice to hear.
DeleteThanks for posting your pictures, much appreciated.
ReplyDeleteYou're welcome!
DeleteThanks for sharing all these great pics Steve. I keep meaning to go to this one as I now have the option of staying in Lincoln since my sister moved, but I haven't got organised.
ReplyDeleteDespite all the fabulous looking games on display, I have to agree with you about Rocroi. It looks just like those period prints and without a daunting level of modelling (no disrespect to the guys who put it on) that makes it look more achievable. Have just ordered some Alatriste books so I can see myself disappearing down a new rabbit hole!
Glad you liked them Chris. IIRC Matt spent the night in Lincoln in his camper van, with the city only some 15 miles away. With a short drive to the venue, then you would enjoy the show I'm sure. The show does have a good mix of games as mentioned, so something for everyone. I've heard of the Alatriste chap and I think there is a good film based upon the books, but it is not available on Netflix in the UK. Maybe Youtube might be worth a look for me...
DeleteGlad you managed to make the trip and thanks for the ‘marathon’ of photographs, all splendid of course. Interesting to see that Salute seemed to emphasise the small table, while Partizan emphasises the large.
ReplyDeleteAs for space, I think the popularity of Partizan is on an upward trajectory. Perhaps they should consider moving to a two Pavilion solution. The show ground is well suited to that and a couple of years ago, Hammerhead used two pavilions and it made the spread of tables, traders and punters a much easier experience for all - and while I guess the hiring of two pavilions is expensive, the show is probably on the verge of needing that.
Even though it was all last minute, I did enjoy being able to make it to the show. There were some smaller tables on display, but I didn't nescessarily take photos of those due to the games being put on.
DeleteThey did have a gazebo over the entrance, to create more space, but honestly I don't think it worked well at all. Either they need to limit the games or to go to a bigger venue, to make it more enjoyable for all concerned. I did feel sorry for the traders in the gazebo, as it was cold and a constant stream of people just entering the show and not really looking at their wares.
Thanks for battling through to photograph my Pirmasens 1793 game. Hope to see you next year, I understand over 1700 people came through the door.
ReplyDeleteLike many of the games, I wished I'd had chance to have a porper chat, but I messed up on that front this year:(! Fingers crossed I'll get the balance right for the next visit, if I remember;).
DeleteI really enjoyed looking through your excellent photos Steve. Interesting to read your thoughts on your show experience. The tables were brilliant, but it is nice to see something that I might stand a chance of achieving at home.
ReplyDeleteGlad you enjoyed it Richard! I think my experience was shared by others too, but everyone seemed to be having a good time though, which is the mmain thing. A bit more space would be nice though! Seeing games that you know you could put on at home is always good, whilst enjoying the superb layouts at the other end of the spectrum too.
DeleteGreat job documenting the show. I do prefer these blog posts to a youtube slide show.
ReplyDeletethough I confess I don't "get" Partizan or the Salute. While it's nice to see, did you really get up early and travel to just take pictures of games? How do you get to play in them?
I'm not taking a piss at your effort, believe me, I like the pretty pictures. 😁
You're welcome Stew and I just don't get the Youtube slide show, or Vlogs either, other than one or two which I enjoy. At this show, their are demo games and participation games, so rather different than the US model. I believe 'The Other Partizan' is purely a participation show. You don't need to book a game, you just turn up and see if you can play. I must admit that in hindsight it does look like I got up just to take photos of the show;)!
DeleteLovely pictures, Steve - not sure if it's worth putting up my inferior efforts! I was there, were you wearing your name badge? :) Actually we must have been very close at one point - in your pic of the Yarkshire Gamer Germantown game, I can see the side of my buddy Dave's head, and Ray Roussell ( red shirt ) chatting to Ken, I remember seeing him there. I like your comments on it too, I like the big spectacular tables and the 'wow factor', but do also like to see at least some games which I feel I might be able to replicate myself! Six hours driving, that's dedication - I bet you needed a rest day after that!
ReplyDeleteThanks David:). I think you should put up your photos, as it's always good to see what others enjoyed, or spotted that you didn't etc. I did try a sticky lable name badge, but it just kept falling off, so barely lasted until I got into the hall. Must be better prepared for next time! The show does have a better combination of games on show compared to previous years, or so I'm led to believe. I certainly needed a rest and we all went down with a cold yesterday, courtesy of the school kids where SWMBO works! Maybe that's why I was a bit off colour on Sunday?
DeleteGreat stuff Steve I can relive some of those beautiful games again. Good to meet up…hopefully not the last time 👍
ReplyDelete