IPMS Avon & Lincombe Barn Show 2025

For many years now, the local IPMS Avon Show has included a small wargames section organised by Lincombe Barn, one of the oldest wargames clubs in the country. These past few years I've been away when it's been on, but not so this year. After dropping off SWMBO at our son's, I made the short trip up to Thornbury Leisure Centre, the venue for the show and arrived not long after it opened. I'll leave my thoughts until later, as frankly most people will simply want to look at the photos!

Mars-la-Tour, Franco-Prussian War, 1870. I believe it is meant to depict 'von Bredow's Death Ride'. 

Loads of lovely and well painted 28mm figures.

I imagine this is von Bredow and chums...

French cavalry about to ride down their compatriots?

Classic cotton wool to represent firing, which did look very effective from a distance.

20mm ACW by Lincombe Barn Wargames Club.

This river looked rather good I must admit.

All the terrain was nicely done, nothing too fancy and the sort of thing you could easily do at home.

I'm not sure who put on this game, but it was using 'Never Mind The Billhooks' rules.

Lots of very nice 28mm figures.

A nice touch with the detailing on this tent.

Dogs of War and the '45 Jacobite Rebellion.

There in madness lies when trying to paint tartan;)!

The lighting was bad in this hall, so hard to get some nice photos.

I'm not sure who will come off best in this clash...

Again, sadly no idea who put on this game, but certainly Epic scale Punic Wars and using Hail Caesar! rules.

Always nice to see a temple.

Elephants are de rigour for the Punic wars! A very nice game and again one that is easily replicated at home.

Officer's Mess and some Englsih Civil War skirmish action.

Very nice 28mm figures, but again hard to tell with the lighting:(.

Thoughts On The Show

I was feeling a bit off colour as I had had a cold the day before and was still recovering, so I didn't spend as much time there as in previous years. Nevertheless it was good to get out and get a bit of a gaming and modelling fix. So a few observations on the show itself in no particular order:

• It was certainly well attended this year, with a broader mix of people and children than in previous years, which was good to see.
• The amount of stunning models on show is almost too much to take in. Being a bit off on the day, I didn't take it all in as in previous years, which was a shame, as there is just sooooo much to see.
• It was incredibly stuffy and humid in the 3 halls, which actually made it uncomfortable at times, requiring many of us to pop out for a breath of fresh air!
• The quality of games was up on previous years, with more historical games than before, which is really what I come to see. However about 50% of the games were Fantasy and Sci-Fi, which certainly drew in many of the younger attendees, who hopefully might have had a gander at the historical games too.
• In this day of contactless or card payments being the norm, it came as a bit of a surprise to see how many traders were only accepting cash. I honestly can't remember when I last used cash for a purchase! I really should have anticipated this, but maybe it was a blessing in disguise, as I was tempted by some very good offers on some model kits;)!
• I think all of the games were ones that anyone could easily put on at the club or at home, rather than many of the OTT ones that are often seen at shows. Whilst these are of course inspiring to see, you do need to make the game as accessible as possible, especially for new entrants into the hobby.
• There were some competition games at the show, with DBA and Art de la Guerre being the rules in use. Now I know these are competition games and have a quick turnaround, but honestly there was barely any effort put on into making the games even nominally attractive to the passing punter:(! 'Must try harder' is the report card on this one...

Purchases

I did treat myself to the following kit, as it's one of those aeroplanes that I always loved as a kid, especially the SCW camo scheme as shown on the box art. Perfect for my Early War games, even if a little on the large size, but more on that in another post. Apparently the Ju-87's were used for pre-planned attacks and the Hs123 more for 'cab rank' type ones.

I could have bought more kits for use in the Pacific War and frankly for pure nostalgia reasons, but the aforementioned lack of ready cash put pay to that;)!

What Next?

Well the prep for the next Normandy campaign game continues apace, alongside some terrain modelling, which I hope to get finished before our holiday in just over a weeks time. As always the best laid plans of mice and men and all that!

TTFN.