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.
