Category: Shows

A Joyous Day Out

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Just back from my first visit to ‘The Joy of Six’ oop north in Sheffield and a fine day out it was too.

Now as any readers of this blog know, we are primarily a 28mm gaming group and it has only been in the last couple of years we have emerged from our comfort zone into smaller scales such as 15mm and 10mm. The even smaller scale of 6mm is more recent and only used for our 1980’s Cold War games so the need to go to an exclusively 6mm show was a fairly low priority but this year the weather was good, I had some extras to pick up from Heroics & Ross and it’s only an hour and a half run from Coventry so a couple of us thought we’d give it a go.

Just to be clear, this isn’t an in depth show review, Big Lee and Alex Southeran were both there so I’m sure they will go into detail on their respective channels. This is more of a first time visitor’s impression, positive and negative.

‘Small and friendly’ is definitely the phrase to apply to this show. Three modest sized rooms in Sheffield Hallam University, a dozen odd traders serving the scale specifically or generically – paints, books etc, and surprisingly twenty something games both participation and demonstration. The numbers through the door didn’t seem high, but this is a niche within a niche hobby so as long as it paid its way I guess everyone was happy.

The games were an eclectic mix, classic takes from Napoleonic, SYW, Franco Prussian, ACW and WWII along with some more eclectic offerings, Some games were well presented and showed off the scale to its best advantage; for me the top three were, Lobositz, Bastogne 1944 and Lens 1643, I’m not going to do a worst three because ‘eye of the beholder’ and all that but in some cases it was like going back to the 1970’s with an awful lot of detritus on the playing surfaces which given the small scale of the figures was far more noticeable than in say 28mm.

Earlier I used the phrase ‘small and friendly’ and that was the general vibe but again it was like going back in time at some of the tables where the experience of standing and being studiously ignored was in play. Now I’m not a pushy kind of guy so maybe that was it but I’ll be interested to see if Big Lee picked up on it given that it is one of his pet peeves. That said, the guys at Total Battle Miniatures were very chatty – I learnt all about polyurethane moulding in 20 minutes 🤣

Trade wise, the major figure/vehicle manufacturers were all there, Baccus (obviously), Heroics & Ross, Scotia Grendel, and Rapier and very friendly – Andy from Heroics and Richard from Scotia were particularly helpful. The award for most friendly trader however has to go to Rob of Rob’s Scenics, what a lovely guy and great terrain; I’ve watched his videos on Facebook and always thought, “ooh, they look nice” but when presented with them for real I’m afraid Gerard and I went a bit mad 😂🤣 Thank you Rob.

And that’s it really, an impression. Not for the general gamer really but if you do play 6mm than why aren’t you there? Off to have a more detailed look at my purchases now 😀

Gabene at Partizan 316 BC & May 2024

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This years Partizan demo was the battle of Gabene, Antigonus and Eumenes battling it out in their second and final meeting in 316BC and our follow on from last years demo.

We nearly had a bit of a melt down (irony intended) when yet another of the Aventine elephants exploded days before the game reducing our already reduced stock, but the Twitter community stepped up and Simon Miller of To the Strongest fame volunteered half a dozen of his elephants for the day increasing and broadening the visual aspect of the game – thank you Simon!

Anyone who knows their Successors is aware this battle ended tragically for Eumenes for those that don’t here is the condensed version. The two sides faced off, infantry in the centre, cavalry on the wings, front screened by elephants and skirmishers; Antigonus had the numbers, Eumenes had the quality, especially infantry where he had the veteran Silver Shields and the elite Hypaspists. In rough sequence, cavalry from the Antigonid left rode round the Eumenid right, stole the moveable’s from the Eumenid camp and bought them back to base – how I don’t know and nor do the sources really, battle was joined proper and Peucestas commanding the Eumenid left wing cavalry buckled under the advance of the Antigonid right wing cavalry, fell back and could not be coaxed back into the fray – maybe he was bribed, maybe he was a douche, we’re not really sure, in the centre the Silver Shields & Hypaspists led the way in smashing the Antigonid foot back, killing some 5,000 men, on the Eumenid left both sides messed about and not much happened. With his centre busted Antigonus gathered elements from both cavalry wings and ordered them to attack the now isolated Silver Shields & co who promptly formed hollow square and marched all the way back again – these guys had some balls!

On the face of it looking pretty good for Eumenes, and that night he argued for one last push in the morning but Peucestas was still being a douche and the Silver Shields were a bit pissed at losing 20 years worth of spoils. Enter the Greek tragedy; Antigonus sent messengers offering the loot in exchange for Eumenes, the Silver Shields agreed and handed over Eumenes and several other commanders who are promptly executed. The End 😥

The sources give a fairly good indication of the dispositions so we followed these pretty much to the letter and had the troops to fill all the spots, the special events of the camp and Peucestas we left to the rub of the game.

Like all demo games more time was spent chatting than playing and that’s a good thing but nonetheless we got a decent result. In short; the Antigonid right and the Eumenid left actually exchanged blows amidst the confusion of elephants panicking and stampeding into each other – always good fun, on the Antigonid left (where there were no elephants) it was all a bit cleaner and their superior numbers finally told, especially when the Eumenid commander Philip got himself shot by Scythian bowmen, in the centre the Silver Shields just seemed to get a case of the jitters and didn’t make the impression they should have and when their commander, Antigenes, got himself killed rallying the Hypaspists they ground to a halt.

With two commands paralysed it was now an uphill struggle for the Eumenids and with the show winding down we wound up the game feeling exhausted but very pleased with what we had been able to share with our fellow gamers.

With regard to the show itself it was very busy! My estimation was that this was the busiest I have seen it in all the years I have attended and tellingly the post lunch wind down was not so noticeable, yes it thinned but not nearly so much as previous years.

Of the games there was clearly some cracking stuff on display and in the quick run round I did at 3.30pm (my only time away from the table!) I noticed several I wished I’d had the time to admire properly and maybe ask some questions. Full details are on the various YouTube videos that people have put up and that’s where I’m getting my vicarious enjoyment of the show.

An interesting conversation I had with several people who stopped by was whether some of the games were wargames at all and not just examples of superb craftsmanship. How many of the games would see the light of day at a normal (or even an extended) club evening/day? There is no answer of course, just a dialogue.

That’s it really. An excellent show. Thank you to the organisers for all the hard work they put in and thank you to all those that came and chatted and passed on favourable comments they are much appreciated. Went home knackered and had an early night 😂🤣

Overlord 2024. A Nice Little Show

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The Overlord show is one of those shows I’ve never got to despite being only an hour and a half down the M40 but I finally relented under the badgering of my mate Mark at M & C Model Painting and I was glad I did.

Hosted by the Abingdon Wargames Club this is one of those ‘small and friendly’ shows that used to be the bedrock of the hobby, you wouldn’t travel massively out of your way to attend and it’s not graced by the big guns of the hobby but none the less it does what it does well.

Upon my arrival I was greeted warmly and directed into the labyrinthine corridors of the Abingdon & Witney College where demo games, participation games and traders were mixed together, which I’ll admit is my preference for a show. First stop was the Bring & Buy (nice to go to a show where this tradition is maintained) to see if I could continue my ongoing clear-out of stuff that isn’t being used, well organised, friendly and fair, just the job 😀

Some nice games were on display which were a bit of a distraction for a while, if I was to criticise I would say they did suffer from the old school problem of nothing to explain what was going on and ignoring the watching public like me. There were also a couple of participation games which some of the younger generation were distracted by.

Trade wise it was primarily the 2nd tier traders no insult intended. Warlord were present flying the flag on the big guns, then, Dave Lanchester, M & C, The Pit, Parkfield, Blotz, ROK, Athena, around 20 I would guess. How good a day they had I’ve no idea, footfall seemed fairly light although Mark said he had a good day and there were certainly people with bags of goodies making the rounds.

The photo has nothing to do with it (Mark’s commission work) but an important part of any show is the catering and in this instance it was rather good. The cafeteria outlet had a good range of fresh paninis and sandwiches, cakes, cold drinks and a nice cup of coffee, all at reasonable prices and served up by friendly staff. Also enough places to sit and eat & drink.

For myself it was mainly an mdf and paints day which easily blew what I cleared on the bring & buy 🤣 Blotz in particular did very well out of me when I convinced myself I needed some more 10mm desert buildings to go with the ones I’ve already got – at least I can knock them out pretty quickly 😉

So that was it, a pleasant run out, nice people, nice little show, I’ll go again.

Eumenes & Antigonus Go To Partizan

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So, another Partizan has rolled around and we took along our two year Successors project to do a display game of Paraitacene 317BC where the forces of Antigonus Monophthalmus and Eumenes of Cardia met in the first of their duels for Alexander’s empire.

Before we review the game however, what about the show?

First take was, busy 😀 But not in a bad way, even at the peak show point (between 11.00am and 1.00pm) the numbers weren’t so overwhelming that you couldn’t move and looking out from our pitch you could see that the punters were moving about freely. I couldn’t comment on how well the traders did as we were tied to our spot but there looked to be decent numbers around most stalls.

Next take was the vibe, and that is always a good one. For me the show has always exuded friendliness and good humour which is the principal reason for us attending as demonstrators and this one was no exception. We had many positive comments on the game, some great chats with people we’d never met before and renewal of contact with folk we hadn’t seen since the last show. Also the hooking up with some of our followers on Twitter which I just love, so good to put a face to the profile 😃

Of course Partizan sells itself on the quality of the games on display and this year was no different with many fine games available to feast the eye upon.

As is always the case for ourselves being tied to the game there is very little time to really look at the other games and this one proved no exception – I think we got half an hour each to whizz round, pick up a couple of pre ordered things and have a quick look at what was going on.

For me, the preferred games are the the ones that look like an extension of what a club or group of mates is capable of and by inference what a newcomer or player of only a few years experience could aspire to within their circle of gamers. These games will feature well painted mini’s, based up consistently, deployed over some decent terrain which isn’t beyond the skills of most gamers.

I completely appreciate the enormous amount of modelling skill, time, effort and expense that some of the demonstration boards have had poured into them but I do ask myself, what happens to all this gorgeous stuff a year later?

What of our efforts?

With only two of us moving the figures around and an awful lot of chatting 😂 it was slow going but hey so what, people seemed to like it and we had a good day.

For the record, Eumenes crushed the Antigonid left flank and at end of play had his veteran cavalry sweeping behind the Antigonid lines, similarly on the other flank, a rather more tough fight did finally see the Antigonid cavalry defeated also. In the all important centre we had elephants panicking and getting in the way and a couple of support infantry clashes which saw both sides losing their mercenary hoplites, alas no push of pike 😥 we were just too busy talking!😂🤣

All in all though a great day. Many thanks to the organisers for another flawless show and much love to all those that stopped by and commented.

Carlists Go To Partizan

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So, Partizan May 2022 dawned and what fun it was! Not the first Partizan post Covid but normality could certainly be said to have been restored 🙂

We took along our re-fight of Arquijas, fought on December 12th 1834, in which the government tried to force a river crossing using a single bridge whilst sending a flanking force on a long journey into the rear of the enemy.

In short, the main force battered itself to a standstill trying to cross the bridge as did a parallel force which had found a ford just down from the bridge and eventually called off the attack. The flanking force duly arrived, fought its way through a detachment sent to delay them and then found that it was facing the whole Carlist army! Naturally, withdrawal was seen as the most appropriate action 🙄

But before narrating our re-fight, what of the show? Well the first thing I noted was the sheer volume of people, it was packed! and remained busy virtually all day which was very different to October ’21 when numbers tailed off significantly not long after lunch.

The upside of all these people was that we got to see and speak to a whole load of people we hadn’t seen for a very long time, in a couple of cases, years. The wargaming glitterati were out in force, I saw Henry Hyde and Big Lee taking photo’s of the game at various points but never got the chance to chat, although did manage to get in two very long chats with Alec Brown and Phil Olley at separate times, made all the more enjoyable for not having seen them for so long.

The downside of the numbers was that we spent a lot more time talking than we did playing! 😂🤣 Not that this was a bad thing; we chatted with people we didn’t know about the period and gaming it, we met up with a number of our Twitter followers which is always great – excellent chat with Charlies aka Fred Worthingham, and we got to see gamers we’ve played with over the years but hadn’t see for a long time which was really nice. At the end of it all though we were both knackered and had a serious conversation on the way home about how much longer we could continue; two is a lonely number and Covid has taken its toll on the group.

Games and trade wise we really didn’t get to see much, glued to the game as we were. In terms of games there were some cracking efforts on display and those that caught my eye in my one quick tour of the venue were, the Cold War Commander game (mainly because I’ve just bought the rules for a proposed Iran Iraq project), the Grimsby ACW game complete with ironclads, the League of Augsburg naval game, the Midguard dark age game, the Ian Smith tribute game with the huge galleons, the Derby guys early C18th game with Ottomans – a bit unusual, and then my memory turned to mush 😆

In terms of trade there was enough range to cater for most tastes, it’s never going to be Salute and doesn’t try to be, if I’d had time I’m sure I would have spent up but my haul was very measly indeed.

But what about the game, absolutely nobody asked 😃 Well we stuck to the historical prototype with me moaning about how I didn’t see why my flanking force had to march all the way down the table and then round the back of the table (figuratively) to get back on the table 😏 However, history was very much reversed; the government forces fought their way across the bridge and the ford making far more inroads that their historical ancestors and then in the final hour (when we were knackered) the flanking force arrived on the hills and advanced down sweeping all before it – clearly my genius command skills at work 🤔

As with any event, successful or otherwise, there will always be some niggles and this Partizan was no exception. The biggest issue is the catering, come lunchtime the queue was horrendous and I confess to simply giving up, even getting a coffee was a drama; the outlet just can’t cope, maybe a couple of vans outside might relieve the stress? On the subject of coffee, allegedly the traders and gamers get a pack containing coffee vouchers, the free figure and raffle entries; well not us and not the last one either, now I’m pretty sure they were allocated so that leads to a rather uncomfortable conclusion…..

A final point, why can Hammerhead drum up enough trade to fill the second hall but Partizan can’t? It’s perplexing.

Overall though a great day and we look forward to October!

Games Expo 2018

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We (well I actually as the rest of the team were either working a shift or on holiday) visited this for the first time last year and had a great time wandering a show which wasn’t exclusively for miniaturists, in fact the number of ‘proper wargames’ you can count on the fingers of one hand but if your interests go beyond just pushing miniature figures around this is a must do on the calendar.20180603_172555

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