Steel Warriors show

I was invited to attend this show by one of the organisers.  It was run as a private venture and I understand that this year's event was very much a 'toe in the water' to test the market.  I'll confess that my hopes weren't high but in the event it was quite a jolly outing.  I arrived at about 1130 and soon met up with some friends (see also Martin R's post here).  I'd been to the venue - Magna in Rotherham - a few times before - most recently about 8 years ago to scout it as a possible show venue!  Previous visits had been for a business event and a charity dinner.

I was pleased to see a demo game using 54mm toys!

It's a huge space - plenty of room to expand.  Big car park too, and easy to get to.

As well as a few traders there  was a bring & buy (which seemed to be doing good business), demo and participation games and a separate room with a very well attended DBA tournament in progress.

I picked up a couple of ACW books, some paintbrushes and a pair of 20mm scale resin boats.  Bodging is already under way...

It will be interesting to see how the show develops.

A Partizan view?

Today, for the first time in two and a half years, I attended a wargames show!  Partizan, these days at the Newark Showground, is effectively my ‘local’ show being only a 40 or so minute drive away. It was good to meet up with friends, notably (and apologies if I’ve missed you): John, Tim, Russell, Diego, Simon, Tom, Graham, Phil, Chris K, Chris A, Mick, Mark, Kayte, Terry and Bob.  And of course this was the first Partizan since the sad death of Duncan Macfarlane.  He was much in my thoughts.  

As always I was part of a team presenting a participation game. This year we had Tim C’s ‘1812’, which allowed a solo player to take the part of Napoleon and fight his Russian campaign in only ten minutes!  The game was set on a lovely map and used some of Tim’s beautiful 1/300 H&R figures.  

Diego (left, wearing my Napoleon hat) plays while Tim runs the game. 

The same game, with me seated to Diego’s left. Photo by Russell. 

Part of the map. 

The show seemed to be well attended. I gather that by 1200, a healthy 700 people had been admitted. Well done to the organisers!  The nice weather made queueing no hardship. Both of these photos by Russell. 

There were plenty of participation and display games. Here are just a couple.

Impressive 28mm fortress porn. 

I was pleased to see this Little Wars game with ‘proper’ old 54mm toys!

While there was a fair retail frenzy going on my own purchases were few. This assortment of paintbrushes cost a very reasonable £16. 

Partizan - August 2016

 A few weeks ago I attended the Partizan show at Newark.  I was there with Wargame Developments' Cursus Honorum II participation game and in between running the game and chatting to old friends I managed to suffer a 'retail incident' (of which more in a future post) and take a few photos of other games.

This noteworthy tabletop was a Punic Wars game in 1/32 scale - hurrah for big toys!  The elephants were quite something.

 

I also played Graham Evans's very splendid Battle of Northampton game.  This is appearing at several shows and I urge you to have a go. It features no toy soldiers whatsoever - the large blocks represent 'battles' and banners are removed to reflect casualties.  I managed to suffer a sound defeat but I feel that my pre-battle burning of Northampton was at least a moral victory!

Shopping at Triples - part 3 - books

I picked up a few books at Triples too.  Either two or four depending on how you count them!
First up is this little gem.  While I freely admit it's not at the cutting edge of aviation research, you must bear in mind that here at Megablitz Towers it is forever 1979...  But mostly I picked it up as I have a couple from the same series and rather like 'em.

This was a most unexpected find.  An unopened 3-volume set of large format books on a conflict rather under-represented on my book shelves.

The expression 'lavishly illustrated' springs to mind.  There are lots of pleasing maps...

...photos of actual kit...

...and paintings of uniforms.  

The cost of this lot?  A tidy £20.

Shopping at Triples - part 2 - bits

 I usually manage to pick up some odds and ends at shows, but seldom odder then this lot.  The Britains plastic elephant and gorilla owe me less then £1.

 The gorilla doesn't look too happy about his new home...

 ...while the elephant looks pretty laid back about things.

 I also bought some brass rod and aluminium tube - always in demand for flags and conversions.

 Tim Cockitt presented me with this very splendid 54mm 1670 mounted musketeer which was originally the property of the late Paddy Griffith.

An unlikely trio, but they all seem to get along!

Shopping at Triples - part 1 - kits

Actually I didn't buy much - I rarely do at any show these days - but I will somehow string out my paltry purchases over three posts.  

First up is this useful pair of 1/72 kits - both destined for a hard but glorious career in the armed forces of the peoples' democracies.  To encourage their crews' commitment to the cause I will leave on the sprue any bits which look like the sort of navigation equipment which might encourage defections....  In one of the great ironies of the Cold War, the vendor of these Warpact classics was collecting funds for the British Legion.  A handsome buy at £5 each.

I like these Heller figures, especially the 'Contemporary' - that is early 1970s - sets.  These are all incomplete with just a couple of figures in each but that was reflected in the prices.

Again incomplete, who knows what nationality these chaps will end up as?

Triples - possible traffic disruption

I know - traffic disruption in Sheffield.  Difficult to believe.

I have been advised that some roads near the Triples venue will be closed from 0800-1100 on Sunday because of the Race For Life.  These are mostly to the immediate north of the Meadowhall shopping complex.

Having spoken to South Yorkshire Police and Sheffield Urban Traffic Control we have been advised that the main route from J34 of the M1 down Attercliffe Common (A6178) is not affected by closures.

https://www.google.co.uk/maps/place/English+Institute+Of+Sport/@53.404944,-1.407457,15z/data=!4m2!3m1!1s0x487977f0df9038e9:0x8802a136286ad509?hl=en

Triples 2015 - the layout

UPDATED 9 May 2015 at 1600

A degree of 'embiggening' will clearly be required here!
Please note that the layout on the day may be subject to change.  The lists of traders and games may as yet be incomplete.

TRADERS	2015 Location
Adler & Darkstar Miniatures	23	23
Ainsty Castings	60	61
Ancient&Modern & Donnington	20	22
Baccus 6mm	125	127
Baggage Train Scotia Grendel	26	27
Beasts of Bolsover	82	83
Bills Books and Games	28	29
Black Pyramid	54	56
Black Scorpion	103	103
Caliver Books	98	101
Christopher Morris	136	137
Citadel Six Custom Design	138	139
Colonel Bills	131	133
Colour Party	102	102
Coritani / Magnetic Displays	84	85
Crooked Dice	88	89
Cuirassier/Books and More	19	19
Curteys & 1st Corps	118	120
Dark Realm Miniatures	145	145
Dave Thomas	148	151
David Lanchester books	62	64
Dice Bag Lady	37	37
Dice Shop	152	155
Eagle Figures	134	135
Emperor Toads Emporium	80	80
Empress Miniatures	90	91
Figures in Comfort	106	109
Games of War	130	130
Great Escape Games	110	111
Ground Zero Games	13	15
Grubby Tanks	140	142
Guild Ball	143	144
Ironclad Miniatures	104	105
Irregular Miniatures	51	53
Kallistra	78	79
Lancashire Games	38	40
Last Valley	49	50
Lesley's Bits Box	1	3
Magister Militum	41	46
Miniature Men	146	147
Model Display Products	32	34
Newline Design	86	87
Northumbrian Tin Soldier	114	115
Old Glory	4	6
Pendraken/Minibits	73	77
PE2 Collectables	11	12
Plastic Soldier Company	156	159
Products for Wargamers	97	97a
Red Eagle Miniatures	147a
Roger Bigg	31	31
Sergeants mess	9	10
SHQ	24	25
Stafford Games	65	68
Stonewall Figures	47	48
Tiger Models	35	36
Timecast	16	18
Timeline	128	129
Tree Fellas	116	117
Tumbling Dice ft Langton Minis	30	30
Under Fire	81	81
Valiant / Rapid Fire	7	8
Wargames Emporium	121	124
Wargames Foundry	92	96
Warlord Games	160	163

Rapier Miniatures - location to be confirmed

Dixon Miniatures - location to be confirmed

Cranntara Miniatures - location to be confirmed
Tor Gaming - location to be confirmed
Macrochosm - location to be confirmed
Sally 4th - location to be confirmed
Twisted Pinnacle - location to be confirmed
Dark Realm Miniatures - location to be confirmed

GAMES

1	Dave Parsons	Zombietown
2	Sheffield & Rotherham	sailors vs zombies
3	John Grant	Romano brits V saxons
4	Alex Handley	Derwent camapign modern
5	Alex Handley	sci fi Zhargud
6	michael slack	dalek invasion
7	Wargame Developments	Coastal command
8	British legion	Rorkes drift
9	L'ordre mixte	Hougoumont
10	company of veterans	waterloo
11	Penarth	AWI
12	wings of glory	wings of glory ww1
13	Grimsby	4 days battle - naval (sail)
14	Cy Harrison	Beach landing
15	Beast of Bolsover	??
16	Doncaster	Trouble in IBIS
17	Mad Max	Mad Max
18	Gunsmoke	magnificent 7
19	Ilkley old school	Plancenoit
20	Barely legal	Scheldt offensive 44
21	Mosborough  (Mick Rothenburg)
22	Mark Jarret	WRG 6th competition
23	Paul Mugatroyd	DBA northern cup

Wargame Developments at Partizan

Just a quick post this morning to remind you (and me) that I will be at the Partizan show tomorrow, September 7th with the Wargame Developments game 'Doodlebuggers'.  If you make it to the show do come and have a chat.

Wargame Developments at Triples 2014

Rather belatedly - here are a few photos of WD's participation game 'Doodlebuggers' as played at Triples last weekend.  All taken on my iphone before we had any players - this was around 0730 on the Saturday morning!  Over the two days we had about 45 players.

The rather nice map.  This was based on an original wartime map added 'atmosphere' to the game.  Thanks are due to Kayte, Jerry and Sara for their part in this.

 The trusty Spitfire XIV stalks a V-1 over Essex.

 The Tempest V in similar pose.

This chap needed our paper DFC to finish off his uniform!

Shopping from Triples

That's the first day of Triples done.  Our 'Doodlebuggers' game went well with around 35 players over the course of the day.  And much chatting with other SWS members and friends old and new - John, Martin, Nick, Tim, Bruce, Pete, Chris, Phil, Ben and Mark to name but a few.
But enough of that.  What - I hear you ask - did I buy?

Well not all that much really.  In fact so far I have spent £8.30 - or about the same as it will cost me in diesel to drive to the venue twice.

 First up - the Bring & Buy yielded this Tamiya kit for £3.50.

 On a trader's stall I spotted some Froggie frogmen - just the thing for LCW.  OK, so no boat, but...

 On the same stall was this for £2.  I took this as a sign from above.

And this is what £1.80 worth of rummage box figures looks like.  A Starlux French bandsman*, an unknown US-equipped officer, a useful looking civilian and a trio of Crescent(?) postwar Brits.  I already have a couple of these so hopefully I'll eventually find enough for a LCW company (12 figures).

* see also my previous purchase of Starlux bandsmen in this earlier post.

Triples Tuesday

In case you've forgotten, the Sheffield Triples wargames show is this coming weekend.
Among the many attractions is this year's Wargame Developments game 'Doodlebuggers', a very short solo participation game in which players take to the skies over Kent in 1944 to deal* with the Germans' latest Vonder Veapon - the flying bomb!

You could be flying this actual aeroplane** - and you could win an actual medal!***

If you're at Triples come and see us - we'll be the first game you come to in the main hall.

* pun intended
**assuming the varnish dries in time
***made of genuine paper

Triples Tuesday

With less than three weeks to go, here is a list of the games so far booked for the show.  More news as it breaks at the Sheffield Wargames Society website:

Barnsley Assoc of WG - Horus Heresy 30K
Beasts of Bolsover ?
British Legion Charity Game - 20mm 1980s
Chesterfield Open Gaming Society - Flames of war 15mm WW2 tank Battle
Chesterfield Open Gaming Society - Ripper St Tong Menace
Chesterfield Open Gaming Society - Information stand
Sheffield Occasional Wargamers - Stalingrad board game Rattenkrieg
Company of Veterans - East Prussia Napoleonic 15mm
Huntingdon & District - Stalingrad 1/35th
Ilkley Lads - Zorndorf 1758
Lance & Longbow Society - Saturday 28mm Participation Jousting Tournament , Sunday Demo - Battle of Bauge 1421
Leeds Wargames Society - Scorpions sting 28mm WW2
Like A Stone Wall - Alamanza 1707
Mosborough Old Boys - First St Albans
Penarth & District - ?
Sealed Knot, Newcastles Whitecoats - Reenactment Society
Sheffield & Rotherham Wargamers - ?
21eme Regt de Ligne - Reenactment Society
Wargame Developments - Doodlebuggers - 1/72 WW2 Participation game
Wings of Glory Aerodrome - WW2
Wings of Glory Aerodrome - WW1
Wings of Glory Aerodrome - Display  info table
COB Old Boys - 28mm Indian Mutiny
Chris Parr - Shockwave Station, sci fi battle (Sat only)
Sheffield Occasional Gamers -   15mm WW1
Gunsmoke  - Wild west
Ilkley Old School - Longstreet 28mm ACW
Derby Wargames Association - Relief of fort St John  28mm french indian wars
The Glory Boys - Last samurai
ABW Irregulars - German invasion of Ireland 1940
Bruce Weigle - St Quentin 1871 6mm Franco Prussian
KB Club - 1/72nd modern
KB Club - 1/144 Sci fi
Doncaster - 28mm Zombie participation

Triples Tuesday

Five weeks to go!  The latest news is that we have made an arrangement with a couple of hotels and can offer the following deal on accommodation over Triples weekend:

The Royal Victoria Holiday Inn and the Holiday Inn Express are offering a discounted rate for people wanting to stay there on the Triples weekend. The rates are as followed (subject to availability):-
Royal Victoria:-
1 night bed and breakfast £69
2 nights bed and breakfast £109
Express:-
1 night bed and breakfast £59
2 nights bed and breakfast £99
Per room, per night (rooms sleep 2 people)
To book you need to contact the Reservations team on + 44 (0) 114 252 6511 and tell them you are booking for the Sheffield Wargames Society Triples Weekend.