I have been to ... Cavalier

I had actually decided not to go to CAVALIER today … but when my wife decided that she wanted to visit Sevenoaks in Kent – which is only a few miles north of Tonbridge – it seemed rather silly not to pay the show a flying visit.

Tunbridge Wells Wargames Society organised the show and – as usual – the venue was the Angel Centre in the centre of Tonbridge, Kent.

(The building is not very appealing to look at, but as I was there for the wargames show and not the architecture I just hurried past the uninviting entrance, paid, and went in.)

Just inside the entrance to the main hall was a stand being run on behalf of Combat Stress, a charity that is devoted to helping veterans and ex-service personnel who are suffering from psychological injuries and mental health problems.

The main hall was not as crowded as it has been in the past, but this did allow attendees to get around with greater ease.

During my short visit I met and talked to:

• Postie (of Posties Rejects),
• Nigel Drury and Pete Grizzell (both of whom are members of Wargame Developments),
• Alan Abbey (an ex-pupil of mine who runs the BROADSIDE wargames show that is held annually in Sittingbourne ... and who does not always look this startled!),

• and Joe Blacker (with whom I used to work and who is one of the leading lights of the South East London Wargames Group).

I had hoped to talk to Martin Goddard of Peter Pig, but when I passed his stand he was already talking to someone and I did not think that it would be polite to interrupt.

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Wargames in the main hall There was enough space in the main hall for a few wargames to be staged therein.

The Battle of Cape St Vincent (Tonbridge Wargames Club)

Chrysler's Farm, 11th November 1813 (Southend and Rayleigh Wargames Club)

Sunset over Shumshu: The Soviet invasion of the Kurile Island of Shumshu in 1945 (Deal Wargames Club)

Tabletop Teasers On Tour 1709: Gentlemanly wargaming in the Age of Marlborough and the Sun King (SEEMS)

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Wargames in the Medway Hall This was where the majority of the wargames were on show.

Reconquista 1450 (Essex Warriors)

Blitzkrieg! (Tunbridge Wells Wargames Society)

Kohima 1944 (North London Wargames Group)

Fraustadt 1706 (Crawley Wargames Club)

Welcome to Valhalla (SELWG)

Schweinfurt 1943 (Staines Wargamers)

Somewhere in Belgium 1914 (Maidstone Wargames Society)

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Wargames in the small side room Just off the main concourse there was a small side room which was also used to house two wargames.

Tunis 310BC (Society of Ancients)
This game was – as always – being umpired by Professor Phil Sabin.

French and Indian Wars Skirmish 1750 (Gravesend Gamers Guild)

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I am glad that I was able to make it to CAVALIER this year. Besides buying a couple of things that I needed (including some grey paint for my model of HMS Thunderer!), I also managed to take a booking for COW2014 and to see some figures that I am thinking of buying.

In almost all cases it was possible to see quite clearly what was going on in each of the wargames that were on show BUT there were still one or two games where there was no signage (a big 'No! No!' in my book) and some where the people who were putting on the wargames were so engrossed with what they were doing that they were unwilling to interact in any way with passers-by.

There were some honourable exceptions to my last point ... and I was particularly impressed by the information presented to passers-by by the Deal Wargames Club and SEEMS, and by the enthusiastic interaction between presenters and the public that was exhibited by the Southend and Rayleigh Wargames Club.