This local twice-yearly show has now become something that I try not to miss. I have a chance to meet and talk to people, spend time looking at what is on sale ... without having to push and shove through a crowd ... and look at an interesting range of wargames.
Amongst the people I was able to talk to were Kenny Smith (a member of the 'Old Guard Wargames Club'), Alan Abbey (one of my ex-pupils from a long time ago and now a leading member of the 'Milton Hundred Wargames Club' wargames group), and Professor Phil Sabin (who is a leading member of the War Studies Department at King's College, London). The latter informed me that his LOST BATTLES wargame has been released ... and is already almost sold out!
There were a number of different wargames on view at the show. There were one or two participation games but most were demonstration games.
Skirmish Wargames: Boxer Rebellion skirmish using 54mm-scale figures
South East London Wargames Group (SELWG): 'March on Munchburg' (American Civil War) battle using 28mm-scale figures
Hornchurch Heroes Gaming Club: 'Flames of War' battle using 15mm-scale figures
South London Warlords: 'The Battle of Ayacucho' (South American Wars of Independence) using 20mm-scale figures
North London Wargames Club (NLWG): 'Operation Bodenplatte'
This was an excellent show, supported by lots of traders who seemed to be doing a reasonably brisk trade. As usual I enjoyed my visit, and only wish that I had more time (and money!) to spend there.
I was able to buy quite a few more Zvezda ART OF TACTIC models to add to my growing collection including:
- 2 x Bf109F2 Fighters
- 1 x Lagg-3 Fighter
- 2 x Il-2 Ground-attack Aircraft
- 2 x Pzkpfw IVD Tanks
- 3 x Pzkpfw 38(t) Tanks
- 1 x Sdkfz 251/1B Armoured Half track
- 3 x T-26M Tanks
- 2 x Zis-5 Trucks
- Sunday 11th March 2012
- Sunday 23rd September 2012
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Nice report Bob, I would 've gone if I wasn't stuck at work today, although a couple of my pals went along.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the report - really good detail, appreciated.
ReplyDeleteOutstanding terrain board on that Sth American war gaming board too - love it !
Hi Bob,
ReplyDeleteReally sorry to have missed this show as it one of my favourites. Still, the ceiling is painted and my daughter is safely off to France for the week with her school and I have also managed to start the great loft 'conversion' so the day has not been a complete write off.
Great haul of Zvezda kit by the looks of things - anything for Funny Little Wars?
All the best,
DC
Ray Rousell,
ReplyDeleteIt is a pity that you were unable to make it, as I am sure that you would have found it worthwhile.
I think that this show gets better every time I go; not by great leaps but by small and consistent steps.
All the best,
Bob
Steveoc,
ReplyDeleteI was very impressed by both the terrain and the figures. I understand that they took great pains to model the terrain accurately, including the use of satellite images.
All the figures were 20mm-scale plastic figures, and exhibited considerable modelling skills on the part of the wargamers who converted and painted them.
All the best,
Bob
David Crook,
ReplyDeleteYou missed a great little show ... but for excellent reasons.
The Zvezda models are for a project I have wanted to take on for years; namely a refight of Operation Barbarossa. I have wanted to do this ever since I bought a copy of Frank Chadwick's 'bathtub' campaign book many years ago, and now that I am retired the prospect of undertaking the project is very appealing.
I bought nothing for FLW ... but that does not mean that I am ignoring it! That is a medium-term project, with 2013 being the deadline I am aiming at.
All the best,
Bob
Hi Bob,
ReplyDeleteI actually took part in playing Operation Barbarossa using the Frank Chadwick 'Bathtub' campaign book and using Command Decision. It was enormous fun and generated some cracking games.
The concept behind the game was brilliant and certainly the Zvezda 'kit' makes it a very attractive proposition.
Great idea for a project.
All the best,
DC
David Crook,
ReplyDeleteI would be very interested to hear how the campaign went. I know that Chris Kemp has been doing something similar for some years, and I have followed his progress with some interest.
I envisage it being mainly a solo campaign, with the occasional face-to-face game. That way I can 'do it my way' (i.e. mix and match kit that might not be 100% historically correct).
I had originally planned to do it using ROCO vehicles and small 20mm/large 15mm scale figures, but the Zvezda models have changed my ideas somewhat. At current prices their vehicles are far and away the best option (I can buy three or four Zvezda vehicles for what a single ROCO Minitank would cost me!) and being made of plastic rather than metal or resin means that I can ‘kit bash’ items from the range to produce other vehicles or equipment. The possibilities are almost endless.
All the best,
Bob