Last weekend I trotted off to the Broadside Show in Sittingbourne, my LOCAL show, (reasons for the uppercase will become clearer later). I do like this show because it is like the shows I used to go to as a runtling, the sort you can walk around without getting sideswiped by some overweight, over-tall person of dubious personal hygiene carrying the ubiquitous bergen on their back.
The organisers -the Milton Hundred club- did their usual great job with their distinctive yellow tee-shirts nearly always within LOS if you needed them.
The traders were a mixed bunch but a new one that I was waiting to see was Commission Figurines, the people who produce the 6mm mdf chaps. These are even better in the flesh so to speak and I would have bought some only the three current ranges -Napoleonic, Marian Roman and ACW I already have covered in Irregular. But I was impressed with the 6mm city block ruins and especially the railway line, both soon-to-be-released onto a suspecting wargaming public. The railway line will be great for ACW onwards. Now all I have to do is find out if B&Q make bendy wooden beading that I use for embankments!
The games were also a mixed bag ranging from a Safari style game where a herd of animals had to cross the board while avoiding predators right up to a rather nice Star Wars land game with all the iconic items on show. Others included one based on the film Reign of Fire, a Lego Zombie hunt, Maidstone's impressive, home built ship for the Zeebrugge Raid Game and a rather nice looking 25mm WW II board with some tasty looking buildings and models.
However, my favourite -being a devoted 6mm-ite- was Postie's Rejects WW I action on the Marne. The table was great with rolling hills, loads of trees, hedged lanes and some well painted buildings. The whole thing was set of by Postie's home made observation balloon in the rear of the German positions. (See pic below).
Now the reason for the uppercase local. Left the show in plenty of time to get my bus home -35 minutes on the bus, 5 minutes walk. Simples...in a perfect world. Sittingbourne has roadworks all around the railway station where the bus stops are, or rather used to be. When I saw a bus shoot past by the roadworks warning bells sounded. Checked the area and found the new bus stop layout...and it was my bus that had gone by. To cap it all, it was the last of only three that run on a Sunday. No probs, I'll get the train. Trotted back to the station to find out that there was engineering works all over and that buses were criss-crossing the area to move passengers. Eventually I walked into the house at just after quarter past seven, a nine mile, 40 minute journey under normal circumstances ended up taking me nearly three and a half hours!
Anyway, here are some of the pics I took.
8 comments:
Good to chat with you on Sunday :)
Shame about the travails of your journey home - it took me much less time to get all the way back to Tottenham
It was good to chat to you too. Sundays are always a nightmare travelling n-s in Kent. The trials and tribulations of being a wargamer who doesn't drive I suppose. :)
Nice write up I think we all took a picture of that Tiger tank from that angle (pic on my b;og to)! Agree about the 6mm game really has got the brain cells whirring and been haunting the Baccus web store last two days.
Thanks for that. That Tiger was definitely 'the' tank on the board. My main scale is 6mm and I've been singing it's praises literally for decades. I used to think I was a single voice in the wilderness but recently, both like minded individuals and through the internet the scale is growing in popularity. Okay, you might not get the beautiful uniforms but you get much more of a feel for a period in 6mm.
Good to see you in Sunday. Glad you liked the game. Stuart did a cracking job on both the rules and the terrain. The game played out really well. I've posted some photos today but I'll also post a full battle report later in the week.
I've already read yours and Ray's report, both good with a lot of great action shots there. About the game, you know me and 6mm, it's God's Own Scale as far as I am concerned.
Glad you approve Sir!! Was great to meet up and have a chat and moan (about you know what?)
Postie says hello nice to see a friendly face at a show.
Nice friendly face, who was that then and are you still banging on about injustices and all that? :) Talk to Smiffy, he'll help you move on. Seriously, it was a good day out
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