The Obligatory Salute Post (Part One, the write-up)

That was it, Salute is over for another year. Big show –as usual, well organised-as usual (bit too much SciFi and Fantasy for my liking but that’s just me being an old f*rt), some great games on show –as usual; so it really was simply business as usual so any and all credit to the Warlords.

The down side is that because of some sort of whatever going on at London Bridge station or its railway connections, my train didn’t bl**dy well stop there and went blithely on to Victoria. Consequently, coupled with some inconsiderate idiot ‘trespassing’ on the Underground, meant that my journey of a meagre 30 odd miles took me over 2 ½ so**ing hours. (The way back was almost as problematical –left the show at 1515 and got off the train at 1725.) Luckily, I pass a Weatherspoons on the way home so I met Ma Subs and we drowned our collective sorrows.

Anyhoo, back to the show. An absolute sh*tload of games on show but only a few that really caught my eye. Per Broden’s GNW river crossing was one –that bloke has really put the GNW and 6mm on the wargaming map. It was so good it won the Best Small Scale Game Award. Another was Mark Backhouse’s magnificently visual 2mm Romans v Greeks; the micro-chaps were brightly and beautifully painted while bobble-mat woods and forests are most definitely this year’s 2mm fashion accessory. The city, field systems and all the other little terrain pieces emphasised –to me at least- how persuasive the lure of 2mm can be. As far as I am aware, all or nearly all were from the Antonine range. So tempted was I that I proceeded hotfoot to Warbases to see the naked little blocks. Unfortunately, they hadn’t actually brought any to the show which I thought was a bit of a shame but there it was. Nothing could be done so I will have to peruse them from a distance.  

Moving on, Simon Miller put on a very nice looking 25mm Lace Wars game using his own rules. Thumbing through the display copy I was tempted to use them for my 2mm ECW but eventually decided against it.  

A large 10mm modern desert game –think it might have been the Iran-Iraq War caught my eye as it was very nicely laid out. A town, some fields of various crops, a flyover and lots of desert made it a nicely balanced game. Plus a number of electricity pylons and the odd Hind helicopter added a bit of height to the game.

Nice also to see my mate Bernard Ganley back on the scene after his illness and playtesting the Realtime Wargamers latest offering, a Dark Ages campaign and game ruleset. Shall be looking out for them, hopefully at Broadside later in the year.  

Two large WWII games, one 25mm and the other 10(?)mm, both fighting in and around a ruined cityscape. Visually great, masses of rubble and other impedimenta lying around all added to the look.

If you like your periods obscure, check out the Continental Wars Society. Anyone heard of the Battle of Gurguljat from the Servo-Bulgarian War of 1885? Anyone? Nope, me neither. But it was a nicely put on game with some helpful chaps explaining all about it.

Oh, and I mustn’t forget the large D-Day beachhead landing participation game. Looking both spectacular and busy…but what happened to the pics, I haven’t got a Scooby. I remember taking them but unfortunately, they have gorn orf into the ether.

But that was about it really as far as games went.

And now, the haul. Went in looking for some books on the ECW, had a list and everything and managed to get nearly all of them -3 hardbacks and a couple of the painstakingly researched Partizan Press pamphlets; some large mdf bases for 2mm towns, some 2-dice holding frames and bases to go with them. A few new brushes and a number of 6mm ACW buildings simply because I can’t be ar*ed to make any. So, in true Disney fashion…That’s all folks!

Will post the pics tomorrow. In Part Two. 

Cavalier Show report 2025 (Part Two) Picture Heavy

 Here are the pics I took. Wherever possible, I have taken a picture of the club concerned at the start of the pictures of their game. I had to leave a blurred pic in as it was that of the Real Time Wargamers.

Cavalier Show report 2025 (Part One)

A trip -all the way from Maidstone to Tonbridge- was undertaken by public transport today to the Angel Centre in Tonbridge for this the annual Cavalier Show put on by those nice chaps at Tunbridge Wells Wargames Society. Now before I trekked north to Brum in 1984, this was an occasional jaunt across the Thames from Southend, in fact, I remember when the show used to be in a school and I am sure I saw Waterloo sitting uncomfortably on a school gym beam. Not that I’m dating myself, but Waterloo hadn’t been out on general release for long! Nowadays, the show is in one of those modern sports complex’s spread over two halls. It’s a pleasant, medium sized show with plenty of breathing room as you walk around, with no six feet wide hirsute specimens of unwashed humanity wielding military sized backpacks knocking people over like skittles every time they turned around.  

Met up with a few chums, namely Big Lee, Ray and Richard from Postie’s Rejects, plus others acquaintances I know of only through shows. It shows that we are getting older because the agreed meet up time for a cuppa and a roll of some sort with the Rejects and myself was 1200 –only two hours into the show; but the grateful noises and mutters of ‘luxury’ as we all ‘took the weight off’ and sat down could be heard across the room!  

The haul from the show was quite small really. No little chaps were purchased but I did pick up my pre-ordered terrain pieces from Brigade Models. So now in 2mm I am the proud owner of a couple of Russian villages to go with a castle/walled town with the typical Eastern European covered wooden walkways along the top; a Middle Eastern village, a couple of Vietnamese villages on stilts which I will use as Chinese buildings for both villages and/or towns, and a stone walled castle for Chinese fortifications. All of these can be used from the Mongol period forward so it’s a win-win. They are all close enough for my liking anyway.

I also found the three books shown below. Of special interest were the two ECW books as I have not long purchased a Royalist and a Parliamentarian Irregular Miniatures 2mm Battlepacks. After cleaning –a hellish job in 2mm and I think I may have inadvertently filed off my fingerprints trying to get the bases flat- and basing them 50x25mm mdf bases, I realised that it was nowhere near enough so immediately, another order went in for nearly the same number again. Not that I haven’t got any books on the ECW, another couple of battle-specific books are always handy. The 1066 book will go on the shelf until needed.

There were a few cracking games on show especially one by Shepway Wargamers called Dornier Down which I took the club spiel photo…and nothing else. Sorry lads, it really was a good looking game. There was also an unusual game by Maidstone Wargames Society with a black table, black terrain and vehicles, the latter two types were edged in Tron style Dayglo green, (showing as white in the photo). I was informed that it was a visual representation of an old computer game. It was decidedly different but if I’m honest, it made me slightly goggle-eyed looking at it. But that’s just me. The Bring and Buy was its usual packed self –as are they all- and money was changing hands although not from mine. I even managed to resist buying a Pendraken 10mm Ancient Barbarian Battlepack at well below half price! Aren’t I good?

Show pics are in Part Two.

Keep yer brushes clean!

Broadside 2018

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.