Last Sunday, 23rd, I went to the
Cavalier Show in Tonbridge, the annual show of the Tunbridge Wells club. This
is a show I haven’t been to since the very early 1980’s and if I remember
correctly it was in a school back then. This time it was at a venue known as the Angel
Centre, only five minutes walk from the bus stop. Yes, I can catch a direct bus
from Maidstone to Tonbridge. Had a really good time, some nice games on show
including a 28mm plastic Marlburian ‘Tabletop Teaser’ by my old club –going waaay
back when to the 70’s and early 80’s- the South East Essex Military Society,
SEEMS, using a sheet of the increasingly popular faux teddy-bear fur laid over
some contour-creating foam shapes underneath. The figures were from Wargames
Factory, nicely painted and they used a very novel gun smoke idea. The basis
was cotton wool but they had teased it out into an open bell shape so as to
look like a smoke ring at the end. In the centre of the ring was a
representation of a cannon ball. Very effective. More information on the club can
be found here at https://www.google.co.uk/#q=south+east+essex+military+society
Another game that I noticed was a 10mm
version of Kohima from the North London Wargames Group using the very nice range of Pendraken figures.
I happened to
mention that they seemed to have missed off the most iconic area of the battlefield,
that of the Tennis Court, and was politely informed that as the battle was
almost in scale, the front was seven thousand yards long and the Tennis Court
would be on the next table! That will teach me to act like an anorak! The gentleman
I spoke to –Hertsblue on the Pendraken Forum as I found out a little later- who
also told me that the game was part of an ongoing campaign series they are
running at shows and that the next game would indeed feature the Tennis Court.
Good stuff.
I also had a chat with Mr. Badger from Pilum
Painting –a WD3 Forum member whose stall was displaying some nicely painted
figures, all at what I thought to be reasonable prices for the finish. More information here http://www.pilumpainting.co.uk/
I also met up with another mate from way back
when in Southend, we had a great chat for several hours and are arranging a
game at my gaff in a few weeks hence.
Brilliant.
Now some random shots of some of the other games on display.
From Deal Wargames, a good WW II Far East beach landing.
The Tonbridge club put on a Napoleonic naval version of the Battle of Cape Saint Vincent using the lovely Langton ships. Don't see many naval games at shows, nice one. www.westkentwargamers.dyndns.org/
Obviously there were other games but for some of them my camera got a bad attack of the shakes or the lighting wasn't good enough...bad workman and tools blaming, sorry. A small American/ British War of 1812 scenario with what looked like a few 28mm battalions a side run by Richard Partridge, another old colleague of mine from back in the day . More information on the nice little chaps from a company I'd never heard of can be found here:
A 15mm Great Northern War fought on snow terrain by Crawley Wargames Club, www.crawleywargamesclub.org.uk/ an Ancient Spanish game in 15mm with some brightly painted figures and a nice town by the Essex Warriors www.essexwarriors.org/ and a large early WWII 15mm with French facing off against Germans.
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