Border Reivers 2016.

 It was the Border Reivers show at Gateshead Tyne and Wear at the weekend, so taking my life in my hands I crossed the border from God's Country into the darklands of Geordiedom.I survived, and for a change I came back with more money than I took to a wargames show!

 I have always like this show and its earlier version, probably because if was local and its good to see a lot of people I dont normally bump into. Like a lot of shows nowadays the number of games seemed less than other years, but I may be wrong on this. Considering the weather, numbers seemed pretty good, so I hope that the many traders did alright in their efforts.
I do like a big Napoleonic game, and there was a nice looking Blackpowder game on show, which was crying out for me. Wisely the group wouldnt let me throw my dice.

 The Westerhope Bandits were in strength at the show, putting on a Viking game, showing off their usual ingenuity, running a barter stall next to me, and generally making a nuisance of themselves [except Brian, who is a voice of sanity in a maelstrom of cheek]

 Any would be wargamer, struggling to put large numbers of figures on the table, should check out the most excellent Warrior ranges of 25mm metal figures. Westehope, must have shares in the company, or they have gone back to burglary again. They are cheap, really cheap, nicely sculptered, and just good figures.

 I thought John [ Coutts] was still on a curfew, but unfortunately he just keeps turning up like a bad penny. Here he is not sharing his dinner with his compatriots. Lovely Viking game though.

                      A nice interpretation of Cannae, which is a difficult battle to re fight.

 A skirmish game, that I thought showed a lot of hard work, as the large ship was scratch built, and was very effective. So why did I bring money back from a show? i hired a table for a couple of hours in an effort to offload some wargames stuff, I did alright, although large wargames armies are a hard thing to sell at shows. Still the arrangements are far better than a Bring and Buy system. So a good day all round really.