Partizan May 2017.

 I'm a little late with my report from my trip to Partizan, funnily enough caused by the trip. I sometimes think God is trying to stop me travelling to wargames shows. This time it was my car deciding to make horrendous noises on the way to and from Newark. Hopefully they are now resolved. Anyway onto the actual show.

 Briefly reading other attendees reports, the consensus seems to be what a great show it was. For me it was far better than Salute 2017, but being unable to compare it to York 2017 I cant say if it was better than that. I'm pretty certain the trade at York would have been better, simply because there is more of it. But games wise, Partizan has returned to being the place to be inspired by the quality of the wargames on show. The venue is easy to find, and for me to travel to.

 Parking is not really an issue, well not whilst we are having drought like conditions. There was a long wait to get into the show, which didnt affect me, simply because I was one of the first at the show.Im certain this will be resolved next time. It was a beautiful day, so the large hall became very hot in the afternoon, not good for some of the soap dodging wargame fraternity. Oh and the food was acceptable if a little pricey, but whats new there.

  But games wise, it was an inspiring collection of historical wargames from a wide range of periods.The organisers, have wisely split the hall into two zones, one for historical games and one for the newer games phenomena, the table top skirmish games of various types.

 I havent attempted to show images of all the historical wargames, but instead, I have images of the games I was really impressed with for various reasons.

 I have never played nautical games, but am always strangely drawn to them, Battle for Port Arthur was a good example. Derby Wargames Group put on a lovely game, from what is an obscure period, for most wargamers, and had some lovely ship models, and a great Port Arthur.

                                       

 There were two excellent WW1 games, one by Kallistra [ images at top of article] and this 28mm feast. Both were beautiful games, and I itched to be amongst the toys. Great.

 I have always been fascinated by the Polish renaissance armies, especially the amazing winged lancers. There were two games showing off these wonderful soldiers.Both in 28mm. This one had some great Essex and Foundry winged lancers.

 This Russian Polish Swedish affair is hallmark League of Augsberg. Beautifully painted figures, on a well designed battle table. Well done Barry. I believe they may be releasing a Polish and Turkish range in the future.

  Graham Cummings of Crann Tara fame brought out his wonderful French armies to face the dreaded English. Again hallmark eye catching scenery and figures.

 The Perry Twins displayed their new French in Egypt ranges by showing just how good the figures are.The French in this campaign resplendent in the Kleber uniforms. It was a great looking game.

 One of my absolute favourite games by Dave Docherty who threw everything but the kitchen sink onto his Mahdi game. Armoured train, dervishes, Turks. The only thing missing was the tale of the Four Feathers. A beautiful game that I wanted to play in.

The Franco Prussian War was really well displayed in this 15mm game, with lots of figures on nice terrain.

 Simon Millers excellent Edgehill game, played several times during the day. Great figures on simple but neat terrain.

 Dave Brown is on a roll at the moment, firstly with is Picketts Charge rules and now the release of his Grand Armee rules.I have actually used these rules last year and they are a great set to wargame with.He used the Battle of Dresden to show the rules off. A lovely game.

 So how was the show? I am clearly struggling with superlatives as regards the historical games, but it was refreshing to see so many quality historical games in one place, a very large crowd of about 1000 wargamers, and a real buzz about the place. Uplifting.
Oh and I spent a fortune on the trade, so they must have been good as well.

Re cycled Rebels.

 A slowish week, but I did manage to paint up some dismounted rebel cavalry and base them up. They are actually the Perry dismounted Union troops, but I have a lot of Foundry figures to replace these, so I painted them as rather well dressed rebels.

I think most wargamers who have followed me, know that I like buying poorly/ badly painted older wargames figures and recycling them.I have struggled as regards the ACW period, as very few reasonably priced figures come up for sale.I was lucky enough however to buy 19 painted figures, I thought they were Hinchliffe, and they arrived last Saturday. They clearly weren't Hinchliffe, but were very nice with a lot of good detail.

 So these are how they originally looked, they were fine to be honest, although some had been knocked about a bit.

And these are how I repainted them and re based them up. I had to pad out the unit with fencing to make them into a regiment. I must admit they are a really neat old unit, and have great facial details. So although I didn't plan for these in my armies, I have got a really nice looking extra unit.

John and I fought a titanic Picketts Charge game on Thursday, five brigades a side. John used the full rule set with the extra details, ie snipers, off table reserves etc. It was a terrific encounter, where my badly trained rebel army nearly won a great victory, but was let down by poor leadership. The more we use these rules the more I am impressed by them. I know I seem to wax lyrical about various new systems, and to be honest I will still use Glory Hallelujah for really big battles, but Dave Brown has created a really enjoyable set of rules with some lovely mechanisms to create friction and uncertainty.Well recommended.

General Beauregard.

I picked this chap up at Salute. It is a representation of General Beauregard, by Redoubt Miniatures. It is a lovely casting and a doddle to paint. Now using Picketts Charge Rules your C in C doesn't have a role as such, and is really just for show. So I thought in case I end up using these rules regularly I would knock up a base.

 I like to try figures from most figure manufacturers, so I bought a unit from Steve Barber. I had never painted any of his products before, and was a bit discombobulated when they came. The head, body and musket arm all need to be stuck onto the lower body and feet. So I had to pin the arms to make certain they wouldnt just fall off, and I had to jiggle the heads about. Now being cackhanded I ended up with a lot of super glue on my finger ends. I am glad they are now painted and finished, although to be honest I still like them. I wouldnt like to drop the buggers though.  

                 So another Texan unit completed, and just a couple more to do in their brigade.

I hope to get to Partizan this coming weekend, all being well, so I hope to buy the last units for this ACW project, and then take stock of where I go from there. You will be able to recognise me if your going, I'm the oldish guy with flock stuck to the ends of his fingers.