Battleground 2019, the return?

Two years ago I think it was, John and I decided with heavy heart that we shouldn't put on any more games at wargames shows. We decided the effort was simply getting too much and it was time to accept that we were getting a bit past it.We wanted to just enjoy the shows as spectators and shoppers. It seemed a reasonable concept you would think.

A couple of months ago in a fit of wild enthusiasm I decided we had been premature in our retirement and  it would be a great idea to stage a game at Battleground and display my 'old school with a contemporary twist,' English Civil War armies.
  Leon, bless him, when contacted found space for us to return to the show although I got the impression it would be a struggle to squeeze another big table into the hall.

So early yesterday morning after scraping the frost off the car I took my collection down to Middlesbrough to set up.
 Battleground has come a long way from its original location in Stockton and now uses a well lit, easily accessible hall on the university campus. So with a free car park, well lit hall, good toilets [very important] and hot food literally outside the main entrance the Independent Wargames Group set up their 1642 game using figures designed in the 1970's and 1980's and painted to recreate the 'feeling' we used to enjoy when we first started on the long path to wargames goodness.

Leon has done a sterling job resurrecting the show and its becoming a great event to attend in the run up to Christmas. He has attempted to make the event more relevant to wargamers by introducing free entry, encouraging the smaller and unusual traders to attend and to host historic lectures that would interest the wargamer. The boy done good.

The show itself was very busy until the wargaming witching hour of 13.30hrs when things tend to tail off somewhat.Another idea Leon adopted is to close the show at 3.00pm which is a help to traders who have to load and travel to their homes get there in a reasonable time without letting the hosts down by packing up early.
                                   
So as a show it was the inevitable blur with welcome questions about the figures, 'can you still buy Hinchliffe?'   'Minifigs! they were my first metal figures'etc.
I would like to think it triggered a few good memories of when there were fewer choices but wargaming life seemed better. Of course thats nostalgia for you, the reality is the choices now can hurt your brain, damage the wallet but offer so much more.

Because of the game it was much more difficult to study the other games on offer. Colin of Carry on up the Dale fame naturally had a wargaming extravaganza resplendent with lovely banner and loads of Sikhs. The Westerhope posse were their annoying selves showing people their Little Big Horn game with flickering tepees! and cheeky rapport.

I still managed to spend a lot of money with not too much to show for the cost, well okay I did get a lot of hedges from The Last Valley, some lovely character pieces for the ECW from Stu of Colonel Bills fame and in the bring and buy I mysteriously ended up buying some lovely painted 1/32 medieval's from very talented guy from Stockton.

And to show people I am up with the kids I even bought a wonderful 3d created piece of terrain for my SPQR Britons.

And the aftermath???
On my way home, I began to think about the return of Muhammad Ali and his fight against Leon Spinks his ex sparring partner and protege. In that fight Ali was totally out boxed and towards the end Spinks could be seen refusing to punch his hero.
I felt like Ali, punch drunk and knackered.
So sat here typing and nursing a bad back and headache I've realised that maybe John and I have done our bit for Wargaming and deserve to hand the baton onto younger wargamers to display games that will hopefully inspire and enthuse people. Its very obvious that shopping and moaning about younger wargamers is the future. Still I needed to be certain............

What a crew, members of the Westerhope posse. The others were probably pillaging my table while I was taking this photograph.