Vapnartak 2019

                                                           

                                                             Vapnartak 2019
 Firstly before I launch into a critique/ review of Vapnartak 2019 can I apologise for the fact that there are no images of the show. Why I haven't will become apparent as one reads the text.
 Secondly can I also say I really enjoyed the day,again the reason why I did will become obvious.
 John, Neil and I arrived at the show very early 09.00 ish in order that we can get parked near the main entrance and also in order to be able to stand in the foyer where it was slightly warmer than outside where a large queue quickly formed in the cold wind.
 As we were standing I spotted a friendly gent in front of me with a lot of boxes of stuff he was wanting to sell in the Bring and Buy. I'm sorry I didnt get your name, it was very remiss of me given as you have actually read my blog.
 Being a nosy chap I had to ask him what he was selling. When he opened the box files I saw rows of partly painted Hinchliffe and Mini Fig ECW cavalry. He explained they had belonged to a now dead wargamer who had collected figures. He seemed convinced that no one would be interested in them!      Under the box file was a large but old cassette box [ cassettes were a small rectangular form of recording music etc.] which was filled to the gunnels with unpainted Hinchliffe and Mini Fig ECW infantry. Kismet!
  I had made my first and best purchase of the day and before the place was open.That helps explain why I found the day very enjoyable.
 We were finally allowed in at exactly 10.00am and not a second less. It seems very important that no one entered a few seconds before the official time. So after a cup of hot tea [quite pricey, but welcome] I began to prowl the halls.
 I quickly formed the impression that the show was quieter than last years event and it seemed easier to walk about show.I think the weather may have had something to do with this even though there had been no Armageddon like wintry conditions in North Yorkshire.In fact there was no snow? [Are you reading this BBC]
 I made my way up to the Bring and Buy and joined the long queue to wait my turn to file into the heaving mass. I sometimes wonder why I put myself through this ordeal given the risk to body and soul. I hope my grandson appreciates the effort his grandfather made to buy him some cheap Space Marines.
 The Bring and Buy was mobbed with large men of various shapes bearing rucksacks that invariably ended up in my face.[ Im a bit of a short arse] That I could handle, but the assault on my nose was a bigger issue, and this year York seemed to have more people in need of soap and water than in other years. It must have been the weather, perhaps their pipes were frozen.
 I did buy some Space Marines so it was worth the effort. After buying the stuff I needed? from Dave Thomas etc I decided to check out the demonstration games to see if there was anything that would inspire me.
 Can I say I have put on a lot of demonstration games over the years, I know the effort it takes to stage a game. It was one of the reasons John and I retired from such games, its very tiring. So I fully understand and appreciate when people take the time to stage a game.
 However.......
 Well the very large 28mm ECW was present [check] Lovely figures, great terrain.
 The very large 28mm desert game was present [check]  Lovely figures, great terrain.
 There was a very nice Indiana Jones game on show but unfortunately no one seemed to want to explain the game and more importantly for me, how they made the terrain. I must have picked the wrong time. To be honest I was more impressed by the smaller card table games upstairs and yes, even by the competition games. So for the first time I didn't take any images. No doubt someone will have done so, and good for them.
 So off to the cafe for a sandwich and some chat to anyone who could suffer my wittering. I felt like the nutter on the last bus home.
 I then decided to face the crush of the Bring and Buy again, to check out the new sellers and their stuff.Now here's the thing, the same people were still at the tables selling exactly the same stuff as before. It was very obvious that they were bone fide traders. Other bring and buy tables were actually standing empty, as if last years crush had put people off.
 I like bring and buy's, sometimes I will book a table to sell off some stuff at cheap prices, but it is becoming increasingly obvious that some smaller traders are seeing this as an opportunity to set up in a wargames show and not have to pay for a trade space.It doesnt seem right somehow.
 After a bit more retail therapy and some more chat to various wargamers I know we headed home, tired but happy.
 I enjoyed the show, but then I like any wargames show within reason. Will I attend again? Of course but the York Group should really think about how to improve the bring and buy situation and perhaps redress the issue of traders booking tables. And of course there remains the elephant in the room, the demonstration games that seem to barely if ever change. IWG show rating...6/10.
 




 

Miniature Wargames 29.

One of the best things about wargaming is the people you meet who not only share your love of toy soldiers and gaming but also turn out to be great people in their own right. One such person, Jason Williams is a wargamer/collector of all things Peter Gilder who out of the blue several years ago sent me some Wargames Holiday Centre renaissance figures he had 'spare' for my growing Italian Wars armies.We have remained in irregular contact since, bumping into each other at the odd wargames show.
Last week I won an auction of six causality bases that contained a couple of figures I recognised as having belonged to Peter Gilder.
I had to have them  [ you know how things are concerning all things Gilder.]
When they arrived, they had actually been sold by Jason who very kindly included a 'spare' standard that was beautiful in its own right. I knew the banner immediately and searched through my Miniature Wargames magazine collection to find it. The image was in Miniature Wargames 29,
 [ see below.]

I re based the figures to use as eye candy in my Italian War games. The two gendarmes clearly from the WHC I intend to use in my Gilder gendarme unit. 

 The figures are attributed to John Blanche who was a wonderful painter who painted for Citadel and the early Games Workshop company.

 The standard I fitted to the mounted Bill Lamming conversion. The quality of the paint work on the standard after 35 years is still amazing. Thank you again Jason for the opportunity to possess some wargaming history.

The day before the York Show.

Well I'm sat here looking at a beautiful wintery scene, and hoping I can clear all my drive before tomorrow when John and I are heading down to the York show. Can I say a big thank you to everyone who sent a kind comment to my last post.  They weren't necessary, honestly although it was very nice to feel the love as it were, I keep saying the mantra that dying is part of life, but it doesnt make it any easier.
I think I have just about recovered from two wonderful Armarti ancient games that John had set up on Thursday. I had forgotten just how good these rules are and how tense are the games they create. Both games went down to the wire, one a close win for my Carthaginians against Republican Romans, the second a very bloody draw with Alexander [me?] against Indians. Two wonderful games.Thanks John...
 I am slowly getting back into my painting although it has been very eclectic. Firstly some Royalist dismounted dragoons, these are lovely figures and were a pleasure to paint.This time I filled the bases with some model rocks I picked up off E Bay. I have made a slight deviation from only using Hinchliffe figures for my two ECW armies and again prompted by John I bought some Warrior figures as a test.It is only a small range but apart from being cheap they are also very charming and fit in nicely with my Hinchliffe. Great postal service as well. I knew they were good but was still very impressed with them, well done.

 I follow the Olicana blog. James Roach is a wonderful painter and has some top class wargames to boot. He gave me the heads up that Rendra were selling ridge tents for a rock bottom price. I got some and then saw they had a camp scene using some Perry ACW figures, well it would have been rude not to have some. 

Games Workshop have re discovered what made them so successful and returned to publishing amongst other things. Their Conquest magazine with regular goodies in it, has been a great way to pick up the odd figure for my Grandson who I hope one day will 'discover' real wargaming and possibly want some of my burgeoning collection. So I have been painting up some green monstrosities for him. Not up to Golden Demon standard but still pretty in a perverse way. 

I will be very honest I enjoy the challenge of painting them, they clear my painting palate as it were, GW. have some very talented sculptors and Im pleased they are on the up again, it has to be good news for wargaming in general. So heres hoping there is no more snow before the trip down to the York show. Last year was stressful simply because of numbers, but it still is a great show and I hope the weather holds off. I hope you will stop for a chat as I trundle around the event, there's nothing like a talk about wargaming and the hobby in general. 

Normal service will be resumed soon [Hopefully]

 Sometimes unfortunately real life interferes with my world and causes me to simply stop wargaming altogether. Sadly the New Year has been one of these times when reality breaks into my cosy world. I suppose it was inevitable that I would suffer from some sort of flu related illness after my exertions during the Christmas period.
 I admit it I don't make a good patient and cannot suffer in silence. I knew I was ill when I managed to consume a bottle of whiskey [which I normally wouldn't drink] in the matter of a week. It did help me sleep.I must be recovering as the second bottle has been put away.

 Sadly my minor illness was nothing to the news that my oldest school friend died shortly after his birthday after a long hard battle with cancer.The funeral will finally happen tomorrow. There's not much point in writing here about our friendship which spanned some 52 years, all I can bear to say is that I will miss him considerably and that there is a giant void which he used to inhabit.

 As a result of these real life reminders I have done very little in the way of painting. Somehow I managed to complete a unit of Parliamentarian dragoons and an artillery crew for my Hinchliffe project. They are not the best I've painted but that is understandable in my defence. Usually I am able to shut out real life and disappear into my wargaming world. It has stood me in good stead all of my adult life when things were getting very very stressful but for some reason I was unable to do so this time, I personally blame the damned whiskey. 

             

The Battle of Antietam, a Volley and Bayonet bloodfest.

 For our first game of 2019, John had furiously been painting additional units and rebasing his 10mm ACW armies to re fight the Battle of Antietam using the Volley and Bayonet rules and their scenario for the encounter. For the battle it was fair to say both commanders were under the weather and snuffling like old men due to heavy colds. Did it affect our conduct of the battle? I dont think so.
In the forty plus years of wargaming there are only certain battles that one comes away from and thinks what a brilliant affair, if only I'd done so and so. Antietam was just such a battle.

 My only real regret is that I didnt take any photographs of the game because it deserved recording for wargaming posterity. It was like a Rocky film as opponents traded blows but refused to go down.      I opted to be the union and was intent on being a lot more aggressive than the real pocket Napoleon who really missed an opportunity to crush the rebellion.
In the real battle the union army consisted of 87,000 men vastly outnumbered the confederates 45,000. In order to create a balanced scenario the rebels were of better quality, and possessed a 'desperation' factor which allowed them to continue when exhausted. Additionally the Union corps arrived piecemeal onto the battlefield and were in the main of lower exhaustion levels. One mistake we made which to be honest didnt spoil the fun was to allow me to pick which Union corps was to be activated first as opposed to the initial attack by the First Corps as per history.
Initially things appeared to be going my way as I threw Sumner's 2nd Corps across the river, driving back the small rebel holding force and virtually destroying them in quick time.
 Im afraid after that things began to unravel as each time I was allowed to introduce an additional corps John was able to riposte with devastating firepower and damned rebel grit.

I was determined to use Burnside's very large 9th Corps and by move six had pushed them across the river and into the waiting rebels who chewed up the command spectacularly.The corps literally disappeared in record time due to the low strengths of the brigades. It was quite a shock to take them off the battlefield.
 After a full five hours of play, I had pushed the rebels back to the Bloody Lane where John had scraped together the remnants of the rebel army and was intent on making a final stand.
 But I had nothing left to inflict the coup de grace and so activated the reserve corps which in the scenario signaled that the rebels had 'won' simply because they had damaged the Union so much that they couldn't inflict the crushing defeat that was demanded in the scenario. Yes the Confederates were sorely damaged as in reality but then the Union army was also in dire condition and unfit to carry on. It was a wonderful but exhausting game. It could have been the cold, but I felt like Id actually fought in the battle.
  We had recovered by the Sunday and John and I took the short journey to Gateshead to Ardhammer, which was an interesting way to begin the new wargaming season. Ardhammer as I have mentioned before is a meeting of gamers who come to sell their spare armies, games, and sundry other wargaming ephemera. Yes it may focus on Games Workshop and the like but I noticed there was a lot more historical stuff on offer. We were both still under the weather but somehow managed to spend some cash on items that appeared of use in the future. I know nothing about Games Workshop armies but I do like their paint and was able to pick up a couple of odd items for my grandson who enjoys playing with the few 40K figures I had painted for him. I do have a problem though and that is how do I top our first game of the new year. It is going to be very difficult.

The IWG Annual of Fun 2018.

 Well its that time of the year again. The Independent Wargames Group Annual of Fun 2018. For the young and uninformed from around the World the image above is the cartoon character Andy Capp who embodied the years when I was growing up in the North East of the 1960's and 1970's. Andy was a hard drinking, work shy, rascal who often fought with his wife Flo or any other person for that matter. He had a good heart and loved his life and football.

As a child I used to love to read his exploits and his view on life in and around Hartlepool, a place that sadly still suffers from deprivation and lack of investment.But Andy was always impulsive and hopeful of winning big on the horses. God forbid that he should need to get a job.

What has this to do with wargaming?
Very little really, but like all good annuals they should contain humorous and the like.
Anyway onto some more nostalgia, [do you see what I did there]   It has been a very busy Christmas Period and wargaming has taken a back seat but now I'm back so managed to complete another Hinchliffe unit for my English Civil War project, the aim? To re create the armies that my long standing opponent John Reidy sold way back in the 1980's which I was always impressed by and wanted to own but never had the cash to buy.

I can never replicate the way John painted that wonderful couple of armies, by God I would love to have them even now. Unusually for me I have drawn up a list of what I still need to buy and paint to complete the two armies, it is quite a long list. I say unusual because I try not to buy large amounts of metal now, because I find piles of unpainted figures very de-motivating. The list however is necessary as I know Ian Hinds intends to hold a Spring sale of Hinchliffe figures which it would make sense to use to buy what I need.

Anyway back to 2018. Show wise I didn't attend as many as usual, this was simply because of other commitments ie. holidays and family commitments. Of the shows I did attend the best for me was the first Partizan which had a great number of quality games to look at and gain inspiration. The worst...York and that was simply because of the success of the event which made attending quite an unpleasant experience. Hopefully next year's will be a more pleasant event with new games that will again inspire me.

One is overwhelmed by the number of brave individuals prepared to put their money where their mouths are and produce small ranges of figures, this year has been no different with some unusual subjects released. This is in 28mm by the way. I think there are several wargamers who deserve recognition for their courage. They will never make a fortune but still release figures. This years favourites for me are Graham Cummings of Crann Tara fame for releasing his wonderful SYW French mounted musketeers and Saxon figures sculpted by the son? of Charles Stadden. Brilliant. The second person who deserves a thank you is Barry Hilton for beginning to release a lovely Turkish range.Great sculpts.

On to rules. What a year yet again as wargames rules were released covering every period, scale and genre from skirmish to army sized games, it was never ending. John and I played several sets of these rules and frankly I enjoyed them all for different reasons. My overall favourite was Simon Miller's,  For King and Parliament which captured the period beautifully.
 John and I however have also looked back into our wargaming past and re discovered the excellence of the original Volley and Bayonet rules that give a subtle but quick playing game.Frank Chadwick is a very good writer of subtle rules.

Of course 2018 saw the release of Black Powder 2 which I naturally bought. One either loves or simply hates these rules. I actually have grown to appreciate their simplicity and lightness of touch, yes the new book has issues ie. poor proof reading, but as a set of fun rules they work and work very well. 

So what for the future? Well 2019 sees me travel over the border into the land of the Scots for The Great Game 2019, the re enactment of The Battle of Waterloo in 28mm. It should be quite a weekend and all for a very good cause. Apart from that I hope to fight more games and complete my ECW project which will then allow me to return to the renaissance and the small metal mountain calling me.I intend to get to more wargames shows next year, and visit ones I have never attended jut to see what they are about. So to all wargamers who visit this modest site, a Happy New Year and a very prosperous one.