Gardening for Wargamers

As I mentioned during my belated first post for June, I went along to the hundredth anniversary Chelsea Flower Show at the end of May. I am not a gardener, but wanted to see the show to see what all the fuss was about. Very pretty and thought provoking at times. I enjoyed my day. Who would have thought there were so many types of cactus!?!?!?!?

Anyway, I took a major shine to one stall and would love to own a bit of this fantasy nonsense in the garden. See what you think.

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Goblin go-karter. The legend of Gorkamorka lives on!!!

Flying sprite to dig up your plants anyone?

The purveyor of bronze, goblinoid, garden madness.

Something for those with a fondness for elvish foppery. (Shame about the bloke's head getting in the way. He is not one of the exhibits....)

My overall favourite. What could be cooler than a gyrocopter-flying goblin reaching down with a mallet to smack a gnome on the back of the head??? You just know you want one in your patch!!!

The Reason I Went To Partizan (mostly)

Apart from getting the figures I ordered from Old Glory for my Bannockburn-era project, the main reason I went to Partizan was to see the advertised League of Augsburg game.

I missed the Derby show last year, but went to the 2011 show with the express intention of seeing their game there, but missed it, shoe-horned as it was into some side room. I have seen their outings in the flesh only a few times, but have always been impressed with the scenic basing of the figures, the colour and scale of the game, the vignettes, their promotion of their game and the all round look of the things they do. I love the look of the 1690 period, and will one day complete my own offerings, so sit back and (hopefully) enjoy a selection of the photos I took of their game at Partizan.

Note: the quality of the photos is variable and owes a lot to the venue, with its random lighting, milling punters and close confines causing weird shadows in unexpected places. I have tried to select the best.......A better camera might help, as would a modicum of photographic talent. Maybe one day I will have both.

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The Huguenots brigade. I believe the flags are the ones produced by Warfare Miniatures based on Clarence Harrison's work.

Bellew's Regiment, one I wish to add to my own Jacobites.

Massed Catholic horse.

And more still.

Protestant Horse.

I have always had a thing for windmills!

Some Danes.

Somewhere in "sunny" Ireland. Anyone who has ever been there will know it is anything but most of the time!!!

Magpie that I am, I was drawn to the distinctive flags of this regiment. I was informed it was John Lacey's.

I was also told that this was the Earl of Westmeath's.

The same Danes as before from a slightly different angle.



Partizan

It has been two weeks in the making, but I have now decided to write up my thoughts on the Partizan show held at Newark (UK, not New Jersey) on 2nd June.

What has taken so long?

Well, I know these particular shows are very well regarded, but...........

The venue looks superb, being held in an old theological college (I think), but these things were not meant for wargames shows and credit card machines. The very useful map was just that though, very useful, so I do not think I missed much if anything (though I did have to go round twice before I found the League of Augsburg game I wanted to catch).

I felt a little sorry for the likes of Baccus and Caliver Books who were shoe-horned into a couple of rooms away from the main events, but that is one of the "issues" with the venue.

The range of traders was pretty decent, but, alas, it struck a discordant note to find that even some major names would not take cards!!!!! Do they think royalty such as I carry money??????? They were probably onto something, however, as both Old Glory and 1st Corps took an age to take my details due to the serious delays in reception throughout the venue. Business well done in the end though.

Then there were the cramped conditions. I found myself tip-toeing around some of the games for fear of a random nudge depositing half a dozen well-painted, unsuspecting 28mm infantry onto the carpet. Note to self: do NOT wear knitwear to this event and do NOT bend closely over any of the tables.

Then there are the usual bio-hazard wargamers for whom deodorant is the symbol of the Anti-Christ.

Finally, Newark (UK still, I have not gone trans-Atlantic mid-post) is not the easiest of places to access from sunny Staffordshire, at least not after the A38 is left behind in favour of single carriageway slowness.

But that's the "bad".

The games were often good-looking affairs and some people even spoke.
There were some unusual subjects on offer.
The range of traders was decent and encompassed many I had neither seen nor heard of before. (Sorry to Lancer Miniatures - I was looking to get some WW1 armoured cars, but spent out too soon).
The atmosphere was one of fun and fevered activity, with many wargames top brass chatting away with sundry individuals - Henry Hyde, Guy Bowers, James Morris, various GW officionadoes (name dropper, I know).

Will I return? Probably, but I suspect I will not become a regular.
Did I get what I was after? Largely. Old Glory did some business on the Anglo-Scots front, 1st Corps the same, Caliver did not have the latest "Wargaming in History" in stock, but I did get some RCW rules I had my eye on. Last but not least, I got to sample some of the gorgeous flag sheets by Clarence Harrison on sale with Warfare Miniatures. The highlight of the show was obtaining the Nassau-Saarbrucken-Ottweiler flag, or at least a very creditable conjecture on what it may have looked like.

Now for some pics.

The Venue - Kelham Hall

Three shots of the Carlist War game staged by the Lincoln club

Sneaky Japanese hiding an HMG in their dug out. Very naughty.

Top lads from 14th army. Hurrah!

Those dastardly Japanese taking some well-aimed shell fire.

Raphia, 217BC.

More Raphia. Not sure who put some of these games on....

A very tasty Victorian sci-fi affair. League of Gentlemen Anti-Alchemists???

And a detail shot of the same.

Korean War in 28mm - very different.

MASH helicopters!!!

Dastardly and sneaky Chinese.

Very nice looking sci-fi game using Ainsty Casting bits and pieces. I always liked their "pipe farms".

Indian Mutiny skirmish.

 I have loads more photos, but I think you have an idea.

One thing I will do is publish the League of Augsburg ones separately, as I took loads. It might just kick-start my own collection.

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Welcome back and a new show

Hello again.

Don't you just hate it when you do not have enough time for the things that matter? What with a visit to the Chelsea Flower Show (I thought it would be good as it was the 100th anniversary, and it was too, especially the brass, goblin, garden ornaments!!!), taking youngest daughter to her first ever football tournament (they got thrashed, but I may just have a Roberta Moore [aka "Bobby"] in the making) and masses of work at, hmm, work, there has not been a lot going on.

But:

1. I did get to Partizan for the first time in years - post/ show report/ pics to follow.
2. I have played a couple of very enjoyable games of Dead Man's Hand - see below.
3. I have now done banners for all of my English cavalry for my Bannockburn project.
4. I have added a couple or so more units of infantry to the project.
5. And......I think that is about it.

I will cover off all the above within the next week or so, but I want to take this opportunity to advise all those local to the Midlands of a new show just a week away.

It will be held at the White Eagle Club in Stafford on Sunday, 23rd June, from 10 till 3. It is on Riverway, opposite the cricket ground, about two miles from junction 13 of the M6 and dead easy to get to. I believe it is also free to enter!!! The Wyrley Retinue will be there (as many of us who can shake a leg on a Sunday morning anyway) with a 30 Years' War game (we do have other stuff, but it would be a shame to get all the figures dirty! A chap named Mark, who has organised it and whose surname I do not know, believes there will be 24 traders there (quite likely since he says he is charging just £6 a pitch!!!) and various games. We can only get an 8x4 table, but I will forgive him for that!

Do come along if you can. I gather Mark's effort is largely if not solely a solo one, so he deserves all the credit for such an endeavour and I certainly wish him well.

Look forward to maybe seeing one or two of you there. Come and say "Hello" if you do make it over.

G