Barrage Show, Stafford, 10th July, 2016

Sunday, 10th July saw the latest outing for the "Wyrley Retinue", the occasion being the annual Barrage Show in Stafford. We took a 10x6ft version of our "Battle of Canny, c.1476" demo game and we all had a good time (I think), with the Swiss earning another win, but a more hard-fought one than previously, but the Burgundian left had pretty much beaten the Swiss right (another dodgy showing from "Occasional Wargamer Brother Kev" with the Bernese contingent!). Still, I got to beat up Nephew Ben with the Lorrainers and a mixed Swiss contingent and the Zurichers broke through the Burgundian centre right, so it was all going well by closing time!

It was not all entirely good though.

The weather was alternately (very) wet and dry, which made emptying the car amusing! The venue was stiflingly hot and there was arguably too much crammed into the main hall which made it feel hotter and more claustrophobic than perhaps was necessary. Several traders were also a bit peeved that people did not know they were there in a second hall.

Note to organisers: put the tourney games in the small hall and move the trade presence to the main one, which would also probably free up some space there too.

However, there were numerous good bits too.

1. £150 was raised for a local hospice from raffle ticket sales.
2. James Morris (and friends') Verdun game. Take a look at this game if you see it offered at a show. It is a very simply but excellently staged rendition of a small section of a fort on the Verdun front (Fort Vaux, I think), beautifully modelled and with a novel game played over, in and around it.
3. The Athlone game from Derby (I think). Colourful, well-modelled and with some very nice touches. I almost broke out my stalled 1690 figure project...
4. Some very decent trade offerings for a small show.
5. Many other, smaller games from Telford and others, which I did not get much chance to see in detail.

Overall, a well done to the organisers and I am looking forward to seeing this show get bigger and better again for next year.

I would show you photos of the best bits, but my camera died without taking a shot in anger and then my phone refused to yield its contents!

So the only pictures you get are of my customarily too frequent purchases! I only went to the show with the intention of buying two things - "Sharp Practice 2" and, if I could get an early copy, Dan Mersey's latest offering via Osprey Publishing, for colonial games, namely "The Men Who Would Be Kings".

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Eagle Figures are a company I have seen at loads of shows, but not bought from before, as I do not really "do" the periods they offer figures for. However, the opportunity to add a few more figures for my Thirty Years' War collection was too good to miss, so a unit pack of musketeers with rest was duly purchased. Spanish guerrillas, Austrian Pandours....and "Sharp Practice 2" newly released could change all that though...

The "Wyrley Retinue" AGM decision (OK, a small gathering of three of us at my house a few months ago) was that next year's demo game would be something we already had and Nephew Nick was most keen to do a "Vikings in Ireland" game. We all agreed so there we are. Thus, I thought I would buy myself some Irish cavalry from Ainsty. I added in a few Welsh cavalry for variety...They will all be speaking Gaelic when they take to the table though. 

And who would not have a stone circle in their Irish/ Ancient British games?

Three boxes of Perry plastics and I hope to have a Peninsular War set up for Sharp Practice. Infantry, Hussars and Dragoons pretty much covers all I will need for the first few units. Then back to Eagle Figures in the near future for some Spanish?

One ruleset to rule them all, one ruleset to find them...What I ACTUALLY went to the show with the intention of buying! I thought I would buy both the cards and chips in case I lose one or the other...

And now for something COMPLETELY different!

I did not get to play the demo game on show by Questing Knight games of Wellington, Shropshire, and have not even seen the latest "Mad Max" film even though I have the DVD, but this was a must-buy when I saw it. Four double-sided road boards, some cars and bikes, game aids and artwork...What is not to like???

Lebensraum (Or, "The Great DIY Land Grab")

Hello again!

The Barrage Show in Stafford (Blessed William Howard Catholic School to be precise) is just a couple of weeks away on 10th July and the Wyrley Retinue will be there with our "The Battle of Canny, c.1476" game.

This is a small show but deserves support and last year turned up some surprisingly big trader names, with the likes of Ainsty, Eagle Miniatures, Warlord and numerous others braving the wet weather. These traders and more besides are set to be there this year too, so put 10th July in your diary and come along. Most of the games are to be participation ones, I believe, so "stay and play" seems to be the motto for the day.

Our affair, however, is a demo and, with a 10x6ft table to fill, I decided some more terrain tiles were in order. Here is my progress so far, with three of the four tiles I have so far built at the basecoat stage.

Various people have asked me over the years how I made the tiles for the games we have put on (though the "Malta" terrain was not mine, but rather the work of Nephews Paul and Nick, with my artwork later on). I hope this little step by step photo montage helps, but I basically lifted everything from Paul Darnell's books on terrain building, which I believe are still around at shows and second hand (I got my copies from Dave Thomas a few years back now). His edition on making terrain for the English Civil War era is spot on for my main interests, but his books on Peninsular War and Sudan terrain are also well worth a look.

1. The base is 6mm MDF, cut to 600mm square.
2. The polystyrene is 50mm thick insulation material (the loose stuff, which is easier to work with than the dense pink or blue stuff but not as strong in its raw state.
3. I use artists' mounting board, foamcore board and masking tape to square off and protect edges as necessary. This also acts as a filler against my less than straight cutting!
4. Any roads are marked on with filler (I use ready-coloured brown but any make will do). For maximum usage potential, ensure all roads/ rivers/ streams/ etc leave the board in the middle of the relevant edge so they all match up regardless of where you put them on your table. It is a little artificial, because real roads do not do that, but is a small compromise for the layout possibilities it allows.
5. Once the roads are dry, use PVA glue liberally across the whole remaining surface of the tile and add model railway ballast, sharp sand and other rough, gritty material to taste to texture the board. The colour is irrelevant, but I would probably shy away from some of the gaudy grains you get for fish tanks, however cheap they are! If you want hills or other elevations or depressions on the tile, ensure these are added BEFORE the grit!
6. Then paint the whole tile dark brown with a cheap masonry paint.

The rest of the stages will follow with the next part of this post when I have finished the tiles!

I hope the photos explain better than my instructions...

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Detail shot showing the edging, for both protection and general squareness after my dodgy cutting...

A nice, square tile

My crossroads, showing the brown filler used to mark the roads and the grit glued everywhere else for texture. As this is supposed to be a dirt track, useable from ancient times up to even the present day, some ruts in the track are essential, hence how rough it is.



Other boards are completely plain and flat, so I can charge cavalry across them unhindered or add a wood or other feature as desired.

Three of the four boards, exactly at the point where I ran out of brown paint (D'oh!) Still, one litre pot of brown paint has done me in the region of 90 square feet of terrain tiles since I bought it several years ago, so I cannot complain.

"1,2,3. You're back in the room..."

You promise yourself you'd do more. You promise yourself you'd post more. You promise yourself the target of four posts minimum per month was a good achievable standard.

You fail dismally...

Finally, six or seven weeks after the event, I am finally posting some pics of the WMMS show held on 13th March at the Aldersley Leisure Centre near Wolverhampton, West Midlands, England, UK, Europe, The World, etc.

I can confidently remember the fact that I had a good day, spent too much and stood outside for a short while due to the obligatory fire alarm activation - three years on the bounce!!!

Enjoy the pics!

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Our "Battle of Canny, c.1476" game in full, troops all laid out ready to go.

The Burgundian right flank

Some Swiss

My 11 year old daughter, Eleanor, joined us for her first ever outing to a wargames show and promptly smashed the opposition in the form of Occasional Wargamer Brother Kev. She has since gone on to play games of Saga and Frostgrave and won both of those with eased too! She took the game to the Burgundians whilst I fannied around blundering and failing command rolls and Nephew Paul just fannied around!

The Drum tavern was strangely quiet...

More Swiss.

Part of Sir John Middleton's command.

The Comte de Romont led the Burgundian right flank battle.

Troublesome Lorrainers, who danced back and forth failing command rolls most of the day whilst Daughter Eleanor thrashed her uncle to their right.

"Why are we wasting our time firing at skirmishers?" queried young Jean.

Nephew Nick's Italians actually stayed on the table this time.

"Erm, shouldn't we move the fence?" queried Willy the Walloon.

A rather ragged line of crossbowmen.

The clash in the village.

This game was put on by the Derby club. I think it is part of Blenheim.

A game set around the Russian destruction of the German allies around Stalingrad. I do not remember who staged this game.

I don't know who did this lovely WW1 game either...

Shrewsbury's game with boats, 18th Century again.

WMMS 2016

Just a quick reminder that the WMMS show is on this Sunday, 13th March, at the Aldersley Leisure Centre near Wolverhampton.

Plenty of traders are advertised as attending - previous ones include the likes of Dave Thomas, Pendraken, Kallistra, Last Valley, Redoubt, Lancashire Games and many others - so I normally find what I am looking for, as, I am sure, will you!

The Wyrley Retinue will be there with our Swiss vs Burgundian affair, though I am not yet sure which of us will actually be in attendance! It might just be me...

Either way, come along, splash the cash (regret it later!) and say "Hello!" should you see us. If you do see us and we are busy, heads down, rolling dice and muttering about dodgy rules, feel free to give a quick jab in the ribs and talk to us. It is always beneficial to be distracted from poor tactics masquerading as unlucky dice...

See you there!

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Wargamer 2015

Sunday, 6th December, 2015 saw the annual, drastically under-publicised event that is the "Wargamer" show. held for the second year at the Leasowes Sports Centre, Halesowen.

There was some good stuff on offer from trade and gamers alike, some of which you can see snippets of below.

From a trade perspective, the ever-wonderful Ainsty Castings were there, as were the omnipresent Warlord and numerous others to boot.

My eye was drawn however to someone I had not encountered before and a game I had not heard of. That trader was "7th Heaven Games" and the game was "Carnivale", gothic horror set in 18th Century Venice!!! The miniatures looked astounding and the thought of gondoliers taking on Cthulhu is a big draw!!! Check it out.

I bought some Frostgrave figures and the new scenario book, "Thaw of the Lich Lord" from Ainsty, finally got my hands on the Mercenary Captain figure for the late 16th Century from Warlord (the idea of the French Wars of Religion just won't go away...), got some much required paint and a card game called "Condottiere" from Fantasy Flight Games, bought from MagicGeek. I look forward to trying out that one over the festive period.

I hope this show gets some better publicity in future as it has the potential to be a biggie. We in the Wyrley retinue always view it as the start of our "season", where we try out our latest demo offering. Massive thanks to all those who took the time to come and see us, speak to us and comment on our showing. Your feedback is greatly appreciated! A certain doyen of the hobby by the name of Mr David Bickley even suggested we take it to Partizan! Our next scheduled outing is the WMMS show at the Aldersley Leisure Centre near Wolverhampton on the second Sunday in March. We aim to have a bigger and better offering on show there, as we like to upgrade our demo games between shows so you never see the same thing twice. Seeing as you guys have to pay to get in, the least we can do is show you something you will not have seen exactly the same as beforehand is our view.

For this outing, I called the game "The Battle of Canny, c.1476". We had elements of Grandson, Morat and Nancy in the game, so an anagram was deemed the most suitable choice of name.

But, without further ado, some pics of some of the games on offer. It was a good day out.

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Burgundian right flank, with plenty of gensdarmes and a handy fence...

The unit of the match - the Burgundian foot men-at-arms led by Philip de Crevecoeur (scratch one pike block and a unit of halberdiers...)

The mixed cantons battle storming down the centre of the table.

The Zurich-led contingent that formed the right of the Swiss line. Uri, Lucerne and the banner of Adrian von Bubenberg are also visible.

One of the artillery redoubts that formed part of the Burgundian line.

More gensdarmes, this lot under the command of the Comte de Romont

And the good count himself, a Foundry rider on an Essex horse with a Perry coustillier holding his banner, which is from Freezywater Publications available from the Lance & Longbow Society stand at shows.

Sir John Middleton commanded the Burgundian centre. This little stand is a mix of Foundry, Front Rank and Perry figures, with the usual Freezywater banner.

And now for something completely different...Sikh Wars from the Selly Oak and District club

ZAMBURUKS!!!

That farmhouse, but I am unsure who brought this small slice of Belgium to the English Midlands (Chase Wargames Society???)

Martin Hackett and the Border Warlords ran a fantasy game with some impressive mountains on show

Kinver brought along a decent looking Malaya game, c1942

A column of Chi-Ha tanks enters the table

Back to us and the fight that sorted out the centre - those darn MAA taking on and beating all Swiss comers...

More gensdarmes from the Burgundian right flank battle. Almost taking the Man of the Match award were the Lorrainer Men-at-arms who singlehandedly routed the gensdarmes opposed to them on this wing. The Lorrainers were the only unit of heavy cavalry on the Swiss side but they were AWESOME!!! They are just off to the right of this shot and about to pounce!

Traffic jam in the Burgundian centre, with Flemish pike from Ghent, Ordonnance pike, longbowmen and gensdarmes queuing up behind Crevecoeur's brilliant MAA

An interesting desert game, source unknown. Rommel's half track is on the road just north of centre of this shot.

A Peninsular War skirmish

And the funniest thing about the whole day. This is the Italian mercenary command that finally arrived on the Burgundian left to help their cause. They arrived late on turn 6 or 7 through poor arrival dice, then blundered their orders at the start of the next turn and fled never to be seen again!!! You could not write such quality comedy!!!