Partizan 2012 (May 27th)

As always Partizan entertained and inspired me.  If I could only ever go one wargames show then I suspect Partizan would be my show of choice.  Quality participation games, quality demo games, and lots of the great and the good in the wargames hobby there. 

Firstly I must make big apologies to the staff at Wargames Soldiers Strategy - I didn’t take any photos of the naval wars of the Roses game. 

There are some pictures on the Too much Lead Blogspot and here at Another Slight Diversion

  

It was only going to be a morning visit as I had both mum to visit on the way back to the in laws and then to get back down to Exeter.  The plan was to start at the furthest place from the entrance/exit and work my way backwards.  That sort of fell apart as at 10.30 I was offered the chance to play Muskets and Tomahawks.  I was intrigued what was within this rule set given that I’m a fan of the fairly innovative SAGA and this is by the same author. 

For the most part the rules are very similar to what we have seen elsewhere – dice rolls to hit, dice rolls to kill (or save), dice for morale etc.   The cards reflect that this is a card driven activation system.   Where M&T has evolved is that rather than one card per unit (as per Battlemasters), and lots of rules from Two Fat Lardies (Which I also like) this give different numbers to different types: at its crudest analysis then irregulars like Rangers get 4 cards with one action (move, shoot, reload) per card, whereas regulars get 2 cards but 2 actions per card.  There is a bit more to the system than that – Indians, Civilians, Grenadiers, Officers and morale all playing a part along with optional event cards.  As I understand it so far (need to read rules) the contrast with the Two Fat Lardies system is that your cards are guaranteed to come up, compared with the “tea break” card that causes a re-shuffle although I’m not sure.   More on M&T and the French Indian Wars in a subsquent blog post.  

The Camera came out somewhat sparingly – as usual these days.  A few more pictures will appear on my next blog entry ‘scatter terrain’.  

An Arthurian game from Westbury Wargames

A VBCW game from the Gentleman's Wargames Parlour 

A Vinland game from Shaun at the Bunker.

In talking with him he did admit that lots of the rock - including that at the left had been reused from a '633 Squadron' game.  

A World War One game from Great War Miniatures.  Lots of really nice details in this and freely admitted to be a spatial compression game (so that a manufacturer can show off what they do) - the front line to the artillery to the supply tractors would in reality have been miles.   A nice change from the brown mud games.   

A Wars of the Roses game from Perry Miniatures.  As one might expect, this was stunning although I might have liked something that told me about the battle or the sides/heraldry (if fictional).  

Muskets and Tomahawks participation from Rich Jones. 

I probably spent more at Partizan on goodies than I did at Salute.  

        

~Muskets and Tomahawks

~Two Rice paddies (A4 size) from The Last Valley

~Song of Arthur and Merlin (Ganesha Games) - Ready printed copy from Dave Thomas

Various bits for M&T - Two Totem poles (Grand Manner) for use with Indians, Redendra Bell Tents for regular soldiers, Trade goods (two different sets) from Ainsty Castings, and some second hand French Indian Wars which I have now identified as Redoubt Enterprises (and good sculpts: I feel some Redoubt stuff is good and some poor). 

Chris

Legionary 2012

Legionary is my local show in Exeter.  It's had somewhat of a chequered history in recent years having been through several different hands and venues.  Alongside this has been the rationalisation of show attendance by traders and the effects of the downturn in the economy.   With Exeter being roughly 100 miles from Bristol then aside from any overnight costs its going to be a good 5-6 (if not more) gallons of fuel for anyone to get there and back from North of Bristol or West of Bournemouth.  In 2010 I'd been somewhat disappointed and whilst 2011 saw it move to the new venue as part of my general lack of enthusiasm I didn't go.
As always the show was very mixed - lots of Warhammer 40l/Fantasy and Flames of War from traders, and generally smaller local traders.  This does not always mean little league as for example Black Scorpion produce some of the finest figures available today in my opinion.   The Square and Dreamholme are some of the big producers of resin terrain.  None of these had much new though to interest me, and the first two (not sure about the third) were certainly at Salute only a few weeks previously.
A major part of the show in recent years has been the tournaments - Warhammer fantasy and 40K (Flames of War and Warmachine have been in/out as well in recent years) - which do not interest me at all.
The quality of the wargames on show seems to reflect the very variable nature of the hobby at the moment.  Some were very good, some were just disinterested in people around them, and a few (Saga / Dystopian Wars / War and Conquest) were linked in with traders at the show.
I'd arrived reasonably late on the afternoon and still had my stick re my bad back (see Salute blog).   I only got the camera out for two games, although a third featuring the Sudan was interesting but not of much interest to me to record.
Firstly a VBCW game from the Abbeywood Irregulars.

Next was a Victorian themed steam tanks plus HG Wells/Jules Verne "liftwood" aerial gunboats.  NOt something I particularly want to game but some excellent modelling being demonstrated. 

I had a quick explanation of the use of Strategy dice within War and Conquest from Rob Broom and Scarab Miniatures,  My copy from the Northstar sale had arrived that lunchtime and I'd not even had time to open it.  Had I been more organised then I should have allowed time for a walkthrough of the full game/rules.   

I bought very little at the show - a reflection probably of it coming only a couple of weeks after Salute and the traders that were there.  I got a few figures out of a bargain bin to convert into SAGA personalities - if its cheap when it goes under the hacksaw and I botch it then I'm not too upset.  One discovery made as I was literally heading towards the door, and people were starting to pack up /go home was some laser cut MDF terrain from Warmill - had I looked more closely then getting one of their cargo pods for me would have been on my list.  As it was I got a stargate (small centre one) for my chum in London.  Warmill are exactly the sort of small supplier with a niche product that I would like to see at Salute if the economics could be made right. 

Chris

   

Games Expo 2012

Saturday 26th May saw me get up at an unearthly hour - 5.45 I think to be on the road for 6.45 to try and get car parking at the venue in Birmingham.  In the end we didn't but were one of the first cars turfed out onto the side street and got parking within a hundred yards or so of the venue.  I got here for Saturday morning and had 9.30 til 2 pm at the show.   It encompasses everything - LARP - RPG - Miniatures - Boardgames.  To be fair the historical miniatures side of the show is varied and generally small - I think they had the UK Flames of War tournament one year.  This year it was a busy and well attended Warmachine tournament.  Mostly the miniatures side is the Horror/SF/Fantasy skirmish/collectable/display end of the market - the 28-32mm stuff.

I got to play a boardgame - Snowdonia - in what appeared to be a finished pre-production version.  Interesting resource management game but nothing military about it.  No pictures I'm afraid.  

There was a very nice Pirate game from Redditch Wargames Society which suffered somewhat from its location of being next door to the bring and buy and therefore lots of people nearby and somewhat crowded.

Lots of Buildings by Grand Manner (Spanish Convent and other peninsular stuff painted slightly different colours to be more grungy and piratey and less whitewashed Spain) and Cutlass rules from Black Scorpion.  There were some other miniatures games but generally of the Science Fiction/Fantasy/Horror genre which don't do much for me.  

Total purchases at the show were two dice - with a logo on one side - as presents for others, and a couple of very reduced price but still in shrinkwrap boardgames, again to give away as presents.  

I didn't go last year (and not sure about the year before) but am looking forward to the change of venue.  The timing though now appears to be fixed which means that there is always going to be the clash with Partizan.  

Website is here - Games Expo