Airfix/Matchbox...?

A short post, with reference to my photo in the previous post, about the "Airfix Cromwell tank on the bridge"... I did chuckle at the different thoughts & comments on it.. was it Airfix or Matchbox, was it a Cromwell, Comet or even a Sherman... do any of us have a decent memory these days? Well, clearly, I haven't..
I would agree that it was actually a Matchbox rather than an Airfix kit, on thinking of it after reading the Comments, which were much appreciated! .. BUT I would be sure that it was NOT a Sherman tank.. No, I definitely remember it being a Cromwell..er.. or maybe a Comet...and then a chap, Richard, posted this Link to me at TMP..
http://modelshelves.free.fr/dossiers/MB_GB/index.html
Just shows you eh! But at least we now know.. :-)
Regards and smiles all round,
Peeler

Duxford Imperial War Museum.

Back in the summer, after our visit to London, we stopped off at Duxford Imperial War Museum, just off the M11. Here's just a few pictures of what was on display, as there really was an awful lot of it, and I have to say, it is well worth a visit if you're ever down that way. The Title of this post is Linked to the Duxford Site.

Remember the Airfix Cromwell tank on a damaged bridge set? Well here it was on a 1:1 scale..

As said, this is only a very small proportion of the exhibits... but then, I don't want to be spoiling your visit...

Regards,

Battle of Gazala, 1942

We had a Western Desert WW2 game a short time ago, at Chez Alex, with myself and Hairy Dave as the gamers. I was Gen von Peeler, with German and Italian troops, whilst Dave was Lt Gen The Honourable Lord of Hairytown, with the British side. This Post Title is linked to the rule set we used, Rommel's Battles, written by our Mr Alex Testo, (rules writer and hotelier extraordinaire), and all round good egg. He also supplied the playing pieces, being mostly 6mm H&R, which were a joy to see. Whatever happened to Heroics and Ros, anyone know? I miss them, I used to have loads of them, goodness knows where they went. Anyway, all we had to do was to turn up and play, with Alex as Umpire.
There were four Btns of armour per side, with additional artillery, anti tank guns, recce units and air support. For a Napoleonic gamer such as myself, it all sounded rather complicated, what with OP's, Recce units, C&C by radio and so on.... and to be fair, WW2 was rather more complex than horse & musket.. but these rules do make it easy to play, whilst maintaining the difficulties and extra dimensions relevant to the era.
So, the main part of this particular battle was to exit the opponents side with at least three non-shaken units, whilst stopping the other side from doing the same. We placed our units onto a map, and only put them on the table when the enemy actually saw them, hence the importance of recce units and Op's. One doesn't want to blunder blindly into a 25pdr's shooting gallery with one's armour. Like I did at one point...
The cotton wool clouds each represent a hit, each base can take three.

Each side has a FAC..a Forward Air Controller, to call in air strikes. If you get through, and if it's on target, it can be devastating. I think this British bomber was using large 'wallop bombs', judging by the number of hits it achieved.

Some British Valentine tanks take refuge in a dip in the ground, going hull down. Although small, this little models are really well made. The numbers on the base represent the attack/defence factor, and ranges for firing, which again makes playing this game easy to do.

A Regt of British Grant tanks scoots across a depression, going for the Italian flank.

Whilst a Recce unit calls in a Stuka strike..

..on some Honey's, and scores a few hits. I think the Luftwaffe only put in one appearance during the whole game, but it did a good job when it appeared.

After some close quarter tank on tank action, and after some hits from that 25pdr, some German units decide to race for the breakthrough to the table edge.

Whilst the other attack got bogged down slugging it out with Matilda's and artillery.

And, just at the point at which my units won the game, by exiting the table with no less than five unshaken units, my camera gave up. I could blame the fine desert sand getting into the camera's working parts, but it was probably just down to using cheap pound shop batteries. Here's a thought, cheapies just aren't worth the money, I'll stick to Duracell in future.

The game played really well, and had a lot of interesting ups and downs for both sides, such as the accurate 25pdr, and the German '88, which totally mullered an armoured car unit that nearly broke through. The way the air strikes and off table artillery was effective when used, did show the need to keep your own forces out of sight for as long as possible, and also to get your own OP's into a good position, whilst not putting them in harms way. Also, don't rely on an air strike coming just when you want & need one, because they sometimes don't.

Lots to think about, and it made a pleasant change to play a WW2 game, I haven't done one for a long time, I reckon we'll have to have some more soon.

Thanks to Alex and Dave for an enjoyable and pleasantly played game.

Oh, and I won! ( Which makes a change).

Wagram, GdB Game, London

This game was organised by the GdB Site chaps, (Post Title is Linked) and was held over the 31 Oct-1st Nov 09 weekend, at the Officer's Mess, Wellington barracks, London. A fine venue for a game, and myself & Hairy Dave trotted down there for it. At a conservative guess, there were 10,000 15mm figures on the table, which was around 30ft by 6ft (I think), and around 20 players. It was good to meet up with some old friends, as well as make new ones, and a happy time was had by all. We drove down South on the Friday, and after experiencing Southern traffic on the M11, we parked the car at Mr Brown's Woodford residence, had coffee, and were grateful for a lift to the Station from Gary. We tubed it into London, and were happy to find that our Hotel, St Ermin's, was literally 2 minutes walk from St James Tube Stn, what a bonus!
After booking in, a bit of dinner was had, and very nice it was too, but I hadn't realised that it was a "Nouvelle Cuisine" place.. so whilst it was good, there weren't much of it! Try as we might, we were unable to locate a pie shop.. so a few pubs followed, and the Hotel Bar was open till late... and after that, I don't remember..
Saturday morning, and we were up and at 'em, a good breakfast was had, and Wellington Barracks was only a 5 minute walk from the Hotel. Couldn't have been better placed really. This is what we saw in those 5 minutes..perhaps they knew we were coming..

We were shown upstairs to the Mess, and what a place it was. It had an uncompromisingly Military, Patriotic, Royalist, Traditionalist, and strictly no nonsense accepted, tolerated or displayed, sort of atmosphere to it. Wonderful!

God Bless Her!

Old relics, pictures and history filled nearly every space.
To the game...We had the Austrian Reserve Cavalry, four Regts of Kuirassier, two of Chevuleger, one of Dragoons and three Batteries. This made for a relatively easy but enjoyable game for us... shoot with the guns and charge with the cavalry, in between smoke breaks, and not too much of the mechanics and chart gazing that goes with having a Corps command. We did our best to wiggle whilst throwing our dice, hoping it would help. I don't think it did, but at least it gave other players a chuckle, as did our "Dance of The Utmost Happiness", conducted upon good dice rolling. Some general shots of the table...


Most of the figures were AB, and I have to say, of a high painting standard. These were part of our Command.

After a bit of mooching about, we deployed a close order battery to our left, and sent the chaps in for a ruck. There was a fair bit of hacking and slashing, and toing and froing, but eventually we routed off a couple of Saxon Cavalry Regts, and retired another, along with a battery. We realised that we were facing the Saxon Guard units.. and they hurt a fair bit, causing a number of casualties that we could not replace, whereas the French simply replaced theirs from this Reserve table.

Gaming finished about 6pm, and then we were off for pub grub, pies and liquid refreshments. It was really good to have a beer with decent folk, put faces to names, and generally yabber on about gaming, blogging, life in general and so on...our last pub was directly opposite Big Ben, which had a lot of Wow! factor for us Northerners, being more used to quieter places.
(Bryce, Martin & Mathew..good to meet up! Hope your livers have recovered..especially that Bryce bloke...)
Here's one of our best behaved moments, in front of Buckingham Palace..I'm glad to see that these photos prove that it was in fact a blurry night, and that it wasn't just my eyesight being wonky at the time.


The other gent there is Bryce, by the way, pleasant gamer, good painter and all round decent chap. Our worst behaved moments were not recorded. :-) When the pubs shut, the Hotel Bar was open till late, and my memory is again a bit hazy.. I do remember there being a Boddington's pump on the bar..
Sunday, and (amazingly) we were still able to get up, and after another fine breakfast, we packed our bags, and made our way to the Mess. The streets were strangely quiet, the silence broken only by our own personal breaking of wind and whimpering. Well, we aren't getting any younger, and the beer seems to be getting stronger. The game was afoot again, and one of our three Brigades had to be sent to our right flank, to offer support against masses of Cuirassier Regts. This was our Light Brigade, but with artillery support, managed to break a French square.

Our two Kuirassier Brigades were slowly whittled down, by superior numbers, and after putting up a really good show, decided to leave the table, following Brigade Morale check failures. Hey ho, we did our job of holding up that part of the French attack, and drew some of their reserves our way, thus allowing the main Austrian effort an easier ride. In all, it was a marvelous game, the terrain was good but practical, and it was a joy just to be part of it.
Around 4pm, it was all over, and it was decided to be a draw, which was far better than the historical result of an overwhelming French victory, so well done to us Austrians I say!After a swift pie munching session, it was onto the tube, coffee with the Browns, and a drive back up North, getting back just in time for beer at The Forge. Larverly stuff.
My thanks to the GdB team for the game, and to the Browns for the parking and facilities. There will be a fair few more pictures, over the next few days, on the GdB site Gallery page (see Wargames Links).

Pickering WW2 WeekEnd.

We went along to this re-enactment weekend on October 17th, (the title above links into a short You-tube video), a really good friendly and interesting time it was too, and only a short bus ride away on't Moor Bus Services, which makes a pleasant start to the day, it makes a change not to be driving.
The main event is at Pickering itself, but other nearby villages put on events too, so there is a lot to get around, as well as taking in some wonderful Moors views. After a large fat boys breakfast at a local cafe, we bought some pies to munch as we stood to watch the main parade through the town, made up of British and American military vehicles and such like. Germans are not allowed into Pickering itself, unless under armed guard, and so their display is at nearby Levisham. Mr Churchill, with large cigar and v-sign, naturally got the most applause and cheers. God Bless the fellow, and all of those involved, for saving us from European domination.
Unfortunately, I'd forgotten my camera.. (d'oh).. and for that, I blame my local landlord for selling me far too much Tetleys the night before. Thankfully, after a walk through the 1940's market, Mrs Peeler joined us, with car and camera, and we made our way on to Levisham.
Re-named "Le Visham" for the weekend, the village and station was "German Occupied", good to see, but also a warning perhaps of how things may have been, had we lost.
Anyway, here's some pictures of a German camp just outside the Station, I think these gents were actually from West Yorks. They certainly looked the part, and the equipment looked very realistic.

The Station itself was regulated by German Military Police types, who played the part very well, anyone dressed in 1940's Allied uniform was arrested, and 1940's civilians were questioned closely. Enjoyable, but also worrying, at the same time.

This flag was flying on the Station itself, I presume it was some sort of German Rail flag, but I'm not at all sure.

As we drove out of the village, some Americans turned up and had a mooch about.

Onto Goathland, and a rather nice display of elderly motor bikes.

And the Home Guard on display, watching out for any typical dirty Nazi tricks and suchlike.

This was different, a Bren gun fitted with a cylinder magazine, holding 100 rounds, for A/A use.

Were horses bigger in the '40's? I only ask because the bloke stood next to it was a good 6'2, and that horse isn't standing up straight..

Last, but not least, Le Resistance, cunningly disguised, and keeping a watchful eye on the Germans, just waiting for the moment to strike, cause chaos to the invader, then melt away into

the countryside again..

A quick Witter, both Gaming and Blogging are going well, I have a weekend in London coming up for a GdB Wagram game, at which I have the Austrian Reserve Cavalry, so hopefully that will mean a gentle start for me on the Saturday morning, and we have Smoggycon and Recon shows coming up soon, which we are gaming at, so some good days to look forward to.

I'd like to pass a welcome to the latest "Followers", being Tim from Norton, CJP, Pat, Mike Siggins and Billy, welcome to all, and a good selection of Blogs they have between them.

Regards to all,

British have another go at the Zulu..

We gathered for a rematch a few days ago, following the tragic slaughter of the British some time ago (see previous DBC game). The British came back to Zululand determined to avenge the defeat, this time bringing along a Gatling gun. (Yes, and an unpainted wagon..from the Airfix Wagon Train set).
The Zulu, buoyed up by their earlier victory, were equally determined to defend their Kraal (yes, represented by a filter box.. I know, I must get painting soon..).. against the invader.
We used the same DBC rules, which will be available from Alex's DBN site sometime soon after a final tweak or two.
Doug and Alex played the Brits, Peeler and Richie had the Zulus. Brits had 12 points, with two Elite Regular bases, the Zulu only got one extra point, so had a total of 16 points, including two Elite and two shooters.
The British started off forward in one large formation, Gatling to the fore, skirmishers on the flanks, the General some way to the rear, and the Hero (single figure) Mr Flashman (seventh son a a village Vicar), riding around just behind the line, waiting for his chance of glory.

The Zulu put on a show of force with two Shooters and three Native bases, along with the Chief in support. The rest of the Zulu loitered off table, awaiting their chance, and hoping for a war cry.

The British formed a line on the plateau, and the Gatling quickly dispatched a Shooter base. Not liking the hail of lead, the Zulu edged over to the right, hoping to avoid the Gatling and close in on the infantry.

On the British right, a swarm of Zulu suddenly appeared, moving swiftly in, hoping for an easy flank attack. If the Chief and his small force were the chest, then this was one of the horns of the traditional Zulu attack.

On seeing this threat, the British divided their force, (always risky!) leaving the line on the plateau to take care of the Zulus to its front, whilst the rest formed a large square.

As the Zulu chest was recoiled by steady fire, the left horn edged closer, threatening both formations, whilst... shock and horror... more Zulu appeared on the right, going for both the flank and rear of the British line. The Zulu chest began to think about attacking the Square, as it inched toward the Kraal.

From this angle, the Kraal is to the left, and I reckon the Zulu are looking good.. At this point, the British General trotted out from the Square, calmly gave his orders to his troops on the plateau, and then trotted back to the square, riding down the odd wandering Zulu as he did so. Top bloke!!

The right Horn gets on in there, and takes out a Regular base, flanking the skirmishers. They aren't too good at close combat, so it's looking like a roll over here..

But you know, sometimes those Skirmish chaps are just too damned hard for their own good, and frankly, they battered the jubilant Zulus. Badly.

Meanwhile, the Square had been busy bumping off and recoiling the left horn, and, having done so, broke formation and resumed its advance. Mr Flashman , having had a boring but safe time in the confines of the Square, began to ride out..

.. and had a right good go, popping off a few rounds from his privately purchased hunting rifle, unloading both revolvers and having a bit of a chopping session with his finely made sabre, gaining a couple of Victory points before riding back to loud Hurrahs and Cheers.

The Zulu didn't really get any closer to the main British formation, being held off by the firepower, and a swift jog forward by some Skirmishers quickly secured the Kraal, much to the Zulus annoyance. They were so angry in fact, that they had another go at the Gatling gun before exiting the table. That too ended in tears, so actually a few less Zulu made the exit.

The British were left on the field, having strongly avenged the previous defeat. British colonial honour had been restored. The surviving Zulu ran off, to spread the story, and perhaps do a bit of recruiting too.
So, in spite of my lack of painting recently, a darned good game was had. And lessons were learned too. For the British, not to split their force too early, as it did get a bit close on the plateau, especially when the Gatling jammed at one point, though they did hold off that side whilst the main force advanced on the Kraal. For the Zulu, the need to put in a larger holding force, and to get the Horns moving earlier. Mind you, poor Zulu dice did hamper them, and there wasn't enough left over to have a warcry. For which, by the way, I firmly blame that bloke Richie and his dice throwing, which was even worse than mine, and mine was bad enough. Also, the basic Zulu plan was down to me. And I lost. (Again!)
Good company, good rules, good game, and yes I will get painting again soon.
Regards,

Derby Show,3rd-4th October.

We went along to Derby last Saturday, and a good day was had by all. Derby really is up there with the top shows I think, it has a pleasant open layout, plenty of room, and a good atmosphere too. Lotsa decent traders, and numerous quality games going on. It was good to meet up with a few people not seen for a while, and to put some faces to those known only by name.
So what did we buy...well, for our colonial games, I got a box of Hat 1/72, Gardiner gun with Naval crew...this is a smashing set, with 4 guns and crew as well as 16 foot figures armed with rifles. Basically, it's the Naval Division in a box, well made and proportioned figures, and well worth £6 I reckon. There is also a Gatling gun and Artillery set out, which I have yet to find.
I found a lovely 25/28mm range at HassleFree Miniatures, and just couldn't resist them, being the chaps out of Hot Fuzz, and also a fine model of Madge..as in, Her Majesty (God Bless Her), tooled up with a large shotgun. Not cheap, but they are definite quality figures to have. Pleasant people to chat to, HassleFree, and a pleasure to meet up with. From IronClad Miniatures, I bought a few character figures, Holmes & Watson, and Quatermain, which will do nicely for our coming Zombie game. A few other bits and bats bought, a chat with TSS & Old Glory, and onto the games..
Raid on St Nazairre, by the Leeds Club, Very Impressive!

Some other games..

Iraq game by the Border Reivers.

Nice boat model in this one..

A WW1 game, using Kallistra terrain and trenches.

This one was really colourful to see.

A couple of others..

I don't know, but I hope the wine got drunk throughout the day.

Now this one caught my eye, but it didn't immediately occur why...then I realised it was a 40mm game..didn't seem to take up much more space than 25's to be honest, and looked really big and bold. Had a good chat with Ian at this table, most of the figures are Sash & Sabre. I have to say, it did look really good, the figure painting and terrain were excellent.

A few other games..

Baccus 6mm Leipzig game..

And another 6mm game, Borodino by Lead Commanders. Big game, with oodles of small figures.

I think each base represented a Division. Although small figures, the painting and basing were good.

No idea who this was, but it looked pretty Old School style.

As said, the games put on were impressive, and a joy to see. It made a pleasant change not putting a game on ourselves to be honest, more time to see what others are doing. All in all, a good day out, and the food wasn't bad either.

Regards,

Northumbria, Alnwick Castle.

Alnwick Castle, the second largest inhabited castle in England, has been the home of the Percys, Earls and Dukes of Northumberland since 1309.The earliest mention of Alnwick Castle in the history books appears soon after 1096 when Yves de Vescy became baron of Alnwick and erected the earliest parts of the Castle.The Castle was first restored, primarily as a fortress, by the 1st Lord Percy of Alnwick in the early 1300's and portions of this restoration remain today, including the Abbot's Tower, the Middle Gateway and the Constable's Tower. During the late 17th century the Castle fell into decay until Elizabeth Seymour and her husband Hugh Smithson, later to become the first Duke and Duchess of Northumberland, took up the challenge and turned it into a family residence of "gothic" style with the help of architects such as Robert Adam and the landscape designer, Capability Brown.
Algernon, Fourth Duke later replaced the 18th century "gothick", employing the architect Anthony Salvin. Since then modern comforts have been added, and Alnwick Castle was one of the first homes in the North East to have electricity. Run by a recently restored hydro electric system installed in 1889, there was enough power produced to run 100 electric lamps.
So says the linked advert, and here's some pictures..
The Castle itself is nicely complete.

Inside, there is a museum to the local Yeomanry.. now here's an interesting artillery piece I thought.. any idea what it would be called? Sadly there wasn't an explanation of it, but it looks pretty good.

A fine collection of Peeler work tools..

A cuirass, clearly not quite bullet proof, I think this was from the ECW period.

Another artillery piece, not sure how long this frame would last if it were actually fired though. Looks remarkably like the English Heritage Keyring gun though.

The local Yoemanry uniform, remarkably like the 95th Rifles really. The mounted uniform was similar.

A couple of general shots. This castle was used in the Harry Potter films, I think for the broomstick flying scene.

A good display of various cannonry, you wouldn't like to be on the receiving end of this one.

Also on site was a really good Regt museum, unfortunately no photos, but well worth a look.

And a rather impressive statue of one of the Percy's from way back. All in all, it's an impressive place and well worth a visit.

A friend of mine recommended that whilst in Alnwick, I should visit a little second hand bookshop called Barter Books. I duly did so.... it's absolutely the dogs parts. 350,000 books, in a railway station building, buffet, parking, pleasant staff....it's a day out on it's own. I managed to restrain myself to spending only £60, and that was an effort. They are on the Internet too, well worth a visit.

Time for a General Witter, I recently received some multi-part plastic Zombies from 'Wargames Factory', a nice set, which I am part way through gluing together. I have also glued my fingers, which was fairly painful, and not recommended at all. Beware the cheap and runny Superglue type tubes. From 'Gripping Beast', some packs of Chaps on the Hunt and civilians, and from North Star Miniatures some packs of Peelers. When put together, these will make up a 'Zombies in the Countryside' game, which should be a bit different, and good fun to play.

Blogging has been particularly good recently, with some interesting and quality posts to read on the linked Blogs and Sites. I'd like to welcome some new 'Followers', being Conrad Hawkwood who runs the Ne Plus Ultra Site, El Grego who amongst others does an interesting Mini Ships Blog, Axebreaker of the Bunker Hill Blog, and Dan who has the Gunners Wargaming Blog. All interesting stuff, and it all makes for a pleasant stress free wargaming read.

I took my eldest to the Forces Career office in Hull yesterday, and remembered The Model Shop, opposite the railway station. Not having been there for years, we had a look in. Just for a look, there was nothing I needed. I came out with two bags of GaugeMaster Noch trees, £36 for 50 trees, bargain I thought, and a box each of the Airfix Robin Hood set and Sheriff of Nottingham set...well, I saw them and regressed straight back to my childhood when I last had them. So there's another game to get painted up, based and played at. Right after the Zombies are finished....

Regards,

GdB Game, Medina De Rio Seco, 14th July 1808, at the Newcastle Show

As said, we put on a GdB game at the Border Reiver Show, the battle of Medina De Rio Seco, 14th July 1808, and here's the write up and pictures.
The opposing forces were as follows..Spanish-18 Btns (one Line & the rest Militia), 2 Regts Cavalry (Militia Light), and 2 Batteries (both Line). To reflect poor C&C, the CinC was poor, the infantry were split into just two Brigades both with poor GdB's, and the Cavalry had a poor GdB too. Fairly Poor then.
For the French, 12 Btns, a mixture of line, veteran and elite, in four Brigades with additional skirmishers, 4 Regts of light veteran cavalry in two Brigades and 3 Batteries, attached to infantry Brigades. All Generals were average.
The game objectives were simple enough, the French to take the Valdecuevas Plateau and the town of Medina De Rio Seco, and the Spanish to stop them.
We used some new TSS boards and hills, TimeCast buildings, S&A roads and trees, and around 2,800 Old Glory 10mm figures.
Here's the initial set up, French to the Left, Spanish to the right. The French deployed two Brigades to assault the plateau, and two to force the town, with cavalry in the centre. The Spanish deployed one Brigade well back on the plateau, and one Brigade in front of the town, again with cavalry in the centre.

The town itself, TimeCast models, really rather neat I think, with the Spanish forming line in front of it.

The Plateau, with the Spanish deployed in depth.
The French kicked off, with a general advance and sent the Cavalry forward to take care of their Spanish adversaries. The French Horse expected an easy victory over the poorly mounted, outnumbered and outclassed Spanish horse.
Spanish started to tremble on the plateau, which nicely explains this slightly blurred picture.
The French Brigade on the Right went onto Engage orders, hoping to weaken the Spanish with Artillery and Skirmish fire prior to the main assault.
In the Centre, both French Cavalry Brigades went for the outnumbered Spanish, who had difficulties getting an Order change from Hold to Assault. A worrying time for them really.
But when the order finally got through, in went the Dragoons, forcing the French Chasseurs into a retreat. Viva La Spania!! Sadly it didn't last, and two moves later the Chasseurs recovered and trounced them.

The French fronted and flanked the other Spanish Regt, causing severe casualties and Routing it off the table. Viva La France!

French Skirmishers take on a Spanish Battery,

..whilst others advance ahead of the columns to weaken the line.

On the plateau, the French met only weak resistance, and at one point caused a Brigade morale failure on the Spanish, forcing them to retire. The Spanish General on the hill suddenly felt a bit in the open.

In front of the town of Medina, the French cavalry forced the Spanish into square, making them easy targets for Artillery and Columns, though one Spanish militia Btn did falter a Lancer charge with well aimed musketry. Feeling that they had done their bit for the day, the militia then promptly legged it into the nearest taverna to celebrate.

And were quickly followed by the rest of that Brigade.

And on the plateau the French closed with the remaining Spanish forces, who did pretty well all things considered, but still suffered yet another Rout.

By this time, the Order of the day for Espania was as shown here..Having lost the Cavalry and with both Infantry Brigades routing, all they could do was to run away to fight another day.

French casualties were fairly light, although the Spanish artillery did perform rather well with canister blasts at short range. Spanish casualties weren't too bad really, until you added all the routed units, and then the list was extensive. I think only five or six Btns made it off the table in reasonable order.

It was an interesting enough game, with a larger but poorly led and trained Spanish army defending against a smaller but better led and trained French one. Shows what you can do with a bit of quality (and lucky dice too, to be fair). Not being one of our biggest games, the setting up was fairly quick, and using TSS boards made it easy enough. Those new boards by the way, are flocked in the new 'Biblical' style, a nice subtle mix of greens and browns, which I think transforms them from the original pure green ones. However, it is so subtle that you could easily use both together, as we did on the plateau, and it fits in fine. These particular boards are 20mm thick, to make for easier storage and transportation. We were set up within an hour (including chomping bacon rolls), and played the game to a conclusion just before packing up time, even with a good look round the show and a fair bit of pleasant yabbering to various gamers, which just makes the day really. Packing up was even quicker, and after a brief lemonade for medicinal reasons we set off for home.

Having enough gamers there to put on a game and see the rest of the show makes a real difference, and my thanks to Doug, Richie, Ben and Norman for an enjoyable game and a good day out.

Border Reiver Show, Newcastle, 5th Sep 09.

We trotted up to this show, and needless to say, a really good day was had by all. This show has run for around 15 years I think, and it just gets bigger and better each time that I've been. The venue itself and parking are good, (the Metro Radio Arena),though to be fair the lighting does leave something to be desired in places!

We gathered in the early morning gloom at Peeler Mansions, loaded the car with the gear needed for our Napoleonic 10mm game, and set off, nice and early so as not to have to rush. Realising that we needed to save some space for two TSS boxes from the show, we had to pass on the Naval game, so we'll do that one another time. Soon, the only sound in the car was that of gentle snoring. Using the satnav, it was an easy enough journey, though oddly as we turned off the bridge, it directed us to a dead end under another bridge by the arena, where we joined other gamers engaged in doing u-turns. Still, we got parked soon after, and got unloaded.

As it happened, our game table was betwixt TSS and Caliver-can't complain with that eh! After picking up a pre-order of 2ft square 20mm tiles and hills from TSS, in the new varied grass colours, we set up our game in about a half hour..2ft tiles certainly are easy to use.

There were a lot of quality games on, all of them interesting, here's some pictures of them. Like I say, the lighting wasn't too good in places..

Here's our game..

Durham Wargames Club 1837 Spanish Game..

Tyneside Wargames Club Napoleonic 10mm Game..

Dumfries Wargames Very British Civil War 1938 Game, colourful and imaginative stuff, more pictures and a write up here at GWP.. http://gwargamesp.18.forumer.com/index.php?showtopic=1259

I didn't get all the club names, but here's a selection of the others, all impressive stuff..

This photo does not do the model justice..

A colourful and varied selection, I'm sure you'll agree. There was a fair amount of goodies for sale, I meant to get some Warlord plastic Zombies, but missed out, so I'll order them soonest (oh no, another period..). Packing up time was around half three, after a good natter with TSS and paying for the new boards. We had considered making a run for it with the boards, but were assured by the TSS crew that we wouldn't get out alive. So we paid up. Better skint then dead I reckon.

All in all, a good day was had, nice to see various chums, Norman, TSS, Andy, and to meet up with some bods from GWP.