Armed Forces & Scarborogh WarTorn Show.

Well it was Armed Forces Weekend again in sunny Scarborough, this last weekend 25th-26th June, and as you can see, it was a good weekend to have it, indeed the Peeler family suffered from sun burn bordering on sun stroke just from the Saturday afternoon. Here's a view from The Spa, over the seafront toward the castle and harbour, it's a good view even on a damp squib of a day.

The Main Events were on the Saturday afternoon, and after a look round the various stalls & shows, it was parade time, led by a very smart Army band ..

.. followed by more serving soldiers ..

.. followed by retired soldiers. Needless to say, everything else came to a halt at this time, and people flocked to line the roadside and applauded as they passed.

Now I appreciate that this is a mere training aid for the sea cadets, but frankly, I want one. Preferably in my front garden.

Peeler Jnr spotted some of those sandal wearing smelly hippy anti-armed forces types in the near distance, and swiftly took positive action ..

.. actually I'm joking, there weren't any protesters this year, thankfully. They got short shrift the last time they bothered. All in all, it was good weather, a good event, and was thoroughly enjoyed by all who attended. It also reminded the Armed Forces that we do actually care, and that we do support them.

Onto the WarTorn Show, organised by Scarborough Wargames Club & Richard Jackson of the Loughton Club, both of whom I've known for some years, on and off. I have been a member of both, and originally got into the Loughton Club, in my 'down south' years, by meeting up with Kevin Brazier, which led to a renewed interest in Napoleonics & the rather good GdB rules written by fellow member Dave Brown (yes yes, I know, I'm name dropping ..). They were attending & putting on a very nice looking 28mm game, and also, a fair amount of beer & curry was to be had ... oddly, we met up each evening in The Cask, a pub I haven't frequented since my youth, so it was quite a nostalgic weekend really. I think the curry house was The Eastern Promise, opposite the Market Place, and a fine meal was had. With beer, obviously. Then more beer, back at the Cask again. Myself & Norman managed to fit in a visit to the Forge on the Friday too, just for good measure. I did forewarn them, and the cat was ready for him. Thinking on it, beer seemed to be quite prominent over this weekend.
Now, a couple of years ago, for various reasons, some of us local gamers departed after some years, from the Scarborough club, and have 'done our own thing' since then as the 'Yorkshire Coast Wargamers', and a happy time we've had of it too. We did wonder, in that soft fluffy concerned sort of way, if we should go to this show or not, as in would there be tears & tantrums, faceslapping at the door, harsh stares , giving of the evil eye and so on .. and we decided that we'd be daft not to go, as it's on our doorstep and heck anyway, like we're all grown ups aren't we? (Well, some of the time at least!). I'm happy to say that there was no daftness. Or if there was, then I missed it...
So several of us went along, merely as punters, and I have to say I'm glad that we did - it was a well planned, decent quality show, with a number of decent games on, and enough traders to fill the two halls. There was also a bar - which served a very decent Wolds beer - and we had two good lunchtime nattering sessions with Andy of Old Glory, Brown, Richard, Norman, Kevin, Alex et al, during which I think we almost put the world to rights. I don't know what the door numbers were, it's maybe fair to say that it wasn't exactly heaving (not a bad thing though), but these things can take a while to really take off, and given the right support we're hoping that it becomes an annual event. For a first show, I'd say they did well enough. If you can get to next years show, as a gamer, trader or punter, then I'd suggest you make the effort - it's a right good weekend, though I can't say that we can grantee the same decent weather!
An early port of call for me was to have my 'Complete Victoria Cross' Book signed - in person - by the Author himself, the good Mr Kevin Brazier. I have to say Kev, it was an honour!

Meanwhile, poor Gary showed the effects, to put it politely, of a Southern chap overindulging in far too much Northern Ale. And other alcoholic beverage besides, I reckon. This was several hours after his recovery began, and he still wasn't his usual ambient self. He did, to be fair to him, recover during the Saturday evening curry, during which he drank some milk.

The Loughton game, Basauco, in 28mm. The boards were put together by Richard Jackson, and here we can see Mr Brown affecting to be not at all bothered whilst Derek does his best to blow his columns away. The table was really effective & made to a modelling standard, rather than just the usual boards that we all generally use. The photos don't do it justice.

A general shot of the lower hall. As said, it wasn't really busy, but I think there was enough at a first show to say that it was worthwhile and bodes well for the future. In some areas, the lighting could have been better, but hey, you can't have everything eh.

An interesting Roman Warlord figures game, lots of beastly Britons erupting from the woods on the unsuspecting columns.

One shot of a small part of the spectacular game put on by Mr Rob Ringrose, this was an absolute joy to see.

Scarborough Wargames own game, stacks of 28mm Naps on there.

And last but not least, Kev Braziers Alamo game, a marvelous model, stacks of Mexicans, and individual defenders too. It looked & played well, and had clearly been well researched.

Purchase wise, I only really wanted a few more of those Blue Moon 15mm Marlburians from Old Glory, but, whilst naturally I would hesitate to label Andy 'a temptress', he did in fact push a box of AWI under my nose - so I had to have some of them too. Just enough for a DBx type game you understand .. and I hear that Blue Moon are soon to release Napoleonics too. So many figures, so little time ..

Overall, a right good weekend was had, it was good to meet up with my local chums, me old Loughton bunch, Norman, Andy and others besides. Oh, and Gary & Glynis! And the beer intake was pretty darned good & manly too. Now, I really need to get painting. Marlburians first I think.

Regards,

Peeler