Elvington Show, 8-9th May 2010.

Last weekend, we jogged along to the Elvington WW2 two day event, a wonderful display of re-enactors & military vehicles set in the Air Museum, with a wargames show attached, and a very good time was had by all. It really is well worth a visit.
Saturday began fairly early, around 7.30, and a full fat boys breakfast was had at the Naffi, which went down very well. That day ended with a large portion of fish & chips at Thompson's on the way back, naturally followed by lots of beer at the Forge. Well, probably too much beer really, but it was a good brew!
Sunday, needless to say, had a slightly later and more gentle start, which was just as well really, given the quantities happily consumed the night before. Another fat boys was had, to set us up for the day, and to end the weekend on a high note, we revisited the Forge, just to check that the beer was still as good. It was.
But to the point of this post, as regards the Show, we put on two tables and various games, under our name of The Yorkshire Coast Wargamers, with Tims new 1/32 WW2 Toy Soldier game using Airfix figures, 15mm DBNapoleonics, 1/72 DBACW, 1/72 DBColonial, and 10mm DBFantasy using Kallistra figures. TSS boards and a good old green cloth made the tables up. Several games were had over the weekend, and we had a lot of passing participants too, particularly at Tim's game, which pleasantly takes you back to "playing with toy soldiers" before you realised you were really wargaming. Reminds me of the childhood time when you got bored with rolling marbles at them, so used the family farm play set as terrain, borrowed the dice from the Monopoly box, and made up the rules as you went along. Or was that just me? Was it?
There was about a dozen of us there over the two days, which meant that we could "mix & match" with gaming and wandering the show between us. The wargames show took place in a hangar in the shadow of a Halifax bomber. Quality! The Toy Soldier game is here in the foreground whilst the other table has two DBx games ongoing.

Tim's new rule set, very well produced, and probably on sale soon after a tweaking or two.
As said, with a fair few of you, a game can continue along whilst others wander, feed and so on, making for an easier going and happier time I reckon.
Peeler carefully places his Zulus..

..whilst Norman politely asks him to "Bring it on". I may have mentioned more than once that I won this particular game, the only one of a few over the weekend that I did win though, which is why I had to mention it so often, to anyone who was passing nearby. I also phoned home to tell the Wife, who agreed that "Yes, that makes a change doesn't it".

A few close ups of Tim's game, there are more to see on his Blog. Apart from the well painted figures, the vehicles in that scale are something to behold. One of the younger gamers gets involved..

The 15mm DBNapoleonic game, using Alex's figures.

And some of the DBColonial game, using my 1/72's.

Things got a bit up close and tasty at times.

Onto the vehicle displays, and a few photos..

This one was a family affair, though naturally Dad got to drive.

Back to the and other games, and by heck there was some quality there. This was a D-day game, really excellent modelling and terrain.

Out on the stalls, there was plenty to look at and buy. Though I have to say that this helmet display, some only rusted, but others with obvious battle damage to them, made me feel a bit uneasy, at the thought of the wearer having been killed or injured.

A T shirt that is definitely not in good taste, but did make us chuckle. We declined to buy a set at a discount!

German re-enactors, Paratroopers, having a march about.

Whilst the Home Guard just seemed a lot more homely and friendly.

Dave decided to have a Tiananman Square moment, I'm not sure why, but at least the tank wasn't moving.

Now this piece was just huge! My lad stood there is 6/02, so you get the scale of it. Thunderbirds came to mind.

The chap driving this Merlin drove in, jumped out, popped on his RAF cap and declared that he was off to bag a few Huns.

ARP Warden, who gave out advice on fires, bombs etc, he really did know his stuff, as did all the re-enactors that we spoke to.

A few more games, this was on a very large scale, put on by the Gent who organises the Recon Show at Pudsey (another quality event!).

I think there was just the one Fantasy game on, but it did have some great large models on it, and looked like it was well enjoyed.

This was a 15mm ACW game, which was huge, the one photo does not do it justice really. It had two towns, an earthen fort, and a train! (See previous post!).

Just outside the hangar we were in, was this - a right good piece of kit. Sadly, it wouldn't fit my tow bar, I fancied one in my front garden.

The only Frenchman I saw, early WW2, obviously, and looking quite old fashioned already by then. Good kit though.

A British Para, stood next to a Dakota, which you could have a wander into.

Tim's Game won a Trophy for Runner Up Participation Game! Well done Tim, this topped the weekend off nicely, and we were rather well chuffed with it.

The end of the Sunday, as we finished a game prior to packing up and heading off home. Always a sad time I feel, after such a good do. Luckily we still had the pub to go to afterwards.

I think we all bought various bits and pieces, there was a lot of varied gaming gear for sale, in particular for me, two boxes of WarHammer Brettonian & Lizardmen starter packs at a mere £15, though all the writing is in Japanese - thankfully we already have the books in English.

We had a really great weekend, our thanks to the Organisers, we hope to be back next year, and my own thanks to the YCW chums, for making it happen.

Regards,

York Model Railway Show.

Well it's not wargaming, and yet I do think there are some similarities betwixt the two hobbies, along the lines of terrain, modelling and so on. Trains can play a part in certain wargames, and on some of the model train layouts, you could certainly have a wargame. I wonder how many people do both hobbies?
We went along to this show (Title post is linked) over the weekend of 3rd April 2010, and had a jolly good day out. We got there around midday, as I was suffering from a beer overdose from the night before, and had to park on the muddy field which wasn't great, especially for one of our chums, (lots of mud splatter, revving of engine and spinning of wheels), so lesson learnt to get to these events earlier to be able to park on a good solid tarmac surface instead. Tickets were about £8 each, rather more than a wargames show, and the place seemed busy and happy enough. The food wasn't cheap either, but you get what you pay for, and the steak pie was a big improvement on the usual fayre at these sort of shows.
On walking in, this was the first layout I saw .. see, I do say there is some overlap between the hobbies!

A fine array of 20mm scale tanks and so on, on a WW2 English setting, which made me wonder if this fellow was a gamer too.

This was a huge layout, and the range and skill of the modelling was exceptional. This sort of layout would lend itself to a good skirmish game I thought.

Hobby in a suitcase? A nice touch, the case itself looked old and used, and I could just imagine it being used on an old train journey. Indeed, was a similar one used by Trevor Howard in a Brief Encounter?

This was a wonderful one, very localised in part, whilst giving a larger countryside view also. It must have took an awful lot of time and effort to get it just right.

No, not a model layout, but the actual racecourse itself..

The scale varied from around 25mm, down to this, I think around 2mm, so they could pack in a large area display on a smallish board.

Another picture of that first display, you really had to see this to appreciate it, it was that impressive. All it needed was an opposing army, some rules and dice.

A good day was had, the stalls were busy, and I was amazed at the amount of modelling array there was to buy. Picked up a fair few tips on flocking and blending different ideas into each other, and on general modelling too. I resisted the urge to dip into the model train hobby itself, and restricted my purchases to some paints and a few terrain bits.

Afterwards, we spent an hour or two in nearby York, and I saw this .. a Maybach, so my children told me (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maybach). Now, my green Rover 75, parked behind, is a largeish car I thought, but this Maybach thing just dwarfed it. It was huge and massive. And I had to put this picture up, only because I hadn't seen one before. Not that I'd want one of course. Much.

A sift witter, and a welcome to Geordie, Grekwood, Fraxinus, Ubique, Michael, Sgt Steiner, Erwin, Joao, and Prufrock, thankyou all for joining and I hope you enjoy the Blog, apologies for a bit of a lack of posting lately as time has been tight but will improve soon, and I now have a nice backlog of various games to post up, which I will as soon as I can. Thanks for viewing, I do appreciate it.

Regards to all,

St George's Day.

Once again, the Flag of England was raised above Peeler Mansions, in celebration of Englands Day. Seems a shame to me that whilst other parts of the UK can have their own day, England seems to get left behind, and that some political types have hijacked both this flag and the Union flag for their own ends, particularly as it's election time at the moment. All that shouting and yarping and arguing on, there's just no need for it really, it's all just hot air, like you get from a volcanic eruption... a nice pleasant gentle discussion is all thats needed, in a good old genteel English way.

Here's a Link to The Royal Society of St George, an admirable and pleasant Society to be a member of.. http://www.royalsocietyofstgeorge.com/index2.htm

A Happy St George's Day to you all, and God Bless England, Harry and St George!

Regards,

DBACW Game.

Well it's been a while (again), but it can't be helped really. The usual work, shifts, family, etc etc, though to be fair we have done quite a lot of gaming too, it's just getting the time to post it up. And really I suppose, it's the gaming that's the more important part of the hobby, along with pies and beer and so on.
So, a while ago we gathered at Peeler Mansions for an ACW bash, using 1/72 plastic figures and the DBACW rules, available from the DBN Site (Post Title is Linked). These play well and easily, with each base representing a Regt, so four or five give you a Brigade, two or three Brigades give you a Division, and so on. Each base of troops can be Raw, Average or Veteran, Musket/Rifle armed, Artillery can be Smoothbore/Breechloading. These rules are, to be fair, a simple but effective representation of the ACW. I'm sure you get the gist.
On with the game .. The Rebels, under General E. Cautious were defending, and had kept a lot of their forces off table. The Union, under General D. Zaster (son of an Italian immigrant), formed up and went for a swift attack, hoping to overthrow the meagre enemy that they could see.

The Union had the advantage with Artillery, and here you can also see their Baggage, safely tucked away in the rear, out of harms way.

Some of the Confederates, Regular Infantry and Skirmishers, eagerly awaiting their chance for glory.

One Union column approaches the walled field upon the hill (Remember the Don Featherstone books? There was always a walled field in the ACW game).

Whilst the other column takes on the Rebel artillery, and promptly pops it off with a few well aimed shots.


All's looking good for the Union, as the Left flank takes the walled area, the Centre advances toward the defile, and the Right advances toward the town.

But then! A volley of shots from the previously hidden Rebels throws a few bases back in confusion, leaving the Zouaves (a colourful bunch) a tad isolated.

The Brigade General joins in, gives a few encouraging words ("Git forward you pansies!") and reforms his troops for another try.

On the Union Right, they settle down for a long range bombardment, whilst advancing through the town.

The Rebels advance to the wall, and mix it with a fire fight, taking and causing casualties.

Union troops advance toward that single base on the hill, with the knocked out Artillery, expecting an easy victory.

The Rebel General sends a Veteran Regt into the Centre town, hoping to slow the advance, to give time for reinforcements to arrive.

The Union artillery pops away at this Regt, who must have had a reflective shield, as all the shots missed. Damp powder maybe! On the Union left, equally poor dice resulted in both guns being lost to counter battery fire. Very poor. (For me and Rich anyway).

The Union column forced the Rebels back on the hill, and advanced cautiously.

The firefight on the Right continued..

.. with the Union getting the upper hand, but only after adding their Reserves. Those Rebel Sharpshooters were a real pain!

In the centre, the town was hotly contested. (Towns/BUA in these rules only give a small advantage, as the buildings were mostly just wooden types, thus giving less cover than solid European stone built ones).

What!! Just as the Union was looking to gain ground, (and about time, given the circumstances), a Rebel flank attack comes in on the Right. "Aw shucks" said Rich.

This was a most depressing event, as on the Right we'd forced them from the town and were looking to flank them,

and on the Left, we were finally getting in amongst them, giving them cold steel and a bit of a toeing.

Typically, some Reb cavalry went straight for the undefended Baggage, (lesson learnt!), and did an awful lot of ransacking, whooping about and whatnot. Damned Southerners!

The Reb reinforcements stormed through the town, and attacked the rear of the Union forces. Bar the shouting and caterwauling, it was all over. The Union had already suffered surprisingly heavy casualties in the initial fighting, due to poor dice from me & Rich, and decent dice from Alex & Dave, and so the remnants retired from the field. Well, that's putting it politely. "Running like lily livered chickens" was how the Reb players described it.

General E. Cautious retired, tired, to his encampment, full of tales of how he'd whupped those Dastardly Northerners.

So there we have it. It was a well played, hard fought game, and thoroughly enjoyed by all. My thanks to Rich, Alex and Dave.

A swift witter, we have a table booked at the Battle Group North show at Elvington Airfield in May, if anyone else is going, feel free to say hello, and a warm welcome to Tim, Wargamer1972 & Velarde, latest Followers, who have a fine selection of Blogs between them. Thanks for joining and hope you enjoy the Blog.

Regards,

Peeler