Warfare 2016

I haven't been to a wargaming show in over a decade and that was Warfare. When my wife found out about this, she was mortified. The topic had come up as I was flicking through a magazine advertising Warfare, the show in Reading. So, this morning she suggested we hop in the motor and drive an hour to Reading for the show. 

I paid £5 to get in, and the lovely chap on the door let Lady K in for free on account of her non-wargamer status. We made a little donation to the Sue Ryder hospice and bought some raffle tickets with the money saved. 

I had thought about what I wanted from the show, I knew this wasn't going to be a no-holds-barred spend-a-thon, so I had only brought £50 with me. This had to pay for everything, including entrance and toys. At this point I had £40 left, and by the end of our visit, I was still £10 up! So I had limited myself severely. 

That said, I walked away with a fair haul. My only real aim was to pick up some resin haystacks from Warbases, one of my favourite companies. I also wanted to have a look at some of their animals to live alongside my Warlord Games farmyard critters. 

I ended up with 5 small haystacks, 5 large haystacks, and a heap of bases. One can never have enough of those. I also picked up a bag of their 25.6mm off-cut bases. These are the holes that they cut into their movement trays for 25mm round bases. I got these because they would work neatly for civilians or the odd animal. I also got some geese, chickens, and floating ducks. 

I had also wandered around having a look at some of those things that the internet just doesn't do justice to. One of those was Baccus 6mm. I have seen 6mm a million times on my computer screen, but never in person. Today myself and Lady K stood marvelling at the tiny little blighters. I have been keen to use the scale, or 10mm, for things like the Franco-Prussian war, but 6mm is tiny and I can't imagine painting them. Still, at least I have them in my mind as actual size now. 

So Pendraken and Baccus were must visits for me, to get a sense of size. I also wanted to check out Redoubt who have the unfortunate knack of not putting decent photos of their wares on their website. I particularly wanted to see their Trojans. They are amazing, as are their Boxer Rebellion miniatures. So rather than a shopping trip my Warfare ended up being a feast for the eyes. I did pick up some more animals from Redoubt, pigs, sheep and waddling ducks. My farmyard grows! 

Redoubt Boxer Rebellion miniatures.

Redoubt Trojans.

Redoubt canoes, I really liked these.

One really great find was Parkfield Miniatures. I have never heard of these guys before, but they do an interesting range. I was particularly drawn to their South American Wars of Independence, great for Sharp Practice I can imagine. 

We had a good look around the demo hall, where I came across this Napoleon in Egypt table that was simply smashing. Such an odd thing to game, but so well done. Look at those boats! Of course, there were loads of really amazing things, such as the winter table of Foy, but I am sure that better men than I will share that with the community. It was beautiful. Here are some shots of that Napoleon in Egypt table.

Mine and Lady K's favourite demo game was the Balkan War table run by Graham of Tring Wargames Club. Lady K is a Greek, so for her this was personal, and she loved the evzones and kleftes running across the table at the Turks. It really made her day and we stood there for around half-an-hour chatting to Graham and company. I was particularly interested in how he had modified Chain of Command from TooFatLardies to suit the conflict.

Graham was a really great chap and spent much time explaining how he had got to his final product. He has promised to email me his lists for Chain of Command.  

The miniatures used by the Tring game are all Tiger Miniatures. Now, I have looked at these in the past, Lady K insists that I wargame Greek conflicts. Poor me. The website really doesn't do these figures justice. They are brimming with character and with a good paint job look most excellent on the table. 

One of the really good things about this conflict on the table is that the limitation to bolt action rifles, medium machine guns, and field guns. Graham explained that this simplicity in the "moving parts" of the conflict make it a joy to game. And I tend to agree. One to watch.

Overall, I really enjoyed Warfare, and I certainly think that wargaming shows are worth visiting, I just don't do it often enough. Time to go and paint now.