The Megalomaniac (Mwhaha)

Sunday, 1 September 2013

Other Partizan

I have returned safely with a minimal of impulse buys, Ainsty crowd barriers being the main one. Purchase wise I've had a successful show. I managed to pick up Wargames Factory women survivors, and Great War's Crimean War Coldstream Guards command from Dave Thomas. Other Ainsty purchases were the Crooked Dice Man from 2000 I want to use for a Blakes 7 game and a Dr Who game. GB & SD models supplied me with the Pegasus KV1's I was after and Valiant Minis/Rapid Fire publications solved my lack of German radio truck and ambulance. North Star came up trumps and I finally got my hands a Copplestones' Evil Genius's, providing me a a cyborg Fuhrer for my Moon Nazis. All I have to do is make and paint them!

The show was better laid out than earlier this year but still had pinch points that made it feel very busy as I went round. However when I went back through the halls/rooms is quite quiet considering it was 1pm. The games on display were up to a great standard, lots of great figures, terrain and game ideas. The view of games is always subjective but I liked them a lot, and now the piccies:

RAF Wargames Association 28mm Blakes 7. Great looking game which is a repeat of the game from the last Partizan show. My picture clarity will improve after I realised I had the camera on the wrong setting.

RAF Wargames Association Blakes 7

RAF Wargames Association Blakes 7. Security Robot. All the figures are from Crooked Dice with some CP models.

RAF Wargames Association Blakes 7. Federation Security Guard on patrol

RAF Wargames Association Blakes 7. Pictures now with correct settings

RAF Wargames Association Blakes 7

RAF Wargames Association Blakes 7. The titular Blakes 7 crew lined up for action. This is set earlier in Blakes career when Zen the ships computer is classed at the 7th member.

RAF Wargames Association Blakes 7

Very British Parlour Forum's 28mm Very British Civil War game.

Very British Parlour Forum's Very British Civil War game

Very British Parlour Forum's Very British Civil War game. Fascists advance

Very British Parlour Forum's Very British Civil War game

Very British Parlour Forum's Very British Civil War game. The following photos are of this game at lunch time

Very British Parlour Forum's Very British Civil War game

Very British Parlour Forum's Very British Civil War game. I love this vehicle.

Very British Parlour Forum's Very British Civil War game. Is that a genuine Police phone box or had Doctor Who made an appearance?

Very British Parlour Forum's Very British Civil War game

Mosborough Old Boys put on a 28mm SAGA participation game. Lovely figures.

Mosborough Old Boys put on a SAGA

Mr Aly Morrison's H G Wells Little Wars

Mr Aly Morrison's H G Wells Little Wars. Great stuff.

Mr Aly Morrison's H G Wells Little Wars

Great Escape Games' 28mm Dead Mans Hand participation game

STAGS Wargaming Club 28mm American War of Independence. If I overheard correctly a lot of these figures are from Redoubt.

STAGS Wargaming Club American War of Independence

League of Gentleman Anti Alchemists Table Top Teasers on Tour game set during the war of the Spanish succession 1700-14. The scenario was from Charles Grant's book 'Scenarios for Wargamers' using the 'All the Kings Men' rules that can be downloaded for free. The figures are in the majority Wargames Factory with some Front Rank and Reiver Castings plus Copplestone Castinsg and Essex Miniatures..

League of Gentleman Anti Alchemists 28mm War of Spanish Succession

League of Gentleman Anti Alchemists War of Spanish Succession

League of Gentleman Anti Alchemists War of Spanish Succession. Spot the garden gnome.

League of Gentleman Anti Alchemists War of Spanish Succession. I see the Doctor has arrived

League of Gentleman Anti Alchemists War of Spanish Succession

Nottingham Wargames Club's 20mm WW1 Kaiserschlacht 1918. This game used the Crush the Kaiser rules.

Nottingham Wargames Club's 20mm WW1 Kaiserschlacht 1918. The trench system was hand made using 2mm MDF for a base, card for the trench, then lined with polystyrene covered in grout.

Nottingham Wargames Club's 20mm WW1 Kaiserschlacht 1918. The figures are a mixture of Revell, Italeri, Emharr, Hat, Airfix and Strelets.

Nottingham Wargames Club's 20mm WW1 Kaiserschlacht 1918. The tank and aircraft are Airfix, Emhar and Revell.

Mr David Imrie and Mr Graham Cummings 28mm Dux Britannia game.

Mr David Imrie and Mr Graham Cummings 28mm Dux Britannia game. Nice day for fishing

Mr David Imrie and Mr Graham Cummings 28mm Dux Britannia game.

Mr David Imrie and Mr Graham Cummings 28mm Dux Britannia game. The game is inspired by the film 'Eagle'.

Mr David Imrie and Mr Graham Cummings 28mm Dux Britannia game.

Derby Wargames Society 28mm WW2 Desert game

League of Augsburg's Beneath the Lilly Banners game

The Bunker's Raid on Entebe. My favourite game of the show. 20mm figures I think.

The Bunker's Raid on Entebe

The Bunker's Raid on Entebe. I've noticed my photos with flash are less blurred.

The Bunker's Raid on Entebe

The Bunker's Raid on Entebe. There is a helicopter in this shot hidden in the gents checked shirt.

The Bunker's Raid on Entebe

Forest Outlaw's American War of Independence

Craig, Simon and Friends fight out the 28mm battle of Thapsus. Great looking armies, I definitely have a hankering for Republican Romans now.

Craig, Simon and Friends fight out the battle of Thapsus.

Kallistra 12mm War of the Roses using the 'Hordes and Heros Medieval' rules that are free to download.

Kallistra 12mm War of the Roses

Lance and Longbow Society 54mm Battle of Bosworth 1485

Lincoln Miniature Warfare Society 28mm Dark Ages bash

Grantham Strategy Club 28mm witch races

North Star 28mm 1672 game. 1672 is a range of figures covering the armies and enemies of the French King Louis XIV. They are for the period 1665 to 1680, including the War of Devolution and The Dutch Wars.

North Star 28mm 1672 game

Bramley Barn Wargames Club 20mm WW2 game using Rapid Fire rules

Bramley Barn Wargames Club 20mm WW2

Saturday, 31 August 2013

Sorting out the 'want it, need it' list

I'm off to Partizan tomorrow so I thought I'd better get prepared in my new regime of trying to purchase what I need rather than the normal magpie approach. I confess I have not been 100% successful this year, but it is amazing how you can reshuffle your list to make the impulse buy a 'need'. I find this very satisfying, although all I'm doing is shoving stuff in to next year’s budget.

Many moons ago when I was newly married I'd negotiated a wargames space and began to buy terrain. As part of the quest I purchased a load of Woodland Scenic trees, which I discovered were tricky to stand on flock terrain. Stop gap experiments with blue tack worked for a while, and plain old balancing a group of trees together was equally successful. I then had the idea to use spare MDF to create bases that could fit together to make larger or smaller woods. Production began on this in 2007 and because I wanted chamfered edges it took ages, plus the mess. Before this project was finished I inherited a shed load of terrain (literally) and my lack of terrain issue disappeared. Gaming has proceeded merrily since, but I did feel guilty about not using my lovely trees.

So what has sparked this post about past leafy things left getting dusty in draws? Well I have found that 4Ground have come to the rescue creating woodland bases that fit together to make large or small woods plus you get the added advantage of each tree having its own base that fits in to the larger wood base so the trees singularly if you want. So a happy 30 minutes later I can share that I need bases for 27 large trees and 33 small/medium trees.

Other 'needs' are Copplestone Evil Genius's and 2 x Crooked Dice Man from 2000. The robot Fuhrer is a must for my Moon Nazis and the Man from 2000 for Dr Who (with a saurian head) and one for a Blakes 7 scientist. I also 'need' a WW2 German radio car I hope to get from Rapid Fire.

Things to be resisted are 4Ground Victorian buildings and Fenris's derrick. Of course these may get changed in to 'needs', we'll have to see.