Monday 25 June 2018

Lakeland interlude

Once again Steve and I attended the Phoenix show at Rheged near Penrith over the weekend.  This year we were joined by Alasdair who had made a foray south over the border.  Phoenix is a small local show, very well organised by the local club (West Coast Gamers) and offers a mix of local and national traders to wargamers.  The venue is light and spacious which greatly improves the environment in the vicinity of the Bring and Buy.  Both 'system' (Bolt Action, x wing etc) and period ( ECW, Napoleonic etc) products were on offer and the games ranged from c8 ft x 6ft to card table sized.  For those who like competitions there were Blood Bowl and Magic; the Gathering events on offer.

Major benefits are the plentiful free parking, an assortment of shops/cafe for wives and partners and  proximity to the incomparable Lake District scenery.  Looking at the other gamers attending I am sure that their day would be a couple of hours at the show and then a trip to Ullswater, Keswick or some other local attraction.  Here are a few photographs of some of the games on offer

The hosts put on this ACW game in 25mm, looking at the scenario book being used, I think it was the first day of Gettysburg




Next to them were the Annan club with a Caribbean pirate game featuring nicely modelled ships



Finally, there was a French and Indian Wars skirmish game in 54mm by the Dumfries Club




The larger figures looked really good and as the gamers pointed out you only needed about 6 figures a side for a good game. 

As Norm pointed out in his replies to comments on his recent post about his visit to the show it seems that the organisers plan to hold the show again next year.  I hope they do, it offers a really good opportunity to mix our hobby with a family outing.

On the Sunday we had a trip to Silloth, a quiet town on the Cumbrian coast, north of Maryport.  It is a bit off the beaten track, only accessible by 'B' roads, but it does have one major attraction (at least to wargamers), the "Soldiers in Silloth Toy Soldier Museum" (link ).  This little gem of a museum displays thousands of toy soldiers, metal and plastic, including Britains, Timpo, Lone Star and Elastin.  There are ancient Egyptians, Crusaders, Redcoats and WWII represented and dioramas too.

Here are a selection of the photos I took













Unbelievably, entry is free, (though donations are welcome)  If you are anywhere near Silloth, it is well worth a visit, though check the opening times before you travel.

To round off the day, we visited Carlisle Castle, which is hosting the "Weeping window" exhibition of red poppies.  Whilst the poppies are there (until 8th July) English Heritage has waived the entry fee for the castle.

 

Tuesday 19 June 2018

Phalanx 2018

The Phalanx show at St Helens is a regular fixture the wargaming year for Steve and myself.  As the last post previewed our game for the Lance & Longbow Society this year was Stamford Bridge, 1454.  We did get a few willing volunteers from the general public to have a go at re-writing history and they all seemed to enjoy it.  The Percies won 3-1 on the day, though all the victories were as a result of John Neville, Marquis of Montague, (the Neville commander), being killed in melee, and most took place with the Nevilles having the upper hand.

The Neville mounted troops bear down on the Percy line

The whole Neville centre ready to attack
The dreaded 'snake eyes' does for the Marquis
There were plenty of other games on offer of course and the Liverpool club had some participation games available to attract new  recruits.

Actium




Hastings



One particularly eye-catching offering was a 54mm Zulu War game by the Independent 54mm Wargames Club.





The Mailed Fist club presented a very nice 25mm ECW game




The Cheshire and Staffordshire Wargamers put on "Torgau"




The East Lancashire Wargames Association presented a WWI game


There was also plenty on offer to interest those gamers interested in SF/Fantasy   One game that caught my eye was this Fantasy offering



There were a couple of glitches to the usual smooth running of the show this year, but not enough to detract from the overall positive experience.  The Phalanx show remains one of the 'go to' events, with a good mix of traders and games.

Many thanks to Bob, Chris, Dave, Gary, Ian, John, Neil, Nick, Peter, Steve and Will for their help with the game.

Tuesday 12 June 2018

Phalanx preparation

Yet another long fallow period, as far as gaming is concerned, due to continuing 'real life' commitments.  However, Steve and I have managed a couple of planning sessions to sort out our game for the Phalanx show.  Once again we will be putting on a game for the Lance & Longbow Society; thus time it will be set in the year preceding the Wars of the Roses and be based on events at Stamford Bridge (no not the home of Chelsea).

Not for the first time the forces of the Neville and Percy families clashed, though this was the largest such confrontation.  As usual we will be using our own variation on the 'Lion Rampant' rules and all are welcome to stop by the Lance & Longbow stand and join in.

Here are a few photos of the trial run; sorry for the poor quality, I was not using the tripod.

View towards Stamford Bridge from the Percy left

The view from Stamford Bridge

The Percy forces begin their advance