FIASCO show at Leeds

On Sunday I visited the FIASCO show at the re branded Royal Armouries Exhibition Centre in Leeds.  There was a good range of games on show and also plenty of traders keen to sell you their wares.  Not only did the games showcase the diversity of periods available to the gamer, but also the levels at which a conflict can be fought.

At the truly strategic level was a simulation of WWII devised by Philip Sabin of King's College London .  This required the gamer to tackle the same strategic resources decisions that faced the Allied and Axis commanders; do I invade Russia, or build home AA defence?; do I protect convoys or build up the army?
Combat between armies is resolved by rolling dice.

At the other extreme was a game revolving around the US attack on Whitehaven during the AWI which I mentioned on my blog a couple of weeks ago.  This involved only a small landing party and a battery of guns.

One game that particularly caught my eye was "The Long Road North" by the Barnsley Association of Wargamers. 

All the scenery was scratch built and done to a very high standard. 

Next to them was the Battle of Marignano put on by the Lance and Longbow Society.   This featured a mass attack by Swiss pikemen on French army of missile infantry and gendarmes, supported by landsknechts and artillery.  Previously, the Swiss had found that a rapid advance  had proved unstoppable, on this occasion the artillery slowed and disordered their attack, giving time for French reinforcements (their venetian allies) to arrive.

More photos of this and other games can be seen on Will Mcnally's blog.

I also liked the look of the Hastings game.  Done in the grand manner with lots of figures, it seemed to flow really well, helped by the use of a rule set linked to the hexagonal terrain units.