York Wargames Show Report

Well that's more than a grand title, I think it's related to a recent leading picture ;-) The truth is that I really did not see that much of the show as I spent a couple of hours on the table sale moving a lot of old and not so old wargames clobber. I had a quick look round on arriving and a chat with Peter on the Baccus stand but beyond that it was quick hits on three stands and then off home, so really I can't say too much about it. What I can say is that it was a lot more busy than the year before when we had all that snow. It seemed to have more stands and tables in use making it a bit more packed. Warbases I think was there for the first time and actually had one of several stands in the entrance. He seemed to be busy so hopefully it turned out to be a fairly good position.

The table sale seemed to be great for the first two hours with all tables taken but started to drop off for the third hour and by the end of the fourth hour they had a lot of empty tables and whilst people were still coming through it was a lot slacker. The system worked well and despite the website stating the tables could be only booked in 30 minute slots by eleven if not before you could book an hour slot. At the end of my hour I was allowed to stay on for another hour, good job for them really as they were dropping off. Total cost was £4 which I easily covered. Much better that a bring and buy as you could change prices or haggle come barter and even swap with the punters. The twin draw backs from my point of view was the size of area, really was a reduced space, better if you arranged with a mate to take a second space next to you which would also help with the second issue. If you want to look round and still have the table for a chunk of time you may well get a reduced look round the show. Given that I was more in selling mode than buying it was not a big deal for me but I would have liked to see more. How ever I did shift a fair amount of stuff including the Numidian Army that was gobbled up by the first person who saw it (it was under the table). When I told him how much I wanted for it, his reply was "for all of it?" Methinks  I set a low bar, but I was happy. I also got rid of almost all of the Citadel castings, first for a small amount each then as a job lot. I also sold a few of the Maelstrom FoG:R army lists that I had bought (duplicates) and the War and Conquest rule book I got for £1 I sold a few other bits and after buying my swag went hope with a fair amount more than I turned up with.

So onto the swag, actually I also had a few Vallejo paints which are already worked into the paint rack. As you can see I just went after two providers, Warbases who I picked up a show order and Baccus who I don't seem to be able to walk past.

Lets start with Warbases being as I spent the most there (sorry Peter LOL). These are not part of my show order and proof that it's always a good move to visit their stand even when you have enough bases as you never know what else they may have thought up. I loved the telephone booth and post box, perfect for any British set game of that period. I bought two more sets of windows to use on the custom bases (often as smashed windows. Linked to these were a bag of bricks, why linked? It's the bits that get cut out of the windows. Each item was £1 each, great value and VERY useful. 

Not on the original photo is an A4 sheet of roof tiles made of paper thin wood, perfect for shaping and cutting etc. The ridge tiles are at the bottom of the sheet (left side of the pic). 28mm figure shown for scale. At £3 a sheet it's just not worth using card for the job.

Martin made these custom bases for me, Originally I ordered 30 and the price was so good I expanded it to 120. These are for 15mm WWII figures that will be used as 3D snipers for ASL. The bad news for those taking part in Curt's Painting Challenge is that I should have the first 80 finished tomorrow. The good news is that I forgot to pick up some Russian figures for this so still need to get another 40 bought never mind painted.

Last up was a lot of the 60x60 bases for my Napoleonic infantry. Lee was sharing £15 worth of packs, that's 120 bases for our infantry. Lee took £7 worth as he has recently had  24 bases off me for his British. 

The great thing about Warbases is that if you order to pick up at a show with enough notice, you get a 10% discount which is a great feature. I still have loads of bases for my 15mm figs but I know before Triples I will be checking stocks of all the bases I use.

The sharp sighted may well have noticed the Baccus figures are not French Naps, they are indeed Prussians. One of the armies I took to sell was my Irregular Prussians and if I had managed to sell it I would have bought rather a lot more. Instead I have to sell the army via e-bay a few bases at a time. The bonus is that I will actually make more money even taking into account the various costs involved that sold at the show. The negative is that it's a pain to do. So I just bought a Prussian Line Infantry Booster Pack at £16.50 and Line Infantry Skirmish Infantry at £3. Enough for 12 bases which should cover our Waterloo project. I still need a lot more Prussian infantry but this is the cream of the crop. Cavalry wise it's a rather small force if we just do Waterloo. However if we do the campaign I will need a tad more of all of them......

Talking of Baccus, or rather talking to Peter from Baccus the Austrian's will be completed in just a few weeks which I am very excited about. No I'm not buying them, it's just that then the French will be along soon after. The new Infantry should be available for Salute or possibly before. I'm not just talking Line either. So I have the twin aims of getting the Prussians on the way and forging my way forward with the French. The Spanish army should be completed in a few months whilst the twin aim of Waterloo and Borodino should be done well before 2015. I even have funding approved  ;-)