Triples - Please Stick a Fork in it!

I have a policy of NOT writing bad reviews, or at least not going out of my way to be negative. Many a time I have chosen not to write on a subject that I have negative views on. If my writing would possibly help protect readers from wasting money or time etc. then it's considered but when it's just not my cup of tea then it's best to keep quiet and move along.

So to lead with a title such as this shows just how much I think this event has lost it's way. Actually that's crap, no event loses it's way. Those that run it do. I understand the need to change venue from the University, I also understand the difficulty in finding a new venue that meets the needs but I also recognise when nothing is being done to correct failings.

First up I personally have no issue with the venue myself. It works for me, however IF the reason Triples is failing is the venue due to either price or location then it's an issue. Triples it seems charges the most for a trade stand outside Salute. It still claims to be the biggest Northern Show, York seems to have moved south I guess. When a Sheffield based trader makes a loss at a show in Sheffield something must be wrong. Hell they go to Antwerp and make a profit so what's the deal.

Not once but numerous times I over heard traders complaining they are set to make a loss this year. It was said they were down 17 regular traders on last year. They replaced some with new traders but not all, this would not have been so bad if the punter numbers had been up the traders who were there would have benefited. The sad fact is that today witnessed Sunday attendance, a bad Sunday at that.

Display and participation games were also down, indeed it was so bad that the halls seemed hollow making the lower visitor numbers seem even worse. The bring and buy of course continues to get worse as they continue to allow the organiser to use it as a flee market and I can't remember when I last saw much worth buying on it. 

Even the tournament side of it was almost empty, the reason they claim it needs to be a two day show is dead on it's feet. As I said, stick a fork in it if your not going to fix it.

On a brighter note I did go with plenty of spending planned, fortunately I had organised some up front purchases as follows.

I met up with my main supplier to collect enough figures for another four phalanx which will give me 14 blocks when all are painted up, watch this space.

Warbases like Baccus was not trading at the show so I had to pick up the bases for my new project from a third party and I replaced a couple of paints that are low, can't risk running out.

Magister fortunately where at the show and this saw me pick up the four figures I need to make up yet another Persian cavalry unit and I doubled my original plan of a Macedonian cavalry unit. I now need to get the two painted up before the next show they attend so I can buy more.

So sticking with 15mm I present my next new project. Seven Years War. The Boy was given free choice on what to do next in 15mm. I went through a bunch of websites showing him images of different periods. He narrowed it down to SYW, ECW, TYW and something Medieval. He finally choose SYW as he thought the mix of different troop types the most interesting. This pleased Lee no end as he really wanted to do this period for a long time. I was less up for it wanting the medieval choice. Lee grabbed Russian and then Austrian after The Boy choose French and I fell in with Prussian as they are the obvious choice, Oh good Prussian Blue, I have some of that LOL.

So Timecast got my pennies, Lancashire Games got The Boys and nearly every provider has a bunch of Lee's. If Lee dies of lead poisoning I will not at all be surprised.

The Boy is not all that well at the moment, struggling with a nasty cold and with the lack of suitable things to do was getting down so it was a great relief when we found a demo of this game to play. Indeed it was the highlight of the show so I parted with a bit more birthday money and we now have a new game to play and a few more miniatures to paint up. Lee already owns this and all the extra's from the Kickstarter so I knew some things about it. First game Sunday night so lets see what Cath and The Girl think of it.

Triples The Buys and Bye-bye?

I hark back to when Triples was the show that kicked off the show season and it did it in style. Like many I have fond memories of Triples, we used to go on a Sunday as it was easier to park. First one I went to was at a Hotel before the move to the Octagon so I have a long association to the show. Whilst many really liked the old venue I was not 100% in favour of it and certainly was not sold on keeping the show where it was. I have now been to the new site for the last four years and the numbers seem to have been dropping steadily. We could not make it yesterday so expected a low turn out, especially with the weather. However the Saturday was just as slack as the Sunday and feedback at the show and afterwards on Facebook it's not been the show it needs to be.

Talk was that it costs the same to rent the Institute for two days as it does for one, that may be but having such a thin run of punters means it feels empty and the traders look bored, very bored. The only reason I can say for keeping it as a two day show is the competition games, if they can be condensed to a one day competition I think they should consider it.

I was also told they plan to move the show back to March which moves it from between Salute and Partisan but it does move it close to York's show so it's still not the best solution but one I feel is not a bad move. Triples clashed with a Si-Fi show so maybe lost some visitors to that but I think given the number of shows we now have in the calendar it's just becoming too crowded. The question may be which shows shrink or disappear? The answer could be quite shocking as staple shows may loose out to the odd new kid on the block. One thing is for sure and that is that many of the traders who have to travel long distances are going to find it harder and harder to justify the trip. Watch out for the traders who start to offer a on line discount for purchases made the weekend of shows they no longer attend. THAT could be a very interesting development that could see them make far more money by not attending than if they did.

Most of the money I spent at the show was spent as soon as I walked through the door at the Baccus stand. I picked up the pre-ordered four packs of pike and added to these two packs of companion cavalry, this will make my 6mm Hail Caesar army a viable concern. I also bought NFR35 Animated French infantry and NFR37 the excellent Imperial HQ aka My Little Ogre. So my Napoleonic French finally get a Napoleon for my complex. The only new Baccus French I don't have is the casualty pack which I plan to pick up at Partisan. Last off was a pack of British Light Dragoons that my son needs for his Peninsular army.

Next stop was Magister Militum where I broke the bank on one pack of Persian Command allowing me to have four Hail Caesar divisions. This may be short sided and I should have bought another command pack due to my buying yet more Persian cavalry in the coming month. Last up was one more Kontos armed cavalry (this time Seleucid) for my Macedonian army/s as I am a bit short on cavalry units. I still think I need more but can pick more up at a later date along with yet more pike as I rate their pike above all others. I have the figures for two more pike blocks that are not MM but will do as I already have them.

The Hail Caesar vibe continued with a trip to Warbases to buy a couple of packs of bases. Pill shaped for 20mm skirmishers and 60x40 bases for my 6mm army. It's always good to have a chat with Martin, I have watched his company grow from a small stand at Partisan (first time I came across them) to what they are today and look to expand to. It's a nice guy business but my dealings with all concerned makes me think they are stand outs amongst a crowd of nice guys.

I also bought 60 7mm dice 40 in ivory and 20 in red, again surprise surprise for Hail Caesar, the ivory to show points of damage and the red to show they are shattered. This is going to be especially useful when playing with the 6mm armies as they will really stand out and help keep tabs on divisions that are close to being broken. They will also get use in our Napoleonic's instead of beads for cohesion loss and for trying out the Naps with Command & Color combat system. Only issue is that I need more :-)

I also bought two paints, Crimson and Silver but have managed to loose these somewhere along the way, never mind. My son had a great time, bought a lot of various figures but only got the one game in, the storming of Sword Beach in which they won the day but he returned home tired but happy. That makes two of us :-)

Triples '14 Swag, A Tale of Two Spenders

As mentioned two posts ago I took my son to Triples. First let me thank everyone who took time to make him welcome. To a seven year old longlegs actually showing real interest in them is a big deal and he is positively straining to get to another show.

First stop was Baccus to grab some of the last new French Napoleonic cavalry that has been released so far. Others are in the pipeline for later this year but these have been out a few months so I wanted to pick them up and get started on them. These are Lancers and Elite Light Cavalry. I need two bases of the latter for the Quatre Bras game even if they may yet not get to be used. These will hit the painting table next month and it's a bit scary to consider that the following month it's Joy of Six and my first display game.

Peter also gave me a stand of figures that for now I will keep to myself but will reveal in about a week so stay tuned. I also got a run down of the French release schedule and if all works out well we should see something new in the next 2-4 weeks and other items following at a reasonable pace through the rest of the year. It is possible we will see the whole range finished this year, exciting stuff.

Next stop was Warbases where I picked up enough 60x60mm bases for 80 Battalions of infantry. Not that I will be using them for just this purpose as I also base single and double buildings on this base size as well. At the back is another 24 bases for my Sniper Reminders, all told the most expensive spend of the day but I have been told that consumables do not count so I guess that means it's the cheapest shop of the day LOL

Three Battalions of Adler Prussian Line Infantry and one regiment of Dragoons. This see's the last of my purchases for the Prussians until Project Waterloo is finished. Not the same can be said for the French who I will still be getting another 24-36 Battalions of infantry before the dust settles.

A late on purchase was a set of Shield Transfers as now it seems I am building a SAGA force as Lee and my son happen to be!!! At least I have the start up figures for it in the box of Hirdmen Matt traded for painting figures. I just think they will be better with these slapped on them.

Not shown is a single pot of paint and the Warbases Saga measure set and tokens that I also bought as I happened to be on the stand at the end. Certainly a much lower spend than normal. Well until you know that my daughter was at a party that afternoon and had had two new dresses and a pair of shoes for it (two????) so I was kind of matching my wife's spend to be fair, on the understanding he did not just grab stuff.

He had some money of his own and wanted this Baccus 6mm House, he loves to see me painting buildings but I think he wants to do this one himself.

He also wanted some cowboys, these Dixon's don't have shotguns though. I should have two on foot that will match them from my stash. I bought the mule for him to go with them, always useful these.

At lunch after looking around a lot of stands I asked what did he want troop wise. English said he, so Lee immediately saw an opening and said, Anglo Danes then, and that friends is how the SAGA diversion was cemented. I had already met up with Loki and Gary Amos but bumped into Gary again. We had been looking for some Danes, asked Gary if he knew were any where and he replied yes my loft!

So with a very kind heart Gary has offered to send him some through the post but as a 7 year old likes to see his metal in his hand at the end of the show I bought him a pack of twelve to get him started, these are second hand from Colonel Bills and are Renegade Miniatures.

Kev from Kev's Cabin fame gave him a limited edition figure from a rule book he had just bought for his leader of his Danes and by chance whilst I was buying the Saga templates he got himself one of the Warbases new figures, a dog which will go on the base with his leader.

He also bought a few odd items just because and overall he had a great day. He did me proud as he was so often forced to stand waiting whilst I spoke to friends but he behaved well and just occasionally asked if we could move on, no moaning, no pouting just a good lad. We did get a game in, predictably a cowboy game and it would have been great to go back again but maybe just maybe we will be at Partisan in two weeks.

On the second day of Triples my true mate gave to me...........

Before I even left the house I had my first item in my hands. Lee thought he had a spare copy of a book I was looking at on Saturday but whilst it was from the series it ended up being a different book. Not that I am complaining as he passed it over.

First purchase of the day was not the bricks shown above, but yet another pack of Baccus skirmishers. I was short by a couple of bases worth so grabbed a second pack. THEN it was over to a stand I had only noticed as I left the show the day before. I will be using these bricks with the Linka odd bits for the Sniper reminders.

The same guy sells these and it counts as the must do, impulse purchase. It's a 54mm resin cast figure who goes by the name of Rose. As you can see it's by War Griffon and is supplied by model display products. They do lots of really nice figures, bases and well just lots. Well worth a nip over.

I was drawn to this one as she has a cat, I will be painting this up at some point for my wife (who loves cats) but I have a date with three chaps first LOL.

This is the book Lee thought he had two of, so I bought it in any case, just £5 so I can't complain at all. Both books have lots of illustrations and look to be useful if only in dragging me further into lots more 6mm figures once 2015 is all done with.

The show itself though was deadly on Sunday. There was a bit of life in the morning but by late lunch it was dropping off by the minute. I spent a fair part of the lunch till home period painting with Dr Mike. Having two of us sat down painting seemed to attract more over to the table and we spent chunks of time talking to various wargamers though most of these already painted 6mm or would not paint 6mm. It was great getting to talk to guys who were interested in the paint it quicker style of painting especially when they realised the results can still be good looking. My style changed a great deal post sitting down with Ian last July (another of Mike's little helpers) but I have slowed right back down and so the sit down with Mike really was a benefit.

These just got about an hour of my time yesterday, I plan to finish them tonight ready for basing. These are some of the new Baccus French but Mike has a new slightly changed method that again seems to shave that bit more time off the time taken.

The day started and ended with gifts. Mike gave me a bottle of his special mixture. 20% flow aid and 80% distilled water (you get the flow aid from Winsor & Newton and the distilled water from any large Auto Parts/tools shop, or Halfords as we call it). Mike actually dilutes his Vallejo pots with this. He decants the paint into bottles like the Coat de Arms and adds some of this to the mix.

I will be using it to mix with the Vallejo in my bottle caps instead of water. you see tap water has lots of impurities that attach themselves to the pigment and rather than the water thinning down the paint it tends to make the paint slightly thicker whist separating some of the colour so you end up with one part thick and a second part runny. I have noticed this at times but did not know the science behind it.

So an enjoyable two days and now back to the program of getting some lead out.

Triples II it continues.

I left off yesterdays report with only some of the toys I had bought but before I finish off I'd like to point out that Baccus also have released skirmishers for the Grenadier Line Regiments, unfortunately I only found out just before leaving and by them they were all sold out. Oh well Partizan I can make up for this. It's not expected that any more new French figures will be ready given the time scale that they have to work to but the next figures due for release will be replacements for all the current cavalry codes. After that it will be the guns and crews then the Generals before moving onto the all new items. I have a loose agreement that as the new lines become available I will buy them so I can paint them up and thus review them. More on that later.

So I had one last major purchase of the Saturday to cover but felt I would leave it off yesterdays post given I was showcasing Baccus new French releases.

Not wanting to wait until Baccus release their new French I have bought more of the Adler cavalry to go with the one Lancer regiment I had already bought so long ago. Here we have I think three regiments of Cuirassier four of Lance and two of Chasseurs, not enough to complete the French for Waterloo but will Lee's added we have enough none guard when included with our finished cavalry. Still more will be needed for the other battles we wish to fight.

How many Battalions do I intend to paint for the Prussians?, well above is the mounted officers that will go on some of the battalion bases!

Here we have a mix of Jager and Line skirmishers and at the bottom extra command stands to reduce the size of the Adler Battalion size from 36 to as low as 28 for some of the bases. Most bases will have 24-30 figures in the line or column 3-4 skirmishers and the odd mounted officer or maybe two just to break them up.

Here we go, bags of Reserve and Landwehr infantry. It would not be so bad if I had already painted up the last lot but I still have hundreds of them! All told their is just around 1000 figures in those bags alone. What it does though is just about supply the rest of the Prussian Infantry for the game. Sure I still have lots of artillery  cavalry and Generals to buy but I should have the majority of the infantry in hand.

The French, well in two weeks I may or may not buy another Baccus booster, that depends on when Peter thinks the next new releases are available. If they are not going to be out for a month or so I will grab a booster, otherwise I may well order another with the next draft of releases.

So day one closed with a VERY heavy ruck sack. Between Baccus and Adler, Lee and myself had spent well over £200, I'm not sure if we should be keeping a record or not of just how much we spent.

Tomorrow I will do a post on Sundays show and what I got up to but now I am off to finish what I started.

Triples, A day of spend spend spend.

Wargamers don't tend to need to practice spending but it's become a bit of a tradition to do go through the battle plan at the Golden Archers and this year was no exception. Fortified and ready for a contest of wallets we then travelled the 60 yards to the venue (is it only me that has noticed that every large sports hall has a McD very close to it?

Anyway I digress, £3.50 to park being that bit lower than the year before and the ticket covering both days we were in like a ferret up the trouser leg, that smell that can only be Triples (or Grandma's knickers draw). I am proud to say that within five minutes flat we were standing all eager like at the Baccus stand and listening to Peters age old song about 6mm being sooooo easy to paint on two unsuspecting 28mm fans. Actually to this point I had never seen Peter at work from this angle. More importantly I had never seen the victims er customers eyes before. The blank stir and the words "must....buy.....little....men" slipping almost human like from their dry raspy throats.

Being a nice guy I tried to save them by telling them how I had painted up lots of Union Regiments in just one week, whilst forgetting to mention that I was not working at the time and so had more than the average Joes time on my hands (well he has an extra mouth to feed and looking at the size of him, they certainly are feeding him, he could be a five year old he's so tall).

The reason for our haste was to take a butchers at the new Napoleonic French just released and according to Peter he has worked all the hours God sends to get it done whilst that troublesome Igor did nothing at all. Anyway the verdict?

£36 later and I would say I really do like the new figures. Pose wise they are much the same quality wise they are a big step up. I had already decided I would buy a pack of everything Peter releases in the French codes and paint them up just to follow the whole process through. This will basicly mean throwing between £3 and £6 per line at Peter and then coming home and painting them up. This is the only way to do a complete review of a new product. So Peter must have released seven to ten new lines so far? er no. That would be five new lines. But five times say £4.50...........

Just stop right there. I am only human right? OK I am possibly human and as such I am frail and for those who do not know Peter he is a bear of a man and not only does he have hypnotic powers but a hell of a head lock. 

You see the Waterloo French are not yet released and whilst Lee was disappointed that Peter has yet to release new lines to me it ...made.....perfect...sense.....MASTER. He HAS to cover the core items that already made up his range before moving forward and we need to start painting up troops for Waterloo.

This is why I walked away with the 1806-12 Infantry Booster Pack which provides me with 12 battalions of French infantry. A major upgrade is that this pack now comes with an Elite base per regiment in the blister (twelve in all). Something else, the command stand now has just the one drummer. To me the figures also look that little bit chunkier, and maybe a gnats todger taller. What they are more so though is crisper. It's obvious they have been remade from the Eagles down. How will they paint? I have no idea.....yet, but looking at the painted figures on display, they will be just fine, so very fine.

To go with these I have bought the NFR3 French Voltigeurs pack which will allow me to make up twelve battalions with four skirmishers per base for a total of £19.50 (£16.50 for the infantry booster and £3.00 for the skirmishers). To say it would be hard not to improve the old Voltigeurs would be a huge understatement. But these are so much better, oh so very much better. The poses have been altered even though one remains firing. Simply put, these are just great.

I also bought NFR4 French Grenadiers pack for £6 and compared them to my yet to be painted old pack and again we have an upgrade. These are slightly more noticeably taller, the bear skin is better cast and these will be the start of my Guard, though I will use the three old bases as well.

The really early French are represented by NFR10 and NFR20, Infantry line in bicorne and bicorne skirmishers respectfully. Originally I really did not think I would have much use for these and planned on painting just the one Battalion as I have no interest in painting up early French but then Aidy pointed out they would be good for the Paris Guard for the Iberian battles. Great, so these will get a chance to be used after all. Again really clean crisp figures with minimal prep, these should see a brush soon.

So I have to admit I am very taken with the new French and really looking forward to what is to follow. I plan to try and get the twelve regular battalions done as soon as I can, I aim to reinforce them at Partizan next month.

I also picked up three cans of Vallejo Matt Varnish but Lee managed to wrestle two cans off me, possibly because my neck was still saw from Peters earlier sale.

Not to worry though, I found this rather interesting purple can (HMG Paints, got to love a name like that). The man behind the table said that Mr. Adler used and ask his view. Instead I just bought a can before Lee dragged me to the floor. The Vallejo was £10 and the HMG £8.50 Now anyone who has followed this blog for some time will know how highly I rate Vallejo sprays so it's got some stiff competition. I have tested it on two Prussian Dragoon regiments and I am happy to say that I will pick up another can in the morning. More details on this in a later post.

I also popped over to Warbases to pick up my order (Hoplite movement trays) and big bases for groups of buildings, where I met up with a fellow blogger working the stand. 

I also met up with Dr Mike of the painting clinic and Ian his very able assistant who lives not far away and plays at Mansfield. I see more games in the future  :-)

I have more to tell but will add it to the next post. I will be back at Triples tomorrow but the focus will be on games and other such fun.

Triples Swag

Not so large stash.

Well I think I will start with what I did not get and end on a high. Camels, oh they do make me spit! Same with the Essex Persians. Someone was selling a mix of Essex but these they did not have. I really need Essex Persians as they are to go with the Essex I already have so I will mail order and as such will get Essex camels so no big deal. The Newline's Numidian Cavalry were not on display but the infantry were. They are so much more chunky than the 1/72 Plastics that they would not be a good fit so happy to stick with just the plastics (no issue regards the Newline, just would be obvious another supplier). The Pendraken question remains unanswered, they only bring army packs to the shows so unable to make up a unit to see what they look like. Lee needs a few WWII bits so he will order some at some point. Meanwhile he left mine with a few 15mm Matchlock to paint up, biggest problem will be ordering these figures if we go with it as you have to do it blind. No stand space for the range at any of the shows I have been to nor pics on line! No barbed wire either but will get from Maelstrom Games at some point.

Whilst I did not pick up the Donnington Galatians I did get the Museum ones as they also had command figures and I thought it might be nice to add a bit of a mix for a change. It's great that at the show you can buy single figures as it can round off units, especially if like me you are converting from one rule set to another as in several cases.

Came with a  free paper bag!

Obviously I managed to get the paints, plenty selling Vallejo at old prices and I got replacements for white and black at £1.75 a bottle so happy enough. I also picked up a couple of packs of dice, 20 in total so ready for FoG and Impetus.

Other than that I got nothing really.............

Oh OK I did get something else. Timecast the Holy Grail of wargaming were there but whilst I like them and will buy some for extra variation I have to say that I don't think they are as good as the rep. But I really do like Total Battle Miniatures resin buildings. The cast quality is as good as Timecast (I think slightly better) and have better prices for the same sized pieces. If you use their painting service the finished product looks better as well. They are local to me so it's nice to support them but make no mistake if they were not as good I would go elsewhere. The range is ever growing so adding to your buildings is no problem. They have a small range of 25-28mm a fair range of 15mm and for me a great sized 6mm. I wanted buildings that could be used for Belgium and Prussia/Austria whilst Lee bought Spanish. I can see me buying Russian if we get round to that campaign anytime.

Thatched Row House

This is a really nice piece (as they all are really). The detail is great and I think it will paint up fairly fast and I look forward to the thatching! it was also the most expensive of all the buildings I bought coming in at £6

Thatched Barn

Keeping with the thatched theme I give you the barn. I bought two of these, one to stand alone (I want a farm house for it) the other to go with a warehouse. The pic does not make it real clear but hay is coming out of the two bays to the right. The view of my thumb should give an indication of the size. Price wise it was the lowest price  at £3 each. The front has a large double door for waggon access.

Large Warehouse

I love this one, it's another £6 building and more great detail. The overhang for the waggons (I may add the pole for the hoist. Steps up to the main doors and the wonky roof. Round the back is a set of three low archers to strengthen the structure.

I also have a Church with a dome spire at £4 and a timber building which is larger than the barn but comes in at only £3. For some reason I did not photograph them so you will have to wait to see them painted. Their website shows all the buildings painted so you can use it as a guide. You do get some mold lines and a little flash, time will tell if that is much of an issue. Also I do have one bubble in the resin of one piece that I have seen but it's neither big or looks to spoil the model, again once they are being cleaned and primed I will have a better idea on just how good they are. The fortified town is fantastic as is the other tile pieces and as Lee pointed out you can use it with the town walls (seldom) but nothing stops you using the buildings from the town loose. All considered it's a great piece and one day I will have one.

So not a bad stash, I think given both the financial position but also the fact I have so much gear anyway future Con's won't see me spending like I used to, I simply need to fill gaps these days, but also consider what I had delivered two days before the con.

Numidian Reinforcements.

My order from Hayfield's arrived, I really need another box of the Zvezda Cavalry which I will pick up in a few weeks time and then I can get to painting the rest.

The Full Project.

Not shown are the Numidian light Cavalry already painted and the Roman Deserters, again already painted. I also fancy another box of the HaT Numidian Lights or possibly two as I can have so many units of Light Cavalry and you get three units out of a single box. I have yet to get the figures out together and assign to units but after that I should be able to decide what more I need to give me a few options around the basic unit. I saw the rules at the con but at £25 I just don't think they are value for money. I will continue to search out a second hand copy.

Triples and back again.

Well it was Triples yesterday and what a good day it was. I live 45 minutes away so it really is the local show. In fact though it is further away now it's about 20-30 minute's quicker to get to as we no longer have to drive through Sheffield. Lee had arranged to pick me up at 9am so at 8.45 I clambered into his car and along for the day was Adi who I had met just the once before and is a real fun guy and we all spent the day trading war stories. Of course we had given ourselves an hour to get to the Con and set off 15 mins early so once near the site we went for 2nd breakfast.

It seemed the local car park rolled well on initiative and installed a guy on the entrance who ambushed us all for £3 parking, good job we were in a  good mood having just feasted so well at MacD's.

I like the new venue, no stairs, everything all together in two rooms* (though it took till lunch to find the second room). Traders for the most part round the edge of the room, displays and participation in the centre with bright lighting.

* The wargames themselves were in a off shoot from the main room, easy to see but what a difference. Dim and dismal lighting (is that a 4?, anyone selling glow in the dark dice would have done a great trade) and it was cold in there. If the con gets any bigger I think they will put them in the car park! In the same room but tucked away at the very end was what is probably the worst bring and buy I have ever seen. Ran by the guy who often runs it but possibly a victim of E-Bay, the lower numbers on the day or perhaps just what seems the steady decline and lack of interest that bring and buys seem to generate. Anyway apart from 40K it seemed that it really only held a lot of books, a few bits and bobs and the stock owned by the guy doing the bring & buy. He was (again) openly bragging to a guy about how he had snapped up a bargain for latter sale. This is the crux of the problem. Anything worth grabbing he gets, he buys it and gets the commission and the selling fee. In effect he not only gets first dibs but buys at a discount. He see's it as part payment for him doing the B&B (I assume then he makes no money (yeah right!)) I see it as short sighted strategy that is paying him back. What's the point going looking if nothing is worth the ticket price as he has had all the good stuff? Less peeps looking, less sold, less taken to be sold the following year. The circle is maintained. He gets a worse image when he is selling games he bought in The Works even if he is not making a huge mark up, they are still in my local store!!!If Triples are paying attention, if you want the bring and buy to function like a real bring and buy, stop using outside sellers and man it yourself.

As mentioned above, numbers did seem to be down and that was in part put down to a local football teams playoff game being on, either way it was not badly attended but by 3pm it was looking beyond sparse. Still a good return for me.

Met fellow blogger Phil of The Wargammer site and his posse. He has already posted his Triples event (see sidebar) and had a chat with them all. Whilst he grabbed my pic I feared for my camera's health so kept it hidden. Nice bunch of lads and it was like we had all been mates for years! (Which after the camera gag may well not happen LOL). What I find interesting about these events is the sheer number of old and new acquaintances that spring up. Lee is a bit of a whore so every other minute someone would come up and chat to him about this and that. Hell we only got through the door before one bloke (the original holiday centre owner) was chatting with him and telling him he wanted Lee to paint some 10mm's for him. Later he caught up with us and handed the fig's he wants painting. He had a pack of Hussars that he needed painting, just mentioned someone who did not wear glasses was required to paint them. I for some reason mentioned I did not need glasses and promptly was given half the pack and told they need to be painted as Aide de Camp's!!! Upping the ante seems to be a wargamers trait LOL. The reward? You get to go over to his new gaff for a free game or so when he is sorted. He is going down the route of 10mm and with the offer of free games if you paint some gear for him he hopes to get lots of figures painted. I wish him well in the venture and look forward to painting these up for him, but the trust that gets put out there, the man did not even have my name, seems being a wargamer and entering the building with Lee is enough.

I did not take many pics as usual I left it to the end and was really feeling the day, but for your viewing pleasure.

Huntingdon & District Wargames Society 6mm Napoleonic game. Very friendly chaps who some how managed to play the game and chat to all and sundry. The pic shows just part of the battlefield and if I remember right they were using their own rules.

A close up of a few of the bases. They hammer a nail through the bottom of the base for the Hama Beads they use as markers. This acts as a great information system and also instills respect of the miniatures by those who insist on slamming their hands on the table! The figures are Baccus.

Like a Stone Wall put on this huge WWI display, that had tables flying off in all directions! Rather than the usual trench bound slog match this was fought over open terrain and seemed to have a fair bit of movement.

Another view to give you an idea of the size of the game, plenty more table dog legging to the left.

Old School done to a large scale. Each figure is hand cast from split moulds and must have taken forever to just make. The owner has for the most part just one mold per figure type but for the most used figures he had two!!! He would cast in his wife's kitchen and make them in two groups of 4 at a time.

Close up time. High gloss is the order of the day, as is the basic board. More detailed terrain just detracts from the style of the game. Many a older wargamer really got misty eyed over this one.

Very nice WWII display by Barnsley Association of Wargamers. Italian V Commonwealth and this is just a taste of the battlefield. So well done as were many of the displays.

A view from further around the table. The standards of display are so high now it has to be daunting for anyone wanting to put one on for the first time.

Mosborough Old Boys put on a ECW display, again this is just a part of it. As it was getting late in the day nothing was happening but it looked nice and I did spot my Regiment marching to the action. I think the power of the Sealed Knot is shown with the painting of the Kings Guard as it shows them with red pikes just like my company had theirs painted. Unfortunately no information is available to say that this was historical, indeed it was my company commanders way of making sure he could keep tabs on the pikes he supplied!

Another 6mm Naps, this time The Glory Boys. Effective terrain again, this time using Adler Miniatures.

A better view of the table. As mentioned by another blogger (Big Lee I think), some displays lacked either information or easy to see information on who they were and/or what they were fighting. The top pic of these two shows how easy it is to achieve this.

So that wraps up the show (I will do a stash post later). This would be it for you more normal types but we had to drop off a couple of Adi's excellent flags off at another of Lee's mates place. So we all trooped in to say hi and look at the battle the three of them have ongoing (the joys of a permanent table). I have never, ever EVER seen so many 28mm painted figures in my life. What's even better these figures are so well painted they could make the cover of any wargames mag! The table was great as well and the buildings very very good. Imagine the jaw dropping surprise when you find out this is just 20% of what they own between them! I did not take any pics as the camera was in the car. I have been invited to play with them when they get the next game set up and that is something that can't come soon enough. Andy the third member of their posse is another nice relaxed type of guy, all three play for the fun of playing, my idea of heaven. We spent about an hour to two chatting and showing me work they are doing on yes yet more figures and running me through the battle so far. Then it was a drive home from there dropping Adi off ad then back to mine more than ten hours after I left!

Triples Shopping List and Random Mutterings.

Triples shopping list and random mutterings.

Well I'm off to Triples tomorrow and should be there for opening which is just perfect. It was always my favourite con really but so much has changed since the last time I attended. First up it was often the weekend one side or the other of my Birthday (MARCH!!!!!) now it's May. Next up it's at a new venue, well that will be a bonus for me as I did not fancy those stairs! and one reason for the move was the need for extra space. Good News, so what's on my list?

Essex will be one target as I need a couple of packs of Persian Cavalry to finish off the birthday ones I received also they have camels so I can get the ones I already own finished off.

Newline need a visit to check out their 20mm Numidians though at £3.30 a pack of three they will have to have something nice to get me to add them to the plastics. I also really need another Zvezda Carthaginian Numidian Cavalry box as I really need just a few more for the 20mm project to be ready to work on. I received my package from Hayfield's yesterday and have to say I really like the Zvezda and they are well worth the extra.

Donnington seem to be the only supplier holding Gallatian Infantry so I will take a look at them and if they are not a fit for what I need then I will probably pick up the closest I can find from one of the others. This and the camels will as good as complete my Later Seleucid arm, well as far as lead goes anyway. Painting well that's a different story.

Vallejo, if I can beat the local shops price I will pick up a few more colours, I feel I have arrived as I am in need of a new White as it's almost used up! Maybe also some horse colours, any suggestions?

Warbases will get a visit, i will pick up a few bits but mostly just to say thanks for the great service I have received in the last 6 months, really fast, helpful and pleasant guy.

Looking at Barbed Wire options, AP is on the clock at £3.59 for 2.5m so will be looking to beat it.

The sticky question of dice, at the moment I use my ASL dice but this means sometimes using them twice to get enough dice in. So buying some of the cheap as chips dice should be considered.

Timecast will get a nod as I need 6mm buildings but another company also do nice buildings and slightly lower in price so will be looking them up as well.

Pendragon for the 10mm ECW/TYW options. Still don't know where we will go with this but I think we will buy a few packs just to try them out. If we go with them it will mean a big spend to build up the armies.

Want to chat at Triples? if you see someone who looks like this, it may well be me.

Different Jersey though, 96 Hood will be the flavour of the day.

OK the random stuff now. Phil from The Wargaming Site got me thinking when he was writing about the standards of our hobby suppliers. The general consensus is that they all should be professional, have good websites and react fast to queries. All this was sparked by a mates problems with Heroics and Ross (problem was out of H&R control and has been resolved) but as my professional background is Retail Operations Manager level I have both insight and a personal interest in this matter. I also really should side with the customer as I HATE poor service and unprofessional action.

But we have a few issues that really need to be considered to get the full picture. Many of these companies are part time or if not fairly shoestring affairs. This means that either (and sometimes both) time or money is in short supply to do everything that is needed. Even so a basic standard should be expected but even that can be wanting. So what is reasonable?

E-mails and phone messages replied to. If service is up and running then it's fair to expect a reply within a few days but consider someone who has a full time job, they may well have to fit in casting, packaging and posting out so many orders at some points that they really struggle to get round to it, especially if it's just before or after a show. Still I think it's fair to get a response within 5 days especially if a weekend is included in the time period.

Pictures of the figures on the website. The real gripe of wargamers. Conventions may well be the place many of us get our figures from but how often have they been pre-ordered or selected from the Internet? Also Internet is very big business and so many of us do a lot of buying there. It makes perfect business sense to have all your figures on line with a good and secure ordering system to speed up taking our hard earned off us. The problem for some suppliers they simply do not have the now how to do this themselves and have may well have used someone to build their website who would have to be relied upon to add this feature or maintain it. It's likely in this case to cost a fair bit to do and as such becomes not viable, especially if they have a large catalogue. Money better spent would be to get a training session to learn how to do it and then devote a few hours a week to steadily doing this until you get the whole back catalogue on the system. Will it add sales? yes for sure but possibly not enough to warrant the already limited time for some. But this is a flawed strategy as slowly they will loose sales to competition who's product you can see. What the internet has done is allow us to see and purchase just about anything, if I want a hard to get (say in the UK) set of figures then by direct from where ever they are made. Companies such as H&R really should have pics, they have been around for so long and it's so important that such bread and butter companies get images across.

Getting what you want not an alternative/mistaken item and when it happens getting it sorted. Lack of a retail mind is often the reason for either slipping something similar in the parcel or not reacting fast to errors. Customers tend to hate these errors and can turn a happy loyal customer into a never again and outspoken unhappy camper. Quickly sorting out errors though has just the opposite effect, we love it!

Another similar issue. Out of stock and waiting, waiting and the sands of time drifting away. OK three weeks but I have waited every day for THAT parcel. I will use Hayfield's as an example. I ordered about £25-30 of items, I know already that they take a few days to get back to you, not sure if it's a one man band but it's always the same guy (Andy) who gets back to you. I received an e-mail from him stating the sale item I had ordered was gone (no surprise as it was the last one) and another item was going to be out of stock for two weeks. He was happy to send what he had and send the rest on or hold the stock. I was happy to hold as he told me it was a couple of weeks before the other item came in. A couple of weeks later he lets me know they aer in. Do I still want them and if so how to pay? We sorted the detail and 3 days later they arrive. At all stages I knew what to expect, instead of three weeks of letterbox camping. Warbases is great because he e-mails you he has sent the items out, this he does when he gets home at night, power to him, great service. Keep the customer informed and they stay happy longer, problem is that it takes time and unless they are well organised , lots of time.

Time is the issue for these guys, especially if they are a part time business. So should we cut them some slack? I think so, not a lot after all they are taking our cash but any of these companies that are at the point of going from part time to full time they have it the hardest because that other revenue will be missed for some time whilst they try to make it as a going consign.