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!