Partizan Blogging Meet

So this coming weekend is Partizan. It's a bit different this year as it's at The Showground and not it's old location at Kelham Hall. Those who have visited Hammerhead recently will be aware of the benefits of this venue. Shame about the old location as it has a lot of charm but I think the plus out paces the negatives. It's also a little bit special as Pete (Panzer Kaput) has organised a Northern Bloggers Meet for 1pm at his game (always a treat for the peepers) from where we will mooch off to a secondary location to chat and general banter. Even though it's a NORTHERN blog meet some of the natives from down south are attending, yep looking at you Tamsin! 

It goes without saying that I will be in attendance with The Boy and Lee. I may be a bit cranky as it's the last day of a week off, but at least I will finish in style.

Spring Blog Con, The Loot and the Dudes

It's the people that make Blog-Con, not that a good venue doesn't add to the experience but whilst venue and games add to the whole it's the people that keep us coming back for more. Dave D was great, steering us through chaos, Sydney added another layer of fun that kept us all entertained. Our Oldhammer mates are just that. Eight months ago I would have had a different view of Oldhammer but seeing the guys play both games (Nottingham and York) I have a growing respect and feeling of comradeship towards them.

EVERYONE just gelled together and the whole day was one of joy and other than Ray not a bad word was said about anyone (just kidding Ray,we bad mouthed another guy)  ;-)

It was a shame I was not up to staying for the Curry Evening, the southern one looks to e a stay over (I have the dog kennel of one of the Oldhammer freaks guys so am sorted LOL).

It really started well for me as Loki gave me my prize from his last giveaway (he is having another you know) but being the top guy he is he also gave me a bonus book, a historical novel to read between the Sharpe's I am also reading at the moment. I just need to finish the last Wheel of Time book then I am all over these! I don't think I was as forward in my thanks as I really should have been so thanks Andrew I really am looking forward to both of these, the Howard book more for the unexpectedness of it.

So the end of my Blog-Con trilogy and a big thanks to all the guys, you all made my day, especially Lee for being the great mate he has been over the last three years. The two where I was skint and too often short tempered through fatigue or pain. He was generous in time and lifts so it was great to be the driver for a trip that was not just round the corner. I have to admit that two of my oldest opponents still remain favourites to play against so Lee and Matt cheers mates and here's to another 30 plus years of being little kids and laughing at not juts each others misfortune on the table but our own!

Spring Blog-Con The Great War

The second game we played was a fun loaded Great War Skirmish called Get Carter ran by Sydney Roundwood who ran it with much merriment and brilliant accents and comments that had us all champing at the bit to get at 'em!

I was picked to lead the boys over the top, I assigned troops and basicly left it to them to get on with it as I also took my troop of five rifle armed Tommies and four rifle grenadiers giving the bombers and trench clearer's to other parties. 

Lee was the only one to suffer casualties getting into the trench but as he was the first to make contact he did suffer for this. However he did force back the Germans all the way back to the command dugout. However these Germans rallied their shock off quickly and charged back at Lee winning the melee and sending him packing. This only happened as I was inactive for three turns or the Germans in this area would have been destroyed as I was at full strength but that's the nature of card activation systems.

On the other flank we got straight into the Hun and was to see how devastating two attacks one after the other could be as these German front line trench troops where first beaten and then smashed. Unfortunately they were to far away at that point to help the right hand attack.

Finishing off the German left flank, the Big Man gets seriously wounded and two of the last three Germans carry him to safety. The last German was quick to get out of the trench and run for the rear. At this point with two relatively fresh squads in reserve and my yet to be committed squad all looked good for us.

Rather than attack me the surviving German squad moved down the adjacent leg,mean while bringing their shock right down. This did not worry me too much as I would charge into them with great odds as soon as my card came up, this would free up the way to Get Carter from the command dugout (top left) he was no longer under guard but would not leave the dugout as he was wounded.

The German Trench Raiders turn up (one bunch over open ground and the other now coming in between me and Carter. I had already attacked the German squad but had taken a mauling due to the extra Big Man and whilst I shocked their troops well had only killed two. I in reply did not suffer much shock but lost more troops, now I was in trouble and needed the help of our friends. Curt (left) and Kev look on as if things are going bad but in fact are resting their faces after another salvo of laughter  :-)

We had three separate attempts to go over the top and rescue Carter but each fell short of getting to him, one by just an inch. A mix of rifle fire and MG (top left) had us further reduced. Even if we got to Carter we would have been trapped in the dugout. Maybe a few of us managed to get back but overall the field was littered with our dead.

It was such good fun and knowing the rules that bit now would look forward to trying again and having just as much fun again. Everyone was clearly enjoying the game and even though some of the German's got to enter late and Lee was knocked out early the banter kept everyone engaged.

So we had two great games with great terrain and figures it was an absolute treat. Just the edge of the table was the Old Hammer game that was played through the whole afternoon and clearly was a lot of fun for the two guys playing. They were really a good addition to the day and I am really glad they had the room they got. No doubt that they really could have done with a little more but not a word of complaint and the great thing is that they will travel to the southern Blog-Con as well.

Thanks needs to go to James for setting up the whole concept but Dave really needs the main praise having developed the con still further. It's now developed into a life of it's own and even though Spring Blog-Con was meant to be just a small affair to celebrate Curt's visit to the UK it was most excellent to be able to see it as that bit more. Word is that it will be down south for the late in the year session this year and that's no problem, lets see what those boys in easy town can come up with  :-)

Spring Blog-Con

Well the second Blog-Con was yesterday. A much smaller event but well attended, indeed we could not manage many more. Having nearly missed this one as I thought it clashed with something else I was even happier to make this one.

We stood outside for a chunk of time just chatting with the weather being so nice and a bunch of nice guys why would you move?

Well this would be one good reason. Ray was in town, caught red handed smuggling budgies and about to be dragged back to Canada by Curt (from whence the budgies were smuggled I assume).

We were the Pinkerton's and we had already planned on spending the money for the reward so I guess the Mounty just might not keep his man.

Stair's having yet to catch on in Canada, Curt throws Ray over the rail for a speedy getaway, jumping over the rail and landing next to the slightly confused Ray (obviously landing on his head knocked a lot of sense into him).

Curt ties Ray up and then climbs onto his horse to try and get to the train before it sets off. Clearly thia was gong to be a drag for Ray.

The gambler after making a few bucks strolls outside and gets into it with a couple of outlaws. Favouring his shotgun he cuts down Loki and a poor innocent civilian, oh well plenty more civi's would get what was coming so no time to weep. Loki was to get back up and continue the fight but that gambler was a tough guy.

Curt races around the town until he gets the opportunity to ride over the tracks and add a few more lumps to Ray (Curt either really likes budgies or dislikes Ray!!!)

Curt gets on the train, hog ties Ray shoots me down as well as another Pinkerton who he walks up to calmly and finishes him off. I need a 6 on 1 die to get up which I manage but Curt drills my other arm and I jump off the train allowing Curt to ride off into the sunset.

A fantastic game with so much laughing and dice throwing, real load of fun and a great time had by all, well except Ray.

Tomorrow I will post about the second game by Sydney Roundwood, another eye candy filled game that delivers on all levels.

Blog-Con after the Buzz and Project Quatre Bras

So it's Tuesday night and Blog-Con whilst not a distant memory is certainly over but the buzz is still there. Next year will be a MUST for me as I had great fun. I had planned a nice set of images and post on the whole day I did make but unfortunately so few of the images were worth showing I have given up on the idea of using them. Instead I will wait for others to post pictures and will relive the moment there. It's a shame in a lot of ways but as the game never got so far as both Lee and me gossiped like old men (that we are) and my taking pics was more or less as the day wound down has left me feeling I could not do it justice and safe in the knowledge I really do need to get a new camera.

So all I really can do is say again how good it was and that I am really glad James looks to have next year sorted and we will have another great event to look forward to.

So with little to show you on that front I think I need to show you something else. Whilst the figure painting has slowed down some at least the work on Project Quatre Bras has continued. We are at the moment a little light on French Infantry, nothing at all to worry about but still not all ready..........yet. The Dutch Belgians need a fair bit more work, to the tune of about 20 Battalions I think but Lee is confident that come the day we will be well supplied. So the only thing we need is some place to fight over. 

It was mentioned in the practice game that it was hard to guess what we were fighting over with no hills or other terrain showing (other than trees and houses) so we have now added the hills which represent the larger and more important hills. These are not 100% accurate but give a fair representation of the area and will add a few wrinkles to the playing area and tactical challengers.

Here is a single battalion of Russian infantry (those AGAIN?) the hills are large enough that you can get a feel for the  sometimes rather steep hills whilst still being practical to fight over. A couple of the hills are also higher than the others as they were in the battle.

I will be fighting from the left and Lee will try and stop me forcing the hills on the right. You may be able to see the large pond in front of the bottom right hand hill and the streams progress towards the hill in the middle whilst that poor lost Russian Battalion sits all lonely in the central board.

Another Russian battalion climbs to the top of the hill and is possibly like me wondering what the hell he is doing in Belgium. Well at least he gives scale to the hills. These by the way started as polystyrene sheets that have had a cheap filler applied to and sealed with cheap paint.

Well the filler was actually added last, here we look at the area from the other side, I am now going to arrive from the right. The hill with the figures on will also have a large forest covering a large part of the hill and in the real battle and our first practice saw a lot of action with the French driving the Belgian's out of the woods in the French area but always finding more resistance and seeing the central area change hands a number of times.

The hills don't form the usual pattern you would expect on a wargames table, rather that some of them happen to be positioned in not the most helpful of places. We have two valley like sections that will inconvenience Lee or myself at points in the game. Once the forests are added back to the boards then it will become clear we will have to battle each other and the table.

Lee hard at work preparing to add the roads to the boards. These form a cross roads at Quatre Bras and cut the boards into four unequal sections. The total playing area is 5 feet wide and six feet across. This will be teaming with troops come the day and will have about fifty trees added to the finished model and over twenty buildings, both figures subject to change up or down depending what looks the best. Now we have started again I expect we will soon get to doing the adding sand and texture to the whole board and then it's painting and drybrushing them to get the final playing surface.

Of course this is all practice for building the Waterloo boards that will remain six feet wide but over three times the width at about 16 feet, that's a lot of filler!! I think we will have to get the Waterloo boards all done in about three to six months after the first playing of Quatre Bras to allow us to plan out the starting positions and make the required adjustments. Maybe, just maybe we are that mad, especially when you consider all this is being done by just the two of us.

Blog-Con Gains

Sorry but you will have to wait till Monday for my Blog-Con pictures as I can't download the images from my phone till tomorrow but I can give you a bit of a report of sorts.

Set to start at 10AM saw a few of us setting up games from pre 9am. Some of the games were 100% pure eye candy but given the laughter I would say they were also fantastic fun.

We had about 30 people attend on Saturday but I did not pay close attention to numbers. No one was without the chance to play though as you would expect socialising was the main aim of the day. Unfortunately for me I had a very poor nights sleep and the floor conspired to make my joints sing a little. The upshot was me getting up past start time and still feeling somewhat rough so as I suspected would be the case did not show today. If I had the Dreadball I would have felt compelled to attend so it's probably best it did not turn up.

But be sure it was a great day and one you will be reading about on other blogs, I will go into a bit more detail tomorrow. However I have pictures of what I brought back as extra to taking with me.

First up I picked up from Dave a lot of 6mm Adler Napoleonic's. When I say a lot consider the following images are about half of what we brought back. Lee and I went halves on them and at the time of splitting was not really sure what each had ended up with. Turns out we both got a great deal and actually the split worked out right whilst both of us thought we might have ended up with more than the other.

Lee has already got all the Brunswick regiments for Waterloo and as such these fell to me by default. In total I have 38 cavalry figures, 88 infantry and seven guns and crews. These look excellent but I am not sure what I will do with them. For now I will hold onto them but these could be up for exchange as I don't plan building a British army so not sure how I will ever use them.

I wanted the early French so got a total of 108 splendidly painted figures which Dave himself had painted (he was selling the figures for a friend).

Each picture shows half the total number of these great figures. The only shame is that these will have to go into figure limbo whilst I work on the main project but I really look forward to getting back to.

I also have a small Polish painted force. The Duchy of Warsaw has been something I really want to do at some point as I want to have a good sized 1812 force and it's probably the next major 6mm project for me post Waterloo.

Shako French I also snaffled up, enough for six battalions and three guns. I need to paint up the skirmish elements to be able to base these up so I am thinking I will move to these once I have cleared some space on the table.

The lions share of painted though is the Prussians. Enough to supply me with 18 Battalions of infantry, 14 Regiments of cavalry and 7 guns and crews. These will certainly help with Waterloo Project though I still plan to paint all the Prussians I own for other battles and I am really happy to have gained these troops as it allows me to be more free with what I paint which keeps the blog a little more fresh.

In unpainted lead I have the rest of the Poles making up a Division Pack another reason the Poles may find themselves next after the Waterloo painting is done.

Backing this up is a whole later French Division pack with enough additional cavalry to form nine regiments so these will be added to the Waterloo pile though I am not 100% sure I will need them as I have a lot of the new Baccus figures and being quicker to paint and my preferred figures these will stay in front of these for the most part. Given the size of the French army in other battles I know these will be very useful.

So a great big slab of Adler. Interesting enough is that these Adler are really clean casting's as they were bought years ago. Not so long hat they are bobble heads, in other words these are perfect Adler and I think the painting experience will be terrific.

Lee for his part has overnight bulked up his painted Russians and made a dent into his yet to start Austrian's which looked gorgeous. He also has A LOT more unpainted Russian's so much so that he thinks he won't need any more, er ever? Backing these up was another Division pack but this time Wurrtemberg which was close to one of the Nations that was on his radar for the future. So between Lee and myself we picked up around 6,000 or more figures, I am just starting to think we are ever so slightly mad.

Not that I stopped with just the Adler as James had a lot of the Blazing Skies planes I had bought the other day which were not doing anything and wanted to know if I wanted them. A few emails later and I had agreed to exchange my Baccus Anglo Saxon army that was not going to see action for this pile of plastic.

I know I won't paint the lot so will be giving some to Lee and we will get this done between us at some point. I plan to start the German's fairly soon as both Lee and myself are into the Battle of Briton and I will be taking some over to Matt to see if they can fit in with his planes. If all works out well Matt will end up with some more Bombers and three of us will be working them over.

A bag of metal planes that may be American, got to wait and see on these. So this is another diversion but I feel well within my rights to blame Lee and James  ;-)

I also have enough plastic stands to probably supply one per plane. All told a massive collection and all I need to do know is get them all sorted and started, not sure how time factors in all this. I'm starting to need a Tardis  both for storage and time creation to paint it all up!

I did offload a few bits whilst I was there as freebies, items I had bought in the past or traded for but did not want. I have even found a new home for a spare field kitchen I don't yet have LOL.

A Change To The Advertised Program

This Way To Blog Con

I was going to be doing rolling demo's of Dreadball at Blog-Con but unfortunately the game has as yet not arrived. I really wanted to do the job properly and be fully versed with the rules before sitting down with players and running the shortened game that promised to be rather exciting. To do this I had to test it a number of times and get a good feel for it. Now I just don't have the time and have instead started the preparation for a 6mm Napoleonic's game with Lee that anyone can join in and I can just concentrate on the rules.

Talking of rules, this will be the first time they have been released on other wargamers so I will be looking forward to hearing others thoughts on them and any improvements they have in mind. I already have one minor change that I want to add before printing off but need to discuss with Lee tonight whilst we work on the Quatre Bras boards.

Our game will be based in Russia (If Lee has managed to do his flagging) so will see lots of never been played with Russians and a few new French units to boot. It will of course by definition be a fairly basic game as we have not had the time to really do it justice but will be good practice for the main event at Joy of Six and I will get to use my Russian Buildings I bought from Andy M a little over a year ago which is a big bonus.

All in all it kind of works out better for us and seems to be written in the stars as Lee was supposed to be working in Scotland but now is free and it's a chance for me to drive him to an event for a change.

We get to pick up the Adler Napoleonic's that should keep us busy for a few years to come and I get to trade my Anglo Saxon army for a lot of Burning Skies planes that will again take me years to paint up. Seems next stop is Pendrakon to get some of the plane decals. Life sure is fun and Blog Con is VERY soon. Hope to see some of you there.

Blog-Con Directions from The Victoria Centre

Directions To Blog-Con From The Victoria Centre

For all the bloggers and friends going to Blog Con but leaving the car away from Foundry. It struck me that a fair amount of us may want to park at one of the many Park and Ride locations. The tram locations have great service with Trams running from 6am till midnight Saturday and 11PM Sunday so would be perfect to park at as it's free to park and about £3.50 for a return ticket. Two adults can have a return for £5.

The best bet if you do this or come via the train or bus is head for the Victoria Shopping Centre (the main bus station is at the Vic Centre as us locals call it). 

To follow these directions you need to leave the Vic Centre from the ground level passing Ernest Jones Jewellers and it's less than a five minute walk. 

The exit is a longish corridor. Ernest Jones was on your left hand side. You can see a white building through the doors.

Follow the path from the entrance towards the road and the crossing. When you cross the road go past the white painted cafe and follow the path round towards the main road.

The path as you can see is nice and wide. You will see an Aldi food-store on the opposite side of the main road. 

Close up of the view of Aldi you are aiming for. Cross the road and turn to the right and down the hill.

You will see a pub called The Forrester, you will need to try and walk past this!

on the opposite side of the road is an Halfords, directly opposite this is the side street you need to go down. It's called St Mary St. and this is where Foundry are based.

Go down the side street and next to a tire garage is the Foundry building and all the fun you could wish for.

Blog-Con Under 100 Days

In just one week it will be less than three months to Blog-Con, already it's less than 100 days. Up to now it's been going to happen sometime in the future. Now it's not as far away as you might think. The blog devoted to it has a surprisingly low number of followers at the moment, given the interest shown in it. 

Part of the massive playing area.

So keep 9/10th November in your mind folks as I mentioned on the site, once the kids are back at school it will be here like a flash and all those brownie points you need to accrue still a work in progress. 

Not only has a lot of interest from Bloggers been shown but also from some of the Nottingham based suppliers so we should have plenty to see beyond the games we take along. It's probably the best Con to take a virgin display or participation game to given the lack of pressure that will be in play. Yes the weekend is skewed to skirmish but bigger games are most welcome. 

Talking of Skirmish games, I have received the PDF rules, card figures and stat cards for the basic gladiators for Arena Rex. The figures will not be ready for Blog-Con but armed with the rules and card warriors I may just bring this along to give it an outing. Well it has got me to pull out the figure they supplied me and so after a very minimum clean up I have put it together. OK the top guys paint it THEN put it together but that's not me. But more on that in the future

Blog Pimping Tine

It's been ages since I last pimped a blog for no other reason than it's a good blog and it's a habit I want to get back into. so I am thinking no other blog is more worth pimping right now than Blog-Con given the lofty aims. 

I also have to admit to not being 100% neutral regards this blog as I have been allowed to help James with the event and whilst I have yet to scribble any posts on the blog so far I have posting rights (scary stuff I know).

I think quite a few have an idea or two what this con is about but I fully recommend heading over to the blog and seeing for yourself how it is progressing. So far the blog just has 21 followers which I have to say surprises me as it's going to be great to follow developments even if you can't make the show. After all, this is a show for wargame bloggers, but actually it's more than just that. Please read on and I hope I can shine some light on a few points that you may not yet know.

James has been having a spell of idea churning, three off the top of my head is the Bloggers for Charity, second one was the Wargamers Community Currency and thirdly Blog-Con, lets have a quick look at these in turn.

Bloggers for Charity.

James wants to put on a game that will raise money for selected charities, these being Men Matter and Help for Heroes. Not that it's just a game, that would be an idea, to make it great needs rather more thought and indeed this is what James has done and with the help he has received from other notable bloggers it's really grown. So if you want to know more nip over via the link and have a look round.

Wargamers Community Currency.

This will be a slow burner as it needs to spread around the hobby and as it does it will gather momentum. I have a few things I need to put up, it's just getting round to it, so watch this space. But the idea in a nutshell is that us bloggers set up a page with a list of the items we are looking to trade away and what we would want for them. Or even just one or two lists as we see fit. The more that do it the more readers will look for it and the more successful it will become. It takes e-bay out of the equation a little and can create a little movement on the lead mountains around the hobby.

Blog-Con.

This I think is the big one, this looks to be something that has years ahead of it and boy do I think it will grow, and grow quickly because one thing you need to know from the start, all those who can make the first year are not only going to have a great time but automatically have bragging rights over everyone else. It's going to be a bit like being able to say you saw Led Zepp live with Bongo on the drums!

Stating the obvious it's for wargamers who run blogs, but it's also for those who just follow blogs too. But what may not be so obvious it's for the friends of those who run blogs too. So if you are a blogger with mates who maybe just checks your blog out or not even that, they are still welcome, of course if they end up getting into blogs so much the better. What it is not is a fully open to all type of con as we want the blogging theme to carry through the whole event.

This is more social than game, as such an area just to chill and chat is being made available and name badges with your blog name if applicable are hoped to be offered, this putting names and blogs to faces. One or more pubs are also close at hand if you want to have a pint as is various food outlets so we do not feel the need to hold you close, well not that close  ;-)

That said games and or painting are the glue that links all our blogs and as such we will have games to watch, games to join in and space to err play games. It's still early days so we don't have a list of games booked yet, though pick up games will be welcome, especially on the Sunday but more on that later. One thing is key to how James see's the event and that's quite free and easy. We do not plan to have events regimented to the minute and we plan to be more reactionary to events through the weekend than regimental. Not that we will not have structure we certainly will but nothing than constrains or reduces the relaxed feel of the weekend.

We already have one excellent demo for the Saturday booked and also Mantic Games are supplying rules and starter sets of some of their games which I will be hoping to demo on the Saturday for anyone willing to give it a go. Saturday is all about playing either games that have been booked to be ran as participation or demo games (we have a number of interested parties yet to confirm) or games put on off the hoof. Sunday will mostly be about playing scratch games (mostly skirmish level) and James wants to get a massive X Wing game running were everyone who wants in just has to bring their own set/s along. This could indeed be something to see!

It's not all figures either. I will bring a selection of German or Euro Games for one of the days (or both) and will be happy to play these with anyone wanting a less eye candy based game so if you have wondered what all the fuss is about, it's a good opportunity to try them. Sunday though is the day just to challenge a mate or a stranger to a quick fire game of something and laugh, make sure you bring plenty of laughs as they will be in great demand.

Again though it's not all fun and games, well it's all fun but we also have a tutorial or three for the weekend where you can learn from the pro's how they tackle certain aspects of the hobby. Confirmed is Loki with terrain building, for those who do not know Loki happens to make his living via terrain building under the banner of Terra Firma Studio so nip over to his website and chalk up yet another reason to attend.

Of course I can't not mention the hosts for the weekend Wargames Foundry, who are providing us with all the space we need and a unique opportunity to host a weekend convention that just has NEVER been tried before and can cope with numbers great or small. They even are throwing in free Tea and Coffee all weekend. 

If they stopped their they would be top gents, but how about this? They are offering to cast a commemorative figure for the weekend, but this is where it gets exciting, they would like us the punters to come up with a green for them to cast too. Again pop over to the Blog-Con blog for full details and may the force be with you.