A Day at the World Wargames Show

First time I have had to queue to get into a show in years, though we did wonder if we were in a queue for bacon baps ;-) It sure seemed busier this year than last and we stayed to the death and it only seemed to drop off around 4pm. After a spot of good fortune three days before I had some spending money so was looking forward to some retail therapy.

First stop was the Baccus stand as Lee wanted to clear Baccus out of the new French. So if anyone over the weekend did not get the French they needed, you can blame him. I have plenty in stock so will simply order more in a month or so. The new French are just as nice as Lee had mentioned and Peter had a sample pack ready for me of each of the new lines available in cavalry and guns all FOC so expect to see these up on the blog over the next week or a little longer dependant on me getting quality time at the desk this coming week. 

Whilst on the stand Andy Mc of Another Slight Diversion fame caught up with me and we arranged a later meet though that did not stop us chatting there and then, not to mention the handing over of these....

10th (1st Silesian) Regiment of the 13 Brigade of the IV Corps.

One 60x60 base of Line Infantry, not only are they so very well painted but the basing is just gorgeous as well.

Just look at the detail on these guys. It's a shame Andy does not have the time to paint up more of these guys. He is trading two bases to me due to it being a never to be finished project.

Here come the Landwehr, these are also IV Corp which is the one I have started work on so both will fit in nicely. So I will have to do these justice in future games.

Andy also had a box of early Prussians unpainted which Lee took off his hands, so that's another face to climb on Lee's 6mm mountain. 

I went to MDP stand to pick up some more of the Mr. Metal Colour paints but unfortunately he had not took them with him so that's for another day. I did get a Vallejo wash and some resin bases from him so it was not a wash out.

Talking of paints, I picked up two of the three I was after and a couple more of so. I need a few more colours just to get started on the fantasy figures, though some were bought with Cath's figure in mind.

I also picked up a bunch of Roman figures from Essex so I can make a start on that army which will be a fun change to all the others I have painted.

I also had some Knight Templar or Crusader figures on my list and picked up eight of these which are for dare I say it Fantasy Roleplaying. This will be quite a diversion as I need to get a load of figures painted up ready for starting a campaign with a mostly rookie group. Not on the list was any other figures for this game but I added a bargain bag of plastic figures that will come into the campaign later but will be painted up soon. From the same store I bough a bunch of old Grenadier orc's that are being cast by new owners of the moulds. They are flash heavy but they look good figures. Lee grabbed some of the adventurer figures, all of these were at the princely cost of £1.40 a figure.

I also met up with Tamsin who did not take the opportunity to gouge out my eyes for previous comments. Unfortunately I was pressed for time and did not have as  long to chat as I had hoped. Given it was past lunch and only money spent was the entrance fee and a couple of coffees I was desperate to get that corrected.

I chatted with Dr. Mike who was again running his painting clinic and dropped off the flocking powders, I am interested in what he makes of them. Whilst there I also bumped into Steve who I really need to get some British Naps painted for which leads to the meeting with Matt who did not even mention the Zulu's I almost started this month, so as they are linked I had better get on with it.

I also bumped into Loki funny enough on route to Warbases (he had escaped for a look round) again just a quick chat before seeing him back at the stand were I picked up a few bases for the town. These being a mix of 60x120 and 120x120 to allow some less linear sections.

As I mentioned before we did stay till the end but again  a chunk of the time was back at the Baccus stand chatting with Peter now the rush had died down. Peter has a lot of plans for the coming decade, well that is what it sounded like from what he was saying. The French Napoleonic's will feature heavily into next year but his WWI and WWII will broaden Baccus footprint in the hobby by a massive amount whilst he has plenty of other irons in the fire for the future.

So all in all a good day though I was blasted by time I went to bed. Little hobby time today so it will be Monday before I get to feed off the extra momentum a show always supplies.

FAIL!

As anyone who followed the comments section in the last post may well be aware I did not manage to get to Donnington for the second day of the con. Quite possibly this was much for the better given how much I was limping by the end of day one and how utterly crap today has been! It seemed like we have picked up two punctures in the last week. Well I am glad to say we have not, well I would be glad if not for the fact that the whees themselves are knackered and need replacing! So this morning was spent trying to get that sorted,  yes Fail two in two days. Well they say they come in threes so this afternoon I went for the two weekly blood test only for the post needle cotton wool ball to yep fail. Off down the corridor back to my sisters car when I noticed blood on the end of my finger. Looking up my arm was a steady stream of blood. back to the nurse and after rather more fuss than it required I was on my way with a bandage around my arm wondering if she was joking about the sling?

 

Anyways having had enough of Fails I went to my daughter's parents evening and happily she received a good report. So a proud Dad am I. I also have just finished painting up some of the figures I bought on Saturday which all things being equal will be posted tomorrow. Having spent scant attention to the rest of the convention on Saturday and taking zero pictures I can't really do the planned It's all about everyone else post so instead I will try over the rest of the week to post more in depth on some of the items I purchased. I also have a game booked with Matt for tomorrow night so will have that to write about as well. Until then  guess I had better get cracking with some more painting.

Donnington Wargames Show, It's all about Me.

Well I survived day one of the show, somewhat humbled by finding out this morning that Tamsin was too ill to make the show. Get well soon gal. Today will be a bit of a grind as I could not get comfortable till well past midnight and have been awake since 5 and up since 6! Well I should be ready for the lift then. Will I make sense? Probably not so Barry should not notice the difference.

 

Saturday I was given a lift by Lee (AGAIN) who arrived at 9 as planned and as it's only twenty miles from my house we arrived nice and early so took cover in the cafe. £6 lighter and two coffees and a bacon bap later Lee staggered out of the cafe to sit down. At least I had paid for his entrance fee but damage had been done under the water line that did not become apparent for a few hours, maybe Lee's cargo was rice? (points awarded for the first person to connect the reference to the book). This s where we met Andy M from Another Slight Diversion. We had a couple of trades to do so I wasted no time getting rid of some paper stuff in exchange for this.

These are 6mm Timecast buildings Andy had professionally painted and based. When I have daylight and an opportunity I will take pics of the ones that remain in my possession to give you a better look at them. They really are great and based to a very high standard. It has given me pause for thought on how I will base up my other buildings. Here is another shot.

Half of these will be mine, the other half going into the collection of another friend. Really the pictures just fail to do them justice.

 

The other part of the deal was the prior mentioned TBM terrain tile of the Spanish Hill Village. Andy also had packed away with the buildings the figures I will be painting in exchange for the buildings. This method of funding my hobby may well become a standard as I paint figures for other junkies and get paid in wargamer dope. In fact if anyone in authority actually saw the looks of some of our faces as well pass over money for goods they may well ban it! Anyway this is what I got from Andy.

and another view.

So a few buildings to paint. Add these to the three Spanish TBM buildings I already had, the other ten I bought yesterday I think you would agree I have a production line to set up. Er well then add the four ECW buildings I bought yesterday to the two large ones I got from TBM and you could say I went a bit OTT on buildings. At least they are all 6mm and for three different periods (two will have some crossover).

If only I had stopped there, but after picking up the cash for the half of the Russian buildings I was nicely reloaded and set off in search of more swag. I had a few packages already pre-ordered such as some very very nice Adler French. Not much, more a dip of the toe in the water to see what they are like to paint and how they look mixed in with the Baccus. Well I really liked what I saw so will I am sure be spending more with them next year. I failed to get the 28mm giraffe as Irregular had sold the two they had bought already (this is for Child number one). I also got the 28mm sheep that will be the subject of a little conversion work, more on that at another time.

 

I picked up a few bits from Essex, finishing off the Persian Cavalry, though in reality I would have to buy about 8 more packs to fully finish them off. I also picked up a pair of heavy bolt throwers that will pull double duty for several armies.

 

Warbases will be doing 10 custom bases for me that was priced lower than expected and will be a great upgrade on what I had put together myself as a mock up. That almost got me to critical mass but Lee spotted a Baccus starter set for ECW that I had passed up at Derby last year and ever since I have been kicking myself. It was there again this year and so Lee suggested splitting the boxed set. In now retails at £95, we got it for £25 between us. £12.50 well spent, and when we got back to mine it was split up with me taking the rules whilst Lee got all the bases. Other than that it was straight down the middle.

 

Talking of Lee, by his point he was listing hard to port and it was looking like he would not manage to spend his shilling on some dark green static grass. Now traders have gone bus when Lee has failed to turn up at a show and I know for a fact that tension in the trading hall was broken once rumours of Lee's presence was confirmed this year. Well it was looking very very very dodgy for the show when after five hours all Lee had to show for such a long time in temptation land he had to that point spent £50 for a mate, along with the two coffees and that bacon bap, but in fairness to Lee by this point he had added a second bap to his wallets release (I got the coffees this time). All that could be heard from him was "I will be bringing my own tomorrow", over and over like some strange mantra. Yes he had bought the ECW stuff but that's a saving of £70 between us right? I mean we were in pocket. Well finally he decided to buy 4 guns from Adler, oh and limbers, you have to have limbers. Before he had finished he had bought the whole of the Young and Old Guard and that nice Lady from Adler was on the phone to Thompson booking that cruise she had always been promised by he Hubby. Balance restored and like a dervish Lee managed to ensure the future of a few traders in the matter of 90 minutes. I am not so sure it's a good idea for him to go back later today, after all he sent me an e-mail at 11.30 last night requesting a rule change that will allow us to "do arty proper". I just know he has been at that Adler catalogue all evening!

 

So as this is all about me, I will only give a very basic run down on the con. Like Andy over at the Diversion I am not 100% sold on the venue, for me it needs more sit down space for checking out the swag or just plain resting, and something that is comfortable! Overall it was a good day, well I had a very good day. I did not get to look at all I wanted to, so today will get that done. I will be back next year, yes it is noisy but I did not mind that at all. The floor being concrete has taken it's toll on me, hence the late to bed early to rise but that's what you get playing in big sheds. A better run down on the show tomorrow, oh and I guess some pics.