Last Partizan Purchases

OK not the last Partizan but certainly the last at Kelham Hall. It's always been a great setting but lets face it it's one of the worst places to hold a show if you happen to be either putting on a game or a trader as between the limited access and the horrendous lighting (seemed far worse this year!) it just makes the experience one giant ball ache.

I spent most of my time chatting with mostly people I know whilst The Boy spent a chunk of his time playing the RAF clubs excellent Minions racing game or keeping away from the traders so he would not spend his money as he wanted to spend it away from the show.

I was as restrained as I had intended to be, well mostly. I did buy a £6 booster of French Napoleonic casualties from Baccus but these don't count towards the lead mountain as they are scenic accessories to increase the looks of the bases. 

Talking of which I bought 60 die holders to be mounted on bases to keep track of casualties or strength for games. These were from Warbases and if they work as well as expected I will be buying more come Castle Donnington in October.

Last up was a real farce as I had to use the torch on my phone (as others were also doing) to be able to see the paints in the racks as the light was so bad in the corner. Indeed a number of traders had portable lights or flash lights dotted around the stands. I did get the four I was out of and also an old one I was unable to pick up at a previous show. Next show will probably see yet more new purchases seeing as I have room in the racks.

So I see the move away from Kelham in a very positive light (excuse the pun), and look forward to what is rumoured to be the new venue (Newark Showground). All we need now is a better spread of scales in the games and all may well be good with the world.

The Other Partizan...................

Well I won't be making anyone rich at Kelham Hall tomorrow as I head into the third month without a single figure purchase. Simply put I have so many figures I want to paint it's not worth me getting any more. Well unless I see something I really want that is.

What I do want though is to buy a few replacement paints and probably some new colours as well. I went all spreadsheet and 5.45 this morning I was putting the finishing touches to the list.  I probably will pick up a few more bases and such but I don't see me doing much more retail wise.

Looking forward to checking out some games and hopefully getting The Boy into a few games, the Minion Racing game looks a likely candidate. I look forward most to catching up with friends at the show. I will of course visit Peter at Baccus just to see if my resolve will stand up to the test.

To help keep my hands in my pocket I received a package today that has some Commands and Colors goodness in it but more on that in a later post.

Lee like me is not really on the hunt for stuff to buy, we have looked at what we need for next years game and it looks like we are mostly sorted so no mad painting of figures, just sorting out the terrain and buildings by the looks.

Partizan the loot, the game and the chatter

What a great day we had at Partizan, but it Ain't Half Hot Mum. Well my son, Lee, Adi and I had a great time, my daughter less so as it was hot and other than the game she played it was not much fun whilst my son would have stayed to the very end just like Triples.

First up Loki had a gift for my son as he knew he was painting up his own SAGA force and knowing that I had yet to get the rules and dice (see last post) he surprised me with a beyond expectation gift. Loki had already offered his old 1st edition rules at Triples (in fact he gave us a 2nd edition set) and mentioned he would give me a set of dice for my son after reading my last post. It's a big deal to me how my son has been treated by other gamers and it's a MASSIVE deal to him. For a lad of seven to be given nice gifts, it's great, and whilst he does not know the value he really appreciates such gifts but what really makes it for him is how the guys talk to him, being engaged in conversations as an equal is such a wonderful thing for him. It started on the journey to the show, got better when he saw Gary in the queue and went up to him to say thank you for the figures that Gary had sent him and the couple of emails he has had gives him such a magical start in this hobby.

High on the agenda for both my kids was a chance to play a game or three, my son had got in a game of Dead Man's Hand at Triples and was wanting to get another go but he was awestruck by Sydney's game and jumped at the chance to play. My daughter suffering from the heat and not being able to sit down, this was a little more than she wanted to take but the boy, well he would have stayed and played all day. I was relieved to get away without having to buy figures for ANOTHER period. Cowboys and Saga are enough for now, he has said he wants to play with my Napoleonic's sometime (his words, I expected him to say pins LOL). Well he has a surprise as he's going to get the chance sooner than he expects as he will be commanding some of the French at Joy of Six in about seven weeks time. I just know he is so up for it and will be OK for the full show. Actually even though my girl was hot, bored and ready for home early on she was no trouble but it's safe to say she will give the next few a miss.

Craig the German was sneaking through the woods, he was to meet my daughters forward MG and platoon and whilst they carried the position she did enough damage that the attacking units were washed up and time was lost as other German units passed through them.

Reinforcements for the French, my son decided to move forward but was careful to leave a clear firelane for the rear MG, looks like I could have trouble from him in the future.

The German bomber squad was constantly receiving fire that kept adding shock to the unit and the odd loss. Each turn they would rally off some of the shock but every time they cleared a few they were hit again and again.

The reason being for the most part a second squad of my son's which again he had brought forward to cover that approach and just kept up a lively fire.

So a big thank you to Sydney for allowing such a young per of recruits to have a go and Craig for being such a sport and not put off by such opposition, a real gent. Having played on some of the boards at Blog Con I was already used to the style of board but they did not prepare me for the fantastic work he has achieved. Believe me when I tell you the photo's just don't do his work justice.

After Triples being only two weeks before I did not have anything I wanted to buy so of course this meant I spent more than I would have expected and here it is. I actually spent most of my money on three stalls in a 4 store run!

Warbases saw me spend first, a stage coach, wagon and two horses for the cowboy games. Next couple of shows will see me getting a few buildings just to up the bar. I also bought a pack of Rendra barrels, again for the cowboys to hide behind.

I bought a pack of Austrian Lancers to stand in for Guard Lancers but won't now paint these up as Lee has the unit already painted up so will use his. I also bought a pack of wagons as you can always use them can't you.

Last up was a Otherword Miniatures Male Human Ranger which was supposed to be their female thief but I put the wrong one back on the peg, well he is a nice figure and will come in, just need to get the other one at some point.

So a great show from my view. It was good that my daughter got to try a show as she was a little jealous about her brothers fun from two weeks before. Now she will be happy to see us leaving for a show knowing that she will have some quality Mum time. 

Partizan Swag

I took no pictures of Partizan itself as I really did not bother over much with the games. Don't get me wrong I am not saying anything was wrong with them, just that I really did not find the time or energy for them. Rather I spent time chatting with a number of the people I knew and plenty I did not about one thing and another, but mostly 6mm figures and how to paint them. Dr Mike was putting on a clinic of 6mm painting which was great as I was pointing them in his direction whilst Peter from Baccus was then supplying the figures to the converts. No I am sure the games were great but the surprise for me is that they just do not draw me in. Possibly it's down to doing so much over the last week, far more than I have done in about a year and to be honest far more than really is good for me. Lets just say I am waiting for the hour to pass till I can have some more tablets LOL.

 

Anyways it's worth the pain to both body and wallet. Somehow pre-paying for figures from Baccus is a bad idea. No, it's a really bad idea! Why? well I just went ahead and bought some more bits from them. Did I really say bits? Do any of you believe me? No? Good.

 

I don't want you to think it was all Baccus though. I must have had my ears pinned back as I also bought a couple of 1:72 plastic kits just to make up because. I think these will end up in my sons room hanging from fishing line. I also got a coupe more S&A Scenics hills that work for both 6 and 15mm and stand up to a fair bit of neglect. I went for large hills as these seem to be what I just did not have enough of.

 

I was not sure War Bases would be there but guessed they might as Claymore was listed and I knew they were the at show distributor's. So I got another 40 60x60 bases for my Naps infantry and a pack of three camp sized bases so I can make up a pair of ECW camps for my 15mm, the spare can be used for either Ancients or a third 17th Century to sell on. 5 packets of flags from my pusher at Baccus, one pack of Guard, one of French Line (last pack bought at Derby last year and down to the last ten). I also have packs for the Italian's, Neapolitan and Westphalian mainly for the Iberian project but you know how these things grow. I also need to sort out the Irish but think I may get away with Italian flags as they were the same colours (I think!). Also from Baccus was two English cottages and the watermill for my ECW project. I plan to buy more from Total Battle Miniatures along with Spanish at some point when I have painted up a lot more of my ECW forces.

 

The pre paid French Nap foot booster, the ECW foot booster with minimum packs of French guns, ECW generals, guns, limbers and missing horse holders. Also pictured are my turnbuls that Barry talked me into, my French limbers my Irregular Limbers talked me into and er well OK ANOTHER French Nap foot booster, giving me 24 more foot regiments (and yes I do have the skirmish figures to make these up!). Well looking at all those flags I just knew I needed more units to stand under them. All in all it does mean you will be seeing rather a lot of 6mm coming off my desk over the next few months but don't worry I have enough other stuff to break it up for my sake as much as yours.

 

The Partizan figure which I will get round to fairly soon as a way of pleasure painting (as in for the hell of it). So there you have it. A mad spend all told that has driven my money stash almost out with Derby just under 5 weeks away. Oh well I don't plan on much at that show anyway as I have built up my mountain enough this week.

 

As for the show, it never felt over busy but I was told cars were waiting for spaces though we arrived twenty minutes after opening to find the car park almost empty.



The Other Partizan 2nd September

So in just a little under three weeks it will be Partizan, well the Other Partizan to be exact. In a way it's like my first anniversary back into wargaming. OK I had been painting again for a bit before the show but it was going to the show with Barry that got me back into the swing and looking at building up armies etc. not just painting up what I already had.

As such I will be going if I can swing it and that means placing an order with Peter at Baccus. I want more ECW and I have already mentioned the plans for extending my French Napoleonic Army. I also expect Total Battle Miniatures to be there as well which would mean more houses to be bought. I have plenty of credit in my wargaming pot based on some ASL related sales over the last month or so as well as tree units of ECW in 15mm I ave on e-bay right now with bids in place. I don't see myself looking to buy anything else at the moment as I have plenty of figures to finish off other projects.

Talking of projects, I have a game organised for Thursday and will take the opportunity to have a two player playtest of the rules. This will be the biggest 6mm Napoleonic battle I have tried in years and should either break the rules or supply good information on how they will work out. I am fielding both the Prussian and the French and expect the game to be interesting if nothing else. I will set VP's for different locations or objectives so here is hoping all works out well.

Talking of spending, I needed boxes to carry the figures to battle so nipped to Staples intending to get the usual A4 box files. I spotted some slim ones about half the height of a normal box. These were £5 each. Well I could buy three Foolscap boxes with plastic ends for under £9 which were cheaper or these boxes that were more practical and save on space. Well I bought 4 at £5 and a pack of the three for 15mm figures, well you can never have enough can you?

Still talking about spending, I also have been hanging my nose over the paint stands being sold on e-bay that hold over 80 Vallejo paints (not that I have that many, yet!) I probably will go for it as it will help keep the area tidy, speedup paint selection and help me keep an eye on just what paints and washes and inks and foundations and  er.... well you get the idea, but has anyone else got one?