I guess Broadside is my 'local' show, despite the journey there taking the best part of an hour, and despite the fact that I've never been before. I decided to go this time partly because I was interested, but also to try and drag myself out of the house and actually talk to people. I deliberately went on my Jack Jones, to force myself out of my comfort zone and make myself talk to strangers. It worked! Turns out historical wargamers are quite a nice bunch...
The first game I wanted to see was this Zeebrugge 1918 game from Maidstone Wargames Society (Who are having an open day in a few weeks that I fully intend to attend). It won a best historical game award at this years Salute, and the terrain itself was amazing. I can't talk to the gameplay, as the gent running the game was busy and I didn't get a chance to chat to him, but it was mighty impressive nonetheless.
Next was an interesting offering from Deal wargames society, entitled, 'The grass is always greener on the other side, or Survival of the Thickest'. The aim of the piece was to either maneuver a herd of gnu from one side of the board to other, avoiding hungry lions and lionesses, crocodiles and other predatory beasties on the way, or to maneuver your hungry lions, lionesses and crocodiles to eat as many gnus as you can without other wildlife interfering with your kill. A great idea, designed by a chap who is a trained zoologist no less. Didn't get a photo of this one, maybe because I was chatting. A shame as it has some nice scenery, and a great river with a bloody huge croc in it!
There was a Marne 1914 game in 6mm put on by Postie's Rejects. Had a good chat with one of the club (big lee, going by his t-shirt, a little checking shows he runs the Biglee's miniature adventures blog, which looks pretty good and which I shall peruse in depth later). He taught me all about the battle, which was very interesting as my knowledge of WW1 pretty much just runs to a few poems, and we had a talk about 6mm wargaming, which was helpful as I'm looking at trying out a new scale for an ECW project I have in mind. The Marne game was a demo, but looked good. Again, I seem to have buggered up the photos for this one as I didn't get a shot from the the French lines at the other end of the table where all the action was happening. What a billy sugger I am.
The East Essex Military Society had a nice looking battlefleet gothic game going, and a good five minutes was spent reminiscing with the chap there.
Don't know who put on this Chain of Command game as the table was deserted, but it looked good. A shame as I'm interested in the rules and would have liked to ask someone about them.
Also neglected to find out who was running this gaslands game. Quite a lot of hype around this ruleset, and I like the idea, but the terrain always seems to play second fiddle to the cars, and I think a good table makes or breaks a game. This table looked better than most I've seen, though.
I liked the look of this Mythos game, which I know nothing about, but assume it is Lovecraft based. I'm a huge Lovecraft fan, and was quite interested, but the table was either busy or deserted, and while the terrain looked good, it didn't scream New England to me. I'd love to know if it's a good game, though.
This Gangs of Rome game on the Sarissa / Footsore stand looked good, as you'd expect, but the prices of the gangs are pretty steep, so nothing I'm likely to buy into, especially as I can't multitask the buildings. I did buy a barn from Sarissa, but as they didn't have it in stock I got it posted for free and with 10% off. Not a bad discount for having to wait a few days at all.
There were other games, but I think these were the highlights. I didn't come away with a huge haul, a few Vallejo colours, and a timber framed mdf house from a company called blotz. Very reasonable prices and lots of detail. I'll post a review once I've put it together. There was also a publisher called Helion & Company which had a good range of books on the English Civil War which I might look into once I've finished my current read.
Overall, a great little show, and I spent a lovely couple of hours wandering around. Many thanks to the Milton Hundred for putting it on.
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