Warfare

I first visited this show last year, on a one day trip, and enjoyed it so much that I had decided to make it my last major visit of the year. Of course things did not work out as I planned, and so I was unable to wend my way down South slowly and at my ease as planned. Thanks to my wife's employer's arrangements of her shifts I found myself watching the dawn rise over Oxfordshire as my overnight drive drew to its conclusion on Saturday morning.

The show is held in the Rivermead complex, a series of sports halls on the outskirts of Reading. Compared with some of the other venues now in use, such as Olympia and racecourse grandstands, the venue is rather downmarket, but then I find that the emphasis of the show is for gamers and not for the promotion of the hobby to the general public. and this is one of the reasons I enjoyed the show so much last year. I was able to simply wander around and chat to old friends and make the acquaintance of new ones, as well as cast my eyes over the wares of a number of traders who tend not to travel to the Northern Marches. The layout of Warfare is a large central hall packed with traders, a few display games and a massive bring and buy. A small hall with a stage holds more demo games, whilst competion games filled a huge indoor bowling arena and the nearby squash courts. This modular layout can give a false impression of the show, it is very big, and seemed to me to be pretty busy throughout the weekend.

As I walked into the hall I immediately bumped into Dave Lanchester and the guys from the Lance and Longbow Society setting up the last outing of the Shrewsbury display which they have marched up and down the nation throughout the anniversary year. These lads deserve wider recognotion for the work they do in promoting interest and study in the medieval period. Equally, just behind the Lance and Longbow display was a very interesting game from the Seven years War Society, a skirmish action with the initiative, firing and melee decided by the dealing for playing cards. I asked the chaps if they could write up the details for the Forum, unfortunately Dirty Dastardly Dickie had beaten me to the punch and they had agreed to produce an article for Miniature Wargames, so keep an eye open for it!

Without a doubt the most impressive game of the show, again, was presented by the diverse companions of Battlegroup South. last year it was the Battle for Berlin, this year it was a section of the D-Day landings in 20mm. Stacks of excellent scale models, an airborne landing in support of the naval action and a German armoured column being shot up by Typhoons, the whole game looked magnificent and a credit to Battlegroup South. Incidentally, the BGS show at The Bovington Tank Museum, Dorset, will be held on the 3rd and 4th July 2004. The camp site will be available as usual, and given the historical attraction of the area I highly recommend you note these details in your diary and make this a must visit show!

The main trading area though was dominated by a massive, and busy bring and buy. Last year I spent a lot of money here, this year I spent a fortune, breaking into my Christmas Fund, there were so many bargains to be had. I have often heard that prices in the south are very much higher than in the north of Britain, however this is not true when it comes to Bring and Buy stalls at shows. Although, as always, some lots were vastly overpriced, very high quality painted 28mm models were selling for £1 a figure, with 15mm Napoleonic armies selling for less than £50. The guys manning the stall did so in a very helpful manner, and were not creaming off the best bargains as soon as they were booked in, a fortunately rare but annoying occurrence. My thanks to them for the work they put into the day.

Wandering round the trade stands there is a lot of stuff new on the market, with Navigator Miniatures Russ, Steve Barber's Napoleonic Naval range, Peter Pig's 15mm WW2, and a whole host of foam rubber trays and carrying boxes for your models catching my eye, and tempting my wallet. But typical of me it was not the new releases that drained my account, but a bagful of B & B's Napoleonic ships, to support a long planned project. 

Other display games could be found in a side room, and there were some diamonds to be found there. Border Warlords presented their Battle of the Five Armies display, the climactic battle from The Hobbit was set in a black rock chasm with a raging torrent in its centre. I was particlularly impressed by the detail of the model, which included the rock hewn chambers inside the dwarvish stronghold, superb. next door the Skirmish Wargames Group gave us another setting for their collection of 54mm models. On the Saturday it was a western gunfight with a desert stagecoach station under attack from apaches, while on the Sunday the action moved to a modern US street scene, with roaring sports cars and blasting handguns. The main thing about their games is that they are always such fun, and it is one of the key factors that I use in judging a game, whether the players are enjoying themselves!

Tring Wargames Club presented a very interesting ACW 15mm game entitled Smallville, 7th April 1863. At Easter of that year Abe Lincoln with his wife and son carried out a five day tour of the positions of the army of the Potomac. This fact presented the fictional scenario where, Lincoln whilst visiting General Sedgewick's 6th Corp was temporarily stranded by a faulty steam valve on the Presidential train. Unfortunate, as at that moment Confederate infantry began to pour into the neighbourhood. A very nice idea, effectively presented.

The Society of Ancients had an impressive display with a 28mm refight of the battle of Plataea, which attracted a lot of interest especially from youngsters, who found that their questions were happily answered. Unfortunately this is not always the case at shows. Nearby the Aylesbury Wargamers presented a nice Roman frontier game, with a fortress under attack by a horde of barbarians. I really liked the 6mm Napoleonic game presented by the Napoleonic Gamers, and the look of the gamer served to further convince me that 6mm is the best scale for fighting large battles.

Although I am no longer a competition gamer and rarely spend any time checking out such games, I did wander around the tables laid out in the bowling area. I have to say I was very, very impressed by the high standard of painting on display in these games, and the ingenuity and humour used in designing elements such as the defended camps. That will teach me to keep an open mind in future.

In all an excellent show, and well worth the effort of travelling down. It was not only the quality of the displays that I found enjoyable, but also the very friendly and pleasant atmosphere that permeated the whole event. It really is great to go to a show and feel as though you are amongst friends, even if you have not met them before. Look out for details of the 2004 event, I certainly shall!

                                   JOS

Please remember to mention Wargames Forum when contacting traders!

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