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Bathgate Wargames Club |
Claymore
2003
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Bathgate Wargames Club |
Claymore
2003, the annual show for the South East Scotland Wargames Club, took place at
Meadowbank Stadium, Edinburgh on Saturday 2nd August, a forerunner to the
Edinburgh Festival. We did actually
consider registering the show as a Festival Fringe event, but it seemed unlikely
that the cost involved would be offset by a sufficient increase in revenue.
The
event attracted a large number of traders, participants and visitors.
The general standard of display and participation games was as high as
ever and nearly 900 members of the paying public came to enjoy them.
The traders all appeared happy with the level of business and keen to
sign on again for next year. The
only trouble with the huge Bring and Buy stand was that it was so crowded for
most of the day. By the time I
reached it I seemed to have missed all the bargains, again.
The
judges were hard pressed to select a winner in the display games category from
the top five games, all of which were of the highest standard.
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| Elgin Wargamers |
The
Iron Brigade presented an SAS raid on a desert airfield which was garrisoned by
Italian and Afrikakorps troops. Beautifully
made and modelled, this display may have lost marks simply because of the drab,
but authentic, colours of both uniforms and terrain.
There
was no lack of colour elsewhere, particularly in the offerings from the League
of Augsburg and the Lance and Longbow Society.
The former displayed a fictional encounter from the Italian Wars at the
turn of the 16th century while the latter presented the Battle of Shrewsbury,
just a few days late for the 600th anniversary. Both displays featured extremely well painted figures on very
attractive terrain. The Lance and
Longbow Society eventually ran out winners, thanks perhaps, to their exceptional
support displays and handouts.
Elsewhere,
the Storming of the Alamo 1836, was displayed by the Dingwall Wargames Club in
25mm scale. The enormous mission
building was very impressive and completely dominated the table.
Unusually, in one corner, the action was re-created again in 6mm scale.
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Lance and Longbow Society |
The
Elgin Wargames Group brought a Samurai skirmish to life, the Society of Ancients
went into the woods with the Revolt of Civilis in AD 69/70 and the Phoenix
Wargames Club of Glasgow presented an unusual battle from the Maori Wars.
In
the public participation section, Kirriemuir & District Wargames Society
went head-to-head with the Royal Airforce Wargames association from Leuchars,
both having chosen aerial subjects. Kirriemuir
chose World War One dog-fighting with Baron von Richtofen’s Flying Circus
utilising clever adjustable stands for the aircraft over a patchwork landscape
of fields. The RAF gave their
excellent Memphis Belle game another outing, allowing several participants at a
time the opportunity to shoot down a single Fortress.
Both games were extremely well run and evidently much enjoyed by the
playing public. In the end
Kirriemuir were declared the worthy winners.
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League of Augsberg |
Bathgate
Wargames Clubs Colonial Skirmish was commended and it provided an inspiration
for simple scratch-building and rules aimed primarily at fun.
Manufacturers, Games Workshop and I-Kore both displayed colourful
participation games at either end of the hall.
Wargame Developments never seem to do well in competition as their
unusual games do not really fit into any of the traditional categories of
wargaming. Their games are,
however, both enjoyable and challenging and utilise simple but well thought out
systems.
David O'Brien
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Iron Brigade |
