The Other Partizan - Newark September 1st 2002

In order to get to Newark Irregulars' increasingly popular show I have to have an early start. Travelling from the North West the venue is not the easiest of places to reach. A drive through the Peak District, especially on an early bright Sunday Morning can be very pleasant, but it is amazing how frustrating crawling caravans, and lines of classic cars waiting to get into Chatsworth Park can be when you are in a hurry, and unable to put your foot right down because there are so many flashing speed cameras it looks like Blackpool Illuminations. So it was with some relief that I reached the stately pile of Kelham Hall.

Kelham's stately pile

Partizan has grown in the last few years, and I think is now one of the most rewarding shows to visit. The quality of the games is always good, and some are truly exceptional. And, despite it only being a one day show, attracts a good cross section of the trade. As David Marshall of T M Terrain said to me, if you are not inspired by this show then there is no hope for you!

La Haye Sainte care of Caltishall Cowards

The games displays illustrated a wide number of periods. Immediately catching the eye was a magnificent 28mm Waterloo display presented by Cultural Cowards (whoops...see Mentioned in Despatches .Ed) from Norfolk. The game illustrated the mass attack of French infantry so effectively smashed by the charge of the Union Brigade. Excellent terrain, including La Haye Sainte, wheat fields and sand pit, along with well painted large units made this a very impressive game that attracted a lot of attention.

Massive French columns assaulting the Allied line, again from Caltishall Cowards

Morris and Jones, and El Cid presented The Fall of Zaragoza, again a 28mm game, but on a far smaller scale. What impressed me about this particular game was the high quality of the painting; most of the figures seemed to be Gripping Beast with some Qualiticast and very nice they looked too. The terrain was also very nicely done, with a very picturesque castle ruin on one flank. the rules used were the popular Warhammer Ancient Battles.

Beautifully painted warriors from Messrs Morris and Jones

The inimitable John Tuckey was present, but you may have been pushed to spot him. No more the massive 28mm games with thousands of figures and squads of players. He told me he had tired of being the first to arrive and the last to leave shows and be faced with a long drive in each direction, and I empathise completely. John presented a very nicely presented game showing an indian attack on a colonist fort, in North America.  The period was a bit nebulous, and the fort was eccentric in its design, but again it was satisfying eye fodder. I especially liked the way in which the terrain was laid out in a balanced way, with groups of trees place to give the impression of forest without overcrowding the game.

John Tuckey's colonists fort

In the main hall The Mansfield Mob, were drawing interested glances with their "Pig Wars", skirmish action in the early medieval period, when men were men and pigs were worth fighting wars over.

Pig Wars

There was a very nicely presented 28mm American Civil War game, presented by Westbury Wargamers, entitled "Lovejoy Station 1864". The had a large Union cavalry column storming into a Confederate held rail junction. Again the terrain was very good, including a nicely detailed locomotive and flat cars, and the idea for the game unusual, displaying well painted figures to advantage.

Lovejoy Station 1864 from Westbury Wargamers

There were a number of games that were being presented either by, or on behalf of commercial ventures. North Hull Wargames presented two lovingly created and large games which illustrated not only the painting and terrain making skills in the membership, but also advertised the World War 2 and American Civil War rules produced by the club. I extracted a promise that a review copy of these would be sent to me, so keep your eyes open.

North Hull Wargames

There was a very well presented Russian Front game using large 1/48th scale figures from North Star Military Figures. Again nice terrain, this time a range of excellent vehicles, and an unusual scale, used to promote a set of rules "The Face of Battle", produced by Meramic Enterprises Inc. of Canada. Our friends from The Lance and Longbow Society, ever present at wargame shows the length and breadth of the country were present fighting the battle of Boroughbridge, a small action, fought simply over a small table, but very attractive none the less.

Face of Battle with North Star Miniatures

Right next to this game Serb, Croat and UN forces let rip at each other over very impressive terrain. This time the work of Dave Andrew of the Lead Boiler Suit, advertising the company's range of figures and equipment. Meanwhile in the main hall a note of controversy was being raised by Manchester Area Wargames who were presenting a sci-fi/fantasy game called girls and guns, which displayed the rules and figures from Amazon. The thing is that all the girls were naked, or semi naked, which may be ok when you are looking at a 25mm figure, but lurid photos of large bare breasts scattered around the table, was causing some comment, not all disparaging, but some were clearly incensed by the display.

HLBC's Balkans display

Mosborough and District wargames group, who I recall presented a very impressive Battle of Shiloh at Triples, were gathered round a large table filled with masses of 28mm Russian, Prussian and French Napoleonics. The battle was Katzbach, 1813, fought in the  preliminary campaign to the battle of Leipzig, and historically ending in a crushing defeat for the French. Again the overall impression of the game was excellent, but when you got up real close the quality of the terrain and the painting of the models was first class.

Manoeuvres around Katzbach

Derby wargames, as usual, presented a very good display with exceptionally painted models, and superb terrain. This time it was a Crimean war scenario. Across the room a superb Sikh War battle was in progress. Around the corner "The Blue Bears" presented "Return to Badonga", a very popular participation game, which according to the handout: -

...we have kept things like the scenery as simple as possible, the base is a curtain scrounged from the rag bin, and we made the building from heavy card. Add some trees, lichen, sisal string grass and cork rocks and scatter some boxes barrels and oil drums etc....

The table was continuously surrounded by players old and young, who seemed totally engrossed in the fight for the Civic Aid Centre. Which just goes to show, that in wargaming the aesthetics are important, but what really matters is the game!

Derby Wargames Crimean action

Around the trade stand there was some new releases, but mainly news of forthcoming ranges. Redoubt are working hard on their French Indian Wars range, with a fully comprehensive range planned. Front Rank handed over a small selection of their Netherlands and Nassau Napoleonics for review, which I will not pre-empt here but the figures are superb. Tim Hallam at Twin Dragons is working on a range of Carolingians, while B and B have released a very nice range of 20mm Samurai with some excellent vignette sets. Elite miniatures were displaying a nice range of 28mm Napoleonic Portugese, while I was very very tempted by The Copplestone Castings excellent 1920's back of beyond range. Crusader Miniatures Normans were causing quite a stir, and I heard honest admiration expressed about them from the Gripping Beast boys. Finally Bacchus 6mm were showing their new fantasy range, which could be a winner given the interest in large scale fantasy battles the second Lord of the Rings film is likely to generate.

Just a few Sikh cavalry

The bring and buy was very popular and rightly so. There were a few bargains to be had, for those who had the cash. I picked up on or two nice pieces from there and the club second hand stall, pics of which will doubtless find their way on to the pages of the Forum in the fullness of time.

Finally all too often when we visit shows we fail to look at anything outside the venue except the name of the nearest pub. For a change try and save a couple of hours to visit Newark while you are at the show. The town was the scene of a protracted series of siege during the English Civil War, and the site of one of the major actions and some contemporary earthworks stands only about half a mile from the show. Newark itself is about 2 miles away, but worth the journey, even if just to see the ruined castle reflected in the river, but there is a whole lot more to see than that, especially the Queens Sconce.

JOS

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