Monday 2 December 2019

Battleground 2019 and the Battle of Ferozeshah, Part 2.

The first thing to say is that I DIDN'T SPEND ANYTHING, OR COLLECT ANYTHING PRE-PAID, unless you count some coffee for £2! That is largely due to the fact that I was tied up running the game most of the day and didn't give myself much time to browse the traders, but also because I promised myself I wouldn't buy any more figures before the end of the year so as to clear the decks and recharge my batteries after the marathon that was buying stuff and preparing for the Ferozeshah game. If I never see another Sikh or Sepoy for the rest of the year I'll be very pleased!

I had one quick circuit of the games and traders but my wife took a more leisurely route and took the following pictures. Apologies for any games that were missed or omitted for whatever reason; it’s not a judgement on any such games whatsoever. Likewise, I can’t put a name or title to all of the games featured below, but will do my best and will attribute them properly when I find the details of the games etc off the Battleground FB page. Please note that for reasons best known to the relationship between my phone and my computer he pictures are not in sequence.

Tyneside’s grand scale Operation Barbarossa 

WW2.

Impressive ruins.
Barbarossa again.

WW2 in the desert.

El Cid 



Look Mum, I’m on tv! Impressive WW2  game from the Grimsby club.



Like the sign says, Borodino.

My mates from Durham and their mesoamerican (is that a word?) bash between the Aztecs and Cortes and his Conquistadors supported by native allies.










Local club, The Prince Bishops Wargames and their El Cid game. 

The buildings and figures for this skirmish game are excellent. I have some of the former for  Italy but the figures are rather pricey and often too weird to fit into historical gaming. I would if I could think of a reason to though!

Robbie, John and Neil of the Independent Wargames Group and a wonderfully evocative ECW game using old school Minifigs and Hinchliffe castings in the main but there were also some old Warrior miniatures figures hidden away in there as well. It took me back to the 1970’s when I had loads of these figures, but not as well painted. 
Lovely hot air balloon. I still need to make mime for the battle of Fleures in the French Revolutionary Wars.’




Westerhope put on a recreation of the Battle of the Little Big Horn. It looked fun.



































So there you have it. From a buyer’s point of view there was certainly plenty of trade catering for just about everyone’s needs whether it be miniatures, terrain or paints etc. As I said at the start of this post I didn’t buy anything, which must be a first. There was also an eclectic mix of nice looking games, some of which were very well presented. The variety of periods and scales was broad enough to show just how diverse the hobby has become. Historical games were in the majority, as was the use of terrain mats over sculpted terrain or other mediums such as hex tiles. For me that’s a fabulous 180 degree about face to the early days of wargaming when it was the norm to fight a battle over granny’s old green curtains laid over books and/or jumpers. I’m a staunch advocate of the ‘new’ trend of these battle mats (I have quite a few) as most are of very high quality and the manufacturers are (mostly) a joy to deal with, providing an excellent service. Sculpted or professionally produced terrain boards are very nice, gorgeous often, but are not the real hobby visually. My game for example comprised a good cloth, figures almost all painted and all based by me, commercially available terrain and a friend made the earthworks and I painted them. Plus lots of little vignettes, supporting handouts and pictures. Pretty much what anyone visiting my home for a game gets.

The only downside for me was that the caterer had sold out of everything by around 1pm which I could cope with.......just about. Breakfast seemed a very long time ago.

It was really great to meet up with friends old and new and as ever the organisation of the event was top notch, and Leon and his team are to be commended on putting on yet another excellent show. Better start thinking about a game for 2020.


5 comments:

  1. Thanks for the eye candy. The one that really caught my eye, though, was the Barbarossa gig. I would have liked to see more of that one!

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  2. Thanks for the pics and it certainly had a great mix of games. From what i've seen one of the better shows on the circuit.

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  3. That really does look like a grand day out, plus free admission! What's not to like? A shame it's not nearer home for me.

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  4. Thanks for the pics,some lovely games going on there and I agree about the game mats that are available now, I compare them to the countless pounds that I have sunk over the years into home made cloths / boards that have never met expectation.

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  5. Thanks for coming along Colin, the game looked excellent as always!

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