Wargamer...

...and Wargames Shows in General. Phil collected Jon and I this morning for the short hop from Wolverhampton to Great Barr as we had planned to attend Wargamer, the final show of our wargaming year before going into winter quarters! Wargamer makes an interesting contrast with the much larger two day show, Warfare in Reading, which we'd attended last month, but, in its own way, it was a more satisfying venture this year. The latter is a show I've always enjoyed but which this year was a real disappointment, not to mention a hazzard in the large hall with the 'interestingly laid' carpet!
As a former organiser of the Alumwell club's WMMS show in its early years, I've always felt it important to support smaller local shows whenever I could, although in truth I always thought the £4 entry fee to Wargamer a tad steep, even though now I get in for £1 as an over 60!! This year I would not have carped at the price: there were some interesting games and the traders provided me with the things I had on my List!! Wargamer is clearly at the cusp of growth into a more significant show in the year's roster of events here in the Midlands. Another plus for me with the show is that I get to meet some gamers I've known for a long time, but who don't travel so widely to other shows around the country as we 'GHQ Irregulars' always have. The show does suffer though from one drawback, being held in a school's Sports Hall of a certain vintage ~ "The Curse of the Yellow Lighting!"

There were games I really enjoyed looking at today, and I'd like to share two with you first of all because, for me, they neatly encapsulate the different approaches folk in our hobby take to the look of their game. First up, the Shrewsbury Wargamers' French & Indian Wars game. These chaps can always be relied on to have splendid looking terrain and buildings, together with well painted figures and equipment, always making an effort with their presentation to draw in the passing gamer.

 

The second game is a different creation altogether, staged by Dave Page from Kinver. Dave is a life-long gamer who attends a number of local shows, always accompanied by Erica his wife, with his wide ranging collection of 20mm games. Dave's games have that decidedly Old School look to me, but they never fail to interest me with the vast selection of items on display to catch the eye. Dave's terrain is always functional as well as clever in its simplicity, very game friendly, but always looks somehow 'right'. His offering today was a SCW game, making the anniversary of the Battle of Jamara. It looks very different from the first game, but is equally effective as a display I feel and has the added advantage to passing gamers in looking immediately more achievable for a solo player or a small group like ours. It has suffered in my photo more than most from the yellow lighting!!



 

 

 Now both sorts of games have a place in the hobby: too often the 'Gamers Porn'  offered in the hobby magazines and some Forum Boards must act as a deterrent to some entering our wonderful hobby or from offering their own games for our delectation at some future event. For the really Old School gamers there was even a WRG Ancients game on show, almost a museum piece in a way as a Display Game in a modern show, but perhaps important in that it shows once more that gaming and gamers are a very 'broad church' hobby indeed! 

 

Now, I have something personal I'd like to say. This short blog entry has taken me over three hours! Neither Blogger nor Photobucket work for me: both softwares will freeze or simply refuse to do what you direct. Until and unless the folk who manage these disasters can sort that out I have better things to do with my time! And anyway, hardly anyone ever bothers to leave any sort of comment, so my posts are clearly not really of interest to many folk.