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shows

Derby 2008

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Well, made it to Derby at the weekend after missing it for a few years. Traveled down on Friday PM to Birmingham and had a few beers and a curry and traveled over with Billy who was going to be playing in the WRG 6th Edition (very) Ancients tournament.

I like Derby Uni as a venue. Very open, light and spacious and one of the better venues I’ve been to. I’d hoped to pick up some 15mm AWI on the Bring and Buy and maybe some Freikorps from anyone stocking them. Failed on both counts. I was dissappointed with the bring and buy, although I’ve had some bargains in the past, but maybe if I’d have found some AWI I’d be raving about how good it was!

I saw two lots of painted 15mm AWI on stalls there and for the estimated £1 per figure I didn’t think the painting was worth it. Of boxed sets I think it was down to the painter. Some of the boxes were rather nice but the ones I wanted were a different painter and I just didn’t rate them.

The other figures I looked at have a bit of a story. Maybe not an interesting one but one none the less!. The last time I went to Derby 3-4 years ago I saw a collection of 15mm AWI on the B&B. Probably a couple of hundred figures and at the time I thought worth the £70 but as I knew gaming time was fading at that time I didn’t think I could justify the expense. Roll forward to Saturday and after talking to a stall holder he said he had a collection to sell and could get them to the show before I had to leave at 4pm. They duly arrived, and I was much excited at the prospect of getting the Brits I need even at £1 per figure. Turned out it was the same batch I’d seen 4 years ago and to be honest they weren’t worth the £1 each. I could have spent time working on them and maybe applied a wash to bring out the detail but the style wouldn’t have fitted what I have and for the cost/effort it wasn’t really worth it. I was gutted to be honest as the guy had put himself (well ,his wife) out getting them to me.

Suppose this brings me to the cost of painted figures. I had a couple of units painted 6-7 years ago at c.90p a figure, which I supplied. They fitted in with my style and I was happy to pay it. I’ve seen online ads for painting with nice figures around the £1 mark and others up to £2 for very nice stuff. I’m tempted, if I can find a suitable painter to get a couple of units of redcoats done just to bolster the forces while I get more painting done and allow me to play. Just don’t know who to go with for something that will match mine? Suggestions?

Noone carried Freikorps but found one of my local suppliers (Under the Bed) can get them for me. Also looked for Old Glory 15’s who are now apparently available from Timecast in Shrewsbury. This is where I grew up and started gaming and turned out one the guys from the old club lives just round the corner from my Aunt in Shrewsbury and bumped in to him and a few of the other regulars at the show, some of which I haven’t seen for decades! As I still go visit in Shrewsbury a few times a years I’ll be calling at Timecast and maybe the club next time I’m down.

Also picked up the British Grenadier rules which I’ve been reading a lot about and quite fancy. Chatted with Paul from the BG forums who did a good job of selling them to me further!

Good show overall. Spent not a lot so wife is happy. Looking forward to making the reborn but soon to die again Stockton Show next month as well!

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ASL, shows

Intensive Fire – Bournemouth October 25th -28th 2007

Thursday. Well, what can I say. Got the 8.40 train out of Newcastle and a mere 6.5 hours later I was in Bournemouth. There were a good few people already in attendance and the Kiwi Hotel was it’s usual excellent and welcoming self. Decided not to squeeze a game in first night as basically knackered afte a busy week.

Friday. Shaun Carter offered a guided tour round Bovington Tank Musuem. Two car loads of us made the trip and it was well worth it. Shaun knows his stuff and it was informative and I got lots of pictures of tanks 🙂 I’ll try and post a few later.

I’d intended to playtest the Kohima module i nthe afternoon but delays in printing stuff meant it never really got started so ended up playing Derek Tocher at Village of the Damned from Mark P’s Few Returned pack. It was my first game in while and Derek is one of the best UK players so I wasn’t hopeful of a victory. I setup too spread out and the random blazes allowed a rapid advance. I didn’t have a huge amount of luck with the dice but that really just meant I lost a turn or two earlier! A fun scenario and I would play it again.

Saturday. As the main tourney kicked off I played Tim at Church Knoll, a new scenario from the Kohima module. IJA on the HOB I and II half board ‘knoll’ with 5 pillboxes and Brits attacking with only one mortar and an ATR. A couple of smoke get placed by SSR at the start but as the IJA had setup back a little it only helped a little. As my troops ascended the hill and rossed the crest line the smoke cleared and the enemy opened fire. The INF gun scored a couple of criticals and as I attempted to lay smoke to cover the attack with my only mortar it broke on it’s first shot and never repaired. It all went downhill from there. The scenario needs a little tweaking e.g. extra smoke but has the makings of a good one.

Later we played another Kohima scenario, Wakey, Wakey. I’d played this a Blackpool as the IJA and one so this time took the Brits. First turn is Night as the IJA enter and try to take out 3 Lees and support in laager. They made a rapid approach but I managed to get crew in two tank and they sat with support firing point blank into the assaulting Japanese. I had some good dice and when my reinforcements arrived it was evident the attack had run out of steam. Again, a little tweaking needed but that’s what the playtesting was for!

The evening saw me sticking together the sections from the new Kohima HASL map to make up the Hospital Ridge and Tennis Court area. The map is shaping up nicely and I’ll post a section here once I have the OK. Didn’t get time to play on it but have the files at home now so will be printing it again to try soon.

Drank a wee bit too much on the night and had some good chats with various people – part of the attraction of the weekend. Bought the CH Total Axis pack, which looks interesting, and Uncommon Valor, which I’ve fancied for a while.

Sunday. The final round of the tourney took place and as I planned to get an earlier train I decided not to play but to have a little reorganise of my Game System markers. Hoping to put a core system together in Raaco with just German, Brit, Russian and Amis. As I’m also planning on setting up a big game at home it will give me the excuse to punch and clip my new BV3 and FKaC. Now if only Yanks will sell out so I can get some lovely new counters!

So, as ever, IF was a great weekend. Inspired to play more I met up with Neil, my regular (only) live oppo last night and we played LSSAH9 Forest Through the Trees. I took the SS moving up board 36 across mined roads/bridges facing dug in Russians in pillboxes and trenches. Never really got started. Couldn’t clear the mines and every time I ran my 8ML and 9ML leaders through 6FP mines they pinned and broke and it all juts went very badly. 6 turns in and I wasn’t even half way. Some great moments though and a good reminder of how fun ASL can be even when on the recieving end!

I’d like to see more AARs from IF attendees. It was a good turn out this year with a Texan and Aussie vying for furthest travelled. Looking forward to Blackpool where a serious playtest of Kohima is planned!

Cheers

Andy

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ASL, shows

Heroes 2007, Blackpool, UK. 8th-11th March

I’ve posted an AAR for last weekends Tournament on the GamesSquad Forums here. I’ll try and post some more detailed stuff re the playtests here when I get time. It was a great weekend.

I’m currently doing battle with my PC and laptop at home. The joys of being a Linux user! I’m also working on an eASLRB. I have a nice Javascript based one that is missing images and won’t run in Firefox but is nicely searchable! And on older V1 HTML only one that is more complete but obviously out of date. It does provide me with a lot of the images I need for the other one though.

Anyway, enough ramblimg. Need to go and sort out Java on my AMD64 machine…

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