Back on the road again and an early start for Leeds (Pudsey) ... and mercifully, a very mild daybreak with not too much ice to clear from the car (this was the last scheduled shows weekend, and the first weekend of December has proved assault course in the last couple of years).
Indeed, from past experience, I had left a little extra time for de-icing and related winter hazards ... and so the soft start meant a remarkably relaxed cruise up through the Midlands in bright, clear, conditions.
This year, again, we did a Lance & Longbow/Society of Ancients combined zone - though sadly without the Towton Battlefield Society who had, last year, joined us to mark the anniversary of Wakefield.
We ended up running two participation games at either end of our shared turf ...
At one end Will McNally ran his 20mm Conquistadors 'DBA in the New World' game ...
While at the other end I had set up my 90mm 'Greyhounds in the Slips' which has not been on the road for a number of shows now ... I had intended to roll out the new Bosworth game, but had to cut my cloth as time pressures took their toll - and GitS was all boxed up and ready to play ...
I think it worked very well ... soon after setting up, I had some players and pretty much ran the first 4 games back-to-back, and that took care of the morning. I hope the other game was as busy ... either that or the chat was good as there seemed plenty of wargamers clustering around the stand (and judging by the quiet tally, they weren't signing up for the Society ...) ...
In the less busy afternoon period, as well as getting in another game, I had a walk around the show and tried out Will's DBA.
I thought the choice and standard of games at Recon very good - especially upstairs (where I had spent a lonely day trying to find people to play Gladiolus a few years back) ... Andy has done a good job of attracting content and now upstairs is thriving, even if, by the time the SoA/L&L stand was quiet enough to wander, the crowd was a little thin.
Great games though ... I particularly liked the Borodino ('battlefield in a box' look as I like to think - it reminded me of a pasting table!) DBN apparently. Now last time I saw that at a show was back at Kelham Hall, presented by Tony Morley and his Lincoln associates. Again, I saw some good things going on) ...
There was an interesting looking Cockleshell Raid game that seemed to have a number of youngsters smiling and rolling dice - it seemed to be something of a canoeing expedition with high explosives ... what could possibly go wrong? However, shows being shows, I didn't have enough time to stick with it long enough to follow how it all hung together ...
Finally, I conspired to lose a short game of New World DBA: they told me that Wargames Amateur David always and reliably comes up with a bundle of ones and twos - so looking for a quick win, I confidently set up one of those classic DBA 'kill or get killed' situations with my Conquistador Knight General (surely the 'boss' piece in any New World encounter ...?). Well I'm sure you don't need a blow-by-blow description of how the game panned out ...
And then suddenly the sun had gone and it turned very cold. Some of the exhibitors and traders started to pack up and that meant the doors were opened (and, December in Yorkshire, that means it's time to pack up get moving) ... By the time we had got our gear into the car I could barely feel the tips of my fingers: we headed South.
Well ... a relatively busy and congenial show, if a little quiet on the Society's recruitment side (as is often the way with these Northern Shows). Really nice to get there and back again without too much exposure to the ice terror, and we were feeling good about the last show of the year ... Sunday and Wargamer in Birmingham ...
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