Another show and another freezing cold Sunday morning. Is it just me? I'm getting fed up with de-icing cars and hoping the snow won't settle! Thankfully Will had offered to drive (we were picking up some heaters for Treb's shedquarters so needed French versatility more than we needed German joy ...) ...
The Society of Ancients showpiece was my Bosworth presentation, which is now just about all there.
(Big Figure DBA ... Bosworth 1485)
I will have a little more supporting material available next time out (presentation boards on the battle and the archaeology etc) ... and around 5 more flags from Fluttering Flags ... 54mm is such a pleasure to work with that I'm sure I'll find some further enhancements.
In truth, ancients were a little thin on the ground at Alumwell this year, little more than our medieval game and Rob Broom's War & Conquest ...
(Rob Broom's 'Prelude to Amphipolis')
But walking around with my camera later in the day, I did discover some remarkable 6mm figures opposite Pete Berry's Baccus stand. It is wonderful what can be done these days - so, as my project is with big figures, here is (just about) the other end of the range.
(mass, but also ...)
( ... fine detail ... click on the pictures and take a look)
There was a bit of an 'oh my word' (or variations on that theme) on one of the very fine AWI games at the show ... I was just admiring the set up and taking a few pictures ...
(Battling for America with Will McNally's rules)
... when I spotted these fine fellows were playing the game using Lance & Longbow/Gentleman Pensioner Will McNally's rules. Now we had a very good game of Germantown with these after last year's Phalanx show. It also has to be said there's nothing trendy about these rules - they had clearly been selected on merit (and I think Will had a fascinating chat with the players when the DL Books stand was a little less busy).
WMMS is very much a traditional military show, with plenty of modelling displays and some costume societies present. I quite like the 18th century uniforms and militaria, and it added to the lace-colonial feel ...
Plenty of teddybear fur, too, these days ... I see on TMP that the correct term is 'fun fur' and I guess we should be careful lest anyone assume we are sanctioning cruelty to teddybears ... I think it looks very good in the right display (it could draw me back to cloths rather than boards ...)
Plenty of it under this sprawling 28mm ACW game ....
A relatively quiet show by mid afternoon, I also had a chance to touch base with Rob Broom, Martin from Warbases and Martin Goddard at Peter Pig who is doing a very nice Viking range and will be putting out a warrior and raiding game which looks promising.
Martin had his Square Bashing WWI game (Western Front) to try out at the show ... a foretaste of the flavour that will be 2014 I suspect. Can you believe that come next August, it will be 100 years on? ... My Grandfather was a tank gunner at Cambrai (that must make me old).
Bosworth update
This shot of Richard's artillery position came out nicely. The figures are by Irregular Miniatures, the guns are conversions of Renaissance pieces from Irregular's 42mm ranges. Note my trendy use of teddybear fur for the Fenn Hole marsh ...
But I must share with you what was, appropriately, the last game of the day ...
I'm sure many readers will 'get' enough of how DBA works to follow this. I was playing Richard, and the score was 3 elements destroyed each. So whoever destroyed the next element would win the game. Needing that extra kill, I had the pips to charge across the battlefield with the support of my cavalry and engage Henry in combat.
Now this would be very foolhardy - we all know the Bosworth story - and in my version, William Stanley fights for Henry but can only be moved in turns where the Henry Tudor player rolls a 6 for Pips. This had not happened, so, on the edge of the battlefield, Stanley hovered.
Put it this way: I might kill Henry anyway, attacking with the cavalry support. If not, there was a 1:6 chance Stanley would join in against my flank (which I could, of course, survive, on good dice) - otherwise, if he wasn't dead already, I would have Henry's flank another turn on. These considerations lured me in.
I'm sure you can figure out the rest ... I charge, Henry holds, and in his turn he rolls a 6 on demand and Stanley takes my flank.
(Bosworth at Alumwell: the end of Richard's 'death ride')
It was the end of the game: the dice were caught on camera ... Henry rolled another 6, as Richard, I rolled a 2. I lose and with Stanley on my flank, I cannot recoil. In DBA the recoil becomes a kill (when I'm prevented from recoiling). Game over ...
Leicester ... Car Park ... the rest is history ...
It was a lot of fun, and with rehearsed stupidity, the move was still the obvious one (I really had no game changer anywhere else)
**************
Thanks for another great show, Alumwell - an enjoyable day out but, man, did it turn cold at the end. Ffffreezing ...
I hope it warms up for the Battlefields Trust's walk around Berkhamsted Castle at the weekend.
But look out for DBA at Alton ...
... and the Society of Ancients BattleDay in Bletchley next month.
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