4th September, Newark

THE OTHER PARTIZAN 2011

In this year of date clashes, it became obvious that we would end up double booked for the first weekend in September. Sadly, despite a membership pool of over a thousand living within 100 miles of the show (many of whom also attend it) requests for help produced no volunteers (as in 'nil' ...) and so Chris was left flying solo in the Doubles while I checked in at The Other Partizan to set up and help run the joint Society of Ancients/Lance & Longbow venture, Simon Chick's Salute winning Verneuil.

Wow, what a spectacle this game is ...

(inside Verneuil)

(the French commanders)

The more you look, the more you see ...

(a couple of views of the English lines)


I hope you enjoyed that feast ... there are more pictures of the Salute version of the battle from earlier in the year (Verneuil game at Salute scroll down the report for them) ...

The intention was not just to provide eye candy - Simon had set it up so we could play through the battle with Basic Impetus (and I'm sure that game's many fans would have loved an account of how it worked out). Unfortunately we were undermanned so had to accept the game would talked through rather than played through.

A great effort, nevertheless ... Thanks to Simon for putting it together and to the many visitors who came over to view and chat.

I have to say, there was some very good stuff elsewhere ...

This is the Phil Hendry splendid Romans and Celts game

(inside the fort)

(advanced technology on the battlefield)

(click on the images for a bigger view)

I also trust you will indulge one of the better examples of the current trend at shows for gigantism ... this spectacular interpretation of Sedgemoor
(if the darkness had lifted, maybe the battle of sedgemoor would have looked like this)

(some of the other displays and Participation Games)

(simple and gigantic, there was something engaging about this 6mm Aspern-Essling)

(20mm Germans crunching through the snow)

Again simple, I rather liked the snow covered Ardennes game. I suppose it comes just after my experimental and tentative snowy basing on the Sub Roman British for Eastern Front. Nothing tentative about this, however. A proper 'white out'.

(more from Sedgemoor - a fairly stagnant looking drain)

Although gigantism is a bad trend (who would generally wargame on a bigger table if they could manage more easily on something smaller - see Phil Hendry's proper sized table), some big tables are worth the space they take up.

So congratulations to the Partizan team for a show with a surprising variety. Big tables, yes, but a diversity of scales and content, mercifully most of it historical, and a lot of it quite inspiring. Would that all Ancient and Medieval battlefield layouts had that plausible and rich look that Phil and Simon showcased ...

(15mm ECW Siege of Newark)

It turned out the afternoon was very quiet, even by Partizan standards, and I was able to slip away as planned by 3.30. That got me back to Abingdon by 'last bound', in time to catch up with the Doubles Masters and present the Alexander Trophy.

The best of both worlds in a way - a couple of good games of FoG on Saturday, a really good show on Sunday. That said, as a community we really ought to be able to come up with enough volunteers that - with over a thousand members - we can be in two places at once (especially as you could have done either ... go to a show or play a couple of wargames: there must be some Society of Ancients members out there who do one or the other ....?) ...

Apologies for the delays in feeding reports through at the moment ... The Other Partizan was about 2/3 the way through a 12 week summer season in which 11 shows and events are crammed together - so writing them all up inevitably falls backwards a little as previous years betray.

The next report will be Colours (Kadesh with Lost Battles and Greyhounds in the slips) ...
The next show outing will be Derby (and The Elephant in the Room, as well as a lively show and a popular Armati competition) ...

Do drop me a line if you would like to join in.