WARGAMER 2014
The Society of Ancients combined with the Northampton Battlefields Society to run a stand at Wargamer in its bright new venue in Halesowen.
We took along the wargame model of the 1460 Battle of Northampton (which is only an hour down the road from Birmingham) in a display format - as Wargamer isn't one of those shows where we usually pick up volunteers for full multiplayer participation game.
I set the battle up as the Yorkist lords move their forces forward
(uncle Fauconberg at the Battle of Northampton)
There was plenty to talk about as only 2 evenings previously the NBS had picked up a Community Star award from the local residents' association in Northampton's Far Cotton and Delapre where the battlefield lies.
The award recognises the Society - and particularly its chairman, Mike Ingram (he of the excellent Bosworth book) - fighting for what it believes in: the preservation, interpretation and publicising of the 1460 battlefield at Delapre Abbey ...
(Community Star award alongside exhibition weapons from the Northampton Battlefields Society)
And I was also doing some surveying for our friends at the Naseby Battlefield Project who need to know what you would like to find in a visitor centre should you go to the ECW site (I will provide info and a link when there is an online version available) ..
If not particularly busy or intensively promoted (and the two can go together) Wargamer is a great example of a good quality local wargames show. Lots of great exhibits from clubs and groups within an hours or so's drive and a fair mix of traders including the indomitable Dave Lanchester (Books) down from Yorkshire for the day (great support from Dave and he looked busy enough for it to have been worth his trip) ...
The show was a little easier to find than the former venue, better lit, had a bar (albeit rudimentary) and more parking ... winning all round, then.
In addition to Northampton, there were plenty of ancient games on show ...
The Cobridge (Stoke Challenge) club had this sumptuous Republican Roman Armati game.
The Border Rievers had a splendid and well captioned Battle of Mycale
Tremendous terrain and loads of figures ... this game was being played using WRG's 6th edition.
And The Guards of Birmingham were playing a large Hail Caesar game loosely based on Hydaspes ...
Well, add in our Medieval battle and that's some good coverage of the Society's period of remit for a local Sunday show I think.
A good diversity of style too ... 15 and 28mm ... Armati, vintage WRG and HC (and the set up for ours would have been a matrix game) ...
Other good stuff at Wargamer included ...
(WWII - Parker's Crossroads)
A couple of Renaissance games ... from Malta ...
... to the English Civil War ...
Several Napoleonics and even an interesting WWII Naval game ...
A great selection: I counted 17 games: 5 Napoleonic, 4 WWII (3 land; 1 naval), 3 Ancient, 1 Medieval, 1 Renaissance, 1 ECW, 1 ACW and 1 Indian Wars … in a good mix of scales and using everything from glossy published rules to oldies and homebrews.
What a showcase. There was also a Bring & Buy.
The weather was good for travelling so this was a great day for the midland wargame enthusiast (if you didn't attend this year I am sure you will want to look out for next year's show) ...
That was the last show outing for the Society of Ancients for 2014 although my own wargaming is moving on apace over the Winter break (and more special features are in preparation - so keep an eye on Ancients on the Move or just hit the follow by email button) ...
Oh ... and don't forget to renew your Society subscriptions (the majority of members still lapse with the distribution of the November issue - and that's the next one coming) ...
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