1st - 2nd October Castle Donnington

The Society of Ancients, Battlefields Trust and Northampton Battlefields Society

Another of our successful collaborations ... at Derby we had a couple of new things to share along with the popular weapons and equipment ...

The Battlefields Trust have just launched a new book of poetry following Clare Mulley's year in residency as the trust did its circuit of reenactment and historical shows ....

And Northampton Battlefields Society had the definitive Northampton 1460 game as trialed at The Other Partizan ...

Northampton 1460 is a quick playable 'historical narrative' game giving the players control of the options available to the commanders on July 10th 1460 ... It was up and running within the first half an hour and ran more-or-less continuously throughout the show.

There were few ancient games (Dark Age and Medieval being the preference within the Society's remit) but an excellent Hastings game by Like a Stonewall was an eye-catching neighbour to us.

(Like A Stonewall's Hastings 1066 game)

... a vast panorama of a wargame, I particularly liked the clever use of velcro boards and the whimsical inclusion of a group of needlecrafters recording the events in their now time-honoured medium.  Great effort.

The rules used were a less well-known set called Lionheart - again a refreshing choice.

There was also a very nice Viking skirmish game ... so here's a vignette ...

I found fewer stand out games in the rest of the show this year but liked the Rorkes Drift presentation ... 

... and I thought this 30 Years War display was splendid ...

A popular and well-supported show with a good mix of trade and games ... then down the other end of the hall, a big selection of tournaments (where many of the ancient and medieval games and players were to be found)

Nice to see Armati still ploughing its furrow ... Nice to see old friends splitting divisions with each other ... 

So a big thank you to the organisers and all of you who stopped by for a chat or played the game, flipped through the poetry.

A really enkoyable weekend.

See you next time.

Looking Back ... August ... The Other Partizan, Newark

Continuing our little catch-up .... The Other Partizan has move forward in the calendar to August (so it doesn't really feel that long since Partizan in late May) ...

The event is now in the Exhibition Ground and features an extensive History area in the centre ... you'll find us there, sharing space and personnel with The Battlefields Trust, The Northampton Battlefields Society, The lance & Longbow Society, Naseby Battlefield Project etc. etc.

Just as it should be ...

OK, I know ... you can't hive off the history - wargaming is the history (excepting the other bits) ...

Well, I see it as the future ... the money that shapes wargaming (and the buyers who underpin it) have decided wargaming isn't necessarily historical and so if there is to be history within wargaming, it has to be history-lite or history-sceptic ...

And I think it is right that in that environment wargamers have somewhere to go where they can assume that the history is important - that the history is part of the core purpose of the activity.

Here's some eye candy from the show if you are still with me.

(Northampton Battlefields Society)

Scenes from the Battle of Northampton ...

(Northampton 1460: the Lancastrian position)

(King Henry VI's tent in the compound by Delapre Abbey)

In addition to supporting the good causes, promoting the Society, recruiting members and displaying the most plausible interpretation of Northampton, we were also hosting a new, quick-fire, historical game of the battle ...

The game is played with blocks on a board contoured from the OS map ... cards allow a historical range of options and timings but permit a wide range of plausible outcomes.

(Northampton in flames in the background)

This was the combat debut of the game and it went extremely well - I do hope NBS will be able to produce this game semi-commercially so those of you who aren't able to play it at a show can have a go at home (next outing: Derby) ...

There were one or two other ancient/medieval games notably a splendid 54mm Republican game ...

... and Simon Miller's eye catching 28mm TTS extravaganza ...

... and just a nod to some of the other stuff around ...

Too many 28mm skirmish games, maybe ... too commercialised, maybe - but I still have a soft spot for the Partizan shows and I like their initiatives with the History Zone and Participation Games.

Thanks to the organisers and thanks to the many fellow enthusiasts who stopped by - your support is really appreciated.

A Busy Summer ...

Ancients on the Move is back

... well, after a few shows, a new home hub and a new laptop (after the last one literally melted down on the desk ... we're talking *puddle of plastic* time ... ) ... The Shows Team blog is up and running again (well, it is if you are reading this) ...

After Partizan, we went up to St Helens for Phalanx - then in July, our main events were the Battle of Northampton anniversary and the Conference of Wargamers.

I missed out on Britcon, but August now sees Partizan at the Newark exhibition complex and the Bosworth Festival.  Partizan's place on the first weekend of September has been taken by the Hereward show in Peterborough (the end of summer is all changed now) ...

Great to get back up to St Helens for one of our favourite local shows ... and a get together of old chums for a big battle on the Sunday ... 

The game for the show was Martin Charlesworth's Dirty DBA challenge ... a stripped down, anyone can play version of the iconic Barker game - ideal for beginners and veterans alike (as long as nobody tries too hard).  This was its usual success and recruited another little group of newcomers into ancients.

(A DBA challenge ... horse archers try to hold off advancing legionaries ... ) 

The show is a good mix of Societies, traders, demo games and 'have a go' Participation Games ... It has an excellent and well-supported Bring & Buy, priced to sell (and I always manage to find a few things that someone else doesn't want but seem like long lost treasure to me) ...

(the Lance & Longbow Society at Phalanx 2016)

(Phalanx 2016: one of the many impressive demo games)

Well, that colonial game was very much on message - we were off in the Sudan for our big game the next day ... sort of 'off topic' for the Shows North blog but a cracking Sunday nonetheless ...

Northampton & Bosworth ...

Anniversary events ... I wasn't able to put on any ancient and medieval games at CoW as this year it coincided with the 1460 anniversary down the road ...

(Northampton 1460 at Delapre Abbey)

This year was particularly important as the event began with a special President's Award, presented by veteran pollster and broadcaster Sir Robert Worcester on behalf of the Battlefields Trust to Mike Ingram and the Northampton Battlefields Society for our outstanding work on battlefield preservation and interpretation.

(Sir Robert Worcester at Northampton Battlefield)

We took along the wargame model ...

(Northampton 1460 ... the battle reconstructed)

... undoubtedly helps visitors understand the battle in the context of the landscape as it was in 1460 ... before visiting it on the anniversary walk ...

(Northampton 2016 ... anniversary battlefield walk commemorating the fallen of 1460)

Meanwhile ...

(CoW 2016 ... a favourite game in the bar)

At Bosworth we helped at the Battlefields Trust stand - and interpreted the battle with our now familiar 54mm collection ...

(with The Battlefields Trust at Bosworth 2016)

(Phil Steele's Bosworth battlefield model)

On the home front ...

Over the Summer we were also working on some DBA scenarios and a new packageable version of the Northampton battle (inspired, indeed, by W1815) ....

Scene's from Graham's Reconquista project ...

However, we could only do the Saturday at Bosworth because we were booked on the Sunday for the newly migrated The Other Partizan and the new N1460 game's show debut ...

I'll feature that one in a post of its own (next) ...