12th April, London, ExCel

SALUTE 2014

I should subtitle this 'An Ancient and Medieval Salute' or some such: there are endless blogs with photo collections from Salute, but none quite like this.   Most bloggers seem to focus on shopping or goblins or power armour and panzers.  Scarcely one gives you any sort of coverage of the early historical content.

But to kick off, the Society of Ancients presented another Lost Battle, this time Macedonians and Romans contesting the Dogs' Heads hills in Thessaly ...

(Salute 2014: BC197 - Cynoscephalae ... a Lost Battle from the Society of Ancients)

This is the battle that evolves from a reinforced encounter in the fog ... and the one where Roman legionaries are able to beat the Macedonian phalanx because, in part, they can cope better with the rolling terrain ...

Professor Sabin is away broadening the world's understanding of warfare at the moment so the game was run by Eric et al ( ;) ...) ...

(Cynoscephalae: the Macedonian phalanx in the hills)

(Cynoscephalae: the Roman battle line ...)

This was run twice (with a break for lunch) and involved a number of visitors and plentiful break for explanation and demos.  Sometime players get engrossed in the game, but always remember, the Society welcomes interruptions if you have any questions (and, occasionally, we might not have spotted that).

Ancient and Medieval Salute ...

Regular readers might recall my noting that there haven't been many ancients games at this year's shows (and a more Medieval theme to the early history games there have been) ... Well, Salute 2014 had a good number of core ancients exhibits.

Wargames, Soldiers and Strategy were flagshipping with Simon Miller's 'C-Day' - a cross channel beach landing (but in this case from France and under the direction of Julius Caesar ...) ..

(C-Day: legionaries wade ashore under the hostile gaze of native British warriors)

You will know I love the detail that makes up these historical tableaux, so I'm sure you will indulge some extra shots ...

(C-Day: Roman warship ... elephant on tow ... wading legionaries)

(C-Day: British cavalry and chariots thunder to the cliffs - click on the picture to enlarge)

(C-Day: more Roman ships close up to the shore ...)

Gripping Beast seemed to be respinning my game 'Welcome to Jerusalem' with this Saga based display (it wasn't being played, so hard to work out how all the components meshed - but its looks drew a lot of attention ...)...

Committee member Rob Broom was there with his War & Conquest Thermopylae game ...

(Thermopylae: the pass is denied)

The game featured a number of splendidly turned out Greek battle groups (Rob really is getting the hang of this, you know ...) 

(Themopylae: some of the many Greek prepared to block the Persians' advance)

So, we've had Greeks, Macedonians, Romans and Crusaders ... there was jousting, Chariot racing and Viking raiders ... and it was a nice surprise to see Hannibal's army turn up for the Trebia ... and in glorious 54mm!  This was a splendid game from John (that's it apparently - but he did give a nice explanation of the game).

(John's impressive Trebia in 54m)

The game itself was DBA and John reckons he has a good 6 DBA armies in the big game (so they can play a 6 contingent campaign version)

(Hannibal at the Trebia: cavalry and elephants in 54mm!)

There was some talk about the elephants but these look good to me ... relatively small, big ears etc. etc. (the towers might be a bit hefty but, really, we don't know enough ...) ..

A great advert for the standard ancients game - and geared to play, not just for display ..

(HaT 54mm Romans ... working in this scale need not cost a fortune)

The Warlord team were also there with a game ...

And Best Participation Game went to Crawley for their well thought out Chariot Racing

(Salute 2014: Ad Spatium Accedis .. Best Participation Game)

This was a card driven multiplayer game with Ben Hur style hats and lots of crashes and deliberate interference.  Great choice ... a nice take on an ancients perennial.  Insiders will know I am looking at this theme myself ...

(Ad Spatium Accedis: the Chariots line up for the start )

Apologies to those ancients games I missed, this was my best of Salute.  Overall, I was pleased to see our part of the historical spectrum putting its best foot forward and good to see all the core ancients attractions on display.

Good also to see awards going to ancients games and to historical presentations.

Of course, there was much much more ... here is a quick guide to the Best of the Rest ...

(Salute 2014 ... a big space ship ... stuff for kids ... historical societies ... Most Innovative Game for Megagame Makers ...men with guns ...) ...

I also liked ...

(10mm ECW: Wow! a real feast for the eyes ... beautiful figures - from Pendraken I believe)

... and with the centenary coming up, there was plenty on the WWI theme ...

... and some Not Quite Napoleonics (doing what Napoleonics do best ...) ...

(Salute 2014: 1837 - the Battle of Barbastro)

... and uncharacteristically, I very much liked Duncan MacFarlane's chunky 28mm Battle of Arklow ... Not Quite Napoleonics - in this case the Irish Rebellion ..

(Salute 2014: 1798 - the Battle of Arklow)

There has been a bit of moaning on some chat pages about Salute this year ... I think mostly by people whose day got off on the wrong foot due to a long queue, some unfriendly managing of the queue by ExCel staff ... and some inconsistencies.

I don't want to argue with those people: I think every enthusiast wants everyone else to have a good day out and if it gets spoiled that is annoying for all of us.

***********

For Salute, ExCel has a number of embedded problems ... fatiguing and visually ugly floor, poor lighting, weird acoustics etc. (and the room is so big you need to be clever with your camera).  Honestly (an ignoring the horrible year where it took half the morning to get in) I preferred Olympia ...

 ... but I thought this was a good Salute and I had a mix of meets and discussions that are unlikely to happen anywhere else.

A great selection of games and eye-candy ... and if anything, possibly less of a corporate feel this time around .. 

I think Salute is still a must, but I remind everyone of what I said before ... wear forgiving shoes, don't turn up before 11 as you will just get caught in a queue ... try to avoid big ruck sack syndrome and do games and Society stands first, shopping second (again avoiding scrums - few items will sell out and traders can be very generous in the afternoon, I find) ...

Terrible queue for coffee but not too expensive (and they do a very nice mocha ...) ...

Back to Montaperti galleries shortly and look out for Triples next month (and the DBA Northern Cup)

14th October, Crystal Palace

SELWG 2012

Although I had actually booked myself in to help on the Pike & Shot Society stand, a last minute change saw me taking the Shows North stand to Crystal Palace to support the Society of Ancients.

Thanks to Steve and Neil for managing most of the day without me.

(click on the images for a bigger picture)

Although the big southern shows are not my explicit brief, as I often get asked to pick up the pieces, perhaps I can appeal for volunteers to contact the secretary?   Meeting the public on the Society's behalf is a great pleasure and an easy way to make new friends and contribute something to the organisation ...

The game we featured was Phil Sabin's treatment of Trebia ... a fascinating battle from the first phase of Hannibal's invasion of Italy (and the last trumpeting of the Elephant corps he had famously brought over the Alps).

This is the one where Sempronius has his men wade the freezing river before breakfast in order to get double enveloped by Hannibal and Mago's Carthaginian army on the other side.  Thanks, Semps! ....

The Legionaries cannot be destroyed and manage to break their way through the entire Carthaginian centre and march off the battlefield.

(Italians and Numidians in Hannibal's army)

For me, Trebia is the battle that shows that Hannibal's great victory at Cannae was unlikely a freak combination of circumstances (as some will always argue) but a deliberately orchestrated battleplan: all the features of Cannae arise at Trebia except that the Romans are able to fight their way out of the potential encirclement.

The next time Hannibal gets the opportunity to surround and annihilate a Roman in the field, his army would be deployed in such a way as to ensure the centre remain trapped in the pocket.

Of course, that's just my take on the significance of the battle, and you can find an authoritative account of the engagement and Sabin's methodology in reconstructing it in Lost Battles.

(Southend's Battle of Benfleet)

I like SELWG, and enjoyed a leisurely wander around as it got quieter in the afternoon.

(GLG Games Group's Battle of Sagrajas)

There were some excellent ancients games on display (actually a little less unhistorical gaming, this year I thought - which might have suited others a little less than it suited me) ...

 

(splendid Gravesend/War & Conquest Kadesh game)

Prettiest game of the Show surely went to the battle of Kadesh demo by, I believe, the Gravesend club, hosted by Rob Broom's War & Conquest/Scarab Miniatures.

(Hittite chariotry lie in waiting)

Nothing that flashy, of course ... just everything exactly right - terrain, figures, space, layout ...

('Shepway's Germans Go Home')

I also liked the Germania tree-fest  ... I got a real sense of the Romans being stranded in the forest ...

There were some good displays and games out of our period, as ever ... some that have done the round of other shows, some new.

(Atlanta by the Essex Warriors)

For nice clear presentation, I particularly liked the ACW Atlanta game and and the (loaded with figures) Aspern-Essling.   The former was being played during the show (which is always good to see) - the later just looked too crowded (but what do I know?) ...

(Loughton Strike Force: Aspern-Essling)

Great show.  Horrible journey home.

Don't forget the DBA English Open in Portsmouth on Sunday.

Derby 3rd - 4th October

World Championships

Many thanks to the Derby organisers for their good offices. We were in one of the further corners last year, and a little short - especially on the Sunday - of the passing traffic necessary to make participation games work. This year Graham offered to reprise the 'double game' offer of The Great Commanders which we ran at Milton Keynes earlier in the year ... but on the proviso that we had a more suitable pitch.

OK - so the layout of Derby University's Kedleston campus Atrium meant it wasn't quite as easy to get round the stand as we'd have liked ... but we asked for footfall and we got it. It was really only be Sunday afternoon that the games had some idle moments (otherwise, more often than not, both were in continual use and attracting spectators, too)

So, Alexander at the Granicus or Hannibal at the Trebia , played with Ancient and Medieval Wargaming (AMW) - I've explained the basic idea here before. The project attempts to introduce people to historical wargaming in the ancient period: Neil Thomas's game is one which, although it has a fair degree of variety and subtlety, has basics which can be picked up pretty reliably during the course of the first game. The rules are in a book which is aimed at the general reader and which is available from mainstream bookshops. Stylish though they are, Graham's presentations feature simply painted 20mm plastics (mostly HaT) .. also available in many High Streets (if you have something passing for a hobby shop) ... So, an introductory game that's quick to pick up and is good with youngsters and newcomers, which you can buy in normal shops and is shown played with equally 'non-specialist' figures in a package where a few boxes of plastics will do you a very plausible Great Battle for a minimal investment. Excellent.(click on the pictures to get a bigger image)
The results were a bit of a swing from the Milton Keynes outing. Without Will bringing his uncompromising determination to the Roman cause, Hannibal reasserted his customary control over the Trebia scenario. Alexander, however, was no longer just walking over the Persians at the Granicus. Whereas in the MK version, the somewhat flimsy cavalry force was backed by a unit of hoplites and a unit of foot skirmishers, in the Derby line up, both units were hoplites. Facing a Macedonian phalanx, this really did seem to bolster up the Persians ... meaning attempts to overwhelm the enemy flanks did not automatically entail allowing the Phalanx to walk off the board in the centre (which is fatal in AMW).Well, the results speak for themselves ... The (experienced) SoA presenter team beat Alexander 4-2 at Granicus, but lost 6-1 to Hannibal (and his elephant, if that isn't giving the game away ...)..

I think 13 games isn't bad going for a participation game at a show that is a real battle - one or two of them 'two handers' . 8 visitor/Great Commander wins against our own SoA Romano-Persian opposition shows we mostly let them win!With the games popular and busy, I only got a cursory go around the rest of the show. There were quite a few ancient and medieval games around ... a good looking FoG demo by the Burton lads ans another chance to see the 1st Corps demo game of Magnesia which I included in the entry for The Other Partizan a couple of weeks back.(good looking 28mm figures)
Now I don't feature 28mm ancients here much (well, aside from Eric's collection which regularly fills out the requirements of the Lost Battle series of Society presentations) ... but the 1st Corps ones are quite nicely proportioned and I do like the Magnesia set up.(more good looking 28s!)
I quite like these Peninsula Napoleonics as well. Again, no fan of the sprawling Nappy 'static' games we see so often, this time the big one was a Borodino in 6mm (the kind of scale you might well actually use for refighting Borodino! ) and the compact and densely filled Peninsula game wasn't too overblown and looked great (the sort of Divisional scaled game you might actually play in 28mm ...)... An uncharacteristic thumbs up from me.
The Leeds club very big 'Raid on St Nazaire' which I had to go up to the balcony level to get a good look at (get it all into the camera frame). I wonder how it worked.

Maybe it'll be at their home show, Fiasco, at the end of the month.

Thanks to everyone at this one - enjoyed it as usual ... (similar slot next year maybe?)

SELWG on 18th, English DBA Open (in Portsmouth) also on the 18th, Fiasco on Nov. 1st

Come and see as at a show.

Milton Keynes 9-10 May

Campaign 2009 - The Great Commanders

(click on the images to get a bigger picture)

For Campaign this year, regular contributor Graham D Evans suggested an ambitious but tempting project to follow his successful Trebia game from last year. (Look back ...)
(Sunday scoreboard in the background: Alexander ahead 7:1 on the Granicus table; Hannibal behind 3:4)
Convinced that Neil Thomas's ancients game is the way to go for a participation game at a show ... and wanting to capitalise on how well the Trebia game worked last year ... the 2009 idea was to run Alexander at the Granicus alongside the Hannibal game, and offer participants a choice - we supply the other side, they get to try their luck as either Hannibal or Alexander. Graham promised to complete an extra board and manage a series of playtests if we would put the bodies around the table.

(Will mans the Trebia table, Graham mans the Granicus table)
Superficially, the two battles seem quite similar: both coming early in the commander's great campaign (had either been defeated the career likely would have ended early), and both featuring river lines. Much of the similarity stops there, of course ... Granicus does seem to have been a decisive victory for Alexander, whereas the outcome and impact of Trebia might be argued - the Roman centre is victorious and drives its way off the field (an ominous portent - for both armies, perhaps) .. and awesome or not, it is also the last we see of the elephants Hannibal so painstakingly brought across the Alps.

It has to be said the wargames rather ran to that pattern also: the Society team (seasoned wargamers or not) were hard pressed to get much out of the Granicus for the Persians, and their cavalry heavy army struggles either to defend the river or cross it in the face of superior heavy infantry; at the Trebia, however, the onus is more on the Carthaginians - Rome's heavy army and competent legionaries are hard to beat whatever the circumstances ... so Hannibal needs to get an edge quickly and (see last years notes) get Mago into the action pretty quickly.

The results show those characteristics .. Alexander well ahead throughout, but with Hannibal neck and neck with the Romans and, Trebia table regular, Will (ever waving a sword for the Romans) determined to see the invaders off! We hope, of course, that wargaming was the winner - certainly we managed to keep both games running almost simultaneously throughout the weekend, with most of the Great Commander players being complete novices, and that was a big part of our objective - and a big part of why Campaign is a public event in Central MK.