Welcome to my blog, the story of my continuing journey into the World of Zombie Wargames.

Monday 26 November 2018

Battleground 2018

The hall (about 11.30am)
So, despite being in a modicum of pain, I set off Saturday morning with #1 son, his son and a mate who drove us to venue at Stockton ( a mere hour's travel away) to my second Battleground event.
 As I didn't have a shopping list I went around all the games first then the traders.
 Be aware that this post is very photo-heavy.




Here's my photographs of the event and a few comments :

Stafford and District's Battle of Blenheim was one of my favourite games of the show and I had a very pleasant time talking to the chaps playing it. 
Blenheim in 10mm (Pendraken and Ausburg Figures iirc)
Such detail for 10mm figures!
Great looking buildings too!
A big game !
Another close -up
Next up,  my friend Colin's (of Carry on up the Dale's Blog fame) Battle of Zurich 1799
Huge table with superbly painted 28mm figures
Zurich, probably
There were vignettes all over the place...
Somewhere on the outskirts of Zurich
Ships too on this vast table
Next up was Durham Wargames Group's Battle of Zyrabulak 1868, again a large table using 28mm figures,
Large numbers of cavalry
Good looking town too
Battlefield Trust's Battle of Piercebridge 1642, an architectural model, so probably very accurate was more a display than a game, and in a very small scale and I initially thought the white covered waggons were sheep!
Close-up of the action
Overall view

 Redcar Ironbeards War of Germany 1944, a participation game:

Great looking game - spot the Germans!
Superbly painted models too,
What would a wargames show be without a bit of Napoleonics ?
DBN, possibly Waterloo (?)
 Brompton Bankers, Battle of the Standards 1138, using 28nmm figures

Not my period, so I didn't dwell here long.
 Iacta Alea Ests's WW1 Zeppelin participation game looked interesting:
These were quite  large models for an Air Wargame.
 Border Reiver's Napoleonic Naval Harbour Attack game featured paper (!) ships in  very good looking game
Possibly not the most attractive game, until...
...you see the harbour and the ships close-up
 Durham Raiders Napoleonic game
Looking like a club game and none the worse for that
The Westerhope gamers put on a WW2 Eastern Front game  with their usual panache and banter was not optional - great group of gamers and the argument over whether their shirts are "Commie Red" or "Pink Panthers (Panzers?)" seems to be ongoing:

Tide of Russian Tanks assaulting German defensive lines
I would have needed a high-speed camera not to catch an arm across the table in this game!

Great models and who would be a tanker ?

The German rear lines
Tyneside (iirc) Wargames Ancient Galley game
Busy day at sea...
...from every point of view,
 No show in the North would be the same without Mr Wiley's western games
The man himself
The game, with new river !

With Mr Wiley's participation game I knew what to expect, but with The Society of 20th Century Wargamers, I didn't. It was a strange looking game centring around a French Foreign Legion Outpost.
Cards and card holders...dice...hmmm
The central piece - very nice
Prince Bishop wargames Club's "Battle of Byczyna 1588" :

Good looking game of a battle I've never heard of..
 Scarborough Games Society put on two games on a single table - that confused me !

A fantasy game that...
...seemed to be involved in a Very British War set-up
General & Kings put on this rather attractive Battle of the Bulge game

With my eyesight, 28mm camo works
Splendid King Tiger

Other end of the table (with an oversized Panther imo)
Matt Crump put on a participation game of "What a Tanker" and I'm now a convert to this fun game, as is my 5 year old grandson!
Superb, simple looking terrain, but with many subtle features
Sunderland's "Malifaux":
There was no-one around and I haven't a clue -sorry
 Nate Zettle put on this "Blood and Thunder" pirate game, a genre I'm interested in, but the 'special' cards needed really puts me off this system (amongst other things).

Set-up and figures are good
Huge ship (and why not, even if a bit superfluous!)
Cozzmik Cakes again put on their Cake Wars game:

I don't know anything about this and didn't ask
Where this chap comes into it all is a mystery to me
IIRC. this yellow peril thing was a recent purchase, unfinished and not in the game\
 "Warlords" put on two demonstration games of their products:
Cruel seas
Gangs of Rome
Another view of the hall, busy but not too crowded.
 That wasn't all I'm sure, but it's all I have photographs of . I spent a long time talking to two chaps (the Lancaster Cellermen) using wooden pieces in a Krieg Spiel type of game and got so interested in their game that I completely forgot to take photos - sorry guys!

It was a great day, seeing many great games and meeting a lot of  old friends. 
My loot list is less than poor, it's non-existent. I ate the pie I bought for lunch and my wife ate the peanut brittle I bought her as a present, so no evidence remains !


Thanks for taking the time to visit, I hope there's something here that you find interesting and as ever, your comments are both welcomed and appreciated.



26 comments:

  1. Gangs of Rome looks interesting.

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    Replies
    1. Thanks Andrew, there are many games around with a simiar format.

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  2. Replies
    1. Thanks AL, sa great variety of games,probably something for everyone.

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  3. Great to see you having a fun day out Joe & I think I can help you with something, the chap you had no idea about is a GW Imperial Knight for 40K & the yellow thing is also a GW model, can't think of its name but the ork's use it.

    Some great looking games & set ups there Joe & thanks for taking the time to take pictures & show them to us :)

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    1. Thanks fo rthe info Frank, it was a good fun day out indeed.
      I've still no idea what or ev if the knight and ork models were used for though!
      The different genres and scales certainly make a very interestin gshow.

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  4. Thanks. I enjoyed your trip. Very nice photo journal, Zab.

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    1. ThanksJay and although it took ages to cut, crop and photoshop some of the pics as well as putting them into blog format, it now seems worthwhile.

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  5. Nice pics Joe. Some good looking games especially that first 10mm one!

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    1. Thanks Brummie, the 10mm game reminded me of prints of the Battle, The group involves is slowly working through all four of Marlborough's major battles.

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  6. Brilliant post Joe! There were some really amazing tables in your photos. Good to see Andrew still running his Old West game too 🙂

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    1. Thanks Ivor, the quality of the various games covered all gamuts of our hobby, but none were bad games.
      And yes, Andrew seems to have featured in every show I've been to in recent years.

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  7. Some interesting games, good to see you had a good time and took pictures of the action for us all to see.

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    1. Thanks Vagabond, it was a fun, exhausting and at times painful day, but as so many other blogs feature reports that I enjoy, it's only right to do likewise when I can.

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  8. What a great show! Thank You for a photos!

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    1. Thanks Michal, it was a great show and I hope my pictures did the games justice.

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  9. Wow!
    There's some stunning looking games and set-ups there Joe, and you've spoiled us with not only the quantity, but also quality photo's!
    To add to Frank's comment - the "yellow thing" is a kit bashed GW Stomper (the ork equivalent of a Titan)
    Many thanks for posting :-)

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    Replies
    1. Thanks WA, I think the phots above are about half of what I took - and not a single blurred one!
      Thanks for the update on the yellow beast too, though I still don't know it's part in the game.

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  10. Some very good looking games. Quite divers in scope. Very nearly something for everyone.

    Thanks for posting mate. Wargamers look the same the country over!

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    1. Thanks Clint, not a lot of Fantasy games, but enough for my tastes.
      I think you;re right about the overall look, but I do think that there are more 'senior citizens' around.

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  11. Nice post,lots of really interesting games, Zurich and Blenheim do stand out,impressive financial restraint on your part!
    Best Iain

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    Replies
    1. Thanks Iain, I probably likes the Blenheim game most, it had everything I look for in a "big battsalions" game. Zurich, put on by my good friend Colin, I knew little about and wasn't as enamoured with it - but still a nice bit of eye candy. Having said that, there were many other games that impressed me.

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  12. Nice report and a lot of inspiration.I liked the pictures with the eastern front and the pirates most. Have a nice weekend Joe. :)

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    1. Thnks Ptr. the Eastern Front game was a great game and played in a frendly competitive manner, he banter from the players was great too.
      The Pirate game I thought was a little weak, not helped by the rules imho.

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  13. Hi Joe, I was demoing Blood and Plunder at Battleground.
    I don't recognise you from your profile photo, did you get a demo of B&P?
    I'm curious what you thought was 'weak' about the rules?

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