It seems that the wargaming conventions within the UK is in full bloom! Last year I attended this with the same forethought as I had on this trip.. finding out via Facebook the Friday before the event. And with the same impromptu impulse, I packed my convention bag and headed off.
This time there were 2 differences from the last year. First was that I took junior with me to show him around and spend the day with him. And the second was that I went into the other side room that had the bring&buy, and the main gaming tables for demo games.
And this time around I even sat down and played a game. Well.. when I say I played it, I mean that junior played it with me helping me to keep calm throughout the scenario.
Sam had made some good rolls, and some good ideas. One of which was to sneak the largest unit of French Elites that we had, and ran right up into the flank of the English that were hiding like cowards in the main house :)
Apparently in all the demo runs of the game prior to the show, the French had not been able to accomplish this, and yet the young Turkish general has pulled it off!
Too bad it was in vain as we ran out of morale, and lost the stand in the end.
In the main trader hall here were a lot of familiar faces there as well. Prodos games, Warlord, among the majors there. I was tempted to ask Prodos about AvP Kickstarter, but none of the big guys were around, and from the looks on their faces I think they had been besieged with those questions enough already today.
Warlord had a bit of Sarissa Precision pieces up.. and I have to say that the Japanese buildings are nice looking.. I have always wanted some of them for my Japanese World War 2 forces.. and if the club gets back into it further, I might pick some of them up to have some more Island hopping scenarios.. would be more fun that attacking Europe all the time.. :)
Plenty of demo games to keep us busy with though. And junior was not shy at all to ask questions to each and every one of them. Especially the ones with horses and cannons. All of them got extra questions..
Oh and everyone was told that he has a whobbly tooth... cause obviously that is an important aspect as well.
As for me, in the end it was a tame shopping experience as I did my best to refrain myself from going too far over the top.
The main pieces I picked up or wanted to as soon as I saw that they had a booth was the Relic bits. I have ordered some other pieces for the Brits but had not picked up the book. Seemed there was a killer deal of the rulebook and a starter for 30 gbp.. quite the deal really in the end.
The rest.. well.. shinies.... :D
These 4 I found at one supplier where there were many more available. All out of their boxes and at reduced prices as well. I have to say that I am very happy to have found them, especially the Happy Knight at the top there as he is full of character and will be a ton of fun to paint. But I will need to do a lot of research on how to paint up his armor as it is pure metal I would assume.. so variations of it will make it look better. I think :)
These 3 pieces I found in a bargin bin for 16 gbp in total. I saw Rackham, and thought.. mmm.. why not have a few. And the biker was barely 3 gbp and it will be a lot of fun to play around with. Even though I know it will be a pain in the @$$ for getting put together and painted up. But that is ok.
And finally the Relics rulebook, and starter boxset. Pulling them apart later this week to begin to build them up and get ready for some more games of it at the club in the coming weeks.
And so the season of disposable income being eaten up begins :) Will have to review my own conventions that I went to last year to see when the others might appear. Maybe I can get more notice than the Friday before the event :D
Enjoy the week!