Skirmish 2013

On Sunday morning I crossed the Thames for the second time in two days (a Rejects Bat Rep will be posted in a day or two) to go to Sidcup and the Skirmish Toy Soldier show. I was hoping to bring my youngest daughter along as I have in the past but she was feeling poorly and in the end I went to the show on my own. I didn't have a shopping list with me this time as I didn't expect to find anything for 6mm scale gaming amongst the traders or on the B&B. I was right and came home empty handed except for some pictures and some plastic figures for my daughter. 

The Skimish show is definitely growing in stature and had expanded slightly this year with more display  and participation games on offer. The Bring and Buy stand was moved to another room which meant it had more space to lay out the items on sale and meant that more games could fit into the 'hall'. The only problem with this setup was the very harsh strip lighting which bathed everything in a blueish hue. This isn't a problem if you are buying a book but if you want to buy a set of models this might be problematic. As it was I didn't find anything on the B&B and didn't even come away with any books from the traders...I must be loosing my touch! 

Anyway, here are my pictures of some of the games at this event:

The blue glow of the B&B is really evident in the pictures I took

Two of the guys from Hornchurch Wargames Club playing Bolt Action. 

German infantry squad advancing in the Hornchurch Bolt Action game

The Gravesend Wargames Club playing a large Warhammer 40K game

A Chaos Land Raider rumbles through the devastated city

The Medway Wargames Society play Dust Warfare

I really love the look of this game and the models are awesome! 

The North London Wargames Group playing 40K (I think)

136 Brigade playing The Road Ends at Falaise with 20mm figures

Two guys from Welling Model Club and some of their work.

A diorama by members of the Welling Model Club - A Russian Maxim team from WWII

South London Warlords playing Skirmish in the Hedgerows, a WWII 28mm Bolt Action Game

A close-up from the South London Warlords game

At this point an apology is in order. The next game was Operation Sealion by the guys from Crush the Kaiser. I was chatting to them for quite a while about their up-coming "top secret" game for this years Salute show. All I could get out of them was its a medium sized table of 'sculpted' terrain and, in their own words "It's probably our best table yet", which is quite a statement coming from the guys that brought us the shell blasted landscape of no-mans-land when KTC came out a few years ago. I look forward to seeing what they come up with. The problem is I spent so much time chatting to them I totally forgot to photograph the game they were putting on at Skirmish! Sorry about that guys!!

An Old West game with 54mm Figures by the Skirmish Wargames Group

Most of the figures are by Timpo, Airfix & Britains

The Games Hub put on a Warhammer 40K game called Ork Siege

Closeup of a Dreadnought

The Hornchurch Heroes show off the X-Wing miniatures game

Closeup of an X-Wing fighter

Two reenactors from the Sealed Knot Society

Good lord! Who's that big ugly git blocking the aisle! Oh, its me... [note to self, no more self portraits!]

The trader hall at Skirmish. It seemed a little quieter than usual but the car park outside still looked as full as ever. 

I really enjoyed this little show, even if I did come home empty handed. It was good to meet up with fellow bloggers such as David Crook and Bob Cordery (both of whom have already written about the show) plus many others. This is a nice low key but friendly event with enough to keep most people happy for an hour or two. To use the language of Orwells 1984 it was double plus good!