On Sunday the Rejects drove down to Tonbridge in Kent for our first wargame show of the year; Cavalier. I didn't have a lot on my shopping list this year but I still managed to come home with some nice goodies, including yet more 6mm tanks and the obligatory re-stock of paint. I spent a lot of time chatting to folk this year... although as I'll mention at the end of this post, there were some people I'm gald I managed to avoid!
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| Tonbridge Wargames - Cape St Vincent |
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| Tonbridge Wargames - Cape St Vincent |
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| Southend Wargames - Cryslers Farm 1813 |
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| Southend Wargames - Cryslers Farm 1813 |
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| Southend Wargames - Cryslers Farm 1813 |
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| Deal Wargames - Sunset over Shimushu 1945 |
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| Deal Wargames - Sunset over Shimushu 1945 |
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| Deal Wargames - Sunset over Shimushu 1945 |
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| Deal Wargames - Sunset over Shimushu 1945 |
At this point I need to apologise to the guys from Deal Wargames for bumping into the corner of their table early in the day. I just caught the corner of the table with my hand and dislodged a tile! Fortunately no models were knocked over or damaged but I was suitably mortified by my clumsiness. Sorry guys, I'll be more careful in future!!
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| SEEMS - War of Spanish Succession |
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| SEEMS - War of Spanish Succession |
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| Maidstone Wargames - Somewhere in Belgium 1914 |
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| Maidstone Wargames - Somewhere in Belgium 1914 |
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| TWWS - Blitzkrieg - Early war FOW |
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| Friday Night Firefight Club - Crusaders |
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| Hydra Wargames - WH40k Intro |
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| Stains Wargames - Schweinfurt 1943 |
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| Crawley Wargames - Fraustadt 1706 |
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| Crawley Wargames - Fraustadt 1706 |
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| Crawley Wargames - Fraustadt 1706 |
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| SELWG - Welcome to Valhalla! |
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| SELWG - Welcome to Valhalla! |
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| Essex Warriors - Reconquista 1450 |
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| Essex Warriors - Reconquista 1450 |
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| Essex Warriors - Reconquista 1450 |
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| Gravesend Gamers Guild - French and Indian War Skirmish 1750 |
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| Gravesend Gamers Guild - French and Indian War Skirmish 1750 |
Right time for a little rant, and I apologise in advance for this but I do feel it is necessary.
If you are a club or group planning on running a demo or participation game at a show, it may be a good idea to 'vet' who you leave in charge of your table at shows. When I arrived the one volunteer 'manning' the Gravesend Gamers Guild table (a woman actually) was already talking to another visitor and his son. She was clearly in full swing and warming to her subject but unfortunately she wasn't discussing the game on display. Instead she was explaining why 911 was actually a US government plot and the twin towers were destroyed by missiles launched from the military industrial complex....WTF! This poor guy and his little boy were 'trapped' by this crazy woman and as I walked past he glanced over at me and his eyes silently begged "Kill me. Kill me now".
Lets make this clear folks, when you run a Demo game at a wargames show you should expect to have to adhere to a certain standard. You should be on your best behaviour, stick to the script and only discuss the game and/or wargaming in general. You are putting yourself in front of the General Public and for the duration of the show you are an ambassador for the hobby. If you can't keep your mad crack pot conspiracy theories to yourself for a few hours DON'T VOLUNTEER! Its as simple as that. I'm sorry if I have offended anyone but that poor guy and his son had come to the show to find out about wargaming and they probably left as fast as they could thinking we are all complete nutters!
OK, now that I have got that off my chest its worth saying I had a great morning at Cavalier. Its a cracking little show with a nice variety of games on display and some much need retail therapy after the long winter months. Long may it prosper.
I want a how to for those WSS smoke markers they look awesome!
ReplyDeleteThey are arn't they. I love attending shows for this sort of randon inspiration.
DeleteGood photo documentary. Thanks.
ReplyDeleteThank you
DeleteThose tables look great. And+1 for the smoke markers!
ReplyDeleteTotaly agree, the smoke markers were pretty cool
DeleteNice pictures mate but how do you explain your behavior at Broadside last year, that fart was so bad the poor woman thought you had followed through!!
ReplyDeleteSwine! Its all lies, it was you!
DeleteI remember it well, poor Postie was sick in a bin. The table was a no go area for at least 15 minutes!!! Dirty Git!
DeleteReally?...LOL... :-) :-) :-)
DeleteMarzio.
I am so glad we were in different halls last year. Same hall this year can someone make sure there's a cork in place!
DeleteLies, all lies....
DeleteBeautiful, especially the ships, planes and smoke for me!
ReplyDeleteNice pics Lee!! I was cornered by the said person, she was asking me loads of questions, glad i didn't tell her I'm from Gravesend too!!
ReplyDeleteIt is inevitable that a little bit of politics will filter into our discussions of historical wargames but this conversation was so far off-topic (and off-planet frankly) that it bore no relation to the game on the table. The problem with crack-pots like this is that there is no point arguing with them. Logical argument, critical thinking and small things like facts are no barrier to a good conspiracy theory and nothing you say will convince them otherwise.
DeleteNice pics. Well done.
ReplyDeleteInteresting report... :-)
ReplyDeleteMarzio.
Great pictures
ReplyDeleteGreat bunch of pics. Thanks for sharing Lee.
ReplyDeleteSuck that the nutter makes all look stoopid.
But you get bad or crazy eggs in every group.
cheers
Very Nice and balanced report Lee. While I believe that everyone is entitled to their own opinion. I also agree there is a time and place for them to air the opinion, but I don't think a wargames show is the place. (unless it is about important things like figures, rules, etc!)
ReplyDeleteDiscussion of the figures and rules or even the history and politics of the battle in question are all valid subjects as far as I am concerned. In fact its one of the things I like most about wargames shows and demo games.
DeleteGreat pictures of a good looking show. Thanks for posting.
ReplyDeleteCheers, Ross
very nice..the big wargame
ReplyDelete