SELWG 2014 - Photos

On Sunday I joined four other members of Posties Rejects for the SELWG show at Crystal Palace. This is probably my favourite show of the year and has a special place in my heart because it was at SELWG in 2010 that I met up with Ray, Fran and Postie for the first time and was invited along for a game in the Shed-o-War. This show is slightly larger than those we generally attend in the first half of the year and usually has a good mix of traders and clubs and is well attended. The show seemed a little quieter this year and there were some noticeable 'gaps' in the trader line-up, but I still had a great day and stayed almost until the end.  

The Main Hall seemed a little quieter this year and had some noticeable gaps in the layout

View from the other end

GLC Games Club - Siege of Madrid (SCW)

GLC Games Club - The Siege of Madrid (SCW) - The miniatures for this game were excellent

The terrain and buildings were nice as well

Society of Ancients

Society of Ancients - Excellently painted miniatures as always

Robert Dunlop & Sons - First Ypres - Using the Spearhead rules and 6mm figures

It was great to see a 6mm display game

The table looked excellent and at this scale you can really get a feel for the 'grand strategy'. 

I had a long chat with one of Roberts sons and a very nice chap he was indeed. 

Streatham & Tooting (Real Time Wargamers) - Home before the Leaves Fall

Crossed Lances - Participation Game

Crush the Kaiser

Crush the Kaiser

Southend Wargames Club - "Talavera, but not as we know it" - 1709

Southend Wargames Club - "Talavera, but not as we know it" - 1709

Southend Wargames Club - "Talavera, but not as we know it" - 1709

Deal Wargames Club - Mayhem on the Mekong

Sweeping ominously over the table was a massive B52 Bomber

SEEMS - Hothams first Action

All the ships in the SEEMS game were excellently painted and rigged

Loughton Strike Force - Hill 112 

This Normandy Table was very detailed and well thought out

The Hill itself looked excellent - Very impressive

Simon Miller (BigRedBat) running his Roman participation game using his rules "To the Strongest!"

Superbly painted miniatures made this a very enjoyable game to look at

I should have put my name down for the afternoon session but forgot!! Gutted!

North London Wargames Group - Kohima 1944

Maidstone Wargames Society - Somewhere in Belgium, 1914

Very nicely painted early WWI figures and some excellent terrain

Crawley Wargames - Ad Spatium Accedis (A day at the Races) - I joined in a later session of this participation game and won my race...mostly by driving my chariot like an old woman trying not to loose her no-claims-bonus!!

I was the White player starting on the inside track - The rules were simple but were deliberately unforgiving of hasty manoeuvres and excessive speed, especially on the corners. 

Rejects gather - Ian describing how he felt after rashly buying everyone lunch! 

The main hall later in the afternoon

Shepway Wargames - Le Petit Villages - Normandy 1944 in 28mm

More excellently painted miniatures, including several Churchill Tanks

This is the end - Later afternoon and I've done all my shopping, talked till my throat was sore and won a Chariot race. All in all a pretty good day. 

Once again I had a great time at SELWG, although it was noticeably quieter this year. I'm not sure if this was because some traders were missing or just a sign of the times. Hopefully things will pick up next year because I'd hate to see this show decline. The Bring and Buy was busy most of the day and this is now one of the few shows to still have a B&B. Some of the stuff for sale was a bit overpriced IMHO and would probably be better sold on eBay than a B&B where people are looking for a bargains. 

I still think it was a great show, and the standard of most of the display/participation games at the event was very high. Some clubs are clearly better at display information than others (a common grumble I have with demo games at shows) but on the whole the friendliness and engagement of those running the games was excellent. The only downside with SELWG is that this event is usually the last show I attend in the year. This year the money is tighter than ever so SELWG will definitely be my last until Cavalier in February.