"Warfare, our annual wargames show, is one of the largest in the country." |
Happily, once I had alighted from my ride, it really was a short walk up to the entrance of the Conference Centre, and I was very quickly offering my wrist up to a gentleman who helpfully attached my entrance band around my arm. Now, whether the price of entry provides value for money in my mind usually depends upon how long I spend at a show, and in this case, it cost a tenner for two hours of solid mooching about - as well as some enjoyable small talk with the likes of "Strength & Honour" rules set author Mark Backhouse and one of the people behind "Tablescape" scenery. I was though rather perturbed by not receiving even the most rudimentary of show guides, which meant I had absolutely no idea of what was where, or even where 'where' ended..?
"It's 1985 and the Bot War rages." |
Having finished slowly shuffling my way along the second-hand stall - which rather neatly ran the breadth of Discover Hall, it was on to the traders and several distinctly caught my eye. One of the first tables I spotted was the self-published "Bot War" as sold by "Lvl Up Gaming", which quickly recaptured my childhood with its fantastic display of 10mm 'transformers' from "an alternate reality on Earth in the 1980’s." These figures were super-colouful, and it was clear that the Bournemouth-based store plans to support the game with enthusiastic earnest. Surprisingly though, especially for someone who loves giant robot models, I didn't actually pick up a starter box, thinking instead that I might first explore whether I could find similar miniature STL (Standard Triangle Language) files on "Thingiverse" or some such for a fraction of the price.
"Ironclads: Space Battles in the Victorian Aether." |
Resultantly, I soon found myself just being interested in the scenery on sale from the numerous vendors rather than any actual gaming figures and made my final purchases at the "Tablescape" booth. I already own a sizeable number of this company's Industrial, Dugout and Middle Eastern/North African ranges, so decided to take the plunge into their Fortress buildings for my imminent "Horus Heresy" tabletop. Somewhat shockingly, I soon discovered that they had already run out of some of the pieces I was after - bearing in mind the stall was only two hours into a two-day show - and ended up picking up a few slightly battered display pieces at a reduced price...
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