“Warfare" Showcase 2025

"Warfare is one of the largest [annual wargames show] in the country."

Having regretfully missed "Colours" a couple of months ago due to an unforgivable double-booking in my social calendar, I was thoroughly looking forward to visiting this year's annual "Warfare" wargaming show at the Farnborough International Exhibition Centre, and - apart from my SatNav inexplicably deciding to divert me off of the motorway and through central Basingstoke only to put me straight back onto the motorway I had just left (!?!) - I got to the venue with plenty of time before the event actually opened.

Indeed, the directions supplied on the Wargames Association of Reading (WAR) website were absolutely spot on, and I was quickly able to park, purchase a coffee and sit down in the warm without any stress of queuing. One thing which did irk me though was the incredibly short wrist band I was told I had to wear at all times. The damn thing barely fitted, and I noticed a few more corpulent comrades-in-arms having to have it stuck to their coats like a lengthy medal ribbon. Perhaps unsurprisingly mine soon started falling off my hand too, so eventually I just plonked it in my jacket's top pocket for safekeeping.

Some of the tempting figures and vehicles on display by "Spectre Miniatures" 

This year my plan was to most definitely have a thorough walk around before making any impulse buys, so after exchanging some pleasantries with Karl ("Crooked Dice Game Design Studio") and Leon ("Pendraken Miniatures"), I began making my way along the Main Hall. These days I always try to ensure I visit everyone by double-checking with the floorplan that you get upon entry. However, for some reason WAR weren't handing out these terribly useful pamphlets this year, so I simply kept walking around and around until I was absolutely certain I had seen everything - as well as double-checking the extremely colourful layout on their website.

One of the first traders to really catch my attention was "Spectre Miniatures", who had a couple of marvellous displays at their booth. I had been hoping that they had brought some "Lunar" blisters by "Black Site Studios" with them, as they're the U.K. stockist for the American company. But sadly they hadn't, so instead I ended up chatting to them about how many of the metal figures from their first "Kickstarter" in May 2014 were now highly sought after as the moulds had long gone - time for me to dig out my untouched sets from somewhere in the loft methinks.!!

The fantastic looking Dungeon Builder by "Crooked Dice Game Design Studio"

I also spent some time contemplating the "Crooked Dice Game Design Studio" Dungeon Builder - which frankly looked absolutely superb on their display stand. The big conundrum for me was whether to pick up some of the actual physical sets, or buy the STL (Standard Triangle Language) files from "My Mini Factory" for my 3D printer. In the end I plumbed for the second option as the ever prodigious Mister Perrotton explained he'd used both resin and PLA (Polylactic Acid) to produce the well-painted pieces before me.

Having promised myself no sudden purchases, I did wilt when it came to "The Dice Miners" who were selling an incredibly useful set of dice for "Magic The Gathering". Now admittedly, these aren't really dice you roll during the game. However, they are designed to remind players as to status changes to their Creatures attack/defence statistics when affected by an Enchantment or Instant cards, and seemed a little more eye-catching than the tiny cardboard tokens I ordinarily use.

"Tribal Conquest" by "Nervosa Games", and some MTG dice by "The Dice Miners"

One of the trends which was definitely noticeable was the number of 3D printers selling their wares across the two vendor halls. Whether it be an absolute ton of different Daleks from "Doctor Who", a plethora of prehistoric monsters or numerous armoured vehicles at all different scales, this production method is clearly fast becoming the 'in-thing' for many a wargamer. In fact, one of the hottest products I saw others carrying around were various bits of post-apocalyptic terrain for "Trench Crusade".

The biggest highlight of the show though, for me at least, was getting a quick game in of "Tribal Conquest" by "Nervosa Games" just before I departed. Now I really don't need to start learning a new skirmish game, or begin painting an entire fresh range of miniatures, so I was sort of hoping I wouldn't get too sucked into the fight. Unfortunately, that simply was not the case, as I quickly fell for the quirky mechanics employed during my fast-paced clash of Stone Age tribes, and delighted in whittling down my opponents with a flaming coconut or lightning bolt...