Tuesday 26 May 2015

Campaign 2015



Earlier this month I went to the Milton Keynes to attend Campaign the local club's annual show which is held in the massive MK shopping centre.  I participated in the Field of Glory Ancient & Medieval Competition over the weekend. It is always good fun to some of games under competition conditions to improve as a player. 

I found myself feeling a bit overwhelmed by the prospect of the competition and this allowed myself to become tentative and hesitant.  This is not a sound strategy when you are face with more experienced better players. Nevertheless, by the final game on the Sunday afternoon I managed to avoid a fourth route and being satisfied with a narrow loss.  It was good to score some points over the weekend. I was fielding Mid-Republican Romans, for three of the battles I faced Successor armies and the fourth battle was a civil war against a Mid Republican Roman army. 


Campaign is a great sceptical and the guys at Milton Keynes Wargames Club do a fantastic job to put on a wargames show in such a great venue. Along with the competitions  there were also a fair few traders and exhibitors,  One of  my  favourites  was   the  early First World War  Exhibition  battle  by the creators  of Crush the Kaiser  rules.  Here are some snaps showing a German advance on  the British lines.






I took the time to pop back to the game over the weekend to see the game unfold. The pictures illustrate the Germans closing in on the British positions, and taking some serious damage in the process. Although, their artillery did manage to get force its British counterpart to retreat.  It was interesting and informative to see the authors play their own rules. In my limited  experience of these rules I have enjoyed  and find  them  nice and  simple  and representative of the period playing  them.

Friday 15 May 2015

Salute 2015

I also made it to Salute  this year  and as usual was overwhelmed by the depth and breadth of our hobby.  In addition to the huge range  of  games and activities on display  the friendly atmosphere  was  a great reflection on the wargaming community.

This year  a friend of mine accompanied me who knew nothing about war-games. Indeed,  the week before he asked me tentatively  if he could come and watch a game at some point, because he was interested  in finding out more  a bout the hobby.  I thought to myself, that he should  possibly want to come to see Salute, that will give him a better idea about war-games. As you might imagine he  was quite surprised  by  the size and the scale of the whole affair!

In any case here are a few snaps to of some of the games and displays  I saw or played in  during  the day.



An outstanding Early World War II game  depicting a German assault on  a coastal town 





Some shots of  Donnington Figures participation game of Agincourt which played by our chums from Central London Wargames Club. 





Finally A fun fast and furious medieval game using Osprey's Lion Rampart rules organised  by the Blackwolf Wargames Club of Hitchin.