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| Storming Athlone 1691 - from Mark Shearwood |
For the first time in 20 years I was not able to actively contribute to Partizan. Instead, I decided to make a visit to see the show as a punter.
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| English Town in the hands o the Williamites |
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| The Danes move up to cross by pontoon bridge |
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| view from the west bank of the river |
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| English soldiers in English Town |
I spent about three hours at the show and enjoyed the new venue and the quality very much. Although many shows are starting to feel the same - barn like venues with a very high noise level, the light was fantastic and the games were of very high quality.
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| what is there to say but WOW! |
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| Dutch ships of the Line |
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| Different angle of the battle line being cut |
What became quickly apparent was that the 17th/18th century is not any more a backwater of wargaming, well at least in the East Midlands!
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| Grimsby's Gigantic WSS meat grinder |
I saw two ECW games, one Ireland 1691, one WSS, one 1660s Naval, one AWI and one SYW! It may have been the case that there was not a single Napoleonic game although I cannot be certain.
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| Andy's DONNYBROOK ECW skirmish |
Mark Shearwood's Siege of Athlone 1691 was a spectacular effort and I was delighted that Mark used Beneath the Lily Banners as the rule set, Warfare Miniatures figures were on the table and Warfare/Quindia flags and unform guides were much in evidence.... full house!
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| Another view of Andy's game |
An additional bonus was a very pretty ECW Donnybrook game run by Andy Bowes and friends - lots of fun and beautifully presented.
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| Innovative game of the day - clothes pegs and wood carvings |
The asset rich Grimbsy Group had a very impressive WSS game with big battalions which appear to get chewed up and spat out in dramatic fashion allowing them to finish massive games in an evening.
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| Raw materials |
A real favourite of mine was an awesomely presented ship for ship naval battle in 1/200th scale simulating Anglo-Dutch action somewhere in North Sea/English Channel.
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| The way forward - all flat packs apparently |
Going back to Mark's game, my understanding is that it was a solo effort making it even more impressive.
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| Final word to Mark's Athlone! |
I am very pleased that for once, the hardy perennials of Napoleonic, WWII, ACW and Ancients were placed in context with the scope of another critical period - ours!
Hope you enjoy the pictures.