Carronade, Falkirk - Sat 12th May

[Leon]

Our first trip up to Scotland is for the excellent Carronade show, taking place in the Graeme High School in Falkirk.  Please send any pre-orders through to us by Friday 4th May to give us time to get them ready for you.

More info on this show can be found on the Falkirk club website: http://www.falkirkwargamesclub.org.uk/Carronade2018home.html

[Ace of Spades]

Any other Forum members that will be attending?
Would be nice to put some faces to the names... then again; maybe not... 

Cheers,
Rob

[Ithoriel]

At the moment, I doubt I'll be there. World still regularly birling like a peerie, in preparation for smacking me in the face with the floor

That said, hope springs eternal ...

[Ace of Spades]

All the best to you then Ithoriel, hope things will brighten up in time!

Rob

[jimduncanuk]

I'll not make it either as I'm frightened if Ithoriel is there he might land on me, besides I have a family wedding up north.

[Westmarcher]

Not sure if I'll make it - looking 50/50 at the moment - but if I do, I'll put a sticky label with a W written on it, on my shirt and if anybody sees it, please say hello. 

[Genom]

I'll be there, but it's our club running it so I'll be working for a good portion of the day.

[Ace of Spades]

I'll be wearing my Confederate hat (as always) and my white/greyish goatee and moustache. I'll probably also be the only one spekaing Dutch and probably bring my wife! Don't know how common that is in the UK but it might be a hint 

Cheers,
Rob

[Genom]

I'm afraid I only really know one proper word in Dutch, winterpeen. After that i'm onto the likes of Massdan, Edam and Gouda.

I'll be looking after hall 5 in the morning but once everyone is in place and settled I'll be set free to wander the show. (yay!)

[Ace of Spades]

'Winterpeen'... I don't even dare to ask why that is the only Dutch word you know...

[Ithoriel]

'Winterpeen'... I don't even dare to ask why that is the only Dutch word you know...

Two women, looking at prize winning veg at a garden show.

One picks up a carrot and says,"Reminds me of my husband."

"Wow! Says the other,"That big?"

"Nope. That dirty!"

[Ace of Spades]

 

[Westmarcher]

Back home now from the show. I arrived at approx. mid-day after getting lost and slightly snarled up in a traffic jam due to a road accident - first reminder that I don't know that part of Falkirk as well as I thought I did! The second reminder hit me as I drove along the road outside the High School when my (by now) experienced eye spotted the suspiciously familiar sight of a large ancient ditch on the opposite side of the road to the High School. Yes, it was the Antonine Wall! How can I have missed this before? Granted, I don't live in Falkirk - in fact I live away over on the West side of the country so can be forgiven for not knowing that but I recall the first time I drove along that road. It was about forty years ago as a salesman lost (again) in Falkirk. Since then, I've driven past the school a few times, mostly thinking, "I wonder where the Antonine Wall is in Falkirk?"* 

Anyway, onto the show itself. This year looked well attended although possibly not as busy as last year. First of all, I was happy to meet some guys from the Greenock Wargames Club I've war-gamed with. They were playing an interesting 28mm SYW game using Honours of War. Next door(?) to them was the Glasgow Phoenix Wargames Club which was playing a very nice looking For King and Parliament game also in 28mm - thumbs up for FKAP from them, Mollinary. There were also a couple of To The Strongest games.

Next was the Pendraken stand and a guy who looked like Colonel Sanders of Kentucky Fried Chicken fame wearing a Confederate kepi - it was our fellow 'forumite,' Ace of Spades. Was nice to speak to you, Rob and also Leon and Dave . To my surprise, Rob had come up from the Netherlands - glad you and your wife are getting some decent weather for your visit to Scotland, Rob - safe journey back home. After browsing around the rest of the games and traders, I felt I had enough and was all ready to go until I finally found the 'elusive' third hall.

An hour later, I headed back West. The 'hour' was spent talking to one of the so called "Gothenburg Gamers" who are not Swedish and actually part of SESWC who will be presenting the Claymore Show in August. They were running a Suez canal game which was essentially a race between a French force on one side of the canal and a British force (with a nice looking Centurion, Nobby) on the other side, racing each other along the canal to see who could reach their objectives first. Finally, next door to them was Durham Wargames Club's Battle of Port Republic (1862) game which, for me, having visited that very battlefield last year, was the best looking game of the show. Although the guy (sorry I never asked his name) has never been there, it was so good, it brought the whole memory of my own visit back to me and needless to say we chatted for absolutely ages.

So, all in all, congratulations to the organisers for running another very good show. My only regret was that I had left my phone in the car so no photos were taken. D'oh! However, I'm sure there will soon be some photos kicking about the web in due course.

* there are more, even better preserved sections of the Wall in Falkirk and the immediate neighbourhood also, by the way.

[d_Guy]

Thanks for the report, Westie. Almost like being there. 

All in all it’s just another brick in the wall. Sorry, suddenly popped into my head.

[mollinary]

Thanks Westie,

Good to hear people are enjoying the rules, that is why we wrote them after all!  I am just back from touring the Battlefields of Frederick the Great in Bohemia, and will now start preparing to join Simon in taking our Soggy Bottom to Partizan next Sunday. No rest for the wicked!