Partizan 2021 show report

[Steve J]

As sort of show report and game report rolled into one, can be found on my Blog:

https://wwiiwargaming.blogspot.com/2021/10/partizan-2021-longest-day.html

[steve_holmes_11]

Looks really good.

There seems to be plenty of space for the punters to circulate and maintain a respectable distance.

I really like the visuals of the Redoubt attack too.
Nicely discrete units, as distinct form the all too common continuous line or mass of soldiers.
I believe it is tactically correct to leave gaps, and it certainly makes it far easier to read any photo report.

Some other really eye-catching displays too, which illustrate the competing philosophies of different scales.
Big troops: You can have ships and a star fort, and little manoeuvre space - provided you have the village hall to yourself.
Smaller scales: Accommodate a small town and a mile or so of approaches all around.

[Westmarcher]

Great photos! Thanks for the report, Steve. 3+ hours driving each way and playing a demo game certainly is dedication. How small were the Pike & Shot games? I found it hard to identify the scale and dimensions of the tables (even though the book alongside gave a possible clue if my old brain could just work it out).

[Techno II]

Thanks for sharing, Steve !

As Davy says...Great photo's.

Cheers - Phil.

[Big Insect]

Really good show report Steve

Nice to see 20mm Napoleonic - it is their 'true' scale I believe ... 

[Steve J]

Big troops: You can have ships and a star fort, and little manoeuvre space - provided you have the village hall to yourself.
Smaller scales: Accommodate a small town and a mile or so of approaches all around.

Very true Steve. We were discussing storage issues for some of the games and my sons small bedroom would be packed full of stuff just for one game. We did wonder as to whether some of the clubs had dedicated storage space for this sort of stuff. My wife certainly wouldn't be impressed if I brought half of it home to keep safe!

How small were the Pike & Shot games?

Pretty small and they would certainly fit easily on a coffee table. I suppose the bigger of the two games was about 3' x 2'. Hard to judge in such a big space.

Nice to see 20mm Napoleonic - it is their 'true' scale I believe ...

A common comment on the game actually Mark. I think those that started gaming Napoleonics with Airifx figures always hark back to HO/OO scale. We did spend some time reminiscing it must be said!

[Steve J]

Another view of our game and the scenario can be found on the Shadow of the Eagles Blog, linked below:

https://www.shadowoftheeagles.com/blog

[Lord Kermit of Birkenhead]

Looking good

[Spartan]

Nice pics, thanks for posting.

The WW2 phillippines game partilarly caught my eye.  Wasn't to impressed with the War of the Triple alliance game, which is good as I was half minded to get 28's for the period.

[jimduncanuk]

Good report Steve.

The lack of masks makes me shudder. Just as well that I couldn't make the long journey south.

Jim

[Elliesdad]

A nice report about a decent Wargames show. I did try to post a comment on your site Steve but, heaven forbid, my iPad decided otherwise and I'll need to re type when I've a bit more spare time.
I did pop over to see your game but you were away from the table (lunchtime - surely I could've guessed. The clue was in the name). Still, I did pick up a fair few books and some MDF bases so that was good.
Sure, lots of large scale figures on big, big tables does look nice - but is that the reality for many of us? Your games & table (much like Norm's) are much more achievable. A relatively small table footprint with a reasonable number of smaller scale figures (6mm or 10mm) is achievable for most of us, whilst hundreds and hundreds of beautifully painted 28mm figures and a large (and sturdy) tabletop probably won't fit into most gamers homes anyway.
Cheers,
Geoff

[Leon]

Good to see you yesterday and glad you enjoyed it.  We had no idea what to expect as our first time there but it was absolutely manic and takings were excellent, which was nice after so long away!  The masks thing is an issue though and we noticed the same lack of them in the hall.  We've had ours on at both Falkirk and Partizan and we're planning to stay that way for the rest of the year, as it's just too risky for us.  Aside from the obvious infection chance, we also can't risk having to take time off from the business and have to either shut down for a week, or miss some of the other shows because we're isolating.

I also picked up on your comment about a trader being more expensive at the show than online, and I think I know who that is.  I've asked them about it and it's apparently a deliberate decision to push sales away from the show and onto the website instead, which I don't understand at all.  I don't mind discounting certain things at shows to try and encourage people to come along and visit the events, but I wouldn't feel right having dual pricing schemes in place for show / website sales. 

[Norm]

Price matching is a fairly common principle these days and a firm can either manage it or not not manage it depending upon the reality of their costs ........ but not to price match your own product across two sales platforms is just going to seem bizarre to the ordinary plod in the street. An own goal it seems.

Leon, I'm pleased to hear that the show place remains a viable and relevant event for traders - 18 months of abstinence makes me feel that we need to treasure the show circuit much more than we were doing.

[Steve J]

Sorry to have missed you Geoff and your post did get through, so it's now on my Blog!

Great to hear you had a very good day in the takings front Leon. I wish I'd bought a visor as it would have been more comfortable to wear all day rather than a mask. I notice some of the traders took that route and a wise move.

The company in question sells books, amongst other things, and the dual pricing was bizarre to say the least. I wonder if they are trying to push online sales and will give up on shows in future? If so they would need to improve their website and its search function markedly as it is hard to find stuff easily at present.

[paulr]

 

Definitely a long day but look's to have been time well spent