Went down to Sheffield yesterday and spent the evening with Peter Berry of Baccus and his better half and thirty or so others to celebrate Pete and Lindy's upcoming marriage. Lots of wargaming chat, with the guys from Little Wars among others and pie, chunky chips and mushy peas to die for ... or from, given how much I ate!
Today was Joy of Six 2022, a good mix of games and traders an an opportunity for me to lose yet another game of Strength and Honour. Four of us took command of the forces at Second Bedriacum (69AD). My colleague and I lead the followers of Vespasian and alas failed to break the dastardly Vitellians by a single point before succumbing ourselves. A great game, run with great enthusiasm by Mark Backhouse, and a great bunch of players and onlookers to interact with. "Ave, Imperator!" :)
Pictures of the games to follow tomorrow once I've had a chance to recover and upload the images to Imageshack.
Ithoriel, thanks for a nice write up for those of us far away. The strength & honor game doesn't sound like it could be any closer.
Bob
I was there as well. On the Cold War Commanders table for about 2/3rds of the day. Spent far too much as always, but was an enjoyable day. Lots of good looking games, met some freinds. Enen the drive over Snake wasna tay bad.
Glad to hear you had a great day out and am looking forward to seeing the pics of the show once you've recovered.
Seconded :)
It was a great day. Nice photo-report here:
https://hereticalgaming.blogspot.com/2022/07/joy-of-six-2022.html
Staying in the Novotel hotel meant that I had plenty of time to roll out of bed, have a shower, go down to the restaurant for a leisurely breakfast (a healthy mix of fresh fruit washed down with coffee, after the pie and chips excesses of the night before) and still be able to stroll across to the venue and arrive ten minutes or so before it opened.
The first game I came across, once I'd paid the four quid entry and been suitably tagged as having done so, was Per Broden and the Wyre Forest gamers' Battle of Lund. Per and I had shared a taxi back, from the do to our respective hotels, the night before so had a quick catch up and settled the payment of the cab fare. I got to meet his son Max, who seemed as enthused by Dad's weird obsession as mine are! The table was evocatively icy, I swear the ambient temperature dropped as you approached the table! Not a period or a battle I know anything much about but Per's enthusiasm is infectious .... don't need another period .... don't need another period ..... :)
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Next up was the Crusader 2 game opposite. Also opposite in terms of extremes of temperature! A participation game that I passed several time and everyone seemed to be enjoying the game, what more can you ask? Per & Co's Lund and the next game up, Imjin River, are beautiful looking games with spectacular scenery but my first thought looking at this game was "Thank the gods! A table that looks like something I could do at home!" The other two tables leave me feeling somewhere between inspired and inadequate!
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Ok, now the Imjin River game. As said, inspirational terrain and lovely looking figures. Every time I passed after this there seemed to be people in what a former boss called "heads down, bums up" mode, deeply engrossed in the game. Again, what better endorsement for a participation game?
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Next up we're back to WW2 for a demo game set in Normandy and the fight for Hill 112. I know nothing about the All Hell Let Loose rules but if the evident enthusiasm for them from the players is anything to go by I really need to get onto Wargames Vault and investigate!
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Another participation game and one I wish I'd remembered to come back an photograph once it was in full swing, it looked great.
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On then to the Roundway Down demo game. Only a couple of shots as I rather felt I was getting in the way of the action :)
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The Milton Keynes Wargamers' Assyrians versus Lydians looked suitably spectacular and they are a very friendly bunch who could teach double glazing salesmen a thing or two about pressure sales techniques :) I resisted and moved on ... reluctantly. Sorry gents.
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Madgamers' Horsell common game had some very impressive Martian Tripods and some rather outgunned looking Brits. Defence in depth seemed the order of the day. "This isn't a war... It never was a war, any more than there's war between men and ants."
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And then, lured by my love of the rules and Mark Backhouse's infectious enthusiasm I found myself as 50% of the command of the Vespasianic forces at Bedriacum (69AD). The nearby 6mm Strength and Honour participation game looked good but for me the 2mm version looks so much more the part. With the battlefield neatly divided in two by the raised embankment of the central Cremona to Bedriacum road the four commanders found themselves effectively fighting linked one-on-one battles. Alas, my fellow commander seemed to become infected by my own abysmal die rolling and despite inflicting more set backs and the games only disaster on our opponents we failed to break them on our second Hounculus Est! call by a single point and failed our only call by two points when play passed to our opponents. I have now played four four-player games of S&H and have lost all of them! And I have thoroughly enjoyed each and every one!
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The Baccus Chariot Race game reminded me of childhood games of Waddington's Formula One and of the SESWC participation game the club toted round many a show. Release your inner Ben Hur!!
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Now the second Strength and Honour participation game. I know it plays perfectly well at pretty much any scale but the sheer spectacle of 2mm adds something, for me. Each to their own, of course. And, for those in the room at the time - Imperator! Imperator! Imperator! :)
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Another beautiful set-up. This time Custer and his men versus "them pesky redskins." Or Native Americans dealing with double dealing invaders!
"White man come, forked tongue, yellow hair, iron horse, long knife .... and you think we have funny customs?!"
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Commission's MDF flats out in force. They look really good and if I didn't already have more unpainted lead figures I'd be temted.
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An intriguing table next but nothing was going on (it was lunchtime) so not entirely sure what I was looking at.
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Onward then to the Cold War Commander (2?) game by the Cold War Commanders! Tanks. Soooo many tanks :)
Once again war seemed to have paused for lunch.
Meaning I missed a chance to catch up with Lord Kermit! Ah well, his loss win! :)
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Ooh! Sudan Death .... I likes me a good pun, I does! :)
Fuzzy-Wuzzy's, fahsands of 'em, Sah!" :)
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Small, but perfectly formed, the Seabee's tank hunter games was also paused for tiffin when I got there.
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Another impressive set up, this time from the Deeside Defenders. Also awaiting participants return from the chow lines.
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Last, but by no means least, this intriguing kreigspiel type foray into Medieval France.
"Cry God for Harry, England and St George!!"
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All this, along with a good mix of traders, makes for an enjoyable day out and I hope to be back next year and next time I will try to ensure I book my return journey for the time I wish to leave Sheffield not when I return to Edinburgh and get an extra two or three hours in Sheffield. Doh!
Apologies if I have missed anyone, misattributed any games or misspelled any names!
All spelling mistakes are intentional and intended to make sure you are paying attention! ;) :P :-[ ;D
Thanks very much for such a thorough coverage. They all look great, but I keep on going back to the Roundway Down game, built inside the folding table. Are these the same gamers who did a napoleonic game on a similar board a few years ago?
Thanks, Norm, and good question. Sadly, I don't know but I was impressed with the idea.
OK, technical help needed here - why can't I see Ithoriel's (no doubt exquisitely composed and executed) photos??
You getting the small icon Chris? If so try clicking on that, may open it in another page. I have no problem - particularly like the T72 btn on the Cold War table, but then it's mine :D :D
Thanks for the photos and of some games not seen elsewhere on show reports. The photos took a while to load for me, but worth the wait.
Some good looking games there, including Pendraken Tripods in the War of the Worlds game (just to keep it on-topic for this forum . . . ;)!).
And sorry, but the 2mm stuff really does not do it for me :(.
Spectacular looking tables there.
I've wanted to attend Jo6 for a while.
Lockdown prevented it last year.
Medical issues this year.
The big take-away from several years of photographs is: "The smaller the figures, the bigger the role of the scenery".
Possibly, the smaller the figures the more affordable, easy to store and simple to create, the scenery?
Thanks for the kind comments about the photos, folks. Entirely down to the camera(s) in my new phone, I suspect, rather than any ability on my part!
I really enjoyed the "Tank Hunting For Beginners" participation games (SeeBee Games). It's a shame I forgot to ask if I could have had a copy of the rules ☹️
My daughters fiancé played in the War of the Worlds participation game "Horsell Common 1895" (Madgamers - Maidenhead & District) and enjoyed that too. The tripods are lovely models 👍
Cheers,
Geoff
Some really inspiring games on show :-bd =D> :-bd =D> :-bd
Yes. :-bd thanks for taking the time to report on the show.
Fab write up 8)
A great set of photos there - and some really good looking tables.
But it is a bit that the tables look good, but often the figures are a bit lost. This is perhaps a bit down to the nature of photos - as playing with 6mm tanks, they aren't that small. But I still prefer 10mm for infantry.
Aha, now I see the photos. No idea why they wouldn't download before. Great job - gave me a better look at some of the games than I managed when I was there!
Mine was the 'intriguing game with nothing going on'. Simple explanation: it was a last-minute sub. I learned the day before that a game had dropped out so I threw a box in the car, turned up, asked Pete if he'd like another game, he said yes, so I rolled it out. However, as I was committed to helping with the Gettysburg game, I wasn't able to man it throughout (though my two buddies did run it in the afternoon). As for the game itself: Isaszeg (1849) from my particular obsession, the Hungarian War of Independence. If nothing else, it inspired a few people to ask about the printed battlemat idea, so that's enough to make the modest effort worthwhile.
Anyway, thanks for the report!
Those are some fantastic looking games, thanks for sharing!
Added my own report to the BBBBlog, "Joy of 1866" (as it also includes a report of an Austro-Prussian war game):
https://bloodybigbattles.blogspot.com/2022/07/joy-of-1866-joy-of-six-show-then-skalitz.html
Sorry I missed you Chris.
I was busy most of the day demoing Cold War Commander 2. Big thanks to those who came and gave it a try - we really appreciated your enthusiasm.
Having a sector of the game specifically dedicated to visitor participation worked really well. It meant we could go at a brisk pace and let punters experience the rules more fully than if we'd had to wait for the rest of the game to progress to a turn end.
We were a bit short-handed due to some last-minute unavailability otherwise the rest of the battlefield would have been busier.
Quote...
Having a sector of the game specifically dedicated to visitor participation worked really well. It meant we could go at a brisk pace and let punters experience the rules more fully than if we'd had to wait for the rest of the game to progress to a turn end.
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That is a really good idea :-bd Gives the impact of a big demo game plus lets the punters have a go
If I get this link right there is a good review of JoS here :-
https://hereticalgaming.blogspot.com/2022/07/joy-of-six-2022.html?m=1
Seems I did.
Little Wars TV visited, and seemed to enjoy the show:
Don't think the guys wearing the hats do themselves any favours though.
Quote from: Raider4 on 12 July 2022, 09:41:21 PMDon't think the guys wearing the hats do themselves any favours though.
I did suggest they were taking the pith (generated lots of groans.)
Did they tell you to pith off?
Quote from: Raider4 on 12 July 2022, 09:41:21 PMDon't think the guys wearing the hats do themselves any favours though.
Clearly, a couple of Mahdis.
Little Wars do "Joy of Six".
I think Pendraken should do a 10mm show.
Call it "Do You Come Here of Ten?"
Quote from: fsn on 16 July 2022, 03:40:28 PMI think Pendraken should do a 10mm show.
Call it "Do You Come Here of Ten?"
After that one - GET OUT...... :'( :'( :'(
Call it 'A Perfect 10'? 😄
Edward
Quote from: Lord Kermit of Birkenhead on 17 July 2022, 05:05:57 AMAfter that one - GET OUT...... :'( :'( :'(
I'll take that with pride. :D
Quote from: kustenjaeger on 17 July 2022, 07:49:22 AMCall it 'A Perfect 10'? 😄
That's the Pendraken Spirit! ;D ;D ;D
You could have a French Foreign Legion game, "Beau Derek in 10 (mm)"
WWI game "All quiet on the West Ten Front"
ACW game "On to Chat-Ten-Nougat"
Cold War game "M48 vs T10(mm)"
Greeks vs Persians in "Battle of Maraten"
WWII Far East "Battle of Baten"
Late Napoleonic action at the "Battle of Luzten" and "battle of Bauzten".
It's something we're looking at for next year...
Quote from: kustenjaeger on 17 July 2022, 07:49:22 AMCall it 'A Perfect 10'? 😄
... and that's the name we've been working with currently, great minds think alike!
If FSN allows us to distort that much, you could also feature Hastengs, The Battle of Britten and the Horns of Hatten? :D
According to Wikipedia (so it must be true) there was an actual "battle of the ten kings" in Ancient India.
Clearly the heat is already getting to me so I should probably sleep in a bath of cold water for the next 48 hours. #:-S
;D ;D ;D
The worse the pun, the better!
Quote from: Leon on 17 July 2022, 04:52:08 PMIt's something we're looking at for next year...
... and that's the name we've been working with currently, great minds think alike!
Course fools seldom differ ! :-* :-*
You know, a model of Bo Derek belongs somewhere on the agenda here.
Call it "Perfect Ten" then perhaps you could get a Hull based pop group to perform the music?
(The Beautiful South for those not particularly fond of pop music)
Cheers,
Geoff