Set off at 5am Saturday morning to go to Newark for the day – yes I am probably certifiable.

Didn't seem worthwhile going to bed only to get up at 4am so last time I'd been to sleep was 8am Thursday.

Taxi, train, taxi got me to the George Stephenson building at Newark Showground for 9:45am.

15 minutes pleasant chat with those around me and doors opened and in we trotted. Paid my fiver, got the seemingly now obligatory wrist band and off I went.

Detail of day below.

Taxi, train, taxi, once again, got me back around 10pm.

I had piles of photos to sort, memories to transcribe and purchases to sort.

Did I mention I hadn't been to sleep since 8am Thursday.

Dead on my feet, all that can wait 'til tomorrow!.

Twelve hours sleep leaves me feeling somewhat less like I've been hit with a cosh

I've uploaded my pictures of the games from the day to ImageShack and they are available here

https://imageshack.com/a/CvKW7/1

at least I hope they are. Any problems viewing them please let me know.

There are 141 images. I try to take a shot of the show label just before or just after a shot of the tables so hopefully you can marry the two to work out what you are looking at.

Apologies if anyone finds I missed their game, not intentional I assure you.

So, on to my thoughts on the show.

First up, I'm 70 in the summer, my hips, knees, ankles and lower back are shot. At no point during a long day on my feet did I fail to find a seat to take a much needed breather. "For this relief much thanks"

As for the games on show, there was, inevitably I think, an emphasis on 28-32mm stuff but with a couple of 54mm games and a scatter of smaller scale stuff.

The landscapes on which the games were played ranged from the awe inspiring Imjin River game, through through carefully sculpted foam or Hexon to flat and purely functional.

Likewise the scenery ranged from beautifully painted confections of 3D printed resin or laser cut MDF  to the most basic items imaginable.

It did occur to me that the most basic games seemed to be generating the most excitement. Perhaps a thought there for those of us intimidated by the spectacular creations on many tables.

Historical games were predominant but with Fantasy and Sci-Fi well represented. The bulk of the games were ground based but there were four naval games (including a rather dinky recreation of the action between Serapis and the Bonhomme Richard), a WW1 Wings of Glory aerial game and at least one space battle.

So if not, perhaps, "something for everyone" then certainly a good mix of periods, theatres and terrain types.

In the centre of the hall were the Bring & Buy tables. My wallet was spared by the offerings seeming to consist largely of things I might have wanted a eye-wateringly expensive prices and things I already have (and should probably be selling off too) at ludicrously low prices. YMMV!

As to the traders, once again 28mm dominated but Warbases had their 2mm Antonine Miniatures Range, Baccus were there with their 6mm ranges and Pendraken with 10mm and Kallistra with their 12mm. At the other end there were some very impressive large scale fantasy figures - out of reach of both my finances and my painting skill!!

If there was a gap it seemed to me to be in 15mm stuff.

As well as figures there were several stalls selling terrain/ scenery and plenty of books on offer. Especially rule-books. The range of rule books made me feel that there will soon be more rule sets than gamers.

What did I buy from all these traders?

I discovered Warbases had sneaked out some 2mm scenery and a couple of new units without me noticing so I grabbed a small fort and a vicus pack plus a Republican Roman legion and another pack of skirmishers.

Brigade Models provided another fort set, their recent forum model, some grave markers and a triumphal arch. All from their Small Scale Scenics range.

Finally, some very tiny ships from Tumbling Dice's 1/4800 Anglo/Dutch and Napoleonic naval ranges. A mix of dhows, long boats, snows, xebecs and the like.

As to the site itself, the hall is large and felt busy but not crowded. Perhaps due to the low outdoor temperature it didn't feel hot and muggy as some of the other shows I've visited have. The lighting was good enough that my camera flash never kicked in.

The Bistro catering was good. Decent grub at sensible prices IMHO. Several vegetarian options for oiks like me.

All in all, a very enjoyable day. I hope to get back down next year.

Thanks for taking the time and trouble to attend and share all the info/pics with the forum

Thanks for your overview of the show . Glad to hear that the 'basic' games were garnering attention, as I too feel that the wonderfully presented and sculpted etc games can be off putting at times.

Looks like a long day for you Mike....thanks for taking the time to share the pictures.

Theres some very good looking games going on there.....an a very impressive WW1 Wings of War collection.

Right at the end have to say those 3 nuke bursts look most impressive, but I have to ask why are they there? using "special weapons" of any size in a modern game is, to me anyway, a step too far.

Yes, we play wargames with much chaos and distruction, but not on that scale.

Have fun painting 1/4800 ships....they're quite small!


 

Thanks so much for taking the time to put the pics up, I shall return and go through them again. Cheers Norm.

Hammerhead 2023 was a lovely show - plenty of great games and lots of traders wanting to take my £££'s. The only downside was that we had to leave early as SWFC (top of the First Division for goodness sake) we're at home against Peterborough...

Next show on my radar will be the Joy of Six in early July, but shhhhh... let's keep quiet about that as it's predominantly a 6mm scale show. 😉

Cheers,

Geoff

Thanks for the kind words folks, though I have to confess the reports are not entirely altruistic as they're also a good way for me to record the day as a sort of personal diary entry for one who doesn't keep a diary! Glad people enjoy them nonetheless.

Peter, the 1/4800 scale ships are adding smaller scale stuff to my existing ships of the line and frigates. The long boats are absolutely tiny.

As to the nukes, they were battlefield tactical nukes fired by off-board artillery as I understand it, a distinct possibility historically. I'm not convinced there are any nice, kind ways to kill people. Every death is a tragedy and those caused by war doubly so. I'm not convinced that toning down the utter awfulness of it does anyone a service but everyone will have their own opinions on that.

Elliesdad, I met up with Andrew Beasley, had lunch with him in the Bistro and had a good old chinwag. If I'd known you were there I'd have made an effort to see you too. Always good to put faces to names.

Thanks Mike, looks & sounds like a great day    

QuoteElliesdad, I met up with Andrew Beasley, had lunch with him in the Bistro and had a good old chinwag. If I'd known you were there I'd have made an effort to see you too. Always good to put faces to names.

Good luck with that 😉
Although we travelled down together I subsequently struggled to locate my daughters fiancé (skinny guy with dark stubble and glasses, dressed in dark clothing) in a room crowded with ... well, lots of guys many of which were wearing dark clothing.
On the other hand, I fall into the "clearly not underfed" category - whilst still managing to tick the dark stubble and glasses boxes. 😎
We needed more time, but had to sneak off quite early due to a football match.

My brother was in 50th Missile Regiment, which had Lance (?) tactical nuclear missiles. On exercise they did nothing as it was expected that once fired, the Warsaw Pact would respond in kind and they would be caught in the blast.

Nice report. Thank you. No photos of Leon ad the Pendraken booth?

QuoteIf there was a gap it seemed to me to be in 15mm stuff.

Told you! 15mm is dead. It just doesn't know it yet! 

QuoteGood luck with that 😉

Not underfed - Check
Beard - Check
Glasses - Check
All In Black - Check

I will blend in with the herd and sneak up on you