Game 08 Photos (Part 1)
Dated: November 14, 2008.
We had been asked to put on a particpation wargame at the Game 08 show held this year over the 1st weekend in November at the Armitage Centre in Manchester; we'd never been before as it is more of a card game/fantasy show, but with it being local and having been asked nicely, we decided to go!
The initial idea was to run a large game over a series of tables, starting with something very basic & developing across the tables so that the first one would see gamers using only tanks, the second tanks & infantry, the third adding artillery & "funnies" (Flails, etc) & the final table throwing in everything (including a sink, kitchen Mk I).
The overall impression would have been amazing & given a good progression for players to follow.
Well, that was the plan & we had a couple of weekends play testing to iron out any issues. Then, on the Wednesday prior to the show, I received a phone call from Steve, the Chairman of our Club (Mailed Fist in Hyde, Cheshire) to say that he's been volunteered to run the Bring & Buy & could I run the game on my own??!!
Hmm... drastic rethink required...
So, having talked it through with Steve, we decided to drop the "monster" (we will resurrect it one day) & follow the KISS (Keep It Simple, Stupid!) principle...
...at the Battlegroup North show earlier this year held at the Yorkshire Air Museum at Elvington (just outside of York - great show... if you're in the area next year, go! Not a huge amount of wargaming, but with lots of re-enactors & a brilliant atmosphere) we ran a series of games celebrating the 90th Anniversary of the RAF - quick play rules & covering WW1, Battle of Britain, Night Bombers over Germany & Doodlebug chasing
...and, at the Dukinfield Railroad show, the Army in York show and Battlegroup South at Bovington, we ran an equally simple tank vs tank game featuring Armourfast tanks; this latter show was featured in the October Wargames Illustrated as a number of kind comments on the HaT forum pages.
So, here was Plan Mk II...
However, as we all know, all military plans fail at first contact with the enemy!! This was nothing different; when we arrived, we found that the Bring & Buy was going to be in the same room as a chess tournament... hmmm that would have been interesting :-) So we agreed to move the B&B into the main hall which meant giving up one of our games, so we ran the RAF game on Saturday & the Tanks on Sunday
Both days were, to our mind a success...
-- We had young children as the gallant RAF or British Armoured Divisions clearing the skies & field of battle of the Luftwaffe and Panzer forces commanded by their Dads (amazing how well they rolled the dice!)
-- We had experienced wargamers playing the games & commenting they "were everything you want in a participation game... fast, easy to play & lots of fun"
-- We had two sets of Dad/Lad who are local to us & looking to get into wargaming & four other ex-members of our club who had just moved back into the area & wondered where we currently met; so hopefully, we may get some more members out of it
So, we'll definitely be back next year!!
The photos show some shots from the RAF game to give a flavour, but the majority are from Sunday's tank vs tank game with some nasty surprises for the Shermans & Cromwells hidden in the hedges!
Hope that you enjoy them.
Regards
Colin Foster
UK
Many thanks to Mr. Foster