On Sunday 13th October, Charlie and myself paid a visit to the annual SELWG (South East London Wargames Group) open day at the Crystal Palace National Sports Centre. Needless to say the juxtaposition of the sports centre’s regular patrons (swimmers and people going to the gym) and the average historical wargamer (no description required) was quite amusing.

Anyone that has been to these kind of events will know that Games Workshop games are represented in the minority, so with that distraction out of the way, you can really focus on the various wares of some cool Indie companies.

Observations from the gaming tables, well it was all historical games (with the exception of 7ombie TV by Crooked Dice) , many that I had no idea what they were! I was a little disappointed to see that very few WWII games were being played and the real kick in the nuts was no Bolt Action! I did see a rather large table with a game of Warhammer Ancient Battles being played, nice to see an OOP Games Workshop property having an outing.

Warhammer Ancients going down in South East London

When going to a show with 50 traders, it’s definitely worth having a browse before making any purchases as there is nothing worse than spunking all of your hard earned dough on what you thought was a deal only to see a better offer on the other side of the hall. Walking over to the Perry stand, we clearly found the best deal of the day.

Perry plastic boxes for £18 (£2 off the web price) or 3 boxes for £45, (25% off the RRP, not bad). Knowing that Nate wanted some Afrikakorps, a swift text followed and the arrangements were made for the purchase. Both Charlie and myself then had to restrain ourselves from starting 2nd Bolt Action armies, a decision we are still regretting.

Warlord had one of the larger trade stands of the day, so it was a little disappointing for them to have no other presence at the show. After a great stand at Salute this year and their first Games Day in the summer, I was hoping they would have displayed a case or two of work in progress sculpts and maybe a gaming table demonstrating a couple of games. The gut punch was that a lot of independent traders were selling Warlord products at 10% discount, so unfortunately, unless you were after something specific that you could not get from another stand, this all equated to a rather quiet stand for Warlord. A real shame that the Judge Dredd rulebook is a few weeks away as that would have been nice little crowd pleaser.

Temptation is everywhere!

If you listen to the Heelan Hammer podcast, you may have heard of Foundry (or if you read Chris’s coverage of Bring Out Your Lead 2013 on this here blog). Foundry have a very respectable casting heritage and focus on producing a lot of classic and previously OOP models (as well as arguably having some of the best paints on the market, something I’m looking forward trying on my next project). Talking to the guys about their gaming venue in Nottingham, they mentioned Blog Con, a two day wargame bloggers meet up at Foundry on 9th & 10th November 2013. It’s great to see another company trying to create a community around their venue and it seems that the Oldhammer guys are already in love with the place. Check their website for details (they also will supply you with free tea and biscuits, you don’t get that at Warhammer World!).

Digging through the crates of the 2nd hand traders Charlie unearthed some pretty cool finds. Highlights including a full set of OPP metal Gaunt’s Ghosts, almost 2 full sets of Escher gangs and a unit of Squats that GeeDub missed in their ethnic cleansing. Digging through the Bring & Buy I also spotted a 2nd edition Blood Bowl set for £25 complete with moulded pitch. The rest of the Bring & Buy was a mixed bag, the usual stuff like out of date Space Marine Codex books and over priced half painted models. However there was a few boxes of OOP GW models as well as a tidy High Elf army painted up and sold by unit for a reasonable price.

Back to the traders, I spotted a rather odd site in one of the cabinets on the Ainsty Castings stand. A pie stand, burger van and an 80’s football terrace full of 80’s football hooligans, complete with St John’s Ambulance and Bobbies. After having a chat with the guys on the stand, I found out it’s for a game currently in development called Aggro. Pitting rival firms against one another with random events such as St John’s and the Coppers turning up, other than that and knowing the game is playing card based rather than dice, that’s all we know for now. But this is definitely a game I’ll be keeping an eye on.

Right next door was another tempting stand by Empress. After seeing the Second Chechen War article in Wargames Illustrated last month using the Force on Force rules set, both me and Charlie were coveting the Chechen Separatists models. After a long hard word with our selves, we walked away before doing something silly and dropping a lot of cash on a game we have not played.

Before leaving, Charlie and myself had to check out some tank porn in the form of the resin offerings on sale at Great Escape from the likes of Company B and Die Waffenkammer. After making a few purchases I was running low on physical cash, but the dudes at GE let me pay with PayPal, always a bonus.

So another Wargaming show and another lighter wallet. I managed to pick up myself up a card KR Case for storage at home and I picked up some half depth pick n’ pluck as well so I can store my Fantasy Ogres a little more safely than my full depth foam. Next up I supplemented my Bolt Action US Infantry with another blister of Artizan Designs Great Coat men, this time getting some characters, so I can add a SGT to my existing squad in their big coats. Lastly I managed to grab a Die Waffenkammer Deuce and a Half transport truck to drive my dudes around the battlefield, picking a DW model (as Charlie’s Luch model is gorgeous) and being “just a truck”, this looks great too.

For a £6 door cover, I have to say the day was worth it. Personally the games being played were not to my taste, but as it’s a mostly a historical event, I expected it to be this way. However for me it was mostly a shopping trip with a few of the traders making the day by having a chat and letting me know about a few upcoming events and projects (Blog-Con and Aggro). Would I go again? Yeah of course I would, there is always more miniatures to buy and engaging in a pleasant chat with traders and enthusiasts is always nice way to spend a Sunday.