Last gasp of the arquebus!
After being reminded of my pitiful wargames skill against Richard B-S (how apt!), I decided not to enter the competition this year. Die Fuhrer was tearing holes in the side of her 1/6th scale model of the Titanic and so I decided to slip away for the morning…….via McDonalds…….of course……
On entering the Glan-yr-Afon hotel, I realised that I’d been coming to this gaming Mecca for twenty years. The moral high ground of ” I can’t spend a whole weekend away from the family” was undermined by the feeling that I was sadly missing out. The afore mentioned Doctor Shipman was busy terrorising Mr Clarke whilst DamianR was literally entrenched in a corner with his Swiss! What a joy it must have been for his Mamluk opponents!
To give Damian his due, he knows the rules inside out and his armies are always immaculate. Whether the Egytian flank March dented his Swiss phalanx I will have to find out.
It was great to see so many of the regulars. The Clevedon Club were well represented, with some impressive newly painted minis. I have asked that maestro of the brush, Don McHugh to post me some pictures of his outstanding Renaissance collection, which has to seen to be believed.
New paintwork from Clevedon
This is one that really caught my eye, Imperials versus Wayne’s Japanese- terrific! It looked just like one of those Japanese screen illustrations. Two superb armies on excellent looking terrain, what it’s all about!
Simon Clarke painted some Spanish Gendarmes for me over twenty years ago now. They were brilliant and if anything he’s got even better over the years (can it really be decades?) His own webshop and galleries of his work are on lurkio.co.uk. His devilish attention to detail is astounding, even the flags are interchangeable. ( the flags have a narrow tube in them that fits over the miniature’s “pole”😳) Wargamers’ Dragon’s Den here I come!
The climax of any visit to any wargames show must surely be an interview with his highness, Mr. Keith McGlynn. To the casual passer-by, he might be dismissed as a cider stained loon but there is more to the man than that. Just look at the action shot below where Keith is forced to retract a number of “ambitious” moves by an irate umpire.
But, like some modern day Ancient Mariner, that’s when it happened. In his grasping hand Keith held out the single piece of paper that meant doom to all plans to make 2015 the year of collection consolidation and finished projects. 7th and 8th March, ” celebrating 21 glorious years of charming West Country incompetence”, 25mm L’art de la Guerre competition! Updated DBM style rules using the old base sizes but armies that are a little smaller, and therefore more economical?
Check out the details on the Madaxeman site. As with Impetvs, the artwork is stunning and it seems to be gaining a growing following.
With apologies to Kenneth Graham,
“He breathed short, his face wore a placid, satisfied expression, and at intervals he faintly murmurred…..Poop-poop! A new wargames era/error had arrived!”
