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bobm wrote:

Don’t think your links are working

Now Fixed!

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Your chance to play!

As well as a host of traders (including a number of first-time exhibitors anywhere on the wargames circuit) this year’s Britcon also features a host of participation games as well, so you can not only splash some cash, you can also roll some dice (or flip cards.. etc etc) during your visit to Nottingham’s newest wargames show.

This year for your playing pleasure we have the following games on offer:

Not only do Great Escape Games sell loads of cool cowboy-themed stuff, they are also the publishers of the wildly popular Dead Man’s Hand Wild West narrative skirmish game too – and this weekend you can try your hand at gunslinging at the DMH Demo Table right in front of their stand. Dead Man’s Hand has been successfully delivering truly cinematic-style fast and furious gameplay ever since its’ release, so if you’ve not managed to have a go at restoring law and order to a tabletop Old West then pop along to the Great Escape stand and make sure to have a go this weekend!

In her Majesty’s Name has undoubtedly been the most popular set of Victorian Science Fiction and Steampunk narrative skirmish wargames rules ever since its first appearance over a decade ago, and with a lavish and comprehensive 2nd Edition now out in the wild we’re delighted to be playing host to a huge and spectacular game of IHMN courtesy of the Chesterfield Open Gaming Society. If you fancy stepping into the world of H.G Wells, Jules Verne, Bram Stoker, Mary Shelley and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle for a while during your visit to Britcon, this is the (fabulous) table to look out for – we’ve even been told that one of the authors will be in attendance to (steam-powered) walk you through an introduction to the game system.

Kore Gaming are using Britcon to give a first outing to their all-new 15mm Sci- Fi Skirmish game, and will be demo’ing it on their stand at the show all weekend. Expect loads of opportunities to get their fantastic 15mm Sci-Fi figures and models on table – including an absolutely HUGE quad-rotor aircraft model that apparently has to be seen to be believed! You’ll have to visit Mark on the Kore Gaming stand to find out more – but it’s a fair bet that there will be “pew-pew” noises a-plenty as part of their demo game no doubt!

DAK Attack is a new WW2 skirmish game from author Brendan Wheatley, covering the derring-do and gung-ho actions of the Long Range Desert Group (aka The SAS!) in North Africa. The DAK Attack rules have just been very positively reviewed in the latest edition of Wargames, Soldiers & Strategy Magazine and with Brendan himself running demos Britcon is a great opportunity to dip your toe in the water (well, probably “sand”) with these new highly enjoyable and card driven game. Brendan will be running a rolling series of 30-ish-minute demos throughout the entire weekend, with the system supporting as many as half a dozen players at any one time – so with the weather set to be hot it’s the perfect opportunity to sit down and fit a bit of SAS-style action into your visit to Britcon this year

The Wings of Glory Aerodrome are a regular and much-loved feature on the UK wargames show circuit, and this weekend in Nottingham will be bringing a veritable hangar-full of gaming systems to Britcon for you to get stuck into. Wings of Glory is the definitive super-easy-to-pick-up WW1 air combat game, and if you’re one of the very few gamers who have never played it yourself you’ll certainly have seen other gamers hurling their Spads, Albatrosses and Camels around the tabletop skies and having a whale of a time – so whether you’re an ace or a novice why not pop along and ask to join in a round or two of ludicrously colourful air to air combat?

As well as allowing you to be the Red Baron, the core Wings of Glory system has also been extended to cover WW2 air combat, and tweaked even further to take your into the world of Napoleonic Naval gamins, all using the same simple movement and firing system of the original WW1 game – and all three systems will be available to play and try at Britcon this year.

The Pit are now to all intents and purposes “Mantic (when at a show)” and as part of that awesome responsibility Matt and the gang will be demo’ing Mantic’s Kings of War Armada fantasy naval game at Britcon this year.

Kings of War Armada shares a lot of its’ gaming DNA with Warlord Games’ Black Seas, making it very easy to learn and play – but in porting (see what we did there..?) the setting over into Mantic’s Kings of War universe means the opportunities for generating loads of very different fleets, all with their own unique feel and playstyle, are hugely expanded. Fancy trying your hand at bellowing out “RAMMING SPEED CAPTAIN!” in Orcish? The Pit stand and KoW Armada demo needs to be on your Britcon agenda!

Kings of War Armada is very easy to learn and play, even with the optional rules. The current 2 forces feel unique in their playstyle and the included fleets in the starter-set provide some great games. There are 10 scenarios included in the rulebook for those looking for more than just knocking fleets together.
For those looking for a fantasy ship game, the scope for expansion with Armada is huge with Mantic’s Kings of War setting. You will also be able to play Armada as the Kingdoms of Men with the correct scale ships you may already have when the rules are published. Armada doesn’t have a huge amount of rules detail in terms of ships taking damage to specific sections, as the combat system is streamlined for easy and quickness of play. It does have a lot of flexibility in force building with the optional upgrades, and that can only expand as more factions become available and the game grows.

Warlord Games need no introduction – and especially so at a show running in their home town of Nottingham. The Warlord rules portfolio covers some of the most popular and well known titles in the industry, and they will be demo’ing a number of them on their stand at Britcon this year (just in case you haven’t already tried them). The systems they’ll bring depends on which staff are available on the day, but we’re pretty confident you will be able to try your hand at Bolt Action, Black Seas and perhaps even their new 200AD Celtic-themed skirmish game Slaine

As well as this diverse mix of miniatures games, Britcon will also feature a dedicated Board Game & Roleplay Room, hosted by the Nottingham Board and Wargames Group. Located in Lecture Theatre 8 (on the right hand side of the main competitions area) the room will be set up for you to come along and use the space to play your own games, or to borrow games from the extensive library of popular titles all provided by Gary and his team. There will also be opportunities to take part in game-testing, with some as-yet unpublished titles on the tabletop, all of which are keen to get your feedback as playtesters over the weekend of Britcon 2022

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Well, now thats both me and Motorhead who’ve referenced that line inside the last 23 years, so perhaps it does herald a Deep Purple renaissance of sorts!

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Aaaah – “Made in Japan” – just remembered it!

“Can We Have Everything Louder Than Everything Else?” Tokyo 17 August 1972 says Wikipedia

 

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I “think” it’s an Ian Gillan line from the chat between songs on a Deep Purple live album that everyone had in the late 70’s but which has now slipped from collective memory …

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Possibly not… FiB tend to be on teh small size, Xyston on the large size, and they are rather different styles too.

You might sneak the odd Xyston geezer in there as a bit of a “hero”, or use them for a different tribe, but a full mix is iffy.

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Tony S wrote:

Always enjoyable! Do I get extra points if I spotted a Motorhead reference?

Probably – I dont remember putting one in !

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ian pillay wrote:

madaxeman wrote:

I’m tempted to try and promote the idea more widely, and call it “2D Printing” – maybe it’ll take off!

Mmmmm, not sure the worlds ready for 2D printing

Wargamers are notoriously resistent to change 🙂

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ian pillay wrote:

Amazing! Wall paper – now that’s a technique I have never hard of before for miniatures. The results are awesome.

I’ve done a few other things like this – anything with a flat surface and too much detail for me to paint really..

I’m tempted to try and promote the idea more widely, and call it “2D Printing” – maybe it’ll take off!

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Mega Army And Unit Packs

Looks like at least one manufacturer has been following with interest – these 15mm figures seem to now be actively priced at “cheaper than those new plastc ones” !

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You’re paying roughly about £3 / tank for 10mm from Pendraken, which is sort of the benchmark manufacturer I guess.

15mm can be all over the place price-wise with plastics and metals, and 6mm is a case of “the rest” at  £0.60/tank maybe, and then GHQ at “more” ?

 

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I must admit that I really like their casts. Very simple and clean models, I suspect because the designer isn’t trying to add loads of details just for the sake of it.

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and finally… the full army all together

Even more photos on https://madaxemandotcom.blogspot.com/2020/12/heres-those-arabs-for-last-time-for.html

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PatG wrote:

 In my opinion, the difference in appearance between “good enough” 15mm and “superb” 15mm at table distances is not all that great. ……. 28mm WWII – Now this is where your discussion resonates. Figure counts are low, and detail makes a noticeable difference at this scale. This is where I will consider spending more for better figures in the future.

Yep, that’s all more than fair – “quality” is always going to be subjective, and its importance differs by scale too. Given that we all play multiple scales and multiple periods I’m sure we all play some games where the figures are “gaming pieces” and others where the aesthetics are much more important too. It’s not a “one size fits all” discussion really..

 

 

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Mike wrote:

madaxeman wrote:

Why don’t we instead spend the same time simply choosing the figures we like the best and then buying them, whether they are 31p, 40p or 50p a pop?

Some people are not that fussed over the look, they prefer the mechanics and the game, rather than the look/feel? So they choose cheapest.

Absolutely – there are clearly some gamers out there for whom figures are just 3D counters, and that’s one of the answers we came up with too (spoiler alert!). Maybe we need to get you on as a guest so we don’t need to wiitter on quite as long next time around

 

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Mike wrote:

Wargamers being people are more likely to buy from the 75p guy than the £1.50 guy, why would you not?

As one of the people on the podcast (you can listen to it at https://madaxeman.podbean.com/e/episode-53-the-price-is-right-come-on-down/), Mikes question here I think quite nicely cuts to the heart of what we were trying to discuss.

For the rules we all play a typical 15mm army comes in at 120-odd figures. That means the price difference between buying an army of the most expensive figures on the market today (50p each = £60) vs the cheapest (31p each = £37.80) is just £22.80.

Given figures are at the heart of everything we do as gamers – playing, painting, collecting – and we all keep our collections for years (decades even), we spend loads on paint, terrain, gaming mats… heck, even box sets of naval games from Warlord Games that we’ll be lucky to play even once – in what part of our collective psyche does it make sense to spend ages calculating how to ‘save’ £22 on 120 figures we’ll spend months painting and play with many times if that means we are compromising on “quality” by not just buying the figures we like the most ?

Why don’t we instead spend the same time simply choosing the figures we like the best and then buying them, whether they are 31p, 40p or 50p a pop?

The knock-on stuff about hobby vs commercial manufacturers is very interesting, but it’s almost a separate topic.

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Actually.. the whole “price vs quality” thing ended up being such an interesting topic that we covered it in our weekly podcast.

https://madaxeman.podbean.com/e/episode-53-the-price-is-right-come-on-down/ for the download or stream from Podbean, or search for the Madaxeman Podcast on your usual podcast provider

 

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Norm S wrote:

I think the discussion will mostly be about the material used, as that is the real game changer here, for good or bad depending on your view.

I’m not sure the material is really that big an issue, or indeed whether its any sort of game changer  – the great “lead vs plastic” debate in wargaming circles is surely pretty much played out now, and mostly happened when 25mm plastics came onto the market.  Frome everything I’ve seen and heard these are pretty much indistinguishable from their metal equivalents – its a new development for 15mm ancients, but that kinda because 15mm ancients is a bit more niche. Even PSC themselves (and others) have been producing plastic 15mm WW2 figures for years, to the point I’d even suggest that plastic is now the default material for WW2 15mm – and I’d bet most 15mm Ancients players already own some plastic figures already for other scales and periods.

Norm S wrote:

I agree that the actual cost of a figure is the smallest part of the equation because you will spend the same amount of time and effort cleaning, painting and gaming with them as you would any similar figure, so in that bigger picture, the actual cost is less of an issue for some …. but for a huge part of the global population, price is everything and cost matters because of personal circumstances and budgets.

Without wanting to unfairly dismiss anyones personal circumstances, I’m still very skeptical that there are all that many wargamers out there for whom the difference between £35 and £45 would be enough to stop them buying something wargaming-related if they’ve convinced themselves they really wanted it.  Yes, this is of course going to be true for some, but for the vast majority of the community it’s just not an issue (if we are honest with ourselves about what and how we buy for this hobby!)

Norm S wrote:

The PSC are slightly cheaper than you suggest because you get exactly the amount of figures needed for the starter PACTO army, whereas many other suppliers will be selling bags of 8 – 10 and invariably that means left over redundant figures.

That’s true… if someone is playing that one specific ruleset (which, lets remember, they will also have paid £50 for, with all the special dice, cards and the like that are needed to play), in that one specific scale, using that one specific combination of figures to make up that one specific list… and if you have the self control not to think “hmmm, if I just had another unit of Agrianian Javelinmen… and maybe an elephant would be cool too… oh, and some cataphracts..”    However, that’s not a description of many wargamers I know!!

Norm S wrote:

These particular figures are very (VERY) light, but I don’t know to what degree that will impact on postal charges, but that could be part of a deciding factor for anyone outside the U.K..

Yep – international postage rates by weight start to make somewhere north of £10 difference when you get towards a kilo of lead – again though I’d guess it’s a fairly small number of people who are buying a kilo of lead and shipping internationally… and anyone buying that much lead in one goI suspect isn’t going to be counting the pennies (or cents..) all that closely.

Norm S wrote:

It is a case of horses for courses and as a small hobby we are fortunate to have so much choice.

Absolutely agree!

Don’t get me wrong, seeing Corvius Belli figures back in production is great, and the more choice – at lower cost – we all have the better.   All I’m pointing out is that surely it’s kinda weird that (or maybe even it’s “a shame”) that given the cost factor is actually pretty insignificant in the greater scheme of things,  much of the discussion around these ranges tends to be “gee, look how cheap they are!” … and it would be better to hear people saying “hey, aren’t these great characterful sculpts – that’s why I want to buy them !”

 

 

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It’s fascinating to me how so much discussion about these figures amongst wargamers always focuses on their price, when they are not actually wildly out of line with many other manufacturers. PSC “unit” packs are £10 for 32 figures, which works out at 31p each, and their ‘army” packs at £35 contain between 114-136 figures (counting foot as “1” and mounted as “2”), which is in the range 26-31p.

Those prices are not all that far off QRF (34p), Lancashire Games (39p, or 36p in a blister of 50), Alternative Armies (35p), Outpost (30p) or even Museum Originals at 38p – and even the most expensive manufacturers out there only ever reach 50p a figure – and thats before considering that the PSC ranges are only sold in bigger pack sizes than almost anyone else offers, and that some of these manufacturers even sell singles too.

Even considering a 10p difference in price, that is still only a difference of tenner or so on a whole 15mm army. If you like the figures that’s great, but is a tenner in the purchase cost of a whole army really enough of a difference to cause any of us to choose any manufacturer over any other if we thought there was a nicer-looking range out there we could have bought instead?

The question is a bit different when it comes to 25mm, where plastic ranges are all in the 50p/figure range whereas metals are 3x, 4x or sometimes even 5x more expensive (and where there’s a legitimate discussion to be had as to whether some of the plastic ranges are in fact better sculpts than any of the metals out there)… but for 15mm armies.. shouldn’t the discussion be about how good the figures are, not if there are frankly quite marginal savings to be had on buying them ?

 

 

 

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Alexander Hay-Whitton wrote:

Is there evidence for armoured heavy cavalry with spear and shield on the same horse? Heaven knows, my Assyrian horse could use the protection!

There is if you look in the bag of figures that Sean supplied me with

 

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And finally the Chariots, all prepared using my rather low-tech “find a design online, print it out to size” wallpapering technique to avoid having to paint really detailed chariot cab designs.

The Purple one – with a rather half-hearted animal skin design on the back of the horse (which should of course have been a saddle cloth on a ridden horse)

This I think is the best design – an Ashur Gate-type effect that blends well with the blue of the rest of teh cab

Plenty of room for the crew to move around and fight (or be posed in different arrangements in the cab for more variety)

I’ve also included info about some of the “wallpaper” images on the site if you want to copy this idea.

There are loads more images on the Madaxeman.com website of these chariots together with the Infantry and Cavalry which you can reach via this link : https://www.madaxeman.com/main/28mm_Assyrian_Chariots.php

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OK, so here are the Cavalry.

Not quite as good painting-wise as the foot, as I’m a bit lazy/unskilled on the whole “horse painting” front but the mass effect I think is OK. The Newline figures themselves are als still great, as even with only one set of cavalry the three different poses in the pack, as well as separate shields and spears still give a decent variety.

These 12 horses are supposed to be pulling chariots – I made a mistake in mixing them all up on the undercoating table, and then compounded that mistake by mis-counting how many of each type of horse I actually had (15 “normal” ones and 16 “chariot pulling” ones). It does mean these guys have some serious armour around the neck of each horse though, which is probably a win for them

(Mercenary Skythians)

The rest of the photos are at: https://www.madaxeman.com/main/28mm_Assyrian_Cavalry.php

(Chariots coming up when I upload the photos… )

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Absolutely – thats where the data comes from as that’s the only real source of “hard” data there is. As such this only claims to measure competition attenandance rather than broader popularity or adoption.

Plenty of rulesets aren’t even suited to competition play but are extremely popular – Hail Caesar for example would never appear here.

You can perhaps make inferences from competition takeup to wider usage, but they will be systematically flawed in a lot of (fairly obvious) ways.

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No worries Mike.

#2 is here!

This week in the second episode of the Madaxeman Podcast Lockdown Specials the intrepid band of non-adventurers chunter on about topics as diverse as Ancient Britons, the merits and inherent risks of ordering Strippers online, how historic family bereavements can get in the way of wargaming, beer festivals in your bedroom, the psychology of Dremel-denial, whether Challenger 2000 or Shock of Impact was the most complex historical ruleset ever produced, choosing armies for non-competitions, Norman shields, and the age old question, what might be the crappest thing on eBay right now?

There is also the start of a brand new regular feature, Andy Finkel-kel-kel-kel’s brand new Weekly Quiz (with it’s own theme tune)!

Sit back, dip your paint brush in your water pot (try to avoid the coffee..) and enjoy.

“Makes me wish I’d been hit in both ears, not just one eye at the battle of Corsica in 1758” : Lord Horatio Nelson

 

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Tony S wrote:

I’ll second Kyoteblue’s opinion. Great fun reading about his tournament adventures. My favourite line?

The Roman elephant pricked up it’s ears, eager as a big grey puppy (with what for a puppy would be an unfeasibly long nose and a world-beating expertise in flatulence) to get involved in the fighting

As well, the painting on some of his opponents, the Romans and the Sassanids, are stunning!

I’d certainly agree that the standard of painting in 28/25mm tournaments seems to be getting better – as do the figures themselves. ADLG seems to have given this scale a whole new lease of life for tournament ‘big battle’ games, with more tournaments for this scale cropping up every year in the UK after what seems like a very long hiatus since when this was a commonly seen scale.

As well as many ‘old school’  figures coming out of retirement, there are lots of newly-painted armies making an appearance which is great. I guess a big factor is that the armies for ADLG are still small enough that its possible to buy a whole new army for reasonable money (certainly under £100 if you use a core of plastic figures for the army) and get them painted in a reasonable timeframe. Painting techniquest have also come on leaps and bounds since 28mm figures were the competition default, so the step-change in quality you end up with is often stunning.

 

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This survey only looks at competitions – which pretty much require a maximum 6×4 table size (which is also often the default for 15mm games), and for people to travel to the event with both figures and terrain.

Both of these factors tend to work against 25/8mm armies for FoG, MeG, and DBM as you are carrying (and painting) a lot of figures, and (at standard 6×4 tables sizes and the sort of standard army points values that many competitions seem to mandate) the figure/table ratio gets pretty congested, arguably making the games less interesting.

If you are playing at home or locally against friends and have the luxury of an 8×5 or larger table these issues I suspect tend to go away.

DBMM using 6mm on 25mm basing is very much a MKWS & WAR clubs thing – almost all of the players at these events are drawn from these two clubs.

 

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Following on from the battle reports of the surprisingly effective Lancastrian ADLG army, I thought it might be interesting to share how the army was put together in terms of figures and basing, and the thought behind the list design as well.

Most – but not all – of them are Perry plastics, making this a very cost-effective army to build. There is now a summary of the figures I used, how the army was designed and was supposed to work (in theory and then in practice) and also some ideas as to how I painted them up on the main website now. If you wish you can buy yourself a set of the whole lot for under £100!

https://www.madaxeman.com/main/25mm_Lancastrian_Army.php

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ADLG is the only one with a meaningful annual 25mm scene with multiple events throughout the year.

DBM and DBMM both have the odd competition where 25mm is played, but the other rulesets don’t seem to have any 25mm events at all.

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I must admit to being pleasantly surprised how well they turned out myself to be honest – Museum figures do tend to be easy to paint, and when I had the flash of inspiration to print out panels for the chariot walls (or more accurately a flash of realisation that I wasn’t a good enough painter to do it any other way and not make them look crap) it really spurred me on to build out the army properly

The page with all the painting on is here: https://www.madaxeman.com/main/Museum_Assyrians.php

 

 

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He’s part of the Foundry Assyrian Officers pack, which is 28mm – in ADLG the Generals elements are just placeholders, not actual combat units so I often use a “heroic” figure to make them stand out a bit more..

 

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With only a week to go to Britcon 2018 at theBarnes Wallis Building, Sackville ST, Manchester (UK) we’ve now reached a milestone of having almost 50% more trade space than last year, more demo games and the UK launch of a whole new WW2 ruleset as well – plus the usual bar, bring and buy and competition game eye candy (honest – check out the Sharp Practice tables in the main room if you didn’t think competition games could look amazing!)

If you are dithering about coming along next weekend, here’s a quick heads-up about our some of the things going on around the Britcon Trade Show this year, and some highlights and offers for you to look out for:

In our biggest show for years, our new traders this year include:

Footsore Miniatures – exhibiting under their own steam for the first time this popular 28mm manufacturer has a host of highly thought of ranges for the “Saga” eras – which has now been extended with the recent release of a brand new Samurai range as well.

Footsore will also be bringing the War Banner team to demo their “the new hotness” Gangs of Rome game at the show, giving you a chance to engage in a spot of old school toga-wearing street violence in between browsing the other stands at the show if you want to see how the system works on the tabletop.

GS Miniature Workshop – on Saturday George will be exhibiting his range of modular forests, roads and hedges along with other scenic items suitable for every scale from 6mm up to 28mm.

West Wind / Forged in Battle are exhibiting this year for the first time under their own banner, and with more than half of our competitors playing in 15mm “Ancients” competitions their “post-kickstarter” War and Empire ranges are sure to be very popular. There is also a Britcon special offer running across Forged in Battle & War & Empire ranges of “buy 5 blisters get one free”.

Iron Gate Scenery are one of the new wave of 3-D printed terrain makers, with bespoke items for 28mm Fantasy, Pirate, Aztec & Roman eras as well as 15mm World War II/Modern War. Their range is constantly growing so there may be even more by the time Britcon comes around

Mantic Games are the company behind Dreadball, Kings of War and TV tie-in zombine-fest The Walking Dead and will be at Britcon this year with a full trade stand and their games system demo team, allowing you to add a quick spot of zombie-splattering or sci-fi sport into your visit to the show – just say hi to the team at the demo table or on their stand and they’ll be happy to give you a run-through of the games.

Ministry of Buildings have a unique concept in that their MDF ranges come ready assembled and painted – so no fiddling around with PVA glue and the smell of burnt wood, you can just pop their buildings straight onto your tabletop and start playing

Sleeping Dragon Hobby Shop have a vast range of scenic modelling materials and hobby supplies for painting miniatures, decorating bases and dioramas, constructing terrain or even building whole gaming boards.

We also have offers and new releases from our regular traders, including:

The Pit gaming store have a phenomenal offer of 20% off RRP of all their our stock that is priced £10GBP and above – including FoW/TY, Star Trek, Star Wars and a host of modelling and hobby supplies!

Lesleys Bits Box will have brand new Games Workshop boxed models at 15% off RRP, as well as a large collection of Epic models which will be onsale at the show this year

Colonel Bills have their 10% pre-order discount running for anything booked in through the pre-order facility in their online shop for Britcon collection (select “pre order and collect at a show”) or by email or phone. This offer includes any of the 4Ground, Flags of War, the Xyston Miniatures 15mm ancients ranges which The Colonel now carries in unit packs, and the AB 15mm Napoleonic packs which again are in units or 24 foot, 12 cavalry or 3 guns & crews…..how good is that?? Contact Colonel Bills via their website for more details and to place your pre-order

Instant Armies will again be attending Britcon, which they tell us is one of their favourite shows of the year. This year they have 28mm figures both painted and unpainted from various manufacturers, and for the 15mm historical gamers their stand will have literally thousands of 15mm figures again painted and unpainted.

Andy at Ainsty Castings will be at the show both playing in the Saga event and also exhibiting the full Ainstry range, as well as Gripping Beast Saga, Footsore Miniatures and the North Star ranges as well.

Dave Lanchester will have 100’s of Osprey books on sale, all priced from just £5GBP and some at 5 for £20.GBP

Donnington/Ancients & Modern are continuing their relentless release schedule for their new ranges, with a host of New Era medieval figures having their first Britcon outing together with baggage tents and figures to support the Armies of Islam range, and a Zoroastrian Fire Temple for those of you who either have, or are thinking about getting a Sassanid army in 15mm (which is probably like, all of you really…).

They now also stock “mousemat” battle mats in a range of designs as well as the FoG v3 and MeG rulesets.

Magister Militum will have a number of new releases, with their very comprehensive 10mm Fantasy range fully on show, as well as some brand new 10mm Biblical armies hitting the shelves for the first time this year

All Rolled Up have their normal range of dice bags and gaming accessories, which this year includes a special BHGS Dice Tray which is only on sale at the Britcon show.
They have also kindly provided a set of trays for prizes in our competitions

There are details and links to all of our traders websites on the BHGS website Britcon Trade Show Page link

Britcon also has a well stocked Bring & Buy – Britcon is great for a Bring and Buy, as many of the players bring loads of stuff secure in the knowledge that they will definitely be there to the end of the weekend giving maximum time for you to see and buy their stuff when you visit.

You are also welcome to add your own items to the B&B – you can even complete your Bring & Buy entry form in advance – download it here link to save time and see if you can cover the costs of your weekend’s shopping by clearing out some long unused figures and models!

** SPECIAL NOTICES **

We have 5 very different demo games this year, including the worldwide launch of a new set of WW2 rules from Si Hall and Mark “Micromark Lists” Bevis, which will be on display on a table in front of the bar area. For full details of all the demos see our website http://www.bhgs.org.uk/

Entry is free, and the show is open from 10-5 on Saturday
and 10-3 on Sunday.

If you are in the North West, we’d love to see you next weekend!

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[madaxeman]

The buildings I can at least claim credit for painting 🙂

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Mike wrote:

They are very pretty. Why is the command bigger, just for impact?

in these rules (and some of the other sets I play) Generals are just “markers” – they are not combat units. Some armies also have the option for a “legendary”/famous commanders, so I have gotten into the habit of representing normal commanders with 15mm vignettes and these “great”commanders with 28mm figures.

Yeah, it breaks the illusion of scale – but hey, we are talking tiny metal toy soldiers on a tabletop here, so the idea of representing an exceptional “character” with a different, more impressive type of “marker” works for me …. and is a bit of a chance to put some impressive 28mm Generals on table more often too. So, What’s not to like?! 💂🏼‍♂️

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They are basically a kind of scaled-up DBA, written in proper English but with units also having varying numbers of hit points (4 for HI, 3 for Cv & MI, 2 for LI etc) which can also be rallied, rather than them just being alive/removed as in other DBx-based sets

http://www.madaxeman.com/L_Art_de_la_Guerre_page.php for an overview

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We’ve picked out some highlights and offers for you to look out for this year:

Peter Dennis, author and artist for Helion Publishing’s acclaimed range of “Battle For Britain” 19th century paper soldier books and games will be running an AWI demo game from the Helion stand on Saturday only. Peter’s artwork has featured in many Osprey titles over the years, so no doubt you have some of his work on your bookshelf, so make sure to drop in and say “hi” and see the new AWI game in action as well.

Lesleys Bits Box will have brand new Games Workshop boxed models at 15% off RRP, as well as a large collection of Epic models which will be onsale at the show this year

Colonel Bills now stock the full range of the near-legendary AB Figures 18mm scale Napoleonics – unit packs only at the show I’m afraid, but still, wow! They also carry the complete EMP Games figure ranges – some extremely eclectic sci fi, fantasy and historical figures included! Finally, if you pre-order anything through the pre-order facility in their online shop for Britcon collection you will automatically receive a 10% discount on any pre ordered item. This offer includes any of the 4Ground, Flags of War, D’Arlo and Belt Fed Gaming items too…..how good is that?? Contact Colonel Bills via their website for more details and to place your pre-order

KR Multicase will be running some show special offers – buy 3 or more Standard Card Cases – £1 off of each one, 5 or more Standard Card Cases – £2 off of each one. Buy any Kaiser or Aluminium Case and get a Standard Card Case for £15 (Usual price £26.50).

Alan at Hoka Hey Wargaming will be launching another Border Reiver family and promoting their new range of resin terrain models.

Instant Armies will again be attending Britcon, which they tell us is one of their favourite shows of the year. This year they have 28mm and 15mm figures again painted and unpainted, as well as Team Yankee and FoW at great prices

Andy at Ainsty Castings will be at the show both playing in the Saga event and also exhibiting the full Ainstry range, as well as Gripping Beast Saga, Footsore Miniatures and the North Star ranges as well.

Dave Lanchester will have 100’s of Osprey boosk on sale, all priced from just £5 and some at 5 for £20. This year Dave will also have a number of boardgames (vintage) dating from the 70/80s, as well as lots of rules (vintage/retro) from just £3.

Asylum Wargaming are back agains this year, and sell West Wind Forged in Battle and War and Empire ranges. A great chance to buy yourself a new army with these new and existing ranges with a Britcon special offer of “buy 5 blisters get one free” (blisters at £10 per pack).

Donnington/Ancients & Modern will be offering the Mortem et Gloriam ruleset at a discounted price of just £40 at Britcon this year, with every purchase also getting a FREE MeG Card Holder as well! Simon Hall will also be running a Mortem et Gloriam Q&A at 5pm on Friday in the Cafeteria to discuss the MeG rules together with Richard Jeffrey-Cook talking about MeG list development. This is open to any one – so whether you are a current player or an interested party you are welcome to drop in and find out more.

Britcon also has a well stocked Bring & Buy – Britcon is great for a Bring and Buy with almost 200 players there all weekend giving maximum time for your stuff to be seen, and sold. We also help you out by giving you the chance to complete your Bring & Buy entry form in advance – download it from our website to save time and see if you can cover the costs of your weekend’s shopping by clearing out some long unused figures and models!

http://www.bhgs.org.uk/britcon-2017-traders.html for more details

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The Pike are all Museum Miniatures – my Longbowmen are Old Glory’s medieval range (that go under another brand) and the Knights were Donnington new Era 100YW types

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[madaxeman]

Thank you – thats pretty much exactly the reaction I usually aim for with my AARs !

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Warlord Games, and a few other of our traders have the hotness that is the new Konflikt ’47 rules and starter sets on sale!!

Dave Thomas also has Congo, the new Gripping Beast game for sales too.

Looking round the traders as they set up today we can also see a few copies of Leopard, the supplement for Team Yankee, as well as the latest Team Yankee models out there to buy

Plenty of photos from today on our Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/TheBHGS/

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Thanks Mike 🙂

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We’ve picked out some highlights and offers for you to look out for this year:

Donnington/Ancient & Modern have a brand new range of their 15mm “New Era” figures, this time covering the Armies of Islam’ to complement their existing Crusades era ranges. These new ranges have been drawing rave reviews ever since their release, so the addition of the Arabs to the mix is sure to be welcome. The full range will be available at the show for the first time this year

Lesleys Bits Box will have brand new Games Workshop boxed models at 15% off RRPP

KR Multicase have some Britcon Offers. First up when you buy any Aluminium or Kaiser case you will also get a Standard Card Case for just £15. GBP In addition, if you order 3 or more Card Cases you get £1 GBP off of each, and order 5 or more Card Cases it’s £2 GBP off of each one.

Colonel Bills now stock the full range of the popular Coat d’Arms paints and will have the full set at the show this year. They also have an ever-increasing range of “Depot Batallion” unique figures, including plenty of crew to go with 4Ground’s ranges of MDF carts and baggage. Colonel Bills also are hoping to have three new ECW civilian sets from the 28mm Depot Battalion range ready for Britcon. These are:
4 x Drinkers, Pub Landlord, Landlady. This set also includes a table and two benches.
Musicians and dancers. Violinist, penny whistle player, mand and woman dancing
Villagers – 2 x Pedlars, begger, Puritan husband with wife in scold, middle class man and woman, and a village idiot.
They also are working through a vast amount of 15mm 2nd hand castings, bagging them up aand prepping them for the stand – the plan is to have all these available for Britcon, so if you need some new (old) 15mm stuff to round out that army, The Colonel is the man to see
Finally, if you pre-order anything through the pre-order facility in their online shop for Britcon collection you will automatically receive a 10% discount on any pre ordered item. This offer includes any of the 4Ground, Flags of War, D’Arlo and Belt Fed Gaming items too…..how good is that????. Contact Colonel Bills via their website for more details and to place your pre-order

For 15mm historicals players we also have news from Colonel Bills who have just got the first tranche of the Fighting 15’s range of figures in stock and will have them available at the Britcon Trade Show.

Stu and the lads will have the full range of their 1410 period Tannenberg Medievals – Teutonics, Poles and Lithuanians at the show initially, and it’s still not too late to pre order via their website and get a 10% discount on the order price

Alan at Hoka Hey Wargaming is now the proud owner of Timeline Miniatures (MDF) Laser cut products, buildings and bases and will have them all on show at Britcon 2016. He has also expanded the rather nice Border Reivers range with a new family set and some extras for your baggage – such as sheep, cows and dogs. New for the show will be a full resin Border village (presumably this is where the figures to do their “Reivering” ?) which will be shown for the first time at Britcon 2016 – so head over to have a look!

Battle Foam are running a show offer, with a hefty 25% off for all Britcon pre-orders (with Britcon Pick Up) – simply place the order via their website at uk.battlefoam.com/, and when you are adding items to the shopping cart enter the Coupon Code BRITCON16 and the 25% Show Discount will be applied at check out (as long as you also select “Pick Up at Battle Foam attended Convention” for delivery too!

This cannot be combined with any other discount, and does not work for Custom Design and “Don’t want to wait – Ship Now” orders. If you have any questions contact them at [email protected]

Instant Armies will again be attending Britcon, which they tell us is one of their favourite shows of the year. This year they have 28mm figures both painted and unpainted from various manufacturers, and for the 15mm historical gamers their stand will have literally thousands of 15mm figures again painted and unpainted.

Asylum are a new trader for us this year, and sell the Mantic games range with everything from Dungeon Saga & Deadzone to Kings of War. They also major on the West Wind ranges (mainly their historical figures) with a lot of the ranges at 20% off RRP.

Britcon exhibitor All Rolled Up have recently released a range of compact folding neoprene dice trays to complement their award-winning wool felt dice tray range perfect for keeping those menacing dice in order that knock over your models. As well as dice trays and dice bags, they have an ever-increasing range of game accessories – including dry wipe-able cards and pens, printable howlite stone skull counters, card boxes, and plastic card stands.

If you need anything, they can bring it along. Just check out the range of In Stock items and pre-order through their online shop – and you will qualify for a 10% discount on combined purchases completed for £10 GBP or more. No need to pay in advance – just state you’re making a Britcon Pre-order in the Where Should We Send Your Order? box, then complete the purchase at the event.

Britcon also has a well stocked Bring & Buy – Britcon is great for a Bring and Buy, and we want to help you out by giving you the chance to complete your Bring & Buy entry form in advance – see if you can cover the costs of your weekend’s shopping by clearing out some long unused figures and models!

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