Monday 16 September 2013

Colours Day 2 - Epiphany

I have seen the light!  On day 2, I managed to steal an hour from my game, to go around the show.  I made a beeline for the Bruce Weigle game I'd heard about on WD3.  This was every bit as good as rumoured...


The rolling hills and valleys were the best I've ever seen, and I can well believe he researches the terrain in a light aircraft!


I loved this village.  The minis are the old Heroics and Ros range, but beautifully painted and on very low profile bases.  Very tasteful.


It all looked very realistic.  The build quality was stunning.  I pestered Bruce for details of construction, and he was very forthcoming.  Such a nice chap.  I shall have a go at making some myself, later this year...

I completely failed to take photos of any of the other games, including the highly photogenic Hammers Slammers game, the excellent Marne game with many yards of hanging basket moss, the impressive yet bonkers Leipzig "skirmish" and an Eastern front game.  So... back to my Thapsus game (below) for games 3 and 4. Gaze upon the majesty of my reed banks...


Of the 4 games, Scipio won two and Caesar two, so I'm happy that the scenario is balanced.  I was also very pleased that three out of the four games came in under two hours, and the fourth just over 2, as 2 hours was my target duration (about as long as I reckon anyone can concentrate, at a show!).  


The most pleasing thing was that my To the Strongest "Lite" rules were easily picked up by the players, who were soon able to run without me, which was just as well as there were lots of visitors for me to chat to.  In particular, we had nine or ten children in total play across the four games, and they seemed to love it, each playing for the full two hours. Very well behaved and articulate kids, too, and all phenomenally lucky!  The nine year old with red hair (below) was amazing.


All in all it was a splendid weekend.  I met tons of people.  I have the worst memory in the world for names and faces, so this list won't be complete, but it was great to meet Raglan, nose-stick Matt, Barry Carter, Mark and (I think) Carlo, Henry Hyde, very nice Wargames Holiday chap, CoC Richard, Trevor Halsall, Phil Steele and John Curry, amongst many others...   Hopefully I'll be sending copies of the rules out to those who asked for a set, tomorrow.

Particular hanks to Ian Notter, Nigel and Jean for all their help in lugging 1000 metal miniatures and the terrain up and down all the steps, and helping to run the game.  Also many thanks to the team at Newbury and Reading for running such a well-organised event and giving me such a nice space for the game.

15 comments:

Ray Rousell said...

Some great looking games and great to see some kids getting involved as well.

Monty said...

Very well done, roping in the next generation of wargamers like that. Seriously, hats off to you for all your hard work! It looks splendid!

Sithlord2 said...

Wow!!! Amazing game. Love those minis!!
tom

Dalauppror said...

Greate blog post!

Paul Cox said...

Thanks very much for the game on Sunday morning. Simon and I really enjoyed ourselves, despite being responsible for one of Caesar's losses! Hope to meet up again at some future event.

Tarty said...

Amazing your right about that 6mm game wonderful. Those reeds you did look superb on the table Simon...nicely done.

Sidney Roundwood said...

Your Thapsus game was magnificent. As I mentioned on my blog, I loved the Nile and the boats. I think every great game has a boat or a train somewhere. I am sorry we didn't meet...next time, though!

jmilesr said...

It looks like a smashing success and, yes, I did gaze in wonder at the majesty of your reeds!

As a confirmed EIR player, I'd very much like to get a copy of your rules (if they are available)

Thanks
Miles

BigRedBat said...

Hi Miles, pop me an email at the address on the front of the blog, and I'll add you to the distribution. The rules are designed for cohort-era warfare, and work very well for EIR.

Cheers, Simon

BigRedBat said...

Hi Sir Sidney, yes I reckon a good ancient game needs:-

elephants (check)
waterway (check)
fortifications (fail so far)

I'm just working on a BIG boat, and sourcing some fortifications...

legatus hedlius said...

I enjoyed it too and wish I could have stayed longer. Always a pleasure to play on such splendid terrain and with such superb looking armies.

Doing some more on the galley this evening!

That red headed child ran rings around me though! Scarily on the ball!

BigRedBat said...

Was great to see you Legatus, and I'm sorry I pitched you against such a fierce and capable an opponent. ;-)

The galley is going to look splendid... the SELWG game is going to be quite a bit larger than Newbury!

AJ (Allan) Wright said...

Looks wonderful! I enjoyed the photos of the Napoleonic terrain table. Your game looked like it ran without a hitch. If you ever share your 'lite' rules with the public I'd be interested.

AJ

Neil said...

A nice how to article on Weigle's terrain, as well as photos of some of his other battlefields is linked here:

http://www.g-design.us/bruce/

BigRedBat said...

Neil, thanks very much- that is a fantastic link!

Cheers, Simon