I called in at Hammerhead in Newark recently, I tend to treat it as a sort of pre-Partisan as it has many of the same traders and games. In theory this show is all-participation, but I have to say that seemed to be in fairly short supply this year, with many of the games clearly just being played by the people who'd brought them and grimly ignoring everyone else. So just like the demo games at Partisan then.
It was a lovely sunny day, and I rocked up around 10.45 and was amazed to find there was a still a big queue to get in.
The queue was processed pretty quickly, and we all got wristbands of various types.
And inside it was heaving! As busy as Partisan. The Bring and Buy was particularly thronged, and I picked up a bunch of cheap trucks (not on my list but hey ho).
I suspect most people were there to shop, as I said in the intro, in principle this is all participation show but many of the games just seemed to be the usual 'club people bring a big game along and spend all day playing it' type thing. I did recognise some participation games from Partisan though, and some groups made an effort to enlist players. I wasn't too bothered though as I was mainly there to shop and catch up with people. A lot of the stuff was fantasy and generic sci fi which isn't really my thing either.
The huge 6mm Omaha Beach game had another outing. Lots of players signed up for this one.
I was very taken with this game of Fornovo, using a Fire and Fury variant.
More Italian Wars eye candy.
There was this lovely B17 bomber game with scads of aircraft flying around.
Anschluss Games put on their 'A town in Italy' to showcase their 10mm stuff. I'd already seen this at Partisan. I wouldn't have minded playing but there didn't seem to be an 'in' to this.
And a lovely Battlegroup Northag Cold War game. 12mm maybe?
Despite my grumbles it was a good day out. I caught up with a few people (sorry I missed you Neil), had a really good browse of the various book sellers, flicked through endless rules and scenario books, got some bargains on the Bring and Buy and at least got to see some eye candy even if I didn't buy anything. Completely failed to buy anything on my list, but the paint and modelling stuff I can get locally anyway.
We will be at Partisan in May, and are planning to run a game, which may be one of mine if I get it put together in time.....
I was a bit later getting there than you Martin - queue to get in still in evidence, but not as busy as I thought it would be. There were a lot of people leaving, so maybe an early rush?
ReplyDeleteLike you, I thought many "participation" games had snuck in under that label, but weren't really for anyone but the organisers. I thought some of the actual participation games were under-used by punters.
I was there mostly to catch up with people from my old wargames club in Newcastle, but did pick up some bits.
Neil
I recognised quite a few of the actual participation games from the previous Partisan. There may have been a bit of an early rush, it certainly thinned out after lunch. That was when I was better able to spend time going through all the second hand books and rules. It was a fun day out and everyone there seemed to be having a good time, which is the main thing g.
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