Above - Hall 1, the smaller of the two. Very well lit, but can get quite warm.
Below, Hall 2 - much bigger. Lighting not quite as good, but significantly cooler.
Onto the games!
The League of Augsburg can always be relied on to produce something impressive. This year they brought what I think was the only Napoleonic game of the day - a French clash against the Russians. I understand this was a significant portion of a mega-Borodino game.
A noticeable feature for me of the show this year was the cluster of traders hosting demonstration games of rulesets that support their figure ranges. Gripping Beast has of course being doing this with Saga for some time now, and I suppose the loose affiliation around the AVBCW milieu has done the same.
Claymore saw a couple more games in this sponsored/hosted genre. Amongst them was 'Dystopian Wars' by a company new to me - Spartan Games - and run today by the 6s2Hit online games shop.
The aforementioned Saga game from Gripping Beast - the game has taken off to such an extent perhaps other companies felt they had to follow wrt supported/hosted games?
The AVBCW Collective is far more loosely organised, but is very active in North Britain. Today was a game entitled Second Brampton, looked after by the Dumfries club.
Livingston split their table into SF and historical sides, to show the inclusiveness of the club no doubt and good for them.
A company new to me - Claymore Castings - were using Impetus to rule a game of Otterburn.
Urban War is a company that has been around for a few years now and is getting itself established in the tough SF genre.
The Angus club brought is a game of Prestonpans. Your eyes do not deceive you - that is railtrack running down the middle of the table. When I ignorantly suggested that this was a replacement terrain element for a forgotten piece I was informed that the rail track was accurate - but it had been horse-drawn carriages, not steam or diesel!
The sole Vietnam game of the show was presented by Border Reivers. Very impressive visually, lots of details. No idea what the rules were though! Possibly my personal favourite game of the day - though it had rivals - see below.
Bathgate were there of course, indefatigably running another in their series of participation games. Today it was their Highwayman game. Run fives times a show apparently - makes me tired just thinking about it.
The only [?] GW game of the day was from a team calling themselves the Borders Battle Bunker. Not sure if this is a club or a business? They came with a nicely busy WH40K game.
For a couple of years now, The Phoenix club of Glasgow has run games jointly with the Society of Ages. This year has been Plataea - see the latest WI for an article.
RAF Leuchars have been using the Scottish shows to run a campaign based on Band of Brothers.
The only ACW game of the day was by the Dunfermline club, using 15s and Fire and Fury. Even the Claymore webbie doesn't give the name of the battle and I don't know enough to determine it myself.
Early 20th C wargaming has seen a resurgence recently - outwith AVBCW. Falkirk came with a game set in Latvia in 1919.
The only historical naval game of the day was put on by Gourock, who presented an [I think] complete game of Trafalgar.
The biggest figures of the say were the 54s in use by Durham, who used them and Sam Mustafa's Maurice set to bring us Brandywine.
My greatest attack of Blastfromthepastitis was caused by seeing the Edinburgh League of Gamers version of Space Crusade. Wow!
Empire of the Dead is a newish Steampunk skirmish game. This setup brought by the Glasgow Games Group.
Another alternative to the GW stable is Malifaux. Kirriemuir brought a participation game to let people try it out.
Warhammer Historical may have closed, but Warhammer lives on. Today the banner was held by the Glasgow and District club, who came with a game called Las Navas do Tolesa.
The Glasgow club [Glasgow has four clubs] were running a participation game using the CY6 rules and models for the Battle of Britain. I was impressed with the combined speed/altitude indicators on the bases.
The Independent Wargames Brigade always turn up with something different. Today it was a Caribbean pirates game called Dead Men Tell No Tales.
The Iron Brigade always put on a top quality game. Today their table was smaller than normal, but perfectly formed. They used Saga to recreate a viking raid.
The Tyneside club, along with appropriate accents brought the only Asian game of the day - Sekigahara.
Last, but certainly not least, SOTCW came with Operation Kutosov.
Spending wise, my damage was limited to three new rules sets - Bolt Action, A World Aflame and Dux Bellorum. A trip into Brooks Brothers in the centre of Edinburgh nflicted much more damage.
More pictures - and in various sizes can be found at Claymore 2012
Thanks must go to SESWG for putting on a good show [again], and to the traders and clubs who helped them to do so. Hope you enjoyed the pics - and see you next year!
M.
