Wappinshaw 2013 - Key Info

Wappinshaw 2013 was on the 1st of June at the Kelvin Hall Glasgow

The Glasgow Phoenix Wargames Club meets on Tuesday evenings between 1800-2200 at Partick Burgh Hall.

The first Tuesday of each month is a communal game and an ideal time to introduce yourself.






Friday 15 November 2013

Glasgow Phoenix Club is Moving - and Recruiting!

The Phoenix Glasgow wargames club [hosts of Wappinshaw] is moving. Our premises, run by the SPK association of Polish ex-servicemen was shut down without warning a couple of weeks ago!

From Tuesday the 19th of November at 1830, we will shift to a new venue at the Partick Burgh Hall.

We were bursting the seams at the Polish Club, but the silver lining of us being discommoded is that we now have a far larger space and can therefore recruit. We play all sorts of games, but the balance are historical toy soldier games.

Membership fees for the next 6 months are £50/£10. There would be no expectation that you would pay up until you'd had a few trial runs.

If you are interested then feel free to turn up. If a bit shy or unsure, don't hesitate to get in touch.

Sunday 11 August 2013

Pictures from Claymore - 2013

Normally I pride myself on having show pics edited and shared ASAP. A shift onto a new computer and more importantly new image software slowed me down this time, so apologies for the delay.

Anyhow, Claymore 2013!

Held in the same location, albeit with anew name after the merger of some Edinburgh colleges, Claymore 2013 took place on the 3rd of August.

The pics!

 I've edited this set in sympathy with the galleries made available elsewhere, and focussed on my favourites and games I haven't seen get the exposure they deserved - so, a personal choice as always, based on my personal prejudices. George for example has given a good run down on the Wild Geese game by Border Reivers: TMP thread on Wild Geese and other Claymore galleries I've found can be found on the blogs of Bedford: Just Add Water and Jim: Jim's Blog

There is something of an alphabetical order to the listings below, but it isn't completely accurate.

The AVBCW collective produced another in their series of milieu specific games, with some interesting vehicles and vignettes adding some great flavour





Aberdeen brought a participation game based on the recent Spartacus TV series, which I hope no one under 18 has seen!



Angus showed their Wild West participation game, demonstration how the bits and pieces turn a layout from being sterile into having life and style


Border Reivers came with 'Wild Geese'. George has given a good description of the game and his experiences playing it in the link given above, with lots of pics.


One of the relatively small number of SF games that weren't Star Wars X-Wing participation games was by Dunfermline, who brought 'Rigel Infestation', a homage/widdle-taking of the Battle of Five Armies from the Hobbit.


One of the most distinctive games of the day for me was brought by Durham, who took us to Colonial period Africa and the French landings in Dahomey. I'm just back from a couple of days in Durham for the test match - something else that inhibited my pic-posting efficiency.





I thought the game by the Falkirk club was a nice one - taking us to AWI. Monmouth to be specific.





Not only have G3 of Glasgow brought their X-Treme Racing game to a number of Scottish shows, buts its been good to see incremental improvement as the year progresses. Experimental paper playsheets now with professional level layout and laminating.


GDWS went for a relatively ungamed aspect of WW2 - namely the raid/s on Tito's partisans. Bolt Action used to power this one along at a rate of knots.




There were very few 15mm games at Claymore. One of them was a take on Zorndorf by Gourock.




Inverness brought the only other 15mm game I recall. Lorraine 44, with a rare attempt at on table fog.




Kirriemuir have been touring their Charge of the Light Brigade game. Below we see the last of the Cherrybums bearing down on the Russian guns.




The League of Augsberg can always be relied on to bring something inspiring. Here the ringleader's own Beneath the Lily Banners rules used to moderate a nice clash in 28s.




Otterburn came with a very lovely Ancient British game, loosely based on an early scene from the recent film The Eagle.







The Phoenix Club - hosts of Wappinshaw - are always happy to support Claymore. After a couple of years of joint Phoenix/SOA games, it was a switch to WW2 for a bash at Kursk. Ringleader Bill in red below.




RAF Leuchars ran their participation game, based on the kamikaze raids on US carriers.


Wye Aye Banzai!




Suicide attacks fun for the entire family.


Last but not least, Spartan Games nudged along the growing interest in the Steampunk game Dystopian Wars




Thanks to reading to the end. More pics available via the Flickr gallery at: Claymore 2013
Thanks of course to the SESWC for another good show, and I look forward to Claymore 2014.














Wednesday 31 July 2013

Claymore is this Saturday

Claymore - the Edinburgh Wargames show - is this Saturday, the 3rd of August.

To whet you appetite for what will surely be a good show, here are some pics from previous years.

2012

Hall 1 (2)

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.

Hall 2



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.

League of Augsburg - napoleonics (2)



League of Augsburg - napoleonics (13)

League of Augsburg - napoleonics (5)


A noticeable feature for me of the show last 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.

6sHit - Dystopian Wars (3)


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?

Gripping Beast - Saga (3)



The AVBCW Collective is far more loosely organised, but is very active in North Britain. Here is Second Brampton, looked after by the Dumfries club.

Dumfires - Second Battle of Brampton (7)



Dumfires - Second Battle of Brampton (3)



Livingston split their table into SF and historical sides, to show the inclusiveness of the club no doubt and good for them.

Independent Wargames Brigade - Dead men Tell No Tales

A company new to me - Claymore Castings - were using Impetus to rule a game of Otterburn.





Claymore Castings - Otterburn (4)

Claymore Castings - Otterburn (5)

Urban War is a company that has been around for a few years now and is getting itself established in the tough SF genre.

Urban War (3)



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! 



Angus - Prestonpans (5)

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.

Border Reivers - Pony Soldiers (11)

Border Reivers - Pony Soldiers (5)





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.

Bathgate - Highwaymans Challenge



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.

Borders Battle Bunker - WH40K (4)





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.

Phoenix & SOA - Plataea (3)



Phoenix & SOA - Plataea (7)

Phoenix & SOA - Plataea (9)

RAF Leuchars have been using the Scottish shows to run a campaign based on Band of Brothers.



RAF Leuchars - Band of Brothers (4)

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.

Dunfermline - ACW


Early 20th C wargaming has seen a resurgence recently - outwith AVBCW. Falkirk came with a game set in Latvia in 1919.



Falkirk - Latvia 1919

Falkirk - Latvia 1919 (7)

The only historical naval game of the day was put on by Gourock, who presented an [I think] complete game of Trafalgar.

Gourock - Trafalgar (3)


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.


Durham - Brandywine (2)

Durham - Brandywine (8)

Durham - Brandywine (6)

My greatest attack of Blastfromthepastitis was caused by seeing the Edinburgh League of Gamers version of Space Crusade. Wow!

Edinburgh League of Gamers - Space Crusade (2)

Empire of the Dead is a newish Steampunk skirmish game. This setup brought by the Glasgow Games Group.

G3 - Empire of the Dead





G3 - Empire of the Dead (4)

Another alternative to the GW stable is Malifaux. Kirriemuir brought a participation game to let people try it out.

Kirriemuir - Malifaux (4)

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.

GDWS - Las Navas do Tolesa (9)

GDWS - Las Navas do Tolesa (10)


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.

Glasgow - CY6 BoB (4)

The Independent Wargames Brigade always turn up with something different. Today it was a Caribbean pirates game called Dead Men Tell No Tales.

Independent Wargames Brigade - Dead men Tell No Tales (6)





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.

Iron Brigade - Normandy 1054 (2)



Iron Brigade - Normandy 1054 (10)

Iron Brigade - Normandy 1054 (6)

The Tyneside club, along with appropriate accents brought the only Asian game of the day - Sekigahara.

Tyneside - Battle of Sekigahara

Tyneside - Battle of Sekigahara (7)



Last, but certainly not least, SOTCW came with Operation Kutosov.

SOTWC - Operation Kutusov (11)



SOTWC - Operation Kutusov (12)


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 inflicted much more damage.

More pictures - and in various sizes can be found at Claymore 2012

And from years past...


2010

Glasgow Phoenix/SoA were there again with a Plataea game.

Glasgow Phoenix - Punic Wars (2)


Glasgow Phoenix - Punic Wars (7)

Glasgow Phoenix - Punic Wars (9)

A notable memory for me from Claymore '10 is that I first became aware of AVBCW as a concept/milieu

AVBCW - Dumfries (8)

Naturally, the League of Augsberg were there with a great looking game

League of Augsberg - Revolution to Empire (7)

The single nicest piece on display [impo] was from the Iron Brigade WW2 Raid game

Iron Brigade - WW2 Raid


Iron Brigade with an ECW game

Iron Brigade - ECW (3)