Virtual VAP2021

I thought I might console myself with a virtual VAP this year via this site. So first up is something about traders.

Vapnartak is run by York Wargames Society volunteers and has a sizeable trader attendance. The York Racecourse site allows plenty of space although the organisers always ensure we all just about fit in!

In more recent times breakout space has improved yet I get the impression the number of traders remains unchanged? Maybe some of the games space has reduced. I am not sure on that.

The traders I have most often shopped with over the years have included

• Caliver Books – no links at present
• Dave Lanchesters Military Books – no links at present
• Irregular Miniatures
• Magister Militum
• Magnetic Displays
• Museum Miniatures
• Pendraken Miniatures
• Peter Pig
• S&A Scenics
• Sally 4th
• The Dice Shop Online
• The Last Valley
• Tumbling Dice
• Westwind/Forged in Battle

Caliver Books have always given me a steady supply of books and especially rule books.

I have also dipped into their figures occasionally plus the odd terrain purchase. At the show Caliver are the nearest thing to a street general wargames store before they became gaming cafes or just cafes and now just empty buildings!

Dave Lanchesters books have been a great source of the older Ospreys and I have often picked up Pen & Sword or Helion publications at great prices.

And Dave has some really excellent condition out of print books.

Irregular Miniatures provide simply a vast range of figures and items that is staggering. Always something tempting to buy.

No pic, I hope to have some news in another post in Irregular.

Magister Militum, Westwind/Forged in Battle and Museum Miniatures have been my preferred 15mm suppliers – mainly ancients.

All their figures have character despite their small size. I owned some 6mm Naploeonics back in the day but never got the bug so 15mm is as small as I go.

Funnily enough Peter Pig is another 15mm supplier yet it is his rules I have loved over the years – RFCM (Rules for the Common Man) remain the only other ruleset for pick up games I automatically think of for WW2 outings aside from my house rules based on the venerable Don Featherstone offerings. OK I do own Too Fat Lardies rules which really are the most engaging game rules in my view. However I have to be in the mood to play them!

Peter Pigs Bloody Barons have also found out my interest in the past although the figure scale has been 28mm or even Mike Tittensor’s SOA Bronze Age deriviative that saw 1/72 plastics take the field.

S&A Scenics have given me some excellent scenery of the “precise” kind and which give a nice “gamey” feel to a table top.

In stark contrast Last Valley offer you trees and hedgerows which do feel very realistic to me. I like both – and yes use both together on occasion!

Sally 4th have offered various companies products and I have often bought the Foreground pre coloured laser cut wood kits along with original citadel paints.

Dice are always in demand even if I don’t need them. The Dice Shop does what it says!

Pendraken Miniatures have also yielded some nice dice and I invariably get my bases from them. Alas their delightful figure ranges are just too small for me.

I have a soft spot for 1/72 or small 25mm or large 20mm (take your pick). So Tumbling Dice have supplied some nice Dark Age figures.

Last but not least are Magnetic Displays although I always remember them as Coritani. I buy their paintbrushes and occasionally paints. While their range of terrain features are always compelling and Renedra plastics have often figured in my purchasing, I always obtain spear reinforcements from Trevor & Paula who I just find are simply the most helpful and engaging of traders.

And of course there was the “infamous?” bring & buy scrum alley where pitches were offered on a time restricted basis. I could never make up my mind if it was any better than an ordinary bring and buy, except it crucially saved the wargames club members acting as intermediaries – double handling cash and items.

I managed to make some purchases. I never bought bad due to the selling mechanism so thats a good thing.

Whatever your wargaming activity I hope you are able to support your favorite traders despite the pandemic and the decimation it has caused to so many people in so many ways.

Happy Wargaming.