Blucher – The Wargaming Erratic

I was back at Recon in Pudsey for what is the year end show for me.

First a massive hats off to the Pit Gaming Shop who stepped in after last years event proved to be the last that Wakefield Gamers were able to host. https://thepitgamingshop.co.uk/

I like Recon – it is a good regional show and has that blend of traders, games to see, games to play and a bring and buy. The venue – Pudsey Civic Hall is equipped for such events so you get a nice bar and seating area and plenty of space to circulate.

Wintry but bright and sunny – the civic hall has good lighting unlike Fiasco venue in Leeds

I was late arriving this year and then played a game straight away, then discovered the bring and buy had been huge but also plundered very very quickly.

The Ottoman Turks defend a hill against impetuous Crusaders

I played two games at the Lance and Longbow Society participation table. First up I took the Crusader Centre for a Nicopolis 1396 era encounter. I quickly advanced and was promptly decimated by the defending turks led by Bob.

The crusader centre looked suitably heavy

In the second game I took a flank of the turkish army and got badly beaten up by the crusaders led by Andy.

Second game flank force – mainly bow although they did ok

Second games ends abruptly when the Porte is killed! on first contact! The dreaded dice throw check for leaders in melees…….

Rules were home adapted Lion Rampant and they are fun to play.

Always an enjoyable game with Steve, Bob, Will, Andy and the Wargaming Amateur! https://wargameamateur.blogspot.com/

I did have a good look round the show.

The first floor this year contained the very much enlarged bring and buy plus a HOTT competition.

In the main hall were the traders and games. Pit Gaming were located on the large stage – but I failed to snap their offering!

1941 – Mussolini launches his Greek adventure

Attack on Height 518 from the 1941 Italian invasion of Greece caught my eye. Ironically they were using Rapid Fire Rules which I had recently started to look at – I had got a free copy of the “reloaded” booklet somewhere last year and became interested in the original ruleset. Then I passed up a secondhand copy at battleground https://wordpress.com/post/thewargamingerratic.home.blog/7155

Anyway the guy hosting gave me a lot of his time to chat about the game which I appreciated, and is one of the benefits of a demonstration game – although this was actually a game being fought by him and two other gamers. So hats off to him.

tankettes are a feature of early war combat as well as towed artillery/anti tank guns. scale was 1/72.

Hill 518 was a few metres lower after this battle simply because the Italians deluged the location with so much bombardment – neatly illustrated in the game by the shellholes and destroyed trees