Stockton on Tees and nearby Thornaby played host to a very friendly and inviting show I had never previously attended.
Located in a Sports Hall on the University site I was a bit late arriving so only just got a parking space in the adjacent carpark, although in fact there is plenty of parking around the site generally. The Railway Station at Thornaby is 800 yards away plus there are bus services to be had according to the well detailed Pendraken Show website. It even has pictures of the road junctions you will encounter on the way in.
And I have not even talked about the event itself!
I found the venue bright (something I struggle with at the Fiasco black hole in Leeds). There was less catering than many shows but enough – coffee/tea and snacks plus an outdoor food wagon. With a big shopping centre nearby you were not going to starve.
But it was the wargaming we had all come for in terms of food for the brain.
This is not a big show in the sense of a Salute or a Newark. However it has some particular aspects which make it a rich experience. Quite a few reenactors, living history groups were dotted across the show – I guess the point here being a lot more than you might normally see.
Then there were two talks in a dedicated room – one about the spanish civil war and one about anglo-scottish border warfare. I failed to get to either simply because there was so much I wanted to see elsewhere in the show.
The Sponsor is Pendraken and entry was not only free, you also got entry into a prize draw – some 20 odd prizes being offered.
So what about the show – traders, games etc.?
In that respect you would be right to say it has the same sort of mix as many other shows.
Here are some selected photos
The Schlieswig Holstein War (the first one!) Demonstration caught my eye and I will post again about that encounter.This RPG horror in Venice had some impressive paper buildingsThe theme of paper was to the fore with these “flats” – a massive Spanish Succession WargamePaper Buildings plus some humour all made for an engaging demonstrationNaval interests were also to the fore with this galley action being hard to missAnd this medieval naval battle was equally vibrant and a participation game into the bargain of which there were I guess 50% at the showNo daylight but a well lit arena and the viewing area allowed people to easily sit out for a while The usual traders plus some local and regional companies were present. Irregular Miniatures have a stand which itself is veteran class yet I still love to examine figures in the flesh like these 20mm metals which have character. Sorry despite the infinite ranges of newly printed 3D they seem to be too accurate for my liking when compared to say Irregular’s metal sculptures.Irregular do lots of basic ranges in lots of scales complete with guns and wagons. Late on I found this participation game I had missed several timesI have only ever dipped a toe in the 6mm water below 15mm scale but these League of Augsburg 10mm figures were quite enticingThe show was celebrating 10 years in its various formsNeedless to say no564 did not win any prizes
All in all a very enjoyable day out (that was prize enough) and a show that will be on my list for 2024.
Next week if all goes ok I plan to go to Recon 2023.
I did not go to Battleground with a shopping list and as it happens none of my usual interests drew my wallet out. However I did pick this book up at the bring and buy – yep I don’t do desert war in any scale!
Every year I get a smattering of castles in my house courtesy of GCN+ and pro cycling coverage of racing.
With helicopter views of the peleton weaving its way through the land the cameramen get bored and snap the odd castle.
These castles to my mind look different to those I visit and if nothing else, for the modeller in me, show the variety of designs that were built. Of course a lot of these differences are due to a few hundred years of subsequent occupancy but even so you can see that the location often dictated the floor plan and levels.
Here are some previous years efforts even including Hussars in Hungary!
The Giro offered up some interesting castles this year. And as usual Italy is replete with historical narrative.
Hawkwood fighting for the Pope oversaw a massacre by his condottieri here in 1376The main fortress remains imposing
Next up Julius Ceasar would have to queue these days to cross his famous river
Crossing the Rubicon – its a bit busier these days……
Another city in the “Romagnol” also has fine surviving medieval fortress
Forlimpopoli
Forlimpopoli suffered in medieval times – it was a battleground for Papal control of the area.
Forli another city on the Via Emilia where in medieval times the Ordelaffi family fought the Popes for its control, finally being dominated after it was siezed by Cesare Borgia.
And Faenza too……..dominated in the 14th Century by the Guelph Manfredi
Into the mountains and we switch to Napoleonic themes
Rocca d’Anfo initially a Venetian fortification was expanded by Napoleon in the 1800’s
Not quite as many images this year but these aerial shots give a different perspective on some amazing historical sites across Italy.
Partizan at Newark Showground made a welcome return for me in 2022. Last visited in 2019 this show or rather the pair – “the other Partizan” that happens in the Autumn, had both become a regular destination for me.
This years show built on my trips to Vapnartak (masks still very evident as well as much caution) and Hammerhead (obvious relief as constraints eased) so I should not have been surprised that Partizan was “many in earnest”. I felt there was a lot of catching up conversation going on, which maybe meant slightly less participation? Yet the enthusiasm was so obvious – people discussing, looking and yes playing games – simple pleasures throwing dice and moving pieces.
And there was the other simple pleasure of admiring other peoples work. Conversations seemed easier and the enjoyment palpable.
For once I had no shopping list – 2 years of on online buying had emptied my pockets? Well no – quite simply I have been sticking to my projects and actually painting my figures and even gaming. That has meant less erratic moments for the Wargaming butterfly.
First up are the games that were on show. I concentrated on just a few for photos. on reflection mats seemed to be a theme for me!
commercial mat – not to my liking but I liked this Pike and Shot display by Mr Mike Spence.Plenty of eastern cavalry – polish?I really enjoyed reading Robert Frosts The Northern Wars 1558 to 1721, where a lot of actions involved storming defences – as shown here.Excellent read if you can get a copy.The pikemen gather
The 40mm Mr Ian Smith and friends was a glorious display of Napoleonic soldiers and fantastic scenery.
Napoleonic infantry columns advanceArtillery drop into actionCavalry advance beneath the walls of an imposing townThe British Light Infantry and redcoats appear in the distanceI really liked the town wallsExcellent attention to detail made this a model come alive
The Immortals presented an excellent medieval action
The terrain was the first thing that caught my eye which is terrible because the figures are absolutley fantastic. But the terrain caught my eye becuase it looked so good in itself!The painting schemes used here are simply fantastic even though I know medievals lend themselves to being pictured.On the hill English foot await the cavalry attack while admiring the fantastic detail of the grasslands that surround them.Behind the french lines are some equally fantastic buildings of another town – all scratch built.This table won the “mat award” for me.It was all about the Bretons and their succession……….nearby I think was Mr James Morris and Chums? anyway his dark ages game was fought over Sherpa fleece – it was good and he kindly showed the process of turning this product into a usable table mat – top marks
Over to another Eastern European battle – no details gathered
traditional boards slightly textured worked ok for me.
Fast forward to 1833 and Westbury Wargames with their “two brothers war” in Portugal where all manner of nations piled in for another go just a few decades after Wellington and his Portuguese allies had fought their way through to Spanish held France.
Traditional scenic boards with some nice set pieces and out of shot excellent buildings (again scratch built)
And thats it. Well I did get distracted by mats and terrain this year. The terrain mats are a gift for the time hungry and space hungry gamer which is the most common type of wargamer I suggest. I think it is more the case that, at shows where displays are a product of a different amount of effort the textured cloths seem to be the better bet for “a look”? However I have seen some tables where the “hirsute” cloth swamped the poor figures who looked as though they were wading through 2m high grass.
All in all the displays I found were excellent and inspired me to wargame, which is what it is all about.
What did the other big sell do to me – the trader tour!
I impulsively fell for some pendraken and warbases material – invariably so. Usual suspects being bases plus some dice.
Gamers grass seems to be winning my texture competition and I am going more bland as well. You live and learn – my Austrian rifleman have demanded sunglasses to tackle the luminous green grasses they are striding through………..
The man in the “corner” shop hailed from Birmingham and brought many an interesting box for the 1/72 gamer. They were at T22 in the trader zone – see map at the end.
I fell for this station……..
But was too late for its mate the Italian church – curses.
I took this warbases church insteadLong gone – these out of production miniart romans are not everyones cup of tea even if the artwork is enticingeven rarer the cavalry are very nice. Not sure when my interests will return to the late roman period?
Chariobaude offers up a great range of painted Late Romans.
My current preoccupation is middle nineteenth century where in plastics you get the “plastic soldier review” much disliked Austrians. Failing this in 20-25 mm its really just Irregular Miniatures at each end so to speak 20mm or 28mm. I have posted a picture of 20mm Neapolitans posing as 1848 French at Rome elsewhere on this blog.
Irregular 20mm Neapolitans posing as French 1849 at Rome. Austrian Artillery are always useful while the Carabiniers will get head swops – wearing kepis or stovepipes to become something useful. Plastic Soldier Review liked these horsemen……
I will be back in the Autumn for the Other Partizan
The free figure was nice – I might even paint him. A nicely laid out and well organised show – very well attended! A hobby back to some of its social life
Yet more reading matter has arrived for my current flavour – the Anglo Saxons. I should say Anglo-Saxons here is deemed to cover Northumbrians, Mercians, East Anglians, West, East, South Saxons and the men of Kent. And of course their top adversaries – the vikings.
Tom Holland authored Athelstan in penguins monarchs series; Harriet Harvey Wood has chosen Edward the Elder as the focus of “the making of England”; “The age of Athelstan” by Paul Hill is one of his 4 books that look at the world of the anglo saxons; “Cometh the Hour” by Annie Whitehead is a novel about the Mercians.
So currently I have just finished Paul Hills “The Anglo Saxons at War 800 – 1066” and Gareth Willams Osprey No27 Combat series book – “Viking Warrior versus Anglo-Saxon Warrior”.
And there are yet more books for me to read
On impulse I bought this book having read about anglo saxon fortifications in Paul Harris’ anglo saxon warfare 800-1066 – one thing leads to another……I already had part 1 and my currently parked Normans in the South project must include some stone castles surely?stretching the boundaries of my self imposed dark age end date of 1100 but again there are some books that I find I cant resist – Medieval Italian warfare being one theme.At the other end of the period we have the romans. I have enjoyed both authors through their other publications. They seem happy to go out on a limb and it does not hurt to read about contrary thinking when it comes to history or archeaology for that matter.I like Francis Pryor and this is a book that I have meant to read many times – now I have no excuse.And wargames rules – well I can’t resist. Another Neil Shuck recommendation. I have read through it and will hopefully give it a go maybe using my dark age armies when they are ready.strelets 1/72 anglo saxons gathering…..
Back in 2018 after a trip to Sicily my Condotta armies project began to go off the rails. The reason was simply that a visit to Palermo fired up my interest in the Normans rather than say the fabulous Baroque architecture of the city.
And then I picked up a copy of Early Medieval Italy by Chris Wickham (MacMillan Press) 1981 – ISBN 0 333 26672 2. I still have not read beyond page 60 yet not through lack of interest. It looks a great book (on flick through) for the period of Lombard domination of the Italian peninsula. And this period does not seem awash with books of this type.
a rare look at organisation in early medieval Italy?
It simply reminded me that before the Normans arrived in Italy and after the end of Belisarius the whole of Italy was subject to numerous invasions and fragmented rule. Great for wargames and as a backdrop to “imaginative wargaming”.
Within weeks my Condotta project had been abandoned and I was back in the “dark ages” or early medieval period. It was not long before I switched to Carolingian history with two books about Charlemagne.
Before that another chance bookshop visit resulted in two books I quickly read. The first “A Brief History of the Normans: How the Viking Tribe Came to Conquer Europe by Francois Neveux published by Robinson english edition 2008 ISBN-10 1845295234. The second was “The Lost King of England” by Gabriel Ronay published by Boydell Press ISBN 0 85115 785 8 (paperback 2000).
The book about the Normans is unusual I suspect – a french writer translated to english or should that be Anglish? The Anglish have written extensively about the Normans as they are a key part of the “british empire” mythmaking. After all, all Empires need to make a narrative, a back story and myth making is a key part of it. Professor Neveux comes from Caen so Normandy is his back yard, so to speak and he would have first hand slightly different source material and crucially secondary material/opinion differing in perspective. The book gets a “ok” score on “good reads” with lots adverse comments about poor proof reading. And yes there are plenty of typos. However the value of the book was its purpose to start sometime before the popular english view of the Normans as in “in 1066 the Normans appeared from nowhere and invaded England”. And of course except for a little damp eyed look at the Saxons of Alfred the English quickly move onto “Anglo-Normans” and their inevitable journey of conquest.
So I can see why this book was not that loved. It maybe reads far better in french? The point is that it made me think about that period prior to 1066 a bit more and tying into my recent discovery of Chris Wickhams book I was swirling around the 8th Century.
A refreshing look at anglo saxons in a european context
Gabriel Ronay’s book was a surprise – I had no idea Aethelings could travel so far. I liked the story of Edward the exile and along with it a view of a more joined up northern european world than many history books would have you believe.
A good read in my view although I am not so sure about some of the connections the author makes about the Aethelings themselves.
And then nothing. Zilch. I had quite a long gap where wargaming dark age history took a back seat. But boy did I read. Now reading about history is the thing for me. My wargames interests such as they are, are driven by what I am reading. If I am erratic on wargaming at least I am a consistent reader of mainly military history. The books come first not the games, figures or rules.
I read Peter Heather’s monumental Empires & Barabarians which caused me to reread his Decline of the Roman Empire in short order plus I read two crazy books (again from charity shops) plus some I bought at the Colours Show at Newbury.
The Newbury “buys” were Carolingian Cavalry published by Osprey & Vandals by Simon McDowell published by Pen & Sword.
This is definitely not a book of illustrations for those who see Charlemagne as a an Emperor surrounded by classically dressed roman troops albeit with uniquely quirky Carolingian Crested Helmets. Instead you get a stoic view of the Carolingians defending their fragile EmpireA passionate story “for” the Vandals
From the Charity shop I bought Arthur & British Kings – the TRUTH! by Martin Russell published in 2016; plus St Albans – a pocket history book (published in the early 1920’s).
Martin was brave to include Arthur and TRUTH in his book title. It was on sale at Fishbourne Palace https://sussexpast.co.uk/ – a location which does convey a feeling of lived in Roman Britain to me.
Despite being written 100 years apart and under very different contexts, reading them together meant I could easily compare them. And the core story was there. So even though Martin was intent on giving us chapter and verse about an apparent medieval fiction he managed to provide the essential continuity story of what we would call today the south of england.
I suppose that would also be more the “west saxon” or wessex history as well. I actually enjoyed his book although it required a lot of concentration to retain the story line about Arthur he wanted to convey.
The 1920’s St Albans pocket history did what it said and in short order told the story of a great city with an ancient past. It was also an easy read and not too “empirish” in its style, given when it was published the British Empire was still the “force” across the globe.
Enjoying Simon McDowells “The Vandals” (published by Pen & Sword 2016 ISBN 978 1 47383 770 6) I descended back into the Later Roman period – another of my favorite reading subjects. “The Vandals” does a good job of explaining the journey of a much maligned tribal grouping. The authors passion for his subject shines through.
“Patricians & Emperors” by Ian Hughes (published by Pen & Sword 2015 ISBN 978 1 84884 412 4) shows an equal passion. He has been a prolific late roman period author. Ian’s writing style was harder for me although I admire his dedication to dig out effective mini biographies of the various shadow like players at the end of empire. This makes it an unusual book style unless I am mistaken?
Tempting mini biographies of each of the “faint” rulers at end of empire
I enjoyed both these books and they drew me into the period. It was not long before I was thinking about Visigoths and Merovingians though. I am digressing yet again!
The Peter Heather double header of “The Fall of the Roman Empire” and “Empires & Barbarians” (published by Maxmillan 2005 ISBN 0-333-98914-7 and 2009 ISBN 978-0-333-98975-3 respectively) are worth the read and with a combined page count of 1077 give you lots of background on the main story. It never ceases to amaze me that Apollinaris Sidonius still seemed to project an almost classsic roman world when the dark ages were apparently already well underway in places like the british isles.
My go to read of the “fall”A new (for me) and revealing story of the wider europe offering a different view of the Roman Empire and its long northern european border world
These led me to the Penguin Classic of Gregory of Tours and his history of the Franks translated by Lewis Thorpe. I bought the 1974 paperback publication in a charity shop by chance again. I tend to browse randomly and just buy these older books on the hoof. It leads to my meandering across subjects, one of the pleasures of history I think.
No stirrups in Gregory’s time but that is the fun of this contentious period – every day archeaology throws up new facts about these times and inevitably provides new material for historians to argue over
Already a good read, I have yet to finish “Gregory” as my mind was turned yet again this time by a magazine article about “The battle of Vlaardingen” in Medieval Warfare VIII-3 published by Karwansaray B.V.. That sent me forward into Ottonian times. And before you know it another charity purchase brought me back to “Charlemagne – The Great Adventure” by Derek Wilson published by Hutchinson in 2005 ISBN 0-0917-9461-7. I enjoyed this book which at just over 200 pages sticks to the subject. Derek even ventures into the more modern usage and views of Charlemagnes Empire.
a good light general read about a ruler usually ignored in the english history themes of the anglo saxons versus the vikings which at this time tend to be introspective.
So back to Gregory then – nope – Another Pen & Sword publication took me sideways into the anglo-saxon world of Offa or should I say Mercian? This is the underated King of the Mercians – note not angles or saxons or english as that is reserved for the ever popular King Alfred. Chris Peers booklist is african and asian so this seems a one off by him. It shows I think in some of the content he chooses to dwell upon which reduces the books value. The fact that I have never read any book before on Offa means that he has done some good though in atttracting me to this subject. In fact my tortured view of the dark ages of these british islands is – the end of Roman rule, celts again, lots of squabbling anglo saxon visitors – british/welsh in retreat – sutton hoo – then the vikings and alfred (brief recovery), vikings, norse, danes visiting and staying again before the great fall after Hastings. Not much else. The Mercians seem mercurial.
good introduction to the Mercians and their battles – a good corrective for the overt West Saxon story of the english
“Offa and the Mercian Wars has got me thinking otherwise. And the net result is more dark age “anglish” history to consume before I get back to Italy and the Normans. Still it has sustained my painting of anglo saxons or maybe thats now mercians as well.
So I have progressed my Saxons which will make two elements using my 80mm x 60mm IMPETUS style bases. I had used a colour theme from an article about the battle of Vlaardingen in Medieval Warfare (vol 8 issue 3). I then decided to add to the red/green/yellow mix by using a few shield transfers.
the red/white and green/white shields in the centre are two examples of the shield transfers.
I used “Little Big Man Transfers” and followed the instructions about fitting to shields with large bosses. Because I am working in 1/72 or 20/25mm I had to choose to cut down 28mm transfers or use some 15mm ones. I think I got lucky because there are some small shield 28mm saxon transfers in the range that just about matched what I needed.
A mixture of transfers on the round shields and straight painted on the kite shields
In the event some transfers were a great fit like the figure with axe and shield raised. Others like the soldier with the whirly black and white design at bottom left (above photo) needed the transfer extending as there was too much unused shield at the rim.
The grounded shield was a handpaint while the black and red whirl shield to the right was a little big man transfer
For some of the designs I ended up overcoating with the nearest colour I could match. Yes I lost some of the dirt and sword cut markings but compromise was required.
Overall I am pleased with the result.
These guys are mainly well armed and protected so represent the sort of troops a signficant leader would be able to arm and mobilise
I just need to add some vegetation and then its on with another batch of these saxons.
So these figures will make me just 2 impetus style bases. I opted to switch to 80mm bases after finding an old solo wargamer article that gave some ideas for budget gaming say in a period that was not your main interest. Typically you ignored the traditional DBX rules of figures per base but still kept the frontages.
And then I discovered IMPETUS wargames rules – a great set that liberated my attitudes to basing. Essentially the rules offered a compromise between 15mm on 80mm and 28 mm on 120mm wide bases. They showed plastic 1/72 figures on the 80mm or 120 mm base widths. Either way the basing in Impetus was aimed at making the showing of your figures an important part of the game. It also promoted a diversity of figures showing more a mini diorama than rank upon rank of identical soldiers.
The beige clothed spearman gets short shrift in the plastic soldier review
I like the strelets anglo saxons as they offer a range of armoured and unarmoured figures with perhaps a greater emphasis on swords and axes than some would like. As usual Plastic Soldier Review did have some complaints like the spearman above holding his spear awkwardly at shoulder/chin level and being a bit two dimensional. I rather liked him and kept him in even though he is one of the few in these two element groups not wearing mail.
I like the poses mid centre – a Thegn? in a cloak with upright spear and another in mail with a type of club
I have moved to plastics because my butterfly interests have caused me to pursue so many different periods and armies usually to dead ends.
So at least my budgets are low! Still perhaps that makes it easier to abandon the plan or project? Sadly I think it would be the case with metals – actually it is, as I possess plenty of 1970’s unpainted metals!
middle right and above some nice animated shieldwall figures get ready to attack
I do feel that strelets anglo saxons have a certain animation which is not always present from their sculptors. They are a bit chunky and a bit inconsistent. I can live with the chunky well fed chaps and I like height, shape and size irregularities in my figures.
The red/green/yellow colours that thread their way through this set are based on an article from Medieval Warfare
Medieval Warfare published by Karwansaray of Zutphen, Netherlands ran an article that caught my “Normans in the South” eye simply because of the date 1018. Just two years earlier a Norman pilgrimage to Mont Saint’ Angelo in Rome kick started the Norman adventure in Italy. So I was after some context and this innocent article led me David Bachrach, Count Dirk III and the Ottonians. I digress, the battle of Vlaardingen was fought between Count Dirks men and the Ottonian forces which included men from from Cologne, Liege and Utrecht as well as Lotharingians. The Ottonian or Frankish soldiers are shown in an interesting mix of red, green and yellow shield markings. I decided my saxons would look a bit like some of these men of the Empire.
Go buy the magazine MW VIII-3. Since I started taking these magazines I found numerous interesting articles and I like the mix of content – good photos, artwork and book references to expnad your reading round the subject.
As I said I get two elements here as I will put 11 or so figures on a base with some suggestion of a shield wall, maybe just forming.
So I get two options – saxons for any anglo saxon army plus these guys can be frankish troops who may even head south under the Emperor Henry II into the early years of “Normans in the South”.
The Wargaming Erratic 