Friday, October 28, 2022

Hobby Roundup

 

I’ve been pretty quiet on the blog front for the last few months but this is just because I’ve been too busy doing a whole range of stuff in the hobby. I haven’t been able to build or paint much but boy have I been busy!

Wargames Shows

I’ve taken the Imjin board to Phalanx in St Helens, the Joy of Six in Sheffield, Claymore up in Edinburgh and the Other Partizan.

At Phalanx I continued the Imjin battle from Partizan refighting the second night and daytime action with a number of different gamers. I was really pleased to receive the award for best in show. Phalanx is the first show I ever exhibited at almost 30 years ago so it was good to go back to it.

Yours truly at Phalanx

At the Joy of Six I refought the last day of the Imjin battle but ran out of time to complete the game with just a few turns remaining. The show was absolutely fantastic with some amazing tables and games put on. I got to meet Per Broden and the guys from Little Wars TV. Peter Berry as always put on a great day.

It was my first time up at Claymore in Edinburgh and was really grateful for the chance to go up after a last minute change of plans meant I had the weekend free. The guys at Southeast Scotland Wargames Club generously allowed me to attend. I was then able to restart the battle on the first night and begin another play through. 

The refight continued through the second night of the battle at the Other Partizan in early October with the players choosing to push on with the relief column. All is nicely set up for the refight of the last night at Fiasco in Leeds on Sunday 30th October.

I’m booked in for Warfare at Farnborough in mid November, may be at Recon in Pudsey in December. I’ll be at Vapnartak in February and Hammerhead in March. I will take the board on its last outing to Salute in April.

Magazine Articles


I have fulfilled a bit of a personal ambition by having a couple of articles published. The people at Wargames Illustrated we’re kind enough to publish two articles about the Imjin board with one detailing the build and the other talking about the game design and approach.

The first article in issue 416 covered the background on the build whilst the second part in issue 417 covered the scenario, rule adjustments and other elements supporting running a game on the board.

Podcast

I was very kindly invited onto the excellent Hobby Support Group podcast to talk about the Imjin board. Tom, the host, and I had quite an in depth chat about the battle and the Korean War. I’m listening to all their back catalogue of episodes and it’s now my go to wargames podcast. They also have an active Facebook presence so please add it to your playlists.

Sadly Sean Clark of the God’s Own Scale podcast has decided to call it a day due to health reasons. His podcast remains the gold standard for wargames podcasts. His friendly, relaxed interview style brought out the best in guests. Appearing on it is one of my hobby highlights. Thanks to Sean for all of his work on the podcast and supporting the hobby in general.

Arnhem Wargames weekend

I was able to travel to Arnhem to take part in a small wargames weekend run by Arnhem author Chris Brown and his Special Projects In Twenty-eight mm (SPIT for short). We were located in a hotel by the Rhine about a mile from Arnhem bridge and it took place on the anniversary weekend. During the day I was able to visit the Oosterbeek museums, the bridge, catch several re-enactments and watch the parachute drop. 

In the evenings we wargamed! Whilst most of the games were larger scale bolt action or rapid fire games I took along my Arnhem board and my 6mm figures. I played in most of the games and had a tremendous time. Big thanks to Chris and his wife Pat for organising and running the event nd to all the other attendees for being such great sports, particularly those who dropped down the scales to give my game a go!


Save Gordon

Dan Hodgson of Reveille painting studio invited David and I down to his fabulous War Room to play a first run through of his amazing Khartoum game. Using hundreds of 6mm figures, dozens of beautiful buildings, his amazing hexon tile collection and numerous ships and boats Dan has recreated the famous siege. Dave and I were his test guinea pigs and over an amazing weekend we were able to have two run throughs allowing us to swap roles on the second day. We both had an absolute blast. Dan and his partner Julia were very gracious hosts and we got to meet his new dogs into the bargain.

Dan Hodgson on the left and David Wasilewski with Dan’s fabulous table

Dan is perfecting the set up and will be running it at Hammerhead in March. I can thoroughly recommend his game!

Dedicated Hobby Space

I have been working away over the last few months creating some space that I can pretty much dedicate as a modelling and wargaming space. I have managed to convert a room into a workshop and am in the final stages of decorating it. By mid November it should be complete. 

I’ve built a number of workbenches which can double as wargames tables and intend to spend the next few months kitting it out and organising it. Then I will be free to start my next major project.

Gaming 

My main focus other the last few months has been on the Great War. David Wasilewski and I have begun work on creating a Great War version of the All Hell Let Loose rules. I have been reading voraciously, watching the excellent lectures by the Western Front Association and working through all different kinds of rules mechanisms. We feel we are making pretty good progress although these things always progress at glacial speeds. Most of the core concepts and mechanics have been created so now it’s a matter of stress testing them. I’ll post much more about this next year.


So that’s it for my update, hopefully I’ll be back to a more regular posting schedule shortly.

Keep the dice rolling!

Charles the Modeller 



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