Monday 24 September 2012

Skirmish in Sidcup

Yesterday I went to the Skirmish Wargaming and Toy Soldier show at Sidcup. Skirmish is a twice a year event, is relatively small and is (IMHO) a great event to bring kids to. I brought my youngest daughter along and even dragged my long suffering wife to the show for a couple of hours. Here's a selection of my pictures from the day.  

Model Making courtesy of Armourfast Military Models
My daughter built a Jagdpanther and I was even able to find one of my photo's from Tankfest on my  phone to look at for reference
Assault in San Juan Hill using classic 1/32 scale plastic toy soldiers
This was a 20mm Normandy Firefight game run by the Whitstable and Herne Bay Wargamers. 
Hornchurch Heroes Gaming Club ran two games 
Medway Wargames Society run a Dust Warfare game with their excellently painted models.
Meanwhile Skirmish Wargames were involved in a shootout in their game Viva Mexico!.
North London Wargames Group run a classic Bug Hunt!
Rays dirty little secret...and he said he doesn't do 'fantasy'!
Gravesend Gamers put on a massive 40k game
The Bring-and-buy was larger and better than previous years and I came away with a few bargains
Rainham Wargames club ran this stunning participation game. 
Those guys arn't from Kansas
Although this is a small show - expansion at this location is probably impracticable - it is always a show I enjoy going to. There are not many traders but there is a lot of variety and plenty of bargains to be had. I came home with some more MDF buildings and the FOW book Monty's Meatgrinder plus a few other small items. Even my daughter was able to find a boxed board-game for a few pound which we played when we came home. All in all a very satisfying morning.

23 comments:

  1. Nice One Lee. The WW2 game was "Normandy Firefight" in 20 mm. It was put on by Herne Bay/Whitsable. Most of the show I did not get to see, as was running the 7TV game all day. But I had a great day and at least I saved money by not looking around. As ever nice to bump into the Rejects again. Probly seeyou in 3 weeks at SELWG!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yeh we are all planning on going to SELWG. I look on Skirmish as a warm-up to that show but I still managed to spend £60! Thanks for the heads up on the WW2 game (I'll amend my picture labels accordingly). I may try and get a copy of these rules. I've been trying to pick up several different WWII rule-sets to compare them against each other. Ideally I don't want to re-base my FOW figures but I would like to try them out with different rules, just to 'play the field' so-to-speak.

      Delete
    2. I should add, I realise these rules are for individual figures/squad level games but I have plenty of spare figures I could paint and base up to suit. What I think I'd like to do is have an 'alternative' to full scale battles that can be played on a much smaller table, but without having to buy new scenery etc. Normandy Firefight is one of those rule-sets that has caught my eye recently for just that purpose.

      Delete
    3. You might also want to check "Opperation Squad". Again single figure action. Both rule sets are simple in essence and quick to learn. (For Normandy Firefight I would suggest that each figure has a standing, kneeling and laying pose... Just for clarity!)

      Delete
  2. Replies
    1. Unless you are playing one of the Participation games its not the sort of event that will keep you there all day. I'm never there for more than a couple of hours at most. Its just the right size for a quick Sunday morning trip out.

      Delete
  3. Looks like you had a fun day. The big question is - will Ray ever live down having purchased....

    ....GW Space Marines? ;)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I was in shock when I found out. I may have to reconsider my association with the rejects if Ray keeps this up...LoL.

      Delete
  4. Looks a nice show, some of the smaller ones have a charm of their own

    ian

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I've always enjoyed this little show because the mix of traders and games is different from larger shows. I guess this is because there is more of an emphasis on Toy Soldiers as well as wargaming.

      Delete
  5. Great report, super photos. Looked like a really good day.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Nice pics Lee, I'm still in shock myself about you know what??

    ReplyDelete
  7. A lovely set of photographs of what looks like a cracking day out.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Replies
    1. Thanks. I didn't take as many pictures as normal but it was only a flying visit really.

      Delete
  9. Ray bought Space Marines? Shhhh. His secret is safe with us.
    Thanks for this, Lee, looks like a great day. Nice to see kid friendly gaming days.
    So do people there call it Skirmish in a Sidcup? You Brits have weird pace names.
    If there was a nearby town called Teacup, you could have a gaming day there and call it Tempest in a ...

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Even us Brits laugh at English place names. Its hard not to laugh when you drive through villages like Little Wallop or Thong. One of my favourites is in Dorset neat the Tank Museum. Whenever I go there we drive over a small bridge that crosses the River Piddle. One of these days I'm gonna have an accident because I'm laughing too hard to drive properly.

      Delete
  10. Some terrific photos, Lee. Looks like a perfect day's gaming. AND you got your wife to come - now that's a great result!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. She's been to a couple of other small shows with me but I try not to inflict them upon her too much. One of her more astute observations after Skirmish was the overwhelming wall of 'Fug' that hit her when she entered the main hall. As she put it "don't these blokes ever wash?"...

      Delete

Thank you for leaving a comment. I always try to reply as soon as I can, so why not pop back later and continue the conversation. In the meantime, keep rolling high!