Derby Wargames Show 2013

I like many others recently returned from Donnington Park after attending the Derby wargames show. This year was completely different for me as I usually have attended the Derby show whilst participating in Westwinds, Secrets of the Third Reich tournament. Unfortuntely this year after being back in Lancashire to attend my wifes Uncles funeral I only got to turn up on the Sunday.

Also this year was probably the first time I have been to any show where I had no shopping list and no real intention of buying anything (that is except for a few 4Grounds Anglo Dane Hovels for my youngest son's Vikings)

Talking of which, my little minion was in tow and we were both looking at joining in a few good games.

We arrived really early (no traffic on the M1!!) and had to queue till 10am. Queue I here you say..at Derby? well yes according to the lady at the door this year new rules meant they couldnt let people in before time, except traders, except demo gamers, except display gamers, except tournament players etc....

Anyway a rather relaxed day was had by both myself and my minion and I managed to catch up with a few old friends taking part in the Secrets tournament, saw Tamsin from Wargaming Girl fame but didnt get to chat and actually got to miss nearly the majority of bloggers that were at the show! ah well never mind.

My minion and I had a cracking game of Empire of the Dead which saw my minions Sherlock and Watson trapping Jack the Ripper in a narrow alley and pumelling the knife weilding maniac to the ground (top dice rolling from the minion)

Next up was a game of Dead Mans Hand, I really like this Wild West skirmish game and its a real good quick uncomplicated game. I ended up on the side with the Desperadoes and the minion took Cowboys. I completely ran foul of my son's amazing dice rolling and after a few turns his aiming repeater armed Cowboys had decimated my poor Desperadoes!

Hawk Wargames was next and I have already blogged posts about this amazing sci-fi skirmish game but wanted the young one to have a quick demo. In no time at all he had swooped his dropships in, destoyed the enemy anti-air, massacred the opposing infantry, collected the objective and retired from the combat area. Young un was on a roll.

After perusing all the trade stands and seriously tried to spend some money but to no avail we sat down for a game of Wings of Glory (WW1 style) the minion stepped into the cockpit of an Albatross DVa whilst I took off in a Sopwith Camel. A right old fur ball of a dogfight erupted with Camels trailing smoke across the skies before plumeting to the ground whilst Albatross's scooted about hardly noticing the damage they were sustaining. But then the tables turned, I managed to get onto my minions six and sent the dastardly hun flaming to the ground (start one 11yr old huff haha) then proceeded to blast the remaining Albatross out of the blue.

All in all a very enjoyable day out, my minion was on top form and was extreamly good and polite and enjoyed the whole day. Everyone we met and all those that hosted games were friendly and very very easy to game with so a big thanks to them.

Looking forward to next year but will probably be back on the tournament scene then.

I didnt really go on a major photo spree but below are just a few of the games/tables that caught my eye.

Yom Kippur War

 

 



Modern day Battle of Trafalger Square

Dystopian Wars

WW2