I had a great day visiting Crusade at Penarth today. This is my first show of the year and is quiet enough to be able to browse all of the traders and even get close to the bring-and-buy.
I only went with a short list this year which was to simply get the helmet decals for my German WW2 infantry from Great Escape Games. Stuart is always a welcoming chap and despite a recent home move as well as a relocation of their business he seemed in fairly good spirits. He did have some interesting sheets of textured fields with a variety of flocks etc which looked like they would add a lot to any 28mm skirmish game. (Maybe next time)
Mike at the Scene had the new Nissan huts from Andy on show and really looked good in the flesh. Again a purchase for another time.
Ironclad Miniatures are always worth a visit, especially if you are interested in In Her Majesty’s Name, or other Victorian/Steampunk game systems. I picked up a lovely set of 4 household servants carrying a variety of weapons to join my Lady Windermere’s Fan Club for IHMN. I also succumbed to a pack of Naval Landing crew wearing helmets and breastplates and wielding guns and cutlasses.
Rob Broom was carrying the extensive War-games Factory plastic figures range which are definitely going from strength to strength. He is also carrying some of the Sloppy Jalopy vehicles and figures. New in were a set of cricketers which looked suitable for A Very British Civil War, or even IHMN. I came so close to buying these but held out long enough to leave the building. Definitely worth a look since it’s an entire cricket team along with an umpire for £15. It looked like eveyone was armed in some fashion, and not just with cricket bats.
Both Warlord Games and Mongoose were present carrying their entire ranges. Some of club managed to get their gang purchases in for the up coming Judge Dredd Miniatures campaign; the Clegg Invasion force was new and looked quite interesting, as did the new Blood on the Streets supplement.
I stopped by BSD Hobbies who have a very extensive range of laser cut acrylic counters, markers, templates and game boards. They are able to cut to request and offered to provide their game boards in whatever colours the customers requested. Definitely worth giving these guys a look.
I met the owner of Madhouse Miniatures who I haven’t seen around before. They were carrying a range of pre-loved fantasy and sci-fi figures, but in addition they also had a selection of 3 foot square (£22) and 4 foot by 6 foot (£40) pvc printed mats. These covered a variety of arenas from desert, city-scape, grasslands, moon-scape, and space (various beautiful nebula types). He will be at the Lincoln Barn table event in May.
There were the usual suspects in attendance including Magister Millitum, Sergeants Mess, The Square, among others. There were also a mix of smaller traders who I haven’t seen elsewhere.
All in all a good event which gave me the opportunity to meet up with old friends before heading off at 1pm for lunch.
There were a lot of interesting demo games on display. If you visit the War-games, Soldiers, and Strategy Facebook page you’ll be able to catch sight of most of them. (Unfortunately I forgot my camera and my phone so don’t have any of my own pictures).
Games included;
an interesting one for a new 30 Years War game,
a Chain of Command game being run by the Too Fat Lardies,
a large Oldhammer (I mean 54mm large) game,
a large Winter War (WW2) game,
even a Turkish invasion of Cyprus.
there were a lot more so check out WSS (it’s also worth following them for more hobby updates)
https://www.facebook.com/WSSMagazine