Tuesday 8 September 2015

Partizan and Farewell to Kelham

On a complete whim, I headed up to Newark last Sunday for the final Partizan to be held at Kelham Hall.
It's only an hour away in the car for me now (gone are the days of the long trek south from Fife for these shows), the fact that it was to be the final Kelham Hall event, and these considerations, coupled with there being couple of games I particularly wanted to see, meant that when I awoke to a bright sunny Sunday morning, I thought "Well, why not!" And I'm glad I did.

The day was punctuated by regular "bump into's", and a host of opportunities to chat with so many people, such as Howard Simmons, Tricks himself (who told me of the plans for future Partizans), as well as David Imrie (good to get a chance to have a proper chat about painting and such like, after a few years out of touch), Dave Andrews, and Darrell Hindley who (along with Simon Chick) had a wonderful Swiss- Burgundian game on (apologies for the quality of some of the pics... just iPhone snaps, with no editing, I'm afraid).

 
 
 
 
 
 

The Derby club were out in force with a Grand Alliance affair, and chewing the fat with Stuart Parkin took me back to the good old days of early Partizans.


There's no show without a windmill, of course!

Also great to meet Andy (a fellow SK re-enactor) who had transferred his ECW passion onto the tabletop with a lovely little skirmish game.



Other games that impressed were a 20mm Culloden table,


plus the huge Dark Ages / Arthurian game.



The Nostalgic Bit...

I first went to Kelham in 1996, in the early days of The League of Augsburg, when we regularly put demo games on at shows throughout the country.

Here are just a few pics from Wargames Illustrated's, that feature games we put on back then... my tribute to Kelham.
 
 
 
 
 
 
Farewell to Kelham Hall...

And so, I'm inspired...

Yes, I came away feeling like I really want to do something fresh. Particularly as next year at the new venue, Tricks needs some more games to fill the large space available... so I said I "might" be able to drag something out for one or other of the Partizan 2016s.

But what to do?
My Pils-Holstein collection is growing as the main focus, but I don't want to bring that out until it has reached the right level - probably a few years yet.
My TYW collection?... that's a possibility.
Something new?... well, I have made up a shortlist of mini / set-piece projects involving just a few units per side. After all, I'm planning to have some painting time myself this winter, so who knows...


7 comments:

  1. Your TYW collection is always a show stopper worth seeing too.

    Jim

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  2. I am in Canada so I won't be there . . . but that being said, I second the suggestion of TYW.


    -- Jeff

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  3. Great to see you too Phil. I hadn't done any of the painting for the game so i was lucky enough to be in the Bodkins to take part in the playing of such a beautiful set up.

    The new venue looks very promising...... first picture I've seen of the place. Light and airy with lots of space sounds about perfect.

    Put a game on..... you *know* you want to! :>)

    Darrell.

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  4. Phil,
    Glad you made it. I couldn't get there which was a great pity. As you're well aware I've been putting demo games on at Newark since even before Kelham!! So frightening.
    I think either of your collections are worthy of a demo. Even Pils-Holstein with a carefully crafted scenario. I'm busy working on what I can deliver next year, maybe more teddy bear fur.
    Graham

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  5. I would like to see your TYW collection en masse and would even make a determined effort to see it in the flesh (or should that be lead!).

    Paul

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  6. Thanks guys.
    Time will tell on the display for next year. I've had the notebook and sketch pad out, and planning is starting to happen...

    Good to see you looking so well at the weekend Darrell.
    Graham - there is not a teddy bear on the planet who will sleep easy now! None are safe!!
    Phil

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  7. Thanks Phil, and feeling very well too :>)

    Darrell.

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