Monday, 2 February 2015

Vapnartak 2015 and "Her"

Sunday, 1st February.

The day started badly with England playing Australia in a one day 50 over cricket match and losing, badly. Australia were very good, England were....mediocre. This does not bode well for the World Cup that starts in two weeks time with Australia v England as the tournament opening match.

The afternoon improved as I went across town to Vapnartak 2015 at York racecourse. I heard someone saying this is the largest wargaming event in the UK outside London. I had a very pleasant afternoon, talked to some dealers, made some purchases and watched a few games and resisted the temptation of fish and chips.

One of the games brought back some schooldays memories. "Ilkley Old Boys" staged The Battle of Blastof Bridge, as written in Charge. This is a book I remember well and played some games using these rules. A fairly simple ruleset, the idea was to try to entice some youngsters at the fair to try wargaming. It seemed to be working.

Purchases. I am buying and painting a few Middle eastern figures, Ottoman and Arab troops, for mid-18th century armies. I wanted to buy some sample figures.

Ottomans from Dixons, two blisters covering half the Dixon range

Arab Militia spearmen

These Saga Saracens look fantastic

Saracen shield transfers, also from Saga

A couple of blister packs to complete another project 
£90 worth of figures and transfers. £500 of temptation resisted, in particular the Early War Miniatures 1940 French Army vehicles and figures.

Home and close the doors and curtains for the evening. B made a lovely roast duck dinner and we had a nice bottle of Cote de Rhone. We settled in to watch a film. Our first choice  was "300 Rise of an Empire" was a mistake, after 15 minutes we gave up, just in time to catch "Her" on Sky Movies. It was billed as a romance but it was good. Joachim Phoenix is a young actor who is starting to shine.


Sunday finished very well.

1 comment:

  1. I saw the pics of the Blasthof Bridge game, it looked terrifically nostalgic and made me decide to order my own reprint copy of Charge.
    I like the look of those Dixon Turks.

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