On Friday afternoon I went down to Newark along with Dave D, Martin and Scottie. We had a meal, drank 'some' beer, stayed in a hotel and were up 'fresh' and ready for Hammerhead on Saturday.
Dave was running his Cowboy game as a participation game. We were there to help, but unfortunately my help extended to helping load and unload the car, as I spent most of my time shopping and none of it playing!
Some shots of Dave's ever impressive setup! He doesn't do things by halves... hence I'm pleased to have drafted him into playing 15mm WW2!
This was my first time at this show, and it was pretty good. Lots of interesting traders, including some I've not seen at shows. I was particularly impressed to see GZG, who's space ships I have more than could even be reasonably required - mostly unpainted... I was also impressed by a company called White Dragon Miniatures, who's 15mm sci-fi stuff looked fantastic, and Mierce Miniatures who's Darklands stuff was also impressive!
I also got a chance to talk a bit with some of the Vanguard miniatures display guys - who had an impressive table and were kind enough to let me get some 'Stalker on Stalker' shots:
I did get a chance to dash round some of the tables and get some pictures, but these are unlabelled and presented for eye candy purposes:
These are by no means all the tables, just the ones I managed to snap on a quick pass!
Loot wise, I got a bit of a selection:
4 lots of 35mm tall Really Useful Box trays from Sally 4th. These should mean that I can concentrate my infantry storage in one 9ltr Really Useful Box rather than 4 other boxes which have a lot of 'dead space' in them due to the height of the infantry figures.
A 4Ground corner hotel kit, which was £12.50 but is uncoloured - instead it appears to have coloured paper to glue on to the walls. I don't think I'll bother with that and will probably just paint the walls.
Goliath Gang cards for Necromunda. I've got the Orlock and Escher ones, thought I may as well get the others. I also got the game tile expansion set. I prefer the idea of 3d terrain, but while I sort that out, the tiles will allow me to play once I get some models assembled.
I also picked up a cheap box of 5 40k Chaos Cultists and two blisters (buy one, get one free) of Darklands Beastmen like guys. One is a shaman (who will do as a Psyker) and the other has a massive axe/halberd type weapon and will do as a gang leader for a Chaos gang with a little conversion. No trips to the trading post for these guys!
I picked up a new Broken Toad brush, as the flat headed one I got at the York show has been really good. Some more PSC Panzer IV's to give me enough for a full company of those alone, resin fortifications for Dave's D-Day stuff (£2.50) and a lonely landing craft from the bring and buy. Some resin American aircraft via Dave which came from the US as part of our Wings of War project (so not strictly show purchases) and a couple of packs of 15mm Sci fin mini's from GZG. I've got some of these mini's I bought 2nd hand a few years ago with ships crew and marines, so I bought some 'Mercs/Irregulars' with a view to doing something small with them all.
The FoW cards weren't actually a purchase per say. At the end of the show we were approached and told Dave's participation game had won a draw for £25 to be used at any stall. The consensus was, as Scottie has a lot of older FoW stuff and none of the new edition books, that we would use the voucher at the FoW stall. I got a rule book, Soviet and Russian card packs. The German cards are to be split between myself and Martin. The rule book will be useful for Scottie and as a general resource, as will the Soviet cards.
Great couple of days out, great company from the guys and a few things to be getting on with! Thanks to Dave for driving/organising!
