It's taken me a couple of days to assemble this show review, partly as it took me a little time to decide on my view on how I found the event. It's not the largest show on the circuit, in scale or in scale (if you see what I mean), but it is a nice little show within an easy sixty minute commute of Chez Elenderil. Joy of Six is dedicated to all things 6mm, which makes sense as it is organised by Peter Berry and the team at Baccus 6mm. It is held at Sheffield Hallam University right opposite the Sheffield rail interchange. With good parking and transport links including a park and (tram) ride it isn't a difficult show to get to.
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I haven't attended this show for a couple or three years and it is a bit larger than I remember it. It's held in three rooms and a connecting hub where the lifts and stairs are. One of the rooms also has catering facilities. All of the games on show are (of course) 6mm as are all of the vendors apart from one who had naval stuff in even smaller scales (Three Deck Dockyards). I almost bought some resin 1/4800 Russo Japanese war ships from them. When I got home I took a look at their website and the models are 3D prints using licensed STL files from The Wartimes Journal and at a much reduced price to buying them direct from WTJ's online shop. They do look rather nice too, even at 1/4800.
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| Commission Miniatures - Not bad for MDF |
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| And cheap enough to use en masse |
Sticking with the trade stands I have a confession to make, I didn't buy a single solitary thing! Not one. I know this is a bit of a shock and I think it must be down to the heat welding my wallet closed or something. I did want some stuff from Heroics & Ros but couldn't get near their stand as it was really busy for the entire time I was there. I did have a nice chat with the owner of Commission Miniatures, the chap who does the MDF 6mm figures. It's the first time I have seen them in the flesh (or the MDF) and they don't look half bad given the material is almost 2D. They have more depth than I expected and at arms length look almost as good as cast or printed figures. They have the bonus of being very inexpensive at £2 for 96 foot figures. Something that would make them attractive to me for a period I didn't want to spend a lot of time or money on (hint that's Napoleonic's). They do some nice MDF railway tracks too.
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| Rob's Scenics trade stand with pre-painted very tempting models |
Baccus were doing good business but I didn't need anything from them (want yes...need, not so much). I also spotted Brigade Models in attendance with both 6mm and 2mm scenics on display. I have quite a lot of their 2mm stuff but hadn't considered the 6mm offerings but they do look nice. Another good set of terrain was on display from Rob's Scenics. I had a look the Rapier Miniatures stand where painted and based 12 element DBA armies was retailing for around £85.00 which seemed fairly reasonable.
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| Baccus put on a fast play Battle of Lens 1643 |
Having wandered around the traders I turned my attention to the games. These were of a high quality with some really nice terrain on display. What was noticeable is that the vast majority were full scale battles and only two were not historical refights. As usual there were a good number of participation games alongside the demonstration games. I missed spotting a couple of games and a couple which were advertised were actually missing.
Baccus' Battle of Lens was using big bases so the entire battle only had just over a dozen combat formation a side. It's one way to make things move faster I suppose, restrict the number of units a side, but it doesn't really work for me as a concept. It sort of turns a battle into something like a skirmish game when there are only a handful of combat units a side.
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| First El Alamein courtesy of Maidstone and District Gamers |
The MAD display game was one of those who were keen to interact with passers by which was nice. A good chat ensued about how after the real battle Rommel felt Montgomery wasn't playing fair as he refused to follow up into Rommel's AT gun lines.
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| Lovely terrain here probably my favourite table at the show |
Total Battle Miniatures displayed the Battle of Lobositz 1756 Prussia v Austria and I think the opening battle of the Seven Years War. The terrain was excellent and shows what can be done in a small space.
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| Those troops look like an army and sit well into the terrain |
I spotted the Yarkshire Gamer taking part in Champion's Hill 1862 (I think). Lots of Adler 6mm on displayin this game.
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| ACW action from The Yarkshire Gamer himself |
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| Another rather nice table this time showing a Franco-Prussian war battle |
Per Boden put on a Bloody Big Battles game from the Franco-Prussian war. Again really nice terrain.
Overall some nice tables but for some odd reason I wasn't really feeling enthused. It may have been the heat but it seemed like a lot of the games had their own private force field around them that repelled spectators from getting involved with the players. Or maybe I'm just getting old and grouchy, who knows. At other shows I have friends who are running games or trading so I can have a chat but none of them are 6mm gamers so were not at this one. The jury is out on whether I will return next year.
