The other Partizan 2024

So Sunday last saw me hop into my car and drive down to the Newark Showground for The other Partizan Show.   As a bonus I managed to sneak in an illicit McDonald's breakfast muffin on the way.  I'm not supposed to eat stuff like this but it was my first Fast food since this time last year!  It was a fairly clear run down the A15 and A46 and it gave my car a decent run which it hasn't had for a while as we normally do long runs in Mrs E's big VW Tiguan.  I could tell I'd not done much in the way of long drives in my car as when I got back home after an 80 mile round trip my projected tank range reading had actually risen from 205 miles to 240 miles!  If only that meant extra fuel had miraculously formed in the tank eh?

Parking at the Showground was simplicity itself even though the car park was already busy.  There was a long queue to get in but this moved along quickly.  Entering the pavilion the first thing to strike me was 'wow, this is big'.  Really, really big! Plenty of traders around the walls and games in the central area.  In fact it's almost too big as there is so much to see and it takes a moment for it all to sink in.

Swedes at Lutzen. Advancing on the Imperial centre

The display games were my first port of call as some of my re-enactment friends were putting on a refight of Lutzen 1632 in 28mm.  This was an epic undertaking with over 2,000 figures on the table.  I dread to think of the weight of lead involved or the cost of figures, painting and basing!  Ian who was providing the Imperialists joked that he could feel the weight of lead he was transporting pulling his car sideways in bends!  I then had a chat with the guys from North Riding Wargaming who were putting on an Alter of Freedom game using 10mm figures.

 

Chris Kemp's Not Quite Mechanised game

 

I spent a pleasant 20 minutes chatting with old friends from the Monday Night Gamers (you know the ones who meet on Tuesdays) as they were running an Edgcote game, and a Not Quite Mechanised game of Longstop Hill, Tunisia in 1942 and manning the Northampton Battlefields Society stand.  Well done those chaps.

The huge Lutzen battlefield.  The town is burning at the other end!

Looking around the games there were at least three ACW games of various sizes, the same for Viet Nam and a lot of games involving beach landings.  The later included a huge D Day participation game.  I spotted a couple of western shoot out games as well.  All in all the standard of games was stunning.

Bloody Omaha participation game.  Nice to see some younger folk having a go.

The above game in close up the detail is stunning

Second day at Gettysburg in 10mm using Altar of Freedom

Another D-Day game.  I really liked the empty battlefield feel of this.

A samurai game which was simply stunning to look at

I tried my hand at the Wargames Developments participation mini game next.  These are always interesting and usually play out in under 15 minutes.  This year it was the armoured drive to relieve the para's at Arnhem.  The game consists of a line of squares each with a mini playing card allocated to it.  The card shows the level of German resistance and some squares have hidden events under the cards!  Cards are valued as in Bridge (well it is a Bridge too Far) with ace counting high and suits ranked Clubs, Diamonds, Hearts to Spades.  The allies win all ties.  The allies are dealt five cards face up. German cards are face down.  Each turn the allies advance one square, or stay put to either resupply or reorganise.  Resupply brings their hand of cards back up to full strength, reorganisation discards the current hand for a re-deal.  Used cards are discarded and not reused.  The hidden events are that the US airborne troops have not secured their bridges and the armoured thrust is stalled for a turn and that a German counter attack happens back down the road which has to be dealt with (Gerry gets an additional card back down the road which has to beaten before moving forward again).  Very simple, very elegant and very frustrating!  I got to the south bank of the Rhine at Arnhem on the last turn so it was a bridge too far for me.

Seven Years War as the action heats up

I then headed off to do some shopping.   First up was Pendragon for some Litko flight stands.  These are two part items a hexagonal base in one pack and the uprights in another.  This allows you to buy different size hex bases and different length height posts.  At ten stands for £9.50 you can't go wrong.  Next was Warbases where I had to restrain myself, they had a full range of the Cactus Creek western shootout building kits and I was mightily tempted by a couple (well rather more than a couple if I'm honest).    What I really wanted was some of their Antonine Miniatures 2mm stuff for Strength and Honour but it turns out they don't bring those to shows...pooh!  However, I got a special code to allow me to buy from their website postage free for 48 hours after the end of the show.  I then bought some western shoot out figures from Empress Miniatures (along with a chat with Paul and Christine) and some Hunnic Noble cavalry from Baccus.  By my standards this was a very restrained shopping frenzy.  Then it was back to looking at the display games.

Lastly I wandered over to the Strength and Honour participation game being run by Mark Backhouse.  This was a really popular game and deservedly won the best participation game award.

Strength and Honour game, this was hanging in the balance at this point.

After all this excitement I had a leisurely drive home and even managed to drop the roof and and have the full cabriolet experience in my elderly tin-top VW Eos.  I'd say 'feel the wind in my hair', but I don't have any 😊.  So all in all a great day out and I really recommend it.

Post script

Sorry for the delay in posting this.  It seems that I had one additional. unexpected acquisition from the show...Covid!  It's so 2020 my dears.

Oh Bugger!