Partizan 2008 & Theatiki.

The club's visit to Newark's Partizan show was a success. It was surprisingly busy; I guess most of us were thinking people would be pulling in their horns when it came to buying wargames material due to the much touted "credit crunch." Instead, it seemed the crowded halls of Kelham were filled with people determined to spend while they could.

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I don't think there was a single trader who didn't have a throng three-deep at his/her stand, at least in the first half of the day. Certainly the folks from Cambridgeshire who make nice hand-crafted buildings for 25/28mm figures profited from the New Buckenham club's visit. We bought a sizable quantity of buildings from them, leaving their table looking rather bare!

Nigel Higgins of Anglia Models displayed a nice and very tempting range of 28mm Spanish Civil War figures. Old Glory were present with some superb WW1 and WW2 aircraft from their "Li'l Flying Fokkers" range in 15mm, just right for the popular Flames of War rules set.

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The games themselves were many and varied. A Mexican-American War of 1848 caught my eye, with its gorgeous uniforms. A Spanish Peninsula game featuring a naval landing party saw the deployment of two splendid and sizeable vessels attacking a port, all in 28mm. Other games featured a mediaeval seige complete with trebuchet and early cannon, a long and dangerous-looking bronze tube under a mantlet.

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All in all, a very successful event, and one I'm sure to visit again, possibly later this year at "the other Partizan."

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This year sees a number of re-enactment events in celebration of the French-Indian War 250th Anniversary. One of the best is "The Gathering on the Theatiki," near Bourbonnais, Illinois, on the weekend 12th - 13th July. As I'll be in the US at that time, I'm hoping to join my fellow soldiers of the 78th (Simon Frazer's) Highlanders in their struggle for supremacy against the French. There'll be numerous events based on those times, and several dozen merchants on Traders' Row. Anyone in the neighborhood is welcome to stop by to visit the 18th century.