Across to Sheffield for the annual celebration of all things tiny. The show has settled down into a nice routine now, based in the Hallam University buildings - though we were on a different floor again this year. Quite handy, in fact, as one end of the room was the cafeteria, though as usual I went for a meal and a pint at a nearby pub, the Head of Steam.
All the usual suspects were at the show, along with a large number of games, about 50/50 participation and demonstration. I didn't get involved with any of the participation ones - with a fairly limited amount of time at a show, and lots of purchasing decisions to make, I begrudge spending an hour or more sitting at a game table. They all seemed to be getting a fair amount of custom, it must be said. All the expected vendors were there - Wargames Emporium with GHQ, Heroics and Ros and Baccus, and Scotia Grandel who also carried the new 2D6 range. Sadly the new releases aren't quite ready yet, so I confined my model purchases to a fair few GHQ packs for early war - the Panzer 1A which is a new release, the command tank version of the Pz 1, some Panzerjaeger 1B and Sdkfz 221, 231 and 232 armoured cars. To face them I got British A9 and A10 Cruiser tanks, and some Mk VIB light tanks.
I continued to circle, trying to decide what more to buy, if anything. Leven were there as always, but I don't really have any burning need for buildings right now. In the end I got some hedgerows and fencing from GS Miniature Workshop - they are based in Manchester and always attend JoS, and I always buy some stuff - you can never have too many hedgerows. I left about three and had a fair trip home - another good day out.
Showing posts with label Joy of Six. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Joy of Six. Show all posts
Sunday, 7 July 2019
Sunday, 15 July 2018
Joy of Six 2018
Having missed last year because of family illness (I have been to all the others since the start) I was keen to get there reasonably early, and despite the best efforts of some Cycling Fun Day I was able to navigate Sheffield's ring road and arrived in the venue about half ten.
There was a slight change of location this year - although it was in the same building we had moved out of the atrium (the "Heartspace") into a more conventional area, two long rooms connected by doors, with a canteen at the far end of one of them. Personally I htought this was an improvement - while the Heartspace looked spectacular, especially from three floors up, the layout was actually quite awkward, with games squeezed around the stairs, and some relegated to rather cut-off side rooms. Here everyone was in essentially one large space, and I don't think anyone will have felt they were out of the way.
The games were all good looking as usual - with the impression of large-scale battles given by this scale. For looks I would pick out the Manchester ECW board - it wasn't huge, but it was covered with buildings representing the city and the bridge to Salford during the siege. Most innovative I think was the Cold War Commanders (using the rules of the same name). They had a long table with three battles side by side. The terrain represented the same area on each (Wesel in Germany) but in different time periods - 1959, 1973 and 1989. They fought a Russian attack in each period simultaneously, using the appropriate troops and vehicles, but under the same CWC rules.
Purchasing was of course the most important aspect. I started off at H&R, just a chat really as I thought I had their latest stuff on my painting table already. But a casual question revealed that they had some brand new Fallschirmjager, not yet on the website, so I bought some of those. I went to the Baccus stand, but sadly the Panzer IV they had on display is not yet ready for sale - the gun barrel is true scale, which means it is too flimsy to be practical as a wargame model, so it will be out soon.
It wouldn't be JoS without a visit to the Leven stand, and despite not having a building project on the go at the moment, I had to pick up 4-5 assorted models. Down to the other end of the area to Wargames Emporium, where I got some of the new GHQ Lloyd Carriers (with and without 6lbdr guns) and some German Leichter Ladungstrager (essentially tracked quad bikes with trailers). I got a couple of Ospreys (Market Garden and the Valentine Tank) from Christopher Morris books, but my biggest purchase was a bunch of scenic items from GS Miniature Workshop. I got four of their "canopy woods" as well as an assortment of walls, hedges and palm trees.
All in all a very good day. I had lunch in the Head of Steam, though sadly they don't do rack of ribs any more. The trail to and fro over Snake Pass is tedious, especially with all the cyclists out int he sun, but worth it for a unique and very well run show.
There was a slight change of location this year - although it was in the same building we had moved out of the atrium (the "Heartspace") into a more conventional area, two long rooms connected by doors, with a canteen at the far end of one of them. Personally I htought this was an improvement - while the Heartspace looked spectacular, especially from three floors up, the layout was actually quite awkward, with games squeezed around the stairs, and some relegated to rather cut-off side rooms. Here everyone was in essentially one large space, and I don't think anyone will have felt they were out of the way.
The games were all good looking as usual - with the impression of large-scale battles given by this scale. For looks I would pick out the Manchester ECW board - it wasn't huge, but it was covered with buildings representing the city and the bridge to Salford during the siege. Most innovative I think was the Cold War Commanders (using the rules of the same name). They had a long table with three battles side by side. The terrain represented the same area on each (Wesel in Germany) but in different time periods - 1959, 1973 and 1989. They fought a Russian attack in each period simultaneously, using the appropriate troops and vehicles, but under the same CWC rules.
Purchasing was of course the most important aspect. I started off at H&R, just a chat really as I thought I had their latest stuff on my painting table already. But a casual question revealed that they had some brand new Fallschirmjager, not yet on the website, so I bought some of those. I went to the Baccus stand, but sadly the Panzer IV they had on display is not yet ready for sale - the gun barrel is true scale, which means it is too flimsy to be practical as a wargame model, so it will be out soon.
It wouldn't be JoS without a visit to the Leven stand, and despite not having a building project on the go at the moment, I had to pick up 4-5 assorted models. Down to the other end of the area to Wargames Emporium, where I got some of the new GHQ Lloyd Carriers (with and without 6lbdr guns) and some German Leichter Ladungstrager (essentially tracked quad bikes with trailers). I got a couple of Ospreys (Market Garden and the Valentine Tank) from Christopher Morris books, but my biggest purchase was a bunch of scenic items from GS Miniature Workshop. I got four of their "canopy woods" as well as an assortment of walls, hedges and palm trees.
All in all a very good day. I had lunch in the Head of Steam, though sadly they don't do rack of ribs any more. The trail to and fro over Snake Pass is tedious, especially with all the cyclists out int he sun, but worth it for a unique and very well run show.
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| Hastings |
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| Hastings |
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| Manchester/Salford - ECW siege |
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| Gilly 1815 |
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| Austerlitz |
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| Bag the Hun |
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| Normandy 1944 (Iron Cross rules) |
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| Normandy 1944 |
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| Zeebrugge Raid 1918 |
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| Horka 1708 |
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| Weser Cubed - three battlees in one |
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| Weser Cubed - 1989 foreground, 1973 middle, 1959 far end |
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| Battle of Britain - Check Your Six. |
Saturday, 14 January 2017
Leven buildings
I decided to paint up a number of Leven 6mm buildings I have had around for some time - I think most of them go back to Joy of Six in July. It was a mixed bag - three industrial buildings - a set of garages, a canal mill and an engineering works. Then there was a railway station building, a small garage with a petrol pump, and a group of garden sheds and a greenhouse. I also had a wizard's tower, despite the fact that I don't have any 6mm fantasy figures, just because it's such a lovely model.
These models are a joy to paint, especially the ones with brick texture, which really stands out well. I put a few of them on metal bases to do a bit of landscaping. Its a different sort of painting from doing models or troop, you have much more freedom in the choice of colours and a chance to be a bit inventive.
These models are a joy to paint, especially the ones with brick texture, which really stands out well. I put a few of them on metal bases to do a bit of landscaping. Its a different sort of painting from doing models or troop, you have much more freedom in the choice of colours and a chance to be a bit inventive.
Thursday, 24 November 2016
Baccus Paras
At Joy of Six in July I picked up a number of packs of Baccus British Paratroops - two of the standard infantry packs of about 100 figures (one each of Advancing and Firing) plus some of the support packs - MMG, PIATs, 2" Mortars. The support items come based on small discs about the size of a 5p piece, and I left some just like that, while others I based on my usual 1" square steel. The individual infantry come as strips of four figures - you get four command strips and 20 line strips in each pack. The command strips are the same in both packs, though the line strips are obviously different (one firing, the other advancing). So in the two packs I got 32 command figures in four poses, and 160 line figures in 8 poses.
It would have been nice to have a little more variety, though the figures themselves are very well sculpted, perhaps the best at this scale I have tried (competing for that honour with GHQ and Adler). For the basic infantry this wasn't really a problem, but I wanted a little more variety for the command, so I ordered a couple of Para command strips from Adler (as well as some other command figures, for which see another post). All told I made seven 1" square Command bases, and 23 infantry bases. I painted them in a three colour camo pattern - a base of khaki with spots of desert sand and a terracotta brown.
In addition I had been playing some IABSM, which really needs individual Big Men. So I made a dozen single figures, mostly command but also a few from the basic infantry, based on 5p pieces. Previously I had thought that single figure bases in 6mm was a bit too far out, but in fact with the quality of these figures it works perfectly well. This opens up the possibility of skirmish games at this scale, which I had previously ruled out.
Overall I would rate these figures very highly. Slightly more variety would be nice, but that's not a big gripe. There were a few casting problems with figures having one leg gapped at the ankle, and I lost 2-3 figures that way - not a high percentage. I have a lot more Baccus to paint - British and German infantry - and I see that they have just released a range of German infantry in the smock.
The pictures show a variety of the units, support weapons and single figures, and at the end a couple of pictures of the whole lot in their container.
It would have been nice to have a little more variety, though the figures themselves are very well sculpted, perhaps the best at this scale I have tried (competing for that honour with GHQ and Adler). For the basic infantry this wasn't really a problem, but I wanted a little more variety for the command, so I ordered a couple of Para command strips from Adler (as well as some other command figures, for which see another post). All told I made seven 1" square Command bases, and 23 infantry bases. I painted them in a three colour camo pattern - a base of khaki with spots of desert sand and a terracotta brown.
In addition I had been playing some IABSM, which really needs individual Big Men. So I made a dozen single figures, mostly command but also a few from the basic infantry, based on 5p pieces. Previously I had thought that single figure bases in 6mm was a bit too far out, but in fact with the quality of these figures it works perfectly well. This opens up the possibility of skirmish games at this scale, which I had previously ruled out.
Overall I would rate these figures very highly. Slightly more variety would be nice, but that's not a big gripe. There were a few casting problems with figures having one leg gapped at the ankle, and I lost 2-3 figures that way - not a high percentage. I have a lot more Baccus to paint - British and German infantry - and I see that they have just released a range of German infantry in the smock.
The pictures show a variety of the units, support weapons and single figures, and at the end a couple of pictures of the whole lot in their container.
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