Cruising the mean streets

One of my birthday presents was a vehicle from Great Escape Games in The Chicago Way series - a Cadillac V-8 Town Sedan. This is a soft resin or hardish plastic model, with a metal driver. It went together well - the body/chassis is the majority of the model, and the rest are mostly accessories like the wheels, lights and so on. The exception is the roof/windows, which go together as a four part box and then need to be put on top of the body. In fact it sits quite well inside the top of the body, and I didn't glue it in so that the car can be shown open topped. The other thing I did was cut the windows out - I think it looks better with open spaces there than any attempt to paint it as glass. The driver is perfectly fine, not hugely characterful but does the job with or without the top on. I left him free from glue as well, so the car can be shown as empty if needed.

In the pictures the car is sitting on the Cigar Box Roaring Twenties Battle Mat, with various figures and bits of terrain - I am planning a game on there soon, but I have a bit of building to do first.

FIASCO

Over the Pennines to Leeds, and the Fiasco show. Not a fiasco, but a bit of a disappointment - Wargames Emporium were there, but they only had a very small selection of GHQ. I am planning to move my WW2 back in time a little from Western Europe 1944 and do some Desert fighting - I had planned to get some of the earlier UK tanks - Matilda, Crusader, Valentine, that sort of thing, and something for them to fight. In the end all I got in that line was a pack of 2pdr Anti Tank guns and a pack of Panzer IIs. I did pick up a large felt cloth in sand colour and some suitable hills from S&A scenics. Other than that my visit was the usual struggle not to buy too much stuff for new periods - I got some new Wild West rules by Chris Peers (the Law of the Gun) but that's OK because I already have plenty of figures and a town to fight in. I did succumb to Crossed Lances jousting rules, mostly because I fancied some knights by Curteys. At least I managed to resist the new pirates rules from Osprey, with accompanying North Star figures, though I suspect that these will be in my future at some point. Every time I go to a show I wind up buying far more than I will have time to paint and use - I still have bags of figures I bought at shows in the eighties.

As for the show itself I'd say it was an OK middle-sized show, nothing special but a good opportunity to browse a large number of vendors and see what's new. No huge theme today - maybe more Bolt Action and less FoW in the WW2 space, and I saw little Saga, by contrast with other previous shows. The hall felt very dark, mainly because the roof and walls above head height were hung with black cloth - presumably for when the hall is used for shows. In fact the lighting was fine, but the overall impression was gloomy. Worth the trip, in my opinion - it isn't Salute, but then what is?