The support for the WRG 6th Edition Ancients, Warhammer Ancients Battles and
Flames of War competitions was very good with 20 WRG 6th Edition Ancients
players, 10 Warhammer Ancients Battles players and 14 Flames of War players.
GAUNTLET’05 was an overwhelming success and enjoyed immensely by those that attended. There were a number of concerns from some of the WRG 6th, Warhammer Ancients and Flames of War competitors when they initially heard about the event but due to the efforts of Ian Crosby (Derby’s World Team Championships WRG 6th umpire), Trevor Allen and Mark Muslek (from WPS), they came along and were very happy with the event.
First and most important – don’t leave things to the last minute! Over the last 3 weeks I have made 40 hills, 6 marshes, 20 woods, 10 patches of scrub, based 40 trees, event signs, etc (plus I painted 12 Seven Years War Prussians, 12 Thracians and a Catachan Sniper for something to do in my spare time).
The support for the WRG 6th Edition Ancients, Warhammer Ancients Battles and
Flames of War competitions was very good with 20 WRG 6th Edition Ancients
players, 10 Warhammer Ancients Battles players and 14 Flames of War players.
Besides these competitions there was the Mini Mech-Warrior Tournament run by Pat Dickinson on both days plus some club members indulging in WarMachine and various other games.
We had Paul Mooney, Paul and James Martin put on a World War 1 Colonial game in 25mm using Heart of Africa rules. The game looked splendid with excellent terrain and figures. Unfortunately I did not get the time to talk long enough to them to find out if they were local. Hopefully they are and that they will be back on Thursday nights.
Mark, Frank and company ran a 6mm ancients Battle of Magnesia on the Saturday
and a 20mm WWI Western Front game on the Sunday. Again, excellent scenery.
Both games attracted the attention of visitors and it is hoped that games like these can be presented as participation games next year as a way of attracting new players into the hobby.
As with any convention there will be hiccups and we lost both Colin Sinclair and 1st Corps to last minute crisis’s
There are a number of well respected traders – Andy Dumelow, Veni, Vidi,Vici, Wargames Supply Dump and Baggage Train - supporting our show, they were very happy with their weekend’s takings and were asking about 2006 so it looks like GAUNTLET is on the gaming calendar. I picked up some more bare lead from Andy, a “Paintier 80” and sculpting putty from Veni Vidi Vici, some “Dick Garrison” figures from Wargames Supply Dump that will do as Future Wars/Necromunda/fantasy baddies, and some resin terrain castings from the Supply Dump. Some of their resin 6mm terrain is so good that I was tempted to get back into 6mm but the mountains of 25mm lead beckon. ………
The WRG 6th Edition Ancients competition had some illustrious names in the line up – current World Champion Graham Tilley and former World Champion Andy Smith.
All the usual armies (Nike Byzantine, Sassanid, Chinese and Macedonian) were
being used but there were some unusual ones such as Mongol, Russ and Abbuiyad
Egyptian.
The Warhammer Ancients Battles looked to be based on the Chariot Army Supplement which means that the opposing armies were historical opponents.
Besides the basic rule set there are a number of supplements produced by GW that target specific periods from the Ancients period – Chariots (Biblical), Roman, El Cid (Spanish) , Shieldwall (Dark Ages) and the latest is Byzantium – Hordes at the Golden Gate.
The competition that drew the most attention was the Flames of War as most of us have indulged in WWII at some time or other and this is a rules set that is catching on like wildfire. The vehicles and figures were well painted and the terrain well presented. Games can be over in 2 hours which makes it an easy game to play. I can see some FOW armies appearing in the club in the not too distant future.