Chris and I travelled over the Pennines and down a wee bit to Robin Hood country, to "T'Other Partizan" as they'd say in Wigan, at Newark showground near Nottingham.
From Liverpool to Newark via Preston is a leisurely 3 hours drive, so set off nice and early to get there for just after 8 to set ( I do like to be early)
So with the board set up by 0830 and the doors not due to open , we had a mooch around for a bit. The show had plenty of traders, and was easily the largest wargaming show we've done, with almost 50 demonstration and participation games (including another Blood and Plunder set up from Lee Upton of the Leicester Phat Cats, a regular at shows in the UK, and complete with an English Galleon, the sacrilege!!!)
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| The floor plan shows the size of the show, with Chris and I of The Ribble Warriors on PG21 (Participation Game 21) |
With doors opening at 10am, and with so many things to see and do for the visitors, we had plenty of conversations regarding the game, the set up, the ships and the models but nor dice rolling for over an hour. That all changed and before we knew it, it was gone 1430 and the crowd was thinning out... We packed away at 1530 as the show ended at 1600 and we hadnt had lucnh!!!
We had set ups for English/French v Spanish and Spanish v Native Caribs, at circa 100-130pts each as well as a Brigantine match up (English v Spanish). Sadly, my Spanish didn't win a game, even when I was helping and "allegedly" forgetting the Caribs additional rules...
Suffice it to say, Chris and I had a great time meeting new people and chatting about Blood and Plunder, took 40 odd pictures with my fully charged camera, and got home after a long day and, err deleted them after thinking I'd saved them when in actual fact I hadn't. I am truly sorry and heartily sickened by my own incompetence!!! I'll try and scour the internet for some, as there were a lot taken on the day by visitors...
Chris managed a few pictures on his phone, and we are fortunate to have a link to a you tube video showing the set up further down the page...
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| The addition of some new 4Ground era buildings has allowed our little fishing village to expand to a quaint Olde English town, with Iron Gate Scenery market stalls (bought at Britcon last Sunday and painted up in time for today) |
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| Similar picture as above but with the "Leon de Oro", my Spanish Galleon at anchor offshore... |
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| Across the river, the Native Caribs set up area with the 4 Ground Aztec scenery |
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| The bay offshore has a few more rocks and shipwrecks, as old Pedro the lighthouse keeper isn't very efficient... |
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| Some new shoals for the shore line, and a shipwreck |
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| View of the second wreck, from the other side |
The following pictures were taken by New Buckenham Historical Wargamers, so many thanks to them for that...
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| The harbour and bay of the board |
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| Chris's African Warriors |
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| My Spanish Cavallerias galloping over the bridge |
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| Always handy to have a helpful guide when you're charging off into the jungle |
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One of the ancient guardian statues is a suitable vantage point for the local wildlife...
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| My Spanish Soldados defend the village from a peasant mob... |
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| Another unit of my Firelock Soldados |
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| Spanish Milicianos take the ruined higher ground |
Henry Hyde has some excellent pictures on his Patreon page, we're on page 3...
Additionally, a kind chap called Alex Southeran (Storm of Steel Wargaming on YouTube)made a video of the day and was happy to share it publicly. It is well worth a watch the whole way through, to give you an idea of the show and the variety of systems. Its only 15 minutes and a great video.
But if you're only Blood & Plunder orientated, then Chris and I's board set up is37 seconds in to 1:07, while
Lee's set up is at the end, 12:52 onwards
Good looking game, one I think I missed sadly!
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