Sunday, 9 February 2020

Beachhead 2020 (UK Wargaming event...and so much more!!!)

Chris Carr and I headed down South to Bournemouth, UK for BEACHHEAD 2020, a gaming event/tradeshow/multi-system tournament. We got there ahead of Storm Ciara to put on a Blood and Plunder demonstration game. It was mere 5 hour trip each way, but on the bright side, it meant we got to listen to my 10 Hobbit audio book (It lasted from leaving Chris's until right to the end of the M62...) The South coast has a pretty active Blood and Plunder community and as there was another demonstration game going on, we decided on the day to run it as a participation game, which worked out well for us...



Big thank you to the organisers, particularly Andy Tutton who took time out from organising to have a good chat with us on Friday, but all the other gamers demoing and the visitors. Being from up North, we often hear that it's not as friendly down South but its simply not true. We hope to get invited back next year, cos we'll definitely try and make it. And good to catch up with fellow wargamers from the South coast I've met, played or interacted with over the years...

There's a Facebook page for the event. https://www.facebook.com/beachheadshow2020/ and a non-Facebook page  https://beachheadshow.co.uk/

Entoyment Wargaming and Hobby Store is the local shop (or FLGS in social media terms) https://entoyment.co.uk/

As usual, Chris did most gaming supervision, while I talked about the game , models, buildings and ships, the period and game in general with those interested but that didn't have time to game,,,


We had the Galleon and Fluyt as the table showpieces...


We split the land gaming with the river, into Spanish v Native Caribs and Spanish v English with the 4Groundpublishing Spanish buildings you may have seen before https://www.4groundpublishing.co.uk/indie-design/tftb-spanish-village


Odd that we continue to use the Pirate flag and Spanish one while playing Spanish and English...


The Spanish village...


Spanish cannon overlooking the Native lands with their ancient structures...


Chris has finally finished painting his Native Carib hordes...


I had a cunning plan for thinning out his natives as you'll discover later...


My "Leon de Oro", the Golden Lion...


Of course, Chris's "Lady Karloyn" is actually better painted, but my galleon is bigger...


We need to do the Galleon battling at sea...


There were some truly awesome and inspirational games on display at Beachhead 2020, and I couldn't cover them all, but I'll give it a good go...

S.T.a.B. did a Napoleonic Skirmish game, "El Orgullo y la Passion", The Pride and the Passion



4 lads from along the coast at Weymouth put on a fantastic demonstration game. Sadly, I only spoke with two, Pete and Darren Amor, but you can tell from the pictures how much fun they had, on a great board...


With a better looking lighthouse than we have...


It's pretty awesome...


And they have a fort...



And a two on two ship battle...



And a 3D printed "wash" or "wake" for the ship. That's just class!!!



Fantastic!!!



Would have loved to have had a go at this...


What not to like about this concept? 65 Million Years in the making put on by PBA


War room put on the next game, "Bored with the Borgias" and its basically a whole Warhammer Empire Legion fighting some really old school Orc and Goblin horde


Nostalgia for the old days, for sure...



I really regret not getting some close ups of these old metal models...



The Battle of the Bulge by the Old Pikeys...


An excellent set up...


But don't fancy the Allied forces chances...


Eagle eye view...


The Pilgrims next to us put on a Bolt Action Participation game of Operation Dragoon 1944, the Allied invasion of Southern France...



Beach assault...


And a submarine pen...


Not sure how it turned out on the day, but the Axis were certainly looking hard pressed



Blurry, but I was back at our board... Still, went around again in a bit!!!


Clash of Spears, ancients skirmish game,,,


4Groundpublishing were there, this being fairly local to them and we seen some lovely board set ups...


They also had the biggest banners!!!


And some exceptional fantasy villages...


Self explanatory really...



Arnhem 1944 game





Apologies for not knowing what this is, but it does look impressive!!!


Wessex Wyverns and their Fistful of Lead reloaded...


Dave's Gang Bovington put on a naval game: Pieces of Eight


I was intrigued by this



Sadly, I didn't have time to learn much about it...



Legio IX put on Warmachine and Hordes


I remember the Trollblooods from my games with Menoth...


Another Arnhem battle: Frost v Graebner game



Nice set up, with Graebner's 9th SS Recon charge...



Chris doing his teaching work...



Abbot's Road Wargaming put on a Sharp Practice game in the Battle of Tacambaro



4GroundPublishing period appropriate crane for loading up with gold...


Glad I wasn't the only one taking pictures...



Legio IX also put on a Barbarian Invasion of Dux Bellorum


This looked pretty interesting...



 There was a lot of naval gaming going on...


And plenty of dress uniforms on display...


Beautiful display...





 The new unreleased dock set up from 4Groundpublishing was also on display...



That looks familiar...


Some of the buildings we haven't got yet from the Spanish Village. Fair to say we can't wait for the docks to get released...


Another demo game I wanted to try but didn't get the chance.



This was at 4Ground's, one of two demo's we wanted to do that they had.

Still, Nate Zettle has done play through if your interested... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WzY8CJSKUpE&feature=share&fbclid=IwAR3bCxIO8xLhBC6EFCwxuYNzOp3JWSOXDLFgIlVMUQZ08bqiqcaRQPn0USk




 Another massive game display...


The TITAN OWNERS CLUB put on the UK GIANTS 40k TITANS display...


Impressive is an understatement


Never seen anything like this before....


There were 10 different systems in the Saturday tournament... And 8 on Sunday!!!



 As you can see by my naturally cheery disposition, I'm losing in the demo... Chris at least seems cheerful when he does it!!!


Oh yes, I remember now. Filibustiers decimating my Lanceros (again)


Have to say these young lads were a pleasure to spend time with. Very polite and genuinely interested, a real credit to their parents...


There were plenty of Cos Play going on, with the Joker Squad (Star Wars re-enactors), Angel Effects (Marvel and DC), WW2 in form of 1st Dorsetshire Regiment among many more...





SAGA: Age of Magic



If you've gotten this far, well done. Remember I mentioned my cunning plan for thinning out the Caribs? Well, it was putting Golden Cap's warriors in for painting competition. ( Alas, the standard was very high)


Still, Captain Morgan got to stand on a barrel of his finest rum...


And Chris got to play Clash of Spears, which he apparently won. Look forward to getting another game system to play...


2 comments:

  1. Blood n Plunder! And Oak and Iron! That's was great event, shame I can't come and play around :-(

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