Show Report: Carronade 2011 in Falkirk

It has been several years since I have been to a wargames show with out my sons (my wife has been working most weekends, so I generally have to keep the boys occupied at the weekends. I love taking them to shows, but it generally means I can only stay there for around an hour before they get a bit bored. Consequently, the only shows I have attended have been the reasonably local ones at Forfar (Skelp) and Kirrimuir (Targe). It made a real change over the weekend to get away with one of my gaming pals (Mike) and just spend the day soaking up the ambiance of the event at Carronade 2011 in Falkirk.

I must say I really enjoyed the show. If fact, most of the people I spoke to felt that it was the best Scottish wargames show for several years, beating it’s only real competition, Claymore, to a place in our hearts. With over 30 traders in attendance and as many demonstration and participation tables there was plenty to keep us all occupied.

Mike and I spent an enjoyable afternoon taking part in the Critical Mass Games participation game, which I lost just at the wire. It was great to actually try out the new Critical Mass game, and get to use some of the figures we already bought and are furiously painting up. I will hopefully do a follow  up post later in the week with my full impression of the Critical Mass rules and the the game we played.

Shown here are just some of the photos I took during the day, some I will comment on, others you will just have to take as they are.

Critical Mass Games participation game table, showing off some of their new pyramid-like resin buildings. Fielded on the table are forces of the ARC Fleet and the Kaamados Dominion.

 

This ancient Chinese game is worth a closer look. The table was beautifully put together and the detail was fantastic. Here are a couple more photos of it.

Quite a nice Warhammer 40K table, although to my taste I would have preferred to have seen more handmade terrain, rather than so much of the Games Workshop kit stuff! Still, I wouldn’t have minded playing on it.

A nice Russian Civil War table from my local club, Aberdeen Wargames Club (I’m not a member, but like to give them a shout out when I can).

Kirrimuir Wargames Club’s  lovely Viking raid participation game.

 

OK, so moving on from the tables, lets have a look at some of the interesting figures that were on display from the traders.

Scheltrum Miniatures new German Civil War range of vehicles and figures were on display, if only in their bare resin or undercoated states.

A couple of early 20th century examples of “technicals”, again from Scheltrum Miniatures German Civil War range! I get the feeling that these are going to be very popular amongst the A Very British Civil War gamers.

Here are a couple of photos of some miniatures from Four A Miniatures. Firstly a very attractive set of pirates, and then followed up with some “squid-headed” cultists. They had some other lovely figures on display as well. Since getting back from the show I have gone online and bookmarked their webshop, ready for future use.

 

Finally I would just like to mention Design 28 Miniatures Steam and Steel range. Unfortunately, I didn’t manage to grab any photos while I was at Carronade, these are pinched from Design 28’s website. However, I must say that, in the flesh – as it were, these miniatures were the find of the show for us.

I have added the Incident at Reichenbach set to the top of my want list now. A fine steampunk rendition of Holmes, Watson, Moriarty and Moran. Mike bought the Mycroft Holmes set on the spot!

As I have a distinct bias towards science fiction and fantasy, for a more general view and plenty more photos you may also want to check out the Wappinshaw blog.