TARGE 2015 Wargames Show Report

I finally managed to get to a Wargames Show (the first one this year)! Having missed four shows that I had hoped to get to (Salute, Carronade, Claymore and the cancelled SKELP), I was determined to get to the final show of the year, TARGE in Kirriemuir. The weather was not looking favourable, as when I got up on Saturday morning there was a scattering of snow on the ground, but the forecast looked reasonable for the day so we set out. 

I will add, I also have been suffering with an annoying cold this weekend, and that might have put me off if my show visits had been a little more successful this year.

My plan for the show was to put quite a lot of stuff in to the Bring and Buy sale and enter three items into the painting competition (two of which were the Warbear and the Stag Rider from the current Dead Earth Games Kickstarter). Beyond that, I just wanted to absorb the ambiance of attending a show, chat to a few people and hopefully get into a participation game with my sons. All of this was achieved, so all in all it was a successful day.

I didn't go with any great purchasing plans, other than possibly picking up a box of Fireforge Miniatures Templar Knights, which I need to complete my planned retinue for Lion Rampant.

The display of wonderful tables was up to it's usual standard and I have tried to capture most of them here (apologies to the owners of the North West Frontier game, my photos all turned out blurry and had to be abandoned).

Excuse my ignorance on the subject of some of these games. Trying to keep my two boys interested for the day generally meant I didn't get time to linger at that many tables to get details:-

Commands and Colours Ancients.

A nice WW2 game.

This Bolt Action game looked great, with a nice mix of laser cut buildings and a scattering of palm trees.

I was very impressed with this Piquet game, Not my period, but very attractive!

This was the best photo I could salvage of Old Meldrum Wargames Club's Quatre Bras game.

Another attractive Napoleonic game, this time with a winter theme. Very well done!

I shall be using this one for inspiration for my own Ronin game. I would be more than happy to have to table set up at home!

This Renaissance naval game was gloriously colourful and the sea table worked really well!

 Laser cut terrain certainly is featuring on a lot of tables now. As much as this table looks spectacular, I think i would like to see a little more work in making these buildings more "lived in".

I struggle to get enthusiastic about WW1 games, but this table certainly looked interesting.

A more modern naval game this time, and just as successful as the the other one.

Finally we have the Glasgow Gaming Group's A Picnic in  Jurassic Park  game. Based on a very slimmed down version of Saurian Safari. My sons had a go at this one and thoroughly enjoyed it, one bagging a pack of raptors and a stegosaurus with a flame thrower, and the other taking down a charging T-Rex!

I did OK in the painting competition, getting a 3rd place for my Celtos bust. Unfortunately the Dead Earth Warbear and Stag Rider didn't win anything, but they were attracting a fair bit of attention, so hopefully that will get people looking at the Kickstarter...

As for my purchases of the day, this was based on how well my stuff sold at the Bring and Buy. As it happens I did very well and made enough profit to fund my pre-ordering 7TV second edition as well as the Army Starter cast from Crooked Dice. I also picked up their new Otherworldly Invader and The Weed (which is huge...).

I also got a box of the Fireforge Templar Knights.

My prize for 3rd place in the painting competition was a £15 voucher to use with Reiver Castings. Spending this proved a little tricky, as they don't produce any periods that I have gamed in before. However, I was very taken with their Border Reivers range, and ending getting some of them. So I guess I have moved into a new period (a chance to use my Peel Tower...).

Finally, I also had a small win on the raffle.

All in all a good day out and great to break my wargames show fast...