Battleground 2024

 More views of a great show

And my purchases included these beauties

Finally, big thanks to Colonel Bill's, their last show

They're still online so don't forget to show support folks

Battleground show report.

Braving wind,snow and rain,we travelled down to Middlesbrough to attend Pendraken's annual show,but at a new location,this year.Everything was great,free entry,free parking,and good demo/participation games-we put on our award winning Khambula game,which attracted many keen Zulu enthusiasts as well as general interested "punters"-Traders seemed to be doing well and the bring and buy was very busy all day!

Setting up the game,and our display of Zulu and British weapons/books etc.

We talked and talked and talked!!-this is such an interesting period to all sorts of people,due to the two famous films,"ZULU" and "ZULU DAWN"-when the action started,even more people were drawn to our table-watching the game and handling the authentic weapons.

Action-the game followed very closely the actual battle-the Zulus getting a right old bashing!!-we talked the action through with the bystanders,many of them were fans of the period,who understood the tactics and history of the period.

Graham had to sit down after spending too much money_we all did!!

Nearly three o'clock and the B and B is still doing great business-the crowd is thinning out now,but we are still attracting interested punters!

Nearly time to pack up and head back North!!

A good day was had by all,wallets were emptied and friendships renewed-with the possibility of a new member-we shall see!!

ACW game.

Last night we travelled south to Dave's house to play a great ACW game-the objective of the game was to dominate the central hill-easy?

As Graham looks on,Dave points out terrain features-the central hill is,well,in the centre!!

Nick(new member!) and Brian contemplate the situation before any movement-my division is moving up the road in the foreground.

My troops have "vaulted" the fence are about to assist Dave on the central hill(that's it in the centre!)

Paul can be seen manoeuvering his division against both Brian and Nick-tense stuff so far.

The central hill is getting attacked by Nick and Graham-I suppose I'll have to intervene and save the day!

Yep,a couple of well timed volleys saw Graham's attack falter,but the central position(the hill!) was still being hotly disputed!

On the right,Paul was heavily outnumbered but was holding his own(ooher!)-this was going to be touch and go!!

This is a shot from the "Reb's" side of the table,with the Central hill taken and Paul in all kinds of bother,we had to concede(even though I had held my flank,so technically won the game!)- well done to Dave for putting on this great game,and well done to us all for playing in it!

 

Not Quite Retired Yet

 In November 2024 I was lucky enough to become old enough to draw my company pension. It was never going to be enough to retire on. That’ll never happen! So I took it all as cash. 

The wife was happy that I spend some of it to build a new, dry home for my toys. My wargames paraphernalia have had many homes over the years usually neither new nor dry. The latter has often been an issue. A flooded garage and a flooded basement having been the biggest disasters; some of my figures still bear the scars of water damage.

Welcome to the Guardroom!

Once upon a time, our new family home had a garage…

That would have just been another damp place to store my collections!

Bye bye to that old thing…

And bring in the garden room experts!

It’s a wooden construction, but it will be fully insulated.

It’s starting to take shape. 

Plastered inside and windows fitted.

The doors going in felt like a major milestone. Excitement from me at every sign of progress!

Pretty much finished on the outside, my little hideaway down the bottom of the garden :-)

The focus shifts to the inside. The floor goes down and decorating starts once the plaster has dried. 

Steps built. Fancy outside lights fitted. 

Decorating finished and fixtures and fittings start to go in. The priority is storage, but I’m a wargamer and every wargame space needs a table. The old WD desks will give me a 6x4 table. I’ve ample opportunity to play on larger wargames tables. This will be enough for small games at home and organising figures for painting, games or, use it or lose it, selling!

A charge point for the wife’s fancy new motor and insulated blinds. These will help keep the Warroom cool in Summer and warm in Winter. 

It’s looking great. The grass starts to recover from the building site mud. 

Approaching the end. Precious things return from the storage unit. No pets allowed! Any of my furry friends have to make do with sunbathing whilst I’m in the “man cave”. I don’t think the wife likes to venture in either. She makes horrified noises at the amount of “stuff”!

And there you have it. I have a dedicated, dry space to store my precious things and occasionally get them out and play with! Special thanks to Andy Easten. I finally have a use for the Guardroom plaque present from him. Special thanks also to Ken Hanning as his Perthshire War Room was the inspiration behind this build. As I can often say though, mine is smaller :-P

Cheers

Chris

WWG in Exile