Vapnartak 2020

As sun sinks in the West I have arrived home safe from Vapnartak in York, a show I thought I would be giving a miss this year, but then I also said I would stop eating sweeties, neither prediction has come to fruition.

I had a list for the show with several question marks against some things which I did not need but would like, I had also decided if I did not go I would be sitting in the house with nothing to do and either her indoors would soon find something or I would get on with maps which I really do not like to do at the weekend if I can help it.

It was a miserable drive across in almost constant drizzle but it was not as cold as it has been in the past, we got in about 1020, I expected free entry being of a mature age but I now pay £3, which is more than reasonable to be honest, perhaps it is a sign of an aging hobby and a loss of revenue?

Armed with my list I headed up to The Last Valley to find several of his shelves empty already, especially of the medium sized trees I wanted, I was further frustrated by a guy in front of me pulling most of the remaining trees into a sales bundle, I was also miffed when he picked up an already waiting box of trees, how many trees does one wargamer need, especially when I am in the queue behind him. I had to content myself with three medium trees and four or five small ones, I noticed one lonely pine all on its own and thought I would come back for it but I never did. I then zoomed over to Empress Miniatures and admired their whole range which was on display, lovely stuff, it was make your mind up time, to Volksgrenadier or not to Volksgrenadier, yes, within minutes I was swiping the plastic and tucking away a full platoon for the fall of the Reich. What about Fallschirmjager flashed across my brain, you need Fallschirmjager, and don't forget Paras, NO!

Dark Age raid.

WWI

Impressove French battleship.

Modern raid on airport, very nice.

Eastern Front, German retreat, the cinema in the middle right actually showing a movie!

Rules of Engagement, Eastern Front again, very nice pieces on this table, sadly guy forgot where he got them.

Infamy, Infamy, TFL, not tempted but very nice table.

One more big buy with a question mark at the end, up to Warlord Games, yes they had an IS-2, and yes I got one, also a medium mortar, not required for Chain of Command but it is for Bolt Action. Imagine my surprise on getting home to find the IS-2 box also contained eight plastic figures for Tank Riders, I am not keen on plastic but I consider these to be freebies and will most likely keep them.

What about the show, well you know I look at Vapnartak as a trade show rather than a wargame show and you cannot complain about the traders present, if you live above the Watford Gap this is the show to get your goodies post free. There were several very large games displayed on the lower floor and all had had time spent on them and looked impressive, I will admit to only giving these a cursory glance as I sped about looking to throw money at people. There was the usual line of smaller games, mostly participation games in the higher level and most of these were of very high quality and unlike last year I spent quite some time talking to the demonstrators who were more than willing to talk figures and rules.

With only a handful of shekels left I settled down at the Black Seas table run by club mates Rob and Julian which was doing brisk business and surrounded by eager players, I think the guys fired up quite a bit of interest in the game. It was at this point that one of the onlookers asked us about the club, he was moving to Carlisle and wondered about the wargaming scene in the Northwest, we talked for some time about wargaming in general and I really enjoyed the chat and wished him well in the border city.

What did I get, well almost everything on my list, Volksgrenadiers, IS-2, mortar team, tufts, barbed wire and some beautiful shell holes from Urban Construct at incredibly low prices, paints, brush a bottle of 'mud' and of course trees. I am a happy bunny......now, who does Fallschirmjager.....

Need to draw more maps....