Red Barons Convention XXV

Last weekend saw Schild en Vriend in limited capacity (read: Eddy and myself) trundle off to Gentbrugge, where the Red Barons—or more correct, the Thunderbolts, who have taken over the convention organisation— organised their 25th convention.

Last year the convention was in a smaller hall next to the usual place, but this year proceedings were back in the usual hall, meaning more and bigger games could fit in. This is a good thing, as the main attraction of the Red Barons show is as a relaxed, easy going way to catch up with the wargaming illuminati of Belgium (this as opposed to Crisis which tends to be a much more hectic, nose to the grindstone type of thing) and more games meant there were more of said illuminati around :).

Apart from this return to the usual place however, the convention was again pretty much business as usual: same people, same place, same beer. The only slight difference was the number of traders present, with a few of the 'ever presents' of this show no longer attending. However, with Dave Thomas, Warlord Games and Comitatus present opportunities for spending money were still abundant, of which more anon.

We took our Danube game for its second outing, though we only played it once during the day (the bridge was destroyed, but not before the French had a large majority of troops across and were winning battle there):

Overview of the game:


Close up of the bridges:


Choosing the next card to play:


Three of the other games caught my attention long enough to take a photograph:

Massive 20mm (I think, could be 28mm) Pacific WWII game by Ludwig van Dijk & friends:

The classic Schulein participation game, this time an ACW skirmish using Brother against Brother:


An impressive looking WWII game (no idea what rules, scale or by whom):


And of course I came away with some new purchases, though they were mostly balanced out by some sales in the Bring & Buy. Here's the tally:

Sold:

• 28mm Picts, painted & unpainted (they went quickly)
• 9 WAB books

Bought:

• A box of Swedish Cavalry (TYW) @ Warlord
• The Wallenstein personality figure @ Warlord
• 10 unsaddled horses from the Foundry grab bin @ Dave Thomas - they will become artillery limber horses
• Artizan's Charlemagne @ Dave Thomas
• Perry Austrian Napoleonic casualties @ Dave Thomas

All in all, a pleasant day out, as usual. On to the next one!

Sometimes the wind changes, and you have to go with it

The last couple of weeks I've been feeling the ever changing cycle of my painting ebbing down to a 'slow' period again. To wit, January saw me paint 61 points, February 39 and March 27 points of figures. You can extrapolate yourself.

Not a big deal really. I've been doing this toy soldier malarkey long enough now to recognise this as normal, so I was resigned to a period of less output and waiting for the muse to strike again. Then suddenly, more or less out of the blue, I decided to try a different tack and started putting together plans to put up a 6mm Cold War game (as an aside, 6mm is of course the One True Scale for this period :) ).

And suddenly the pace picked up again. I painted some tiny tanks and have spent the last few evenings putting together scenery for the game (tentatively—i.e. only in my mind—planned for next Wednesday). This is the table as it stands (minor details will change for the game, I'm sure), representing the fictional Semmel valley that will be the scene of the fighting:



The area between the two forks of the Semmel River (the Kleine and Grosse Semmel, of course) will become an industrial estate, which is currently in the process of being built:





And finally, here are four village bases also under construction:



All in all, a pleasant way to spend a few evenings :)