Brazil vs Italy - 2nd leg

Tuesday 24th May

The motley crew sans Dave o'Brien who was taking the photo.

                Ventured a bit further this weekend to Newark for the Partizan wargames show at the Newark showground in sunny Nottinghamshire and we were not disappointed.A large open venue with everything in  one big room.The games were in the middle with the traders around the edges.There was also a half decent cafe.Anyone that sells Cornish pasties has my vote.
                 Colin Jack and Dave o'Brien had set off early on the Saturday morning by car and myself with Bill Gilchrist and Mr Ray(budding rock star) in tow heading down by train.We met up at the English Civil War centre in downtown Newark.This a very nice museum giving both insights into the war and also the actual siege of Newark.

The Conneticut yankee getting ready for the big tour.Seemingly Americans have the right to arm bears  or something.

                             There were many displays and also plenty of interactions for both young and old ranging from the donning of the uniforms and armour from the period to period battle surgery where you had the chance to remove musket balls from wounds.A bit like the antique version of the game Operation.A pleasant time was had before we headed for our accommodation for the evening where we met up with another two cronies Jack Glanville and Dave Imrie before heading for the local hostelry which is The dovecot pub.I love rural England pubs and on entering I spied  Sharp's Doom Bar  on offer so I knew it was making for a very pleasant evening.The evening passed by rather quickly as soon it was time to head for the sack in order to give us plenty rest for the day ahead.

              Sunday morning found us after a nice breakfast,at the show ground preparing for the day ahead and also giving us a chance to see what other clubs where putting on.From my point of view it gave me the chance to put some faces to names that I have come across in various forums and games-mainly the VBCW forum that I often frequent.

Let the sport begin.

           Our game was a rerun of our game that was put on at Caronnade earlier this month which was a Second World War encounter between Brazilian and Italian forces.This time I intended to learn from my previous mistakes and  make my way across the bridge.

Nicholas Cage is still around minus the mandolin'

After a few turns and stalemate setting in Colin as umpire stated that I could bring on a Priest self-propelled gun which turned out to be a game changer for the morning's play.

      Now the good thing about game shows is that the game is not played as seriously as normal games which gives us plenty of time for the perusal of other games which usually involves a lot of blethering and also what nice shiny toys are for sale.One of the tables next to us involved a game set in French Indo China which was very good and made me want to buy some French and start me off on a new period which in the long run will probably result in great expense.This game was another advert for tropical fish shops with the ubandance of jungle terrain.

French Indo-China game complete with Bearcat.

          Another game on an adjoining table was a VBCW game put on by lads who I have previously mentioned so it was great to get acquainted with them.Also in my opinion it was the best game(after ours) but I'm biased as it's my fav period.

My fav game.

                                           After a little shifty around the hall we continued our game and I decided to go for broke before lunch and managed to dislodge the Italians making them retreat back towards their end of the table.It looked like it was going to be a relaxing afternoon culminating in a crushing victory for the Brazilians.Hah!I keep forgetting about the tricks Colin Jack has up his sleeve.I foraged for some lunch and also picked up some figs and model armoured cars and had a wee blether with the VBCW lads on the next table.

And here are the boys.

                                            Our afternoon session kicked off with some reinforcements coming on for the Italians but these ones were speaking Italian with a German accent and just like in the last world cup decimated the Brazilians.

Der prowling Panzer.

This machine proceeded to take out my armoured cars one at a time until they were all smouldering wrecks.I had to call in an airstrike to solve the problem.

Das Ergebnis.

Die Rache!

I had a rest after this debacle giving Dave O'Brien a chance to prove his aggressive prowess which he did so that when I came back from another peruse of the hall I found that he had finally got some decent forces across the river .

Winter of discontent-basically VBCW with SLRs.

Brilliant Seven Year War game where the figs are all made from clothespegs.

Minion racing game for the kids.

                                            The afternoon crept on and our forces started to turn the screw but not fast enough so at full time we were staring at another draw.

Still gorgeous after all these years.

The afternoon's entertainment was supplemented by flyover by a Dakota and what a gorgeous beast she was.

Adios.

The end!

                                                Once again another good game augmented by numerous trips around the hall to see how the other half lived.We packed up and then headed back north.Mr Ray,Bill and myself by train whilst Colin and Dave headed North by car with all the figs and scenery on board.

This could have been my club if circumstances had been different.

                                               As I said before I purchased a few figs and also some reading material for the train.One of them was entitled Nazi Moonbase which gives some ideas for a future game.
                                                  I'll see you when I see you.