Wednesday 20 November 2019

Show Report: Warfare 2019


The local Reading show, Warfare, was held over the weekend. For me this is the last show of the year and I generally top up on figures to keep my painting table filled over the long winter months.

I find Warfare to be an excellent ‘retail’ show with a good range of traders and a busy B&B. The demo games are OK but not eye-candy, and there is a large competitive gaming hall. I have pretty much finished my lead pile, so I was looking for inspiration and had a pocketful of money to burn. I therefore was disappointed to find nothing ‘new’ to inspire me! Maybe I’m just jaded, or I have reached the point when I have all the figures I could possibly need, but normally this does not prevent me from making spur-of-the-moment purchases. The main ‘new’ items seemed to be the Warlord Games Black Seas offerings, but I already have some 1/1200th ships so I don’t want/need to switch scales. A brief look at the rules did not impress; too simplistic. Simulating the sailing of square-rigged ships does necessitate a more detailed approach, and the tactical handling of a squadron of such ships in a time of signalling flags etc. must have been a difficult process. Reducing the experience to a few simple dice rolls and wind angles does little to bring the period to life. I must concede the plastic models do look good, especially when fully rigged, and if I was starting from scratch I would happily invest in a few ships. The B&B at Warfare is usually good, but this year the range of merchandise seemed less and bargains rarer. I normally find at least a boardgame or two, but those on offer were over-priced and not particularly interesting.


After a couple of hours browsing, I came away from the show with a Warbase mdf Western Saloon as my only significant purchase! It took a morning to construct and I’m pretty pleased with the result. It is not the same quality as the 4Ground saloon, but only cost £15. It will require some painting and tarting up, and the interior space is empty. I will have to construct a bar, stairs, interior walls etc. but this should be fairly easy, and I’m quite looking forward to doing this.

A disappointing show for me from a purchasing perspective. I did not return on the Sunday (for the first time in years).

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