Partizan May 2023 Show Report

It's now a week or two since I visited my first Partizan show in a number of years. I was treated very well by the organisers, for which I'm very thankful; I was a little overwhelmed (in a good way) to see how many people were genuinely pleased to see me come out of my mental and physical hibernation. I have hinted quite a few times about what is is that has been ailing me; now I feel confident enough to say it was/is a mix CPTSD and OCD, the OCD causing most of the problems. I'll leave it at that. 

It was wonderful to be able to catch up with so many friends many of whom I had been open with online about my illness, It was partially their support that made my visit to Partizan possible. You guys and gals know who you are.

It transpired that I did not have too much time to use the old camera which is regrettable as there were so many absolutely brilliantly designed and presented games on display. What follows is really just what I had time to snap as I wandered around deep in conversation with a mate and a secret agenda in mind LOL. There may be more to tell about this in the future! 

Mssrs Andrews and Imrie 28mm, American Civil War, Bayonets

I'm not sure if the "Bayonets" is a play on "The Bodkins" David and Dave's Medieval display game group or if it was the name of the rules? I'm sure David will put me right on this at some point.

 

Sometimes terrain making for our games brings out real genius; in the case of the saw mill below- I think Dave Andrews might very well deserve the title! The thing even had sawdust on the floor! 

Everything about this game sang out to me. The miniatures were superbly painted, the terrain boards, sadly going out of fashion at shows, were of extreme high quality. The terrain features, each an exquisite vignette a wonderful compliment to the game. 

Boondock Sayntes, 28mm Second Anglo-Maratha War, The Battle of Laswaree 1803

Another fantastic game. Each year, be it in then flesh at Partizan or on the net over the last few years these chaps have always impressed with their mostly (if not all?) games based in the Sub Continent, be that Indian Mutiny, Sikh Wars etc etc. This year was no exception!

Mr Steve Spence Et Al, Battle of Cannae 216BC

This game was of great interest as I've just returned to the local club (this little lot minus Steve) and have been head deep in trying to remember how to play WAB V.2 for about a month now. It was great to see an "All the toys out" effort and such a wonderful recreation of a battle that many of us come to define as one of the most important in Western history.

It was lovely to catch up with Steve and a bit of a surprise to bump into my fellow club compatriots- I suspect the anxiety manifested by going from 30 people in an enclosed space to over a 1000 in an enclosed space in a week gave me tunnel vision with any thought of asking my fellows if they were going to Partizan fell away! 

As it happens it was a damn good job they were there as my train was cancelled, as were most going North and I would have been stuck in Newark if not for squeezing into Martin's car. 

Mr Mark Backhouse 2mm Ancients Strength and Honour

Having heard a great deal about Strength and Honour on the net and especially on the Too Fat Lardies Oddcast it was fabulous to see Mark Backhouse's finely crafted units and terrain. This had more of an impact on my imagination than I had anticipated. The overall impression  was one of the eagle eyed view in Oliver Stone's Alexander! I really got a sense of the epic scale and the feeling of a big battles feel. 

Too Fat Lardies, What a Cowboy!

Mr James Morris & Chums, 28mm, Norse Mythology, Midgard Heroic Battles - Against the Frost Giants

It is not unusual to experience highly imaginative games put on by James Morris, The Battle of Keren 1941 and Fort Vaux, Verdun 1916 being exemplary. One of the finest features of this game being the Stairway to Asgard, illuminated with precious gems. 

15mm Midgard using mainly the new Wiglaf Miniatures 15-18mm range.

Mr Simon Miller 28mm Successor Wars Battle of Ipsus 301BC

For well over a decade now, Simon has a well deserved reputation for exhibiting traits  of megalomania. Take away the delusional fantasies of the megalomaniac and replace with thousands of nicely painted miniatures and you are somewhere near the mark. Always larger then life.

And this, my fiends is where I am going to have to leave you. I would normally take hundreds of photographs. In that quest at least I singularly failed. I did however, manage to reconnect with a lot of friends, who, if you had asked me a year ago if I would see them again from my self/OCD/CPTSD imposed quarantine, I would have answered with a resounding "No!".