Matakishi's Tea House
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22nd October, SELWG 2006
SELWG is organised by the South East London Wargames Group and is held each year at Crystal Palace in London.
Setting up before the show
My free entry was down to Ian Marsh and Mike Lewis of Fighting 15s and Black Hat Miniatures respectively who gave me a lift in their van in return for which I had to carry a few boxes and get wet loading the van at the end. A good trade off I felt.
The show didn’t seem as packed as the last time I attended and there was plenty of room to look around and take your time. I bought a few little things from some of the dealers, mostly single figures I’ve wanted for a while that aren’t worth mail ordering. There was a time when a show was a big shopping trip for me but these days I use them to look at stuff to order (or not) later. This time I managed to get some close looks at a number of items that I could then remove from my ‘must have ‘ list because they weren’t what I wanted after all; and I was able to double check other things that I definitely will be getting. I've ammended a list of my purchases at the end.
Daryl Elms (on the left).
My trader of the show this time round was Daryl Elms of Kaiser Rushforth Ltd who make the best figure cases I’ve used (and I’ve used a lot). Daryl was very friendly and helpful, managing to answer all my questions without sounding annoyed or bored. For that he gets a special mention here and I whole heartedly recommend his products to every wargamer in wargames land.
I met up with several friends, both old and new, and got given chocolates by Black Cat Bases, as well as some more scenery items to review. The free chocolates won’t influence me in any way (really), the reviews will be forthcoming asap. There's a lot of new stuff arriving in the Black Cat catalogue now and I recommend you give them a call and ask about it. Lots to interest people who game in a modern setting such as superheroes or in a pulp setting.
There were a lot of good games on show, most were of a decent standard and one was truly excellent. Here they are in no particular order (except the best one is last):
This is Bog-A-Who, a participation game put on by the Herne Hill Slayers. This is a very colourful game, I particularly like the combination of the sea and the islands. There’s dinosaurs, aliens, sharks, whales and a whole lot of other stuff. Players had to visit the different islands and collect Power Crystals then visit the Temple of Imminent Death (or somesuch) and finally get off the board. The Herne Hill Slayers had a nice Cyberman helmet as a prize for the winner too.
This Borg cube was the centrepiece from a participation game put on by the Mid Anglia Gamers, there was a good looking moon in evidence too.
The South London Warlords put on their Hammer’s Slammers game with its customary long table packed with loads of Old Crow, GZG and Denizen goodness. As the day wore on there were many burning tanks in evidence and it looked like everyone was having a good time. As always, the Warlords around the table were friendly and happy to answer questions.
This was a massive 1920s Central Asia Back of Beyond game staged by Loughton Strike Force with everything made and painted by Richard Gillingham. You can see Richard in his hat and red Russian t-shirt in the photo, he’s a very talented chap.
The Deal Wargames Club had their Italians in Greece game on show that was at the Redoubt show also. They provided a good selection of background material to explain the setting and history behind the game.
S.E.E.M.S. (the South East Essex Military Society) had this big early First world War game, ‘Over by Christmas’, set up on a playing surface of teddy bear fur which looked surprisingly good. Lots of Renegade figures on show and some very friendly players.
The Crawley Wargames Club put on this very good looking ‘Battle of Arsuf’ game using 15mm figures and Warhammer Ancients rules. Lots of Crusadery colour here on some well made scenery.
This game was called ‘End of Empire’ and was hosted by Spirit of the Game. This deservedly won the ‘Best Participation Game’ award from the SELWG organisers. The scenery was really good and had working street lights, the figures were well painted and the game was a roaring success with the table continually surrounded by hordes of loud players. It was a real struggle to get the pictures as the crowd was so big.
The game was set in ‘Murderous London’ in1906 on the eve of Britain launching her first Dreadnought and featured Frankenstein, Dracula, Burke and Hare, the Predator, Aleister Crowley, Jack the Ripper, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, the Skull and Dr. Fu Manchu.
Busy place Murderous London.
Once I’d had a good look at the games I did my buying that I mentioned earlier; some dice from Doug at Em-4, some Hinchliffe camels and donkeys for the Sudan, a couple of Tin Soldier Samurai and a five dvd set on WWII for £3.00 which didn’t come from the bring-and-buy surprisingly.
After that it was van loading time and away home for tea and Torchwood.
