PARTIZAN SEPT 2007

Post by **barr7430** » Mon Sep 03, 2007 8:52 pm

Partizan II was an enjoyable show for me not least because the Neerwinden game which Adrian (Blucher) Howe and I put on was extremely well received. Adrian’s terrain was quite sublime and the general look, finish and imagination used made it stand out as a top drawer effort. It was also highly practical and every little detailed nook and cranny was able to accommodate figure bases without a problem. We spent a very busy day talking about terrain making, figure painting and ULB V.
The show is always enjoyable but this September was noticeably different for two reasons. The first, eight games had apparently failed to show which meant there was a lot more space to move around the hall. Secondly, the number of paying punters appeared to markedly down on previous shows. I could be mistaken on this but it definitely felt that way. Trade seemed brisk although a couple of trader friends I know said in was a little quiet. On the games front there were several very nice efforts. I had limited time to walk around but noteworthy were: Derby’s Crimean, Gerry Miller & friends highly detailed Plancenoit, an uphill WW2 PP game in 20mm, Paul Darnell’s AWI, a monster 20mm late war WW2 20mm and Bruno Allinson’s Punic Wars.
Adrian and I won the ‘raffle’ which offered £75 prize money! The result was I spent zip all day despite coming home with 12 blister packs of metal and two books!
It was good to chat with the usual clutch of the hobby’s names such as Mark Allen, Duncan, Bill Gaskin, John Ray, Stuart Parkin, Aly Morrison, Dave Thomas and Henry Hyde. Great to catch up with old friends too Colin, Dave, Alasdair, David S and many others and to meet up with many new friends made through this forum… special hello to Adam!
I’d be interested in other visitors thoughts about the show.

obriendavid · Post by **obriendavid** » Mon Sep 03, 2007 10:22 pm

Barry, I've mentioned elsewhere on this group what a fantastic job you and Von Howe made of your display but other memorable games were Phil Olley's Fire and Sword game, with revolving windmill. This was set in the mid 17th century and involved Poles against Cossacks. Jamie Morris' Arthurian game, lovely terrain pieces and beautiful figures. Another favourite of mine was the Mexican American game put on by 1st Corps, this was memorable for me in that the whole collection used to be owned by Aly Morrison and I've been nagging him for years to get them out on the table and to finally see them there after he sold them to the 1st Corps guys. Their other display of 55 days in Peking was also another interesting game to look at, lovely buildings and well painted figures.

As you stated the show did seem a bit quieter this year but I wasn't sure if that was just because I was still half asleep and hungover. But at least the atmosphere smelled sweeter

Cheers
Dave

seansdaddy · Post by **seansdaddy** » Tue Sep 04, 2007 9:29 am

wow Bill Gaskins one of my heroes, his napoleonic town is second to none,
think it was paul darnell who made the buildings or most of them, would love to see it in the flesh, very jealous lads, unable to make these trips due to the same old story, work work an family time, but the painting continues at least

big-gazza · Post by **big-gazza** » Tue Sep 04, 2007 11:39 am

Hi,
sounds like you had a good day. May be next time.

Thanks for taking the figs down to the show.

Gazza

obriendavid · Post by **obriendavid** » Tue Sep 04, 2007 4:37 pm

Gazza, I was staying with Aly Morrison on Saturday and got to see loads of the masters for their early WW1 stuff, as you can imagine with figures coming from Aly and Dave Andrews the quality and annimation is superb, the fact that I've just started painting an ancient Persian army is the only thing that stopped me buying some. The first 4 or 5 packs of BEF are now out.

Cheers
Dave

big-gazza · Post by **big-gazza** » Tue Sep 04, 2007 5:07 pm

Hi,
I'll keep an eye out for them. Just starting some naps figures. Need to get them done first.

Gazza

theoldschool · Post by **theoldschool** » Tue Sep 04, 2007 8:52 pm

The Neerwinden game sounds fantastic. Did anyone get photographs?
Pat

obriendavid · Post by **obriendavid** » Tue Sep 04, 2007 10:55 pm

Hi Pat, you were missed at the show. Barry took plenty of pics of his game so I'm sure he'll get around to posting them at some point. The other highlight I forgot to mention was seeing all the printouts for the ULB rules, Clarence you have done a great job of laying these out and I look forward to seeing the final product.

Cheers
Dave

Anonymous · Post by **Anonymous** » Wed Sep 05, 2007 8:59 am

Just to echo everyone's messages above about Partizan II, namely that it was an excellent day out with some cracking games on display.

Barry, Adrian - I though the Neerwinden game looked superb. Many congratulations! Seeing the Grand Alliance regiments "in the flesh" was really interesting. As I mentioned when we spoke, the photos on the Gallery here (and probably any photos) just don't do justice to them. What I really liked was the way in which the colours on the various regiments tone perfectly, especially those battalions which look a little battle-ragged like the Irish. Brilliant! I loved the terrain, and I agree that Adrian did a fantastic job. I particularly liked the way that the buildings were each based on a small block, each being itself a mini diorama, and which neatly fitted into a space cut into the terrain tiles - most ingenious. The way in which the various commanded shot, battalion guns and converged grenadiers fitted into the alley-ways between the houses and into the back gardens looked absolutely perfect. Pity the French and their allies trying to take the two villages faced with that sort of defence! The muddy river (the Little Gheet?) looked just about right for Flanders and the coaching inn was a fine centrepiece. I took quite a few photos, so let me know if you're short. All in all, it looked just a really excellent display.

I agree that the show seemed a bit quieter than usual, and there was certainly more space in the main hall. Just having a few display games missing seemed to make it easier to walk round without bumping into each other. The games which were there more than made up for any which were missing - as mentioned above, the Cossacks, Punic Wars and Arthurian games were really well presented with some brilliant touches. The numbers of punters might have been down, and I'd wondered if having Partizan II early in September might have cut across the last week of the school hols for some people (I'm sure other Partizan IIs have been the second weekend in September, not the first, but I may be mistaken).

What I really got from the show was a real uplift and inspiration to get back to the painting table after a month or so of doing no painting at all, and to redouble my efforts in hand-painting flags! So, all in all, a very decent day out.

Adam

Post by **barr7430** » Wed Sep 05, 2007 10:36 pm

First batch of photos now in the gallery - SHOWCASE : PARTIZAN SEPT 2007. It looks not bad

big-gazza · Post by **big-gazza** » Wed Sep 05, 2007 11:10 pm

Hi,
very nice. Great looking table.

Gazza

theoldschool · Post by **theoldschool** » Thu Sep 06, 2007 10:19 am

The game looks fantastic. We the people demand a tutorial on making the terrain

Pat

Post by **barr7430** » Thu Sep 06, 2007 10:54 am

Hopefully Blucher Howe will be reading this and respond. His terrain building techniques were certainly extremely anally retentive as far as I can remember Pat

The table was 10 x 6 and contains some nice height differential which is not so clearly visible in these big shots. The way that the buildings fitted into the boards was nothing short of craftsmanship - neat, aesthetic, well finished. Ade used many 'specials' constructed for him by Last Valley as well as himself. The boards are TSS cut back and reconstructed. He has (21?) more!!!! finished to this standard all for the Ligny game plus the village of Ligny itself in 'brick' as opposed to these country cottage type buildings. Pat you've got to get up to Kirrie to have a look at that!! These villages which we used as Laar and Neerwinden for the Grand Alliance game are actually St Amand and La Haye for Ligny.
The texture finish on the board surface was extremely pleasing on the eye too.

I understand this is Ade's first attempt at terrain making

My advice would be... quit whilst you're winning

Post by **barr7430** » Thu Sep 06, 2007 10:58 am

Actually, if you look at the shot of the Danish Infantry crossing the bridge the water in the river looks as if it's moving!!!

Trick of the light I guess but very nice

Captain of Dragoons · Post by **Captain of Dragoons** » Thu Sep 06, 2007 3:19 pm

Great pictures Barry. "Forward" the Gentlemen of France!!!

cheers

Edward