Photos from SELWG

As promised I'm attaching some photos of the Race to the Sea game from SELWG. I'm sure you are all thoroughly bored of pictures of this game by now but hopefully I've managed to take a few from angles that I haven't previously shown!

SELWG was the game's last UK outing, and there will be just one more show for it which will be Crisis at Antwerp in November after which it will go into a dignified retirement in CTK HQ. Some of the figures will re-appear though in our 2013 game, which is likely to be based on part of the Battle of the Marne in 1914. We will of course post pictures of construction as it happens.

But for now, here's some more of Race to the Sea...

 

 

 

 

SELWG today

We had a really good show at Crystal Palace in South East London today and had the chance to chat to lots of people! If you were one of those it was really good to see you. I've taken some more photos of the Race to the Sea game which I will post shortly - hopefully they are ones that I haven't taken before!

We also met quite a few people today who said they would look at this blog so if you are one of those, welcome!

I'm off now to unload the car!!

Crystal Palace this Sunday

Our next show will be SELWG (South East London Wargames Group) - always known as Selweg - this Sunday at Crystal Palace. We will have Race to the Sea again, which will probably be it's last outing in the UK although we will be taking it to Crisis at Antwerp at the start of November.

We had hoped to have Over by Christmas ready for publication for the SELWG show but unfortunately delays in getting the photos completed for the rules have meant this can't now happen. But with luck it will be ready for Crisis! If you are at SELWG do please stop by and say hello - we will have the final draft of the text for Over by Christmas with us so you can get an early peek at it!

We are of course also planning our show game for next year. It was to have been a Middle East game but we've been drawn (like moths to a light!) to the idea of another early war Western Front game - so watch this space for announcements and photos of construction!

Thank you, Miniature Wargames!

We have just seen the latest issue (September) of Miniature Wargames - it must have been out a little while now but we've only just got hold of a copy here at CTK HQ. In this issue they have reviewed both Where the Poppies Grow and Tools of Victory, and it is really pleasing to see that they rate the rules as "very highly recommended indeed". They say some very nice things about them, including commenting on the extent of the research and playtesting - and for Tools of Victory are surprised that the Portuguese are on the Western Front!

So, thank you very much MiniWargs!

More from Colours - new releases

I forgot to say yesterday that there were lots of new releases that I saw at Colours for the WW1 gamer. I have already mentioned the trenches from Early War Miniatures but I also picked up some more of their British Tank MkV, which is the first wargames model of this tank in this scale and very good it is too. I also forgot to mention that along with the trenches EWM do a nice set of trench stores, and that the dugouts really are dugouts with detailing inside and lift off roofs.

Just as interesting are the new figure ranges from Lancer Miniatures. I was very excited to see that they have now released the first figures in a range of Portuguese infantry for the Western Front 1917-18 in the fluted helmet (and so excited that I bought some!!). Excellent figures they are too, as are their French infantry in fez.

I also managed to pick up a set of WW1 pilots and aircrew by Orion. I hadn't seen these figures before but they really are good, very well moulded and some great characters in there (have a look at them on Plastic Soldier Review). Looking forward to adding character to my WW1 planes!

Colours 2012 at Newbury

Back now from our weekend at Colours, and as this was our first time at this show I have to say what a great show it was. The venue is excellent, with the Grandstand at Newbury Racecourse being very comfortable and with superb views over the Racecourse. Not that we were looking at that very much of course, we were spending our time talking to all the interesting people who stopped by to say hello!

There was a lot of interest in our game, and we had some enjoyable chats with many gamers as they stopped at our table - so if you were one of those who did, it was great to meet you! There was also a welcome interest in our rules, which was gratifying (!), and particularly in the final draft of "Over by Christmas" which we had with us. Judging by the interest at this show once we publish this (which we hope to do in the next few weeks) it will go like hot cakes!

While at the show I also saw (and bought!) some of the new vacform trenches from Paul at Early War Miniatures. If you haven't seen these yet go to his website and have a look at them, they are really, really good and fantastic value for money.

I took a few photos of the game at the show, which I have posted below.

 

A British Avro 504 which just happened to stray over French lines!

 

 

 

Our next show and work in progress

Our next show will be Colours at Newbury Racecourse on 8th and 9th September. We'll have the Race to the Sea game of course, so if you are at the show do please come along and say hi!

As well as working on finishing off Over by Christmas and starting research for the Middle East supplement, I've been busy here at CTK HQ on some more wargames figures. I'm currently building up my late war French army, mostly using Revell and Pegasus 20mm infantry with artillery by HaT, SHQ, Skytrex and Early War Minatures and the excellent St Chamonds and Schneiders also from EWM. Renault FTs are the HaT ones, and I've recently got a couple more boxes so that I can finish off a battalion for Tools of Victory.

I'm also using some extras by EWM such as their 37mm trench artillery piece (very nice) and their De Dion Bouton 75mm AA guns - a photo of which is below. They don't come with crew (at the moment) so I've used some figures from the HaT French Artillery set to crew them, which seems to do the job quite well.