Wappinshaw
A Show of Weapons
Saturday March 29th 2003
Woodside Halls, Glenfarg Street
Maryhill, Glasgow
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The 2003 show was held on Saturday March 29th. Display games were on offer from clubs representing most of the surrounding parts of Scotland. This year was particularly well supported by traders, and between the trade stands and the bring-and-buy, there were a few gamers struggling to carry home their new toys at the end of the afternoon.
Undoubtedly the hit of the show with those new to wargaming was the Kirriemuir participation game based on Baron Richtoften's flying circus. Using what looked suspiciously like extendable TV 'bunny ears' to facilitate 3d flying, the produced a quick and enjoyable game of WW I dogfighting.
Also attrackting a lot of interest, this time in the back hall, was the Prestwick Wargaming club's Tarawa game, featuring molded foam terain features which the organisers assured was going to be used for a desert game the following weekend.
Glasgow and District used Wappinshaw to show off a new set of Russo-Japanese war naval rules which their club member, Graham Short, had recently finished playtesting. For those interested in 'Tsushima' rules, Graham can be contacted via the Glasgow and District club's web-site.
Continuing the naval theme, the Glasgow Wargames Club put on a multi-player 'Hunters from the Shore' game using a free set of rules called 'Silent Approach' which they downloaded from the PT Dockyard web-page. Feel free to give the PT boats a try yourself.
Greenock and District's offering was a hypothetical 18th century game 'Battle of the 5 Armies' which looked rather like showing off the number of different uniforms they had painted. For variety of flags alone, the 18th century is one of the more colourful periods on offer.
The Gourock Wargames Association used the Piquet rules to stage a Boxer rebellion game. The 19th century post Napoleonic period is one of the fastest growing periods in gaming at the moment, as more good historical data is emerging, and as new sets of rules which capture the flavour of this period gain in popularity.
That stalwart of the high-street, Games Workshop, continue to show their traditional support for all aspects of the hobby, putting on a popular Warhammer skirmish game in the back hall.
Another trader putting on a display game was I-Kore, with their fantasy world "celtos" based game, based in a semi-mythical celtic fantasy world.
The G3 club, who meet in the Woodside halls, staged a semi-manga (thats those bizare Japanese comics) fantasy/sci-fi skirmish game based on Chinatown.
Falkirk and District's team set up an impressive skirmish game entitled 'Orc's drift', again taking the movies as the basic theme and then entering into a fantasy relm.
The South East Scotland club also put on a multi-player skirmish, aimed at the younger gamers, using the popular 'battletech' rules. Giant robots the size of sky-scrapers being the main equipment involved.
Next years show will be on at the usual (approximate) time - the last Saturday in March. We look forward to seeing as many of you as posible.