The Partizan May 2026 Wargame Show.

Partizan is a premier UK wargame show and we are lucky enough to get it twice a year, May and October. It is held at the Showground in Newark in the George Stephenson Exhibition Hall, a large single space that is pretty much filled by the event.

Today we got 47 traders and 68 game tables, with almost half being participation games. There were also 8 societies represented. There is a bring and buy area, the idea being that the visiting wargamers hire a table, charged by the hour and then sell whatever they no longer want from their collections.

A nice element of the show is the space reserved as ‘Writers Corner’ where you can meet an author and buy their signed books. There were three authors today, Andy Johnson, Harry Sidebottom and Steve Tibble. I already have a Sidebottom book (The Return).

There is of course a cafeteria area where the weary buyer can recuperate before returning to the fray to make more traders happy! 

I was accompanied by the kindly Mrs. Wargamer, who took the alarm going off at 5.30 AM graciously!

With our trust in the Sat Nav and making two stops for Coffee and high calorie goodness, we  arrived at the Showground a little after 10 AM and the Queue was already long. A bloke was shouting out that anyone who had pre-paid on the internet should walk down straight to the front of the queue. I had an amusing thought of everyone pre-booking next year and causing another queue :-). I should mention that there is a ton of free parking at the showground.

As soon as you enter this space, the senses are assaulted (in a good way), for a hobbyist to be immersed in their hobby environment is just a thing of joy and long may these calendar highlights continue, we must never take them for granted.

It was very busy and fairly packed, but everyone without exception was politely handling that …. even the dreaded back packs were not out in number! 

On my way out I asked the desk if they had been happy with the numbers …. They said ‘Very’!

Now it is one thing to have high footfall and another to convert that into good trader spending. I saw plenty of people actively shopping, but I also saw some traders looking bored and some punters without bags etc, so it will be interesting when the dust settles to know how the traders felt about it all. In the UK there is a lot of pressure at the moment on family incomes.

Each year that I go to Partizan, once I get home and watch some of the videos that other gamers have put up, there always  seems to be a bunch of games I don’t recognise, even though I know that I will have passed all of the tables while there - there is just so much to take in.

Anyway, here are a few moments that I enjoyed, sorry no credits recorded ….. but you know who you are :-)

Above - this is part of the huge and very attractive game that greets you on entering the hall. Sorry my camera was deciding to have a red tint moment!

Above - I think I was having a bit of a buildings moment today, but some of the tables being shown have clearly had tons of passion lavished on them by the groups putting on games.

Above - Martin from Peter Pig had put a 15mm game on, this is framed by a pasting table being reconfigured so that it folds sideways instead of length ways, I love these sort of things.

Above - Wonderful!

Above - I think this was an AWI game, but loved the sculpting of the river banks - very visual.

Above - Lego of course, fabulous.

Above - I was surprised that this was the only game using Warlord Games’ Epic napoleonics, they were very strikingly painted.

Above - Could this be my next project!

Above -  Another example of how much effort had gone into the tables, this was just one corner of a WWI scene, but you can see how much work has gone into texturing and detail.

The impact of the hobby by 3d printing was clearly in evidence today as several tables attest to.

The Shopping bit

I didn’t go with a shopping list, so everything I picked up was an impulse purchase. In no particular order, he is my list of good things;

The Last Valley - a couple of river sections and hedgerow sections, just adding to what I already have from him.

The Tree Fellas - A rather nice 3 storey resin model of the ‘Cafe de Normandie’ building and 3 large singularly based conifer trees.

PGS Scenics - 2 Pkts Tufts, adding to what I have to keep basing continuity.

Great Escape Games - 2 Pkts Tufts

Warbases - 2 packs of self assembly casualty trackers to add to what I have and a ‘Raven’ pack. The Raven pack, in metal, has a couple of grave crosses, a shield and a tree stump, each has a raven perched on it and I think will make rather nice markers.

Andy Johnson (author) - from the Writer’s Corner, I picked up Bloody Meadow, a nice looking narrative of the Towton Battle (Wars of the Roses) ….. bought by Mrs. Wargamer.

Freezywater - a sheet of 25mm Wars of the Roses flags just to make the next batch of WotR stands a little different.

The Ancients Society - Strategos II by Philip Sabin, which I think are the rules that he used in his book ‘Lost Battles’ (not sure I have that title right). Also a set of rules called Blood Red Roses authored by Adrian Nayler. I am still not settled on a Wars of the Roses rule set …… so perhaps this time!

Thanks to all who organise the show, to those supporting the show with games, books, society information etc and to the traders who mostly probably got up earlier than I did! :-) This show would not have worked without your hard effort.

I am writing this from a hotel room. Tomorrow, on the way home, we are doing a stately home ….. Mrs. Wargamer’s answer to my wargame show!

Resources

My sister webspace ‘COMMANDERS’  showcases the various figure and boardgame systems that I am enjoying and gives a flavour of where current projects are up to. Link.

https://commanders.simdif.com