This established show continues in its regular venue, the Sutton Community Leisure Centre in St. Helens (northwest UK). It is run by the Spartans Wargame Club, occupying the main sports hall as their venue, while in a large side room, a very successful Bring ‘n Buy sales area is run by the club officials.
The big shows in the UK seem to be going from strength to strength, certainly in terms of footfall and the number of traders that attend. The story for the smaller show is not yet clear. Over recent years this show has lost several of what we might call ‘A’ lister traders, but others have stepped into that gap and the show retains its function, with plenty to spend your money on, many fine games, a general air of friendliness and is a smoothly run show (by the Spartans - St. Helens Wargaming Society).
I arrived at the show handy and didn’t really have a shopping list of sorts, so it was just a case of seeing what temptations I would come across, thought there were some games listed that I wanted to see.
I have always found that it is the game tables that can give the inspiration as to what gets bought and that symbiotic relationship between trader and game table is an essential ingredient of a show and to that end, Phalanx retains a good mix of game tables and the work that these gamers put into their tables to support a show is very much appreciated (I did a good bit of that symbiotic buying today).
Now that I am home, some of my notes don’t make too much sense! So be patient with the following, I have possibly confused some games with others etc and even missed some tables (sorry).
In no particular order;
Below - The Hobbyshed put on a very nice Bolt Action game, that may have had a Dads Army theme. The table modelling is gorgeous, especially that bridge crossing.
Below - this is possibly another dad’s army based game from the Wakefield Wargames Association. Those buildings are lovely.
Below - The show hosts (St. Helens) put on a War of the Worlds game. I thought the machines looked very good, though my photo does not do them justice.
Below - This turned out to be an important table for me. David Knight and Tim Couper, authors of Test of Resolve rules for the Wars of the Roses had a trader display and then this game table next to them. The table has a group of Wars of the Roses figures (nearest the camera) and a group of 100 Years Wars on the other side of the trees. These were demo set-ups so that they could be used to describe the rules to interested passers-by (me).
I played a round or two of the game. Both gentlemen went out of their way to explain everything and their passion and enthusiasm for the subject was compelling. I have a WotR army that is looking for a set of rules! and I really like the authors’ take on how bowmen were used and the way the game emphasises the ‘Battle’ or ‘Ward’, while still giving the individual bases a full role. Anyway, things were bought. Thanks for spending the time on me.
Below - The Mailed Fist put on this rather splendid looking game. the following shots speak for themselves;
Below - All Hell Let loose, representing St. Julien, 2nd Ypres in 6mm.
Below - The Gentlemen from the Independent 54mm Wargames attend each year and their collections must be amazing as they always manage something new. This year we get Culloden.
Below - Each year, Mitchell & Dolan put on a 6mm game, this time they gave us Sudan Death - Relief Column on the Nile and it looked gorgeous - the pictures do not do it justice.
Below - VBCW put on a Rapid Fire Reloaded game in 15mm. The big table gave the game some wonderful scope and at the scale, the village in the centre has plenty of presence.
Below - Copper Sapper put on a Pillage game that was participation friendly, everyone was having a great time with smiles and laughs all around and two of the gents were in period dress - good fun.
Below - another game catching my eye. Each year Halifax Wargames Club put on a 15mm Napoleonic game using the Bataille Empire rules, which they are very keen on. I always like the small footprint, but this year they have gone even smaller for Jakubowo 1812, on what looks like a 4 x 3 cloth. They told me that for a club night game they usually have slightly smaller armies than this - it just looks great and the sort of thing that easily fits at home.
Below - Another annual supporter of the show is the Lance & Longbow Society, usually using their variation on the Lion Rampant Rules, which are participation friendly. This year they took an action from the 2nd Barons War.
Below - East Lancashire Wargames Club always do a big game and this year it was a lovely Samurai game.
Below - The Warlord Games trade stand had a lot of their new Konflict ‘47 models. This small diorama table shows off some of their models.
Below - Beacon Gaming put on a rather nice English Civil War - Nantwhich 1644. I’m afraid that I have swapped my camera kit and have lost my 28mm wide lens in favour of 35mm fixed lens, I like the camera, but it does mean that many of my pictures become close-ups!
Below - Liverpool Wargames Association have a good presence, with a club recruiting stand. This year they put on Ramillies 1706 and a Check Your Leader air combat game on a hexed mat.
Below - Old Guard Wargamers had a rather nice Zorndorf 1758 game going with Russians v Prussians. The cavalry wings looked especially impressive.
Below - I’m sorry, but I can’t attribute these two, the pictures have been taken out of sequence, but I felt they deserved sharing anyway ….. answers on a postcard!
The haul - well, considering that I did not go with a shopping list, I managed to make some of the traders happy!
Above - I love picking up something new to read for ideas and this charming 50 page rule set was being sold by Christopher Morris Books for just £5.99. On first sight it looks rather chart heavy, but I will enjoy exploring it.
Above - I think this probably made the show for me. (Test of Resolve) I am still searching for a set of rules to settle on for my Wars of the Roses and the Piggy Longton Sagas. I enjoyed the interaction with the passion of the authors and this purchase and their demo game that caused other purchases from other traders is all about the synergy that I mentioned above.
I will like do a deep dive of these on the blog soon.
Above - I picked up some of the more irregular size and shapes bases that I use from Warbases, plus some Wars of the Roses stuff (synergy!) from Athena. The Athena figures are 6 command figures, plus two religious characters called Truculent Monks. Also, another of Petesflags enters the collection, these being for Sir John Wenlock. I like the Athena speciality figures, they are done in tough pewter and the chap who runs the company has a justified passion for his product.
Above - Dave Thomas (with Perry Miniatures) is a huge supporter of the show circuit (thank you) The Test of Resolve rules reminded me I need another block of pike / long spears (more synergy), so I got the Perry plastic set, to match my current pike block. The two blisters are both French Napoleonic Voltiguers in their skirmishing poses, giving me 12 more figures that will make 4 stands for the 1809 project.
Above - Plastic counters and D12 dice from Magnetic Display Coritani, who are also big supporters of the show circuit. These items are for the Test of Resolve rules (synergy again), the round discs are used to count down the effectiveness of the battle / ward. Also the tufts fit in with ones I already have, to give a bit of basing consistency.
And so! …… another year passes. I stayed for around 4 hours. I thought the actual punter footfall was a bit lower than last years and the hall had noticeably emptied by around 12.30 with some traders looking at a loose end by then.
On the flip side, earlier there were punters with bags, suggesting that people were spending.
The club has always put on a slick show and make it all look easy! :-). The games this year were really nice and the effort to put them together and travel to Phalanx is appreciated. The show is well supported in that regard by a good range of clubs, some travelling a decent distance - so thank you.
The trade hall felt a little quieter this year. The bring ‘n buy is madly busy, while I thought several of the traders today looked a little under busy and the early departure of the crowds will not have helped. The UK economy is hurting a bit at the moment and that is probably feeding into every day spend.
Thanks to all the traders who gave up their day and travelled with stock to support the show, see you all next year.
Overall, I always enjoy myself at the Phalanx show and this year is no exception. If I have at last found my go to rules for Wars of the Roses, then I will be well chuffed.
Resource Section.
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