Phalanx Wargame show (UK) 2026

This established show continues at 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, 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 to enjoy, a general air of friendliness in 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, though 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 of what to buy and that symbiotic relationship between trader and games is an essential ingredient of any show.

Phalanx retains a good mix of game tables and the work that these gamers put in to support the show is very much appreciated (I did some 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 out altogether (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. I like 6x4 games as they start to look like things that we might be able to do at home. 

Below - The show hosts (St. Helens wargamers) put on a War of the Worlds game. I thought the alien machines looked very good, though my photo does not do them justice. There is a sense of menace in the visual.

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 to go through the mechanics. 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 still 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’ (as a higher organisation), while still giving the individual bases a full role. I had been trying to write something similar myself.

Anyway, I was very pleased with the system and rules, cards and scenario books 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 to show 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. I really liked this game, like their previous outings (Ardennes and Napoleonic, it again looks like the ideal ‘try at home’ type project. 

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 their small footprint games, 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 once again the sort of thing that easily fits at home. The show does have some good diversity in the size / scale of games being displayed - though today there was only one smaller scale trader there (Westwind).

Below - Another annual supporter of the show is the Lance & Longbow Society, as usual using their variation on the Lion Rampant Rules. It is a participation friendly game. This year they took an action from the 2nd Barons War period.

Below - East Lancashire Wargames Club always do a big game and this year it was a lovely Samurai game. This was a busy table - lovely.

Below - The Warlord Games trade stand had a lot of their new Konflict ‘47 models with them. This small diorama table shows off some of their models. Warlord are due to announce their next Epic range next week - I wonder what that will be?

 

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 always have a good presence, with a club recruiting stand plus two tables. 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. I had not heard of them before. On first sight it looks rather chart heavy, but I will enjoy exploring it. CMB have all of their books wrapped in cellophane so they remain pristine to the buyer.

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 Saga. Today I enjoyed the interaction with the authors and their passion was obvious. This purchase and their demo game caused a knock on effect of other purchases from other traders, which of course is all about the synergy between game tables and trade that I mentioned above. 

I will like do a deep dive of these rules 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 from Athena, are Petesflags with this sheet 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 Voltigeurs 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 as losses are taken. 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. It will be interesting to see what the figures are, the last couple of years have sat at around 500 visitors.

On the flip side, earlier there were punters with bags, suggesting that people were spending. 

The club has always put on a slick show, making 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, I think this year, the games were amongst the best and there was a variety of scales and table sizes on show.

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 this may well be an influence.

I enjoyed my haul, but since my last big sell - off, I am keen not to let the lead / plastic mountain get out of control, so I think what I have at the moment will see me through into the winter months. The metals will get primed now while the weather is suitable for spraying outdoors.

The Bosworth battle has always interested me, so looking it up in the Test of Resolve Scenario book, I think I will start building my force to meet that order-of-battle ….. hence me wanting a second pike block, for Chandee.

Thanks to all the traders who gave up their day and travelled with large amounts of 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.

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