Broadside Games Show 2025

Today I went to my second wargame show of the year, with another trip down the A2 to Gillingham, Kent for the Broadside Games Show run by the Milton Hundred Wargames Club.  

When I reached the Medway Park Sports Centre which only takes me about half an hour to get there, the car park was full once again as there was yet another college Sport’s day plus a swimming competition, but I did manage to find a parking spot which was very lucky.

The venue was right at the back of the sports centre and once again it was easy to find your way there. I paid my £4 entry fee, which I must say is a really good deal still, and entered the hall. This was just after 11am and it did seem busy. With the collapse of the SELWG shows, maybe people are now paying attention to this show.

The first thing for me was to look around the trade stands and there was plenty on offer for buyers. Although there were no 20mm plastic soldiers on sale like Salute this year. After a quick walk around the trade stands, I visited the Posties Rejects with their Battle of “Rivoli, 1797”. A battle between the Austrian’s and the French. Here are a couple of pictures of that game. 

The Rules are from “Volley and Bayonet - Road to Glory, and the figures 6mm Commission Figurines, which I believe are all painted by Richard (great work) 

There seems to be a lot of 3D printing companies out in force these days, but most do sci-fi stuff. I found that little room with hot/cold drinks machines and a few tables to have lunch in. Once finished, I went back into the hall and started to look around at the tables layout. There were quiet a number of demonstration games this year  which is always great to see. Even the area where people were selling their second-hand goods looked bigger.

There were loads of wargaming and participation games tables on show a total of 34, some small and some large games. One of them I have already seen at Salute, “Berlin 1945” from the Retired Wargamers Reloaded. Love this table/terrain, so here are a few more pictures of that. 

I went back to the Posties to see how the battle was going. It was nice to see and to talk to Ray Rousell, Big Lee and the rest of the group. It’s always nice to chat with these fine fellows. I had a great time at the show I even brought some Hedges (2pkts) and Vegetable strips from Debris of War out of the old war chest. Returned home just after 3pm on a beautiful summers day. Here is another picture of one of the other games at the show.

"Bridge over La Vie 1944" Shepway Wargamers Club

Salute 52

On Saturday 12^th April I went to my first wargaming show of the year, to “SALUTE 52” at Excel London run by South London Warlords.

It was a lovely sunny spring day as I set off for the show and arrived at 10.50 am, collected my goodie bag and set off looking around the trade stands. The first thing that hit me was the amount of people that had turned out for the event, which was really nice to see.

The trade stands had about everything you needed for your hobby, but once again no trader had anything for us out of date, 1/76 plastic figure collectors/gamers. Although I had some cash in the war chest to spend, I brought it all back home with me. Never seen so many dice of different shapes and colours though?

After lunch I met up with the bloggers at 1 pm and it was great to catch up with most of them that I was able to chat to. Sorry if I missed you.

Around the hall there were many games and a hell of a lot of participation games which were well attended. The only problem for me was that there were not many historical games but loads of sci-fi and fantasy ones again being played. I take my hat off to all of the gamers who made their tables look like museum model layouts. I was lucky enough to see Rifleman Harris from the TV series “Sharpe” 

Rifleman Harris Then

Now

So here are a couple of photographs that I took at Salute this year, not many I know, I should of taken more.

"Caen 1944" Joe Bilton

Not Known

79th Highlanders

"Berlin 1945" Retired Wargamers Reloaded

                                               

To the Strongest-Louis Quatorzes Wars

"Zeppelin" Hornchurch Wargames Club

It was a good show and I will be going back next year, but before that there is “Broadside” in June.

Broadside Games Show 2024

For my second wargame show of the year, yesterday it was another trip down the A2 to Gillingham, Kent for the Broadside Games Show run by the Milton Hundred Wargames Club.  

When I reached the Medway Park Sports Centre which only takes me about half an hour to get there, the car park was full as there was yet another college Sport’s day on plus a funrun day in the park next to the sports centre. I managed to find a parking spot which took me nearly 15 minutes to find one, and it was free to park. The venue was right at the back of the sports centre and it was easy to find your way there. I paid my £4 entry fee, which I must say is a really good deal, and entered the hall. This was around 11.40am and it seemed really busy.

The first thing for me was to look around the trade stands and there was plenty to offer buyers. After I could nto find any 20mm plastic soldiers on sale at Salute I found a stand that sold mostly plastic figures, called 1-72 Model Figures, so out came my short shopping list, but there were none of the Hat 1/72nd figures that I wanted. Oh well. After a quick walk around the trade stands, I visited the Posties Rejects with their Battle of “Croix-de-Bouquets, 1792”. A unknown battle between the revolutionary black slaves and the French. A interesting battle and the game was planed by Ray Rousell in which he made all of the terrain and painted all of the figures. Here are a couple of pictures of that game.

The Village

I found a little room with hot/cold drinks machines and a few tables to sit. So I had my lunch inside this year as it did not look all that good outside. Once finished I went back into the hall and started to look around at the tables layout. There were a hand full of demonstration games and a nice area where people were selling their second-hand goods. There were 18 wargaming tables on show, some really small and a couple of large games this year.  I went back to the Posties to see how the battle was going. It was nice to see and to talk to Ray, Big Lee and the rest of the group. They even had cake there made by Sparky. I had a time at the show even though I did not buy anything. Returned home about 3.30pm. If you have not been there, may be you should try it out next year. Here are some pictures of the other games.

"DORNIER DOWN"
The Shepway Wargamers

"PEGASUS BRIDGE"
The Retired Wargamers Reloaded Group

"A CROWN OF THORNS"
Deal Wargames Association

What a Great Shame

Just saw this today on Facebook and it’s very sad for everyone that usually goes, that SELWG 2024 has been cancelled. It seems that the show has struggled to attract traders for the last few years now, and to increase attendee numbers. But they are saying that they might be running a smaller event in the future (next year earliest), so hopefully this isn’t the end of the SELWG Shows. I must admit that I have only been to the Lee Valley Centre once and that was last year. Not as good or big as when they had it at Crystal Palace. Lets hope that they will move it back to south of the river next year.

SALUTE 51

Saturday (13 April) . I went to my first wargaming show of the year, to help Warlords celebrate 51 years of wargaming shows. Left my house at about 9.50 am on a lovely Spring day. Started the journey first by bus and then onto the Queen Elizabeth line. I arrived at Excel London in just under 30 minutes, door to door, which was great and no long queue to get into the hall.

It was nice to see how busy the show was although there were a few empty tables laying around. It did not have a shopping list this time, started off visiting the trade stands first which I always do and there seemed to be a lot more than last years show.

It once again became clear that the main supply of figures were again in 28mm and no 20mm figures at all, this might be because of the continuing war in the Ukraine, where most of the 20mm figures are made. But in reality it might be that they are not needed in wargaming any more?  The traders had a very good selection of everything you need to wargame from wargaming mats, rules dice (which there were plenty of)  terrain pieces, figures, paint and brushes.

Going around the wargaming tables, there was a lot of very good layouts and I must say that there were loads of demonstration and participation games going on which were always seem to be busy. Another thing that stood out was that there were many paint and take away activities which is always great for the hobby. The main games were Sci-fi or fantasy and not many historical games at all. Most of the games were at a high standard. At 2 o’clock I met up with the Bloggers meet and it was nice to see the faces again and to catch up with their new projects. I left the show at about 3pm and must say that I did enjoy the show and hope that next year will be even better. Here are a few pictures of the show.

South East Scotland wargame Club - 1815 100 Days Campaign

As above

 

Two Fat Lardies - Stalingrad 1944

 

Who would not want this on their table
15th Century-Italian Gradara Castle

 

Retired Warganes Reloaded - WWII Pegasus Bridge

Rubican Models - Vietnam

SELWG 23

This is the first year that I have been to three different Wargame Shows. I was toying about going to North London to see SELWG 23 as the last time that I went to one of theirs was in 2019 the very last one at Crystal Palace Sports Centre. As there were a few good reports from last years event, I finally thought why not and go and see if it’s as good as 2019.

I decided to travel there by car and got stuck in a few traffic jams, one of them was being the Blackwall Tunnel. But a slow progress up the A12 and a couple of rounder-bouts later,  I arrived just after noon at the Lee Valley Athletic Centre in brilliant sunshine. I was hoping to get there before 11.30am. No parking problems at all which was great.

Once I had paid my entry fee, I entered the Sports Hall. The first thing that caught my eye was the Bring and Buy stand and that was jammed packed. Trying to have a look at things was a bit impossible. So onto the Athletic track to see the rest of the show. 

It was easy to go around the trade stands and look at their wears, but about half way round I thought that I am a dying 20mm plastic gamer as not one trader had any 20mm companies. It was great if you are into 15mm and 28mm no problem for you, plenty to see. All the usual stuff with figures, terrain, books and games. But I did manage to buy some MDF stands (3pkts) for myself from “Products for Wargamers”.

On the gaming side there seemed to be a lot of fantasy games which included demo games where you could join in. Everyone seemed to be having a good time on the gaming tables, which is good for the hobby for the people just enjoying the day. I did not take many pictures but here are a couple of pictures from the games I liked.

 

Shepway wargamers Club "Dorrier Down"

Streatham and Tooting "Spanish Ulcers"

The show did not seem very busy when I was there and some of the traders started to pack up at 3pm. I left the show about 3.30pm after another walk around the hall again and joined the many queues of cars going home.

The show was not as good as the old ones, so I feel that unless it starts to pick up, I’ll leave the show off my list for now. I understand that HaT are not making any new figures and that the Ukraine and Russia war is still on going, so I am very limited to what is available right now. I have enough terrain at the moment, although you can never have enough of that.

Next year I hope to go to Salute 51 and Broadside again. Might even look at finding new shows to go too.

Broadside Games Show 2023

It was the hottest day of the year, well it was in London, when I made the half hour trip down the A2 to Gillingham, Kent for the Broadside Games Show run by the Milton Hundred Wargames Club. Yes my second show of the year, but I thought that I should try other shows and see what they can offer. When I reached the Medway Park Sports Centre the car park was full as there was an college Sports day on as well, but I managed to find a parking spot and it was free.

The venue was right at the back of the sports centre and it was easy to find your way there. Paid my £4 entry fee, which I must say is a really good deal, I entered the hall. This was around 11.30am and it seemed busy.

So first thing was to look around the trade stands and there was plenty to offer buyers. After there were no 20mm plastic soldiers on sale at Salute I found a stand that sold mostly plastic figures, called 1-72 Model Figures, so out came my short shopping list and brought myself three boxes of Hat 1/72^nd figures. They are the French in Greatcoats, Brunswick  Avantgarde and Prussian Volunteer Jaegers.

As it was a lovely day, I went outside to have my lunch.  Now the thing here is that there are no facilities for you to sit down and eat/drink which on such a large building seemed funny. But I went outside and watched the athletics while having lunch. Once finished I went back into the hall and boy was it hot in there, but I started to look at the tables layout. There were a hand full of demonstration games and a nice area where people were selling their second hand goods. There were 12 wargaming tables, some really small and some very large. This is where I meet the Posties, Ray and Big Lee. Lovely to see and talk to them again. 

They had a game on called a “Skirmish at St Frances Cove 1784” The game went well for the smugglers I believe.  Here are a couple of pictures.

 

I left the show about 1.30pm and I was so glad that I went and to finally spent some coppers. I shall go back again next year all being well.

Retired Wargamers Reloaded "Eagle & Lions at Carenten"

Salute 50

Last Saturday (22 April) . I have not been to a wargaming show since October 2019 at SELWG (Crystal palace) So I thought that it was about time to go to my first one since then, after all celebrating 50 years of wargaming is such an achievement. Well done Warlords.

Left my house at about 10.00 am on a chilly Spring day. Started the journey first by bus and then onto the Queen Elizabeth line. I arrived at Excel London and joined a long queue which went down very fast and was inside the hall by about 10.40.

Having not been to a show as large as this for some while, it was so nice to see how busy the show was. It did have a short shopping list that I took with me but soon found out that I was not going to get what I needed. So visiting the trade stands first which there was not many, as I always do, it became clear that the main supply of figures were in fact 28 mm. I could not find any traders with HaT or Selects 20 mm figures. Oh well maybe at SELWG later this year. Going around the wargaming tables, there was a lot of very good layouts and I must say that there were loads of demonstration games going on which were always seem to be busy. 

At 1 o’clock I met up with the Bloggers meet and it was nice to see the faces of some that I followed.

 

Picture from Bob Cordery

I was slightly disappointed that I could not spend my cash but I am so glad that I went and had a good day there. Here are some of the fantastic layouts that were there

"Cold Doings in London" London Wargame Guild

"Never Mind the Billhooks" Wargames Illustrated

WWII "Chain of Command" The two Fat Lardies

"Zulus Ntombi River" Hornchurch Wargaming Club

Loughton Strike Force

SELWG 19 Report

Yesterday I went to my third wargaming show of the year, SELWG 2019 at the Crystal Palace Sports Centre.

It’s was nice to wake up with the sun shine but it did have a chill in the air but then again it is autumn. I arrived just after 11 o’clock at the centre, walked in a payed my entry fee. Once through I took a look at the trade stands on the concourse and then into the small hall. Here the bring and buy was very busy, so I decided to come back a bit later. It seemed quite busy here with more trade stands and a few demonstration games going on.

The main Hall

Down to the main hall it seemed a little less busy but there was plenty on offer here. To my surprise there was a stall selling HaT figures. That was great to see but that is one thing that I do not want at the moment and that is more figures. I am still waiting for HaT to produce the Prussian Limber teams and ammo caissons including the Dutch and Belgium Carabiniers which have been promised to the wargaming world. With the trade stands there seemed to be more of a choice in books, figures and even terrain this year.

Had an early lunch just before one, and here I met Ray Rousell from Posties Rejects or Don’t throw a 1 blog. I have tried to meet up with this young man for a couple of years now and at last I can now take his name off my list but hope that I will see him again soon. After lunch I then went back to the bring and buy stall and looked to see what was on offer and there was plenty to see although not for me this time round.

There were quite a few demo games on this year which I think is very good for our hobby as they all seemed to be having fun. But here are a couple of empty tables around where clubs had not turned up which is always a great shame, but here are some pictures of the show.

Shepway Wargaming Club WWI - Refugees flee the battle

Deal - WWII Beach Landing

Gravesend Wargames WWII great looking table

Now that I have had my fix at looking at all the fantastic layouts this year. I makes me think about mine to come. Still trying to get the first batch 32nd foot done although we are about half way through painting them.

Skirmish 2019 - Anglo Boer War Special

I decided to go back to the Skirmish Show on Sunday for my second wargame show of the year.

Leaving home in some very nice autumn sun I jump on the bus to Sidcup. I arrived at the Chislehurst & Sidcup School just before ten, which is a bit early than I normal do here. I took a bit of spending money from the war chest in hope that something might catch my eye this time round.  The entry fee remained at just £4 which is really good for a small show like this.

Once I had payed and given my free raffle ticket, I made my way straight to the big selection of plastic figures in the reception area. Here I brought two HaT boxes of figures. They were the “French in Greatcoats” and a box of the “Married Zulus”.

In the main hall the lack of people visiting was very apparent but is might be down to the hot weather and everyone having their last BBQ. There seemed to be more trade stands here than in previous shows. Although it was mainly figures, there was a good selection of second hand books as well.

On the main stage once again a collection of military equipment from the Boer War and it was very impressive collection. On into the gaming hall there were just five tables of gaming which was a bit of a disappointment. The Bring and Buy tables was quite packed with goodies.

Out of the five games, I have picked three of them to show you.

Skirmish Wargames "Mexican Revolt"

Old Guard "Spanish Civil War"

Milton Hundred Wargames Club "Conflict In Kent 1941"