SELWG 2012

Well I broke with tradition and made the journey to Crystal Palace for the annual SELWG show for the first time since 1995, just before my daughter was born (she is now nearly 17!).

Despite a minor navigational hiccup the journey was largely uneventful and parking a breeze. I managed to hook up with Postie's Rejects in the queue - complete with the towering man mountain that is the Angry Lurker

A coveted trophy - mine, all mine....

I was happily exchanging banter with these erudite gentlemen when Angry whipped out a rather impressive gift for me - a genuine Postie's Rejects d6! I was moved to apathy at the generosity of this gesture and the said dice now holds pride of place with the other 6,000 or so I have....

Many thanks chaps, much appreciated!

After having discussed the finer points of the film Shoot 'em up starring Clive Owen we made our way into the venue.

Many thanks to Bob Cordery for these - I know have 17 similar to this and reckon that should I head to Greece next year I should be able to complete the collection!

I won't go into too many details about the show - suffice it to say it was big, busy and with more temptation than you shake a large wallet at! - and will instead let the pictures do the talking. I was able to catch up with a number of old friends including that rather splendid  Bob Cordery  - especially as he was able to pass over to me a selection of ceramic houses acquired for me from his recent Adriatic adventure. We talked about things many and varied and it was good to share several thoughts around our respective gaming ideas. As ever, always a pleasure Bob - we should get another game in at some point as well!

SEEMS with their alternative WW2 Zombie apocalypse game - The Restless Dead

Sagrajas 1086 - Almoravids versus the Kings of Leon and Castille by the GLC gamers in 28mm

Brave Little Belgium - 15mm WW2 by the Crawley Wargames Club

The Invasion of Denmark - 20mm WW2 by the Deal Wargames Club

Aspern-Essling 1809 - I forgot the club in question (apologies chaps!) other than the fact that my old Newham gaming friend Derek Oram was commanding some French!

I splashed the cash in a number of directions but overall was fairly restrained. I picked up the following:

I read this many years ago and was really pleased to pick this up for a mere £8!

Just to prove that I can suffer from the 'Ooh, shiny' syndrome just as much as the next man although DO NOT expect me to tackle this in 28mm!

I also picked up a selection of CinC 1/4800th WW2 ships from Wargames Emporium - mentioning Tim Gow opened up all manner of doors - and they are absolutely drop dead gorgeous. the range is limited to the RN and KM for WW2 but what the heck - I can live with that minor inconvenience.

All in all then it was a good day out and the great thing about the venue is that actually doesn't feel that crowded - it feels like a big small show or a small big show. I will probably not leave it another 16 years until I revisit it though....;-)

Many thanks once again to the Rejects and Bob Cordery and to all the clubs that chatted about their particular games.