SKELP 2018

Being a review of my first trip to the SKELP Wargames show

        Last Saturday saw me deploy in support of Colonel Bill's(1) main man, Stu, at the SKELP (2) Wargames Show in lovely Forfar(3) up here (or over here, depending where you are situated globally) in Scotland. I say lovely Forfar as I have never, much to my discredit with the locals I'm sure, been in Forfar before, However what little I did see looked very nice, even on a driech (4) Saturday morning, an opinion which I hope will redeem me a little in the eyes of the locals.

       Anyway, the venue for SKELP is the Reid Hall, a fine old building (built in the Gothic style, I believe) in the town centre (opposite Tesco whihc is built in the untilitarian style and lacking a cafe) and it's run by the local wargames club, the Angus Wargames Club.

       The show is a fairly small scale affair compared to the majority of wargames shows held in the UK but it doesn't suffer in comparison. From what I saw of it, which was a fair bit, it was pretty busy.
   
      The show was laid out in the usual fashion with demo and participation games in the centre and the traders around the edges. There were about nine games on for the delectation of the visitors, most of which I managed to photograph, on my lunch break I hasten to add; there's commitment for you

So, in no particular order here are some photos of the games with some info I managed to glean....and remember (note to self, take a pencil and paper with you next time!)

Pictorial over view

This was a demo game run by a chap named Kenny (?) who was using a rule set of his own. A very nice looking 28mm game with Russians (I like Napoleonic Russians) and Prussians. Kenny's figures were very nicely painted too but I must confess I really liked his terrain, especially the timber framed buildings

Lots of lovely figures

Cossacks; Perry's I think

Love those buildings

Lovely stuff

Love the attention to detail

         More lovely stuff followed this time from Dave Imrie of Saxon Dog Painting. This time he had his amazing War Of The Roses figures with him (Last time I had a look at his stuff was at Carronade where he was running an earlier medieval game, think it might have been Crecy). Anyway, his tables and in particular his minis are a genuine treat to the eye. I have an inkling towards doing something WOTR themed and Dave doesn't help matters with his incredibly painted miniatures.

Phwoar!

Ugh! Love the fortified manor

See what I mean about his painting 

It's the Archers!!

The Kirremuir Wargames Club ran a game of Airfix Battles. Don't know anything about this game but the guys seemed to be having fun. Their show is next month.

Nice looking table

This good looking bunch of mail order catalogue ex-models from the Village Vanguard ran a demo game of BIG Saga. A nice selection of buildings, figures and long boats

Gothenburg Games who are definitely not from THE Gothenburg...at least I don't think they are, put on a Western game using Playmobil figures which looked like good fun. Not sure who pinted the figures but they did a good job, you would swear they were real Playmobil figures!!

Lovely terrain but where's the Playmobil tramp figure?

There was a nice game of Hail Caesar being ran but, like the almost complete duffer I am (gotta have something to aim for, folks) I forgot to get details of which club they belonged too. Maybe someone can enlighten me. 

Ooh, elephants

 Falkirk and District Wargames Club ran a "what if" game pitching Bonnie Prince Charlie and his Jacobites against the Crown forces at Kilburn. My chum and Chain Of Command opponent John Ewing was obviously feeling optimistic as he gave me a brief rundown of the rules but I can't recall what they were, for the life of me. In my defence I was at a wargames show and I always get distracted by everything that's going on. I'm sure he'll put me right, him or Dave Knight who was running the game. Meanwhile I only got two photos and I offer them up here for your perusal, dear reader. 

Once again my memory fails me as to who ran this game of Beneath The Lily Banners but it looked realy nice. Yet another period I would love to game in, I do like a soldier in a tricorne

The chaps from Leuchars Veterans had a participation game based on Carry On Up The Khyber which looked like great fun, I think, once again, this was a set of home brew rules that were being played.

    There may have been one or two other games being played and if I missed your game, my apologies.I was taking my photos during my lunch break and Stu at Colonel Bills cracks the whip, especially when he starts to gets hungry, which is often, especially when it comes to bridies (5).

    A new manufacturer to me, are Commando Miniatures, who produces figures for the period of when Great Britain was giving up it's colonies and retreating from it's Empire, so the period from about 1950 to 1980 (I'm depending on my memory again here folks so I suggest you check out their  website) but they do cover Borneo, Aden etc The figures are 28mm and look very nice. They will tie in nicely with the MDF vehicles that Warbases produce for that era too.

     Like almost every other wargames show, there was a bring and buy and my two or three visits proved very fruitful as does working with Colonel Bills, at least as far as Stu is concerned. I got these lovely toys from the show

Old Glory Napoleonic Russian Caissons

Old Glory Napoleonic French field forge set, which is a lovely kit 

A mixed bag of Victorian characters fit for In Her Majesty's Name

From Colonel Bill's I got some Woodland Indian casualties for
 my Sharp Practice FIW deployment points

 Foundry Miniatures British Airborne; love these figures. I now have a very
complete platoon for both Bolt Action and Chain of Command

Seven Years War era grenadiers from Front Rank who will see service as
 British Royal Navy Marines for Warhammer Historical's Legends of the High Seas

Got this as it will easily pass for 28mm and you can never have enough
buildings, especially ones that can be converted into a ruin just by lifting off the top floor

Other bits and bobs that I bought

So that was my first SKELP, looking forwards to attending next year, especially as I committed the cardinal sin of not buying any bridies!!

Pip Pip for the mo,

General J

(1) Colonel Bill's. Stu is a regular on the UK war games scene who buys and sells painted and unpainted figures as well as producing his own range of figures and scenic accessories. He also stocks paints, brushes, etc etc. Too much to say here as it's 3am in the morning. I recommend you check out his webstore, it's a genuine treasure trove. He is also daft enough to let me help him with the shows he runs in Scotland but that shouldn't be held against him.

(2) Skelp; Scottish; to slap
(3) Forfar: a lovely wee town north of Dundee, Scotland
(4) Bridie: meat and veg filled pastry treat that Forfar is famously known for