As patrons, you get to see this first – my Flickr album of photos taken at The Other Partizan in Newark, Nottinghamshire last Sunday, 18th August.
I always enjoy the Partizan shows, and this was no exception, with a friendly atmosphere, some good looking games and catching up with old friends. We were also blessed with proper August weather and it got quite warm inside the giant glasshouse!
The first slightly negative observation I would make is that there were at least a couple of clubs who, rekindling an irritating ailment that reappears at intervals in UK shows, seemed more intent on playing their games than in engaging with interested observers – a really silly attitude, in my opinion, since these people clearly meet and play games amongst themselves throughout the year. Surely, a public-facing show requires something different in terms of attitude, even if the games are the same.
Who gives a monkey’s whatnots whether you win or lose a game being played at a show? It’s not a tournament! Pathetic, especially when it’s clear that rules arguments are breaking out – in a demo game! For goodness’ sake, leave your egos at home. Why not spend the time chatting with the public, letting them have a go with the rules and figures, explaining something of the history and tactics of the particular era, recommending your preferred manufacturers of miniatures and terrain and so on? Surely, not all your club members need to be shoving minis around the table all the time? Why not delegate at least a couple in rotation to do the PR work?
Secondly, as organiser Laurence Baldwin observed, “The Age of the Blanket” is upon us. I lost count of the number of commercially printed, or home-dyed furry cloths in evidence at the show, as you’ll see, as opposed to custom-made terrain. This billiard-table flatness runs counter to what one normally expects at a Partizan show, but are those who expect more merely being Canute-like?
I’m sure the commercial option makes games easier to erect and dismantle at shows, and therefore counts as more convenient and certainly a huge amount less effort in the build-up to the show, but I have to say that this does lead to a visual degradation of quality and differentiation between the games. Both my fellow awards judge Dan Faulconbridge of Wargames Illustrated and I noted this.
The photos reveal that several games sported almost identical ground cloths. For a game at home, fine; even for a participation game, okay; but for a ‘showcase’ demo game? Bravo, therefore, to those few souls who went to the trouble of making their own ‘ground level’ terrain, and at least the home-grown variety of mats required some initiative and had, in general terms, more three-dimensionality to them than the printed types.
With groundwork largely failing to impress, therefore (and a couple of notable exponents of high quality terrain seen at previous outings were missing from this event), bar a couple of exceptions, judging then centres around other factors such as the engagement of the team running the game, the quality of the other scenery and miniatures on display, and the ‘story’ behind what is being portrayed.
In the end, this is why the The Boondock Sayntes’ NW Frontier game won both Best Vignette (a new award in honour of the recently deceased Adrian Shepherd) and Best Demo Game, whilst Best of Show went to the Tobruk game that cleverly centred around the famous old movie of that name. They also bribed onlookers with sweets! Best Participation Game really was a hard one, with perhaps four or five outstanding and clearly popular games vying for the title, but in the end the jungle-strewn Assault on Peleliu 1944 layout and Like A Stone Wall club teamwork took the prize.
And well done to all of the majority of display gamers, both of demo and participation games, who clearly did enter properly into the spirit of the thing, ensuring that they had a busy day, but those they encountered came away thinking highly of them and feeling encouraged on their own wargaming journey. Bravo.
So, head on over to https://flic.kr/s/aHsmGryuSG and enjoy the view! I have given every photo a filename with the club name and the game (where known).
Henry
P.S. Please don’t share the Flickr link or any images until this post goes public on Sunday lunchtime BST.
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