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Fantasy Partizan 2004 |
Feb 21, 2004 |
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Partizan, hosted by the Newark
Irregulars gaming club, is held three times a year - Sunday Feb
8th saw the Fantasy and Sci-Fi show at Kelham hall.
I arrived just after lunchtime and having parted with my £3 at the door
and pocketed my show guide I stood at the top of the stairs overlooking
one of the halls. The first thing that caught my eye was the slowly rotating
display cabinet housing some rather nicely painted miniatures at the front
of the Wargames Foundry stand labelled Perry Miniatures. The slowly rotating
regiments and skirmish squads included some of the latest Lord Of The Rings
figures and other various sets were on sale on the stand.
 On
the opposite side of this hall I noticed one of the trade stands I had specifically
gone to Partizan looking for - Snapdragon Studio. This manufacturer is somewhat
elusive, difficult to find even on-line stockists and they no longer have
a website up. However, since seeing their resin terrain at Broadsword last
year I couldn't wait to have another rumage around in the boxes on, and
under, the stand.
Having noted where this was for later purchases I proceeded to circulate
around the hall, stopping to have a look at the HUGE 'Netherlord' in the
Heresy Miniatures display case. Having read the series of articles in Harbinger
Magazine by Andy Foster about this model, now that I've seen it 'in the
flesh' I can appreciate what a feat of sculpting and moulding it took to
produce and also what a ridiculous amount of white metal it takes to make
one!
The layout of each hall was arranged with trader stalls around the perimeter
and gaming tables in the middle, making it easy to observe or join in games.
The traders in some cases literally had their backs to the wall under the
sheer numbers of customers pressing forward, particularly on the ForgeWorld
stand tucked away in the corner of the largest hall. Although there wasn't
a great variety of stock, only orders placed before hand for collection
at the show and some of the smaller items and books, there was something
to draw people in - the Chaos Warhound Titan standing proudly on the table.
This model seemed to be constantly surrounded by a huddle of admirers, one
of whom caused a heart stopping moment for the staff by nearly dropping
a new Imperial Armour book on it.
 In
the largest hall most of the floor area was dedicated to gaming tables.
Demonstration and participation games being played out on some spectacular
layouts. One that particularly caught my eye was Derby Wargames Society
with their huge table generously bedecked with terrain pieces. The thing
that really caught my eye here was what looked like undead elephants striding
remorselessy forward!
Next to this was the preview demo of the new game devised by TFT
Industries. Steve Eserin had made the long haul up from somewhere on
the South Coast to bring his desert outpost table made using the 'Defence
Grid' & 'Level-2' modular system of walls, bunkers and gantries. For
the more observant, this layout included some as yet unreleased gun turrets.
The first time I passed by, Steve wasn't at the table but his assistant
was enthusiastically dishing out promotional leaflets and inviting people
to join in for a game... more on that later.
 After
a short refreshment break it was time to go shopping. The only problem I
had was deciding what to get. With so many manufacturers represented either
directly or via independent traders it really is a test of will power to
keep to a pre-determined budget. And so I found myself back at the Snapdragon
Studio stand. I had noticed a medium sized bunker set earler, but on investigation
there weren't any un-painted ones left. Oh well, it had to be the bigger
gun emplacement and trench one then! I had also spotted some Confrontation
figurine packs that turned up a limited edition Dirz miniature. I must admit
I hadn't really looked closely at Rackham figurines unitl recently when
I got their new game Hybrid which was also on sale.
 Tearing
myself away before spending the GNP of a small country I returned to the
gaming tables, more specifically this one.
Now I haven't played any game for well over 10 years so I thought I'd just
watch. The demo scenario for 'Sabotage' was an infiltration & capture.
Two highly skilled, well equipped infiltrators against five security patrol
members with surveilance equipment and potentially re-inforcements... The
two games I watched looked more than a little one-sided so when I was strongarmed
into trying as the attackers I didn't have much hope. How wrong can one
be?
At the end of the game I felt a little embarassed at having dished out such
a bashing to one of the inner circle of playtesters.
4 o'clock had soon rolled round and stalls were being packed away when I
pulled out my show guide and map to find that I'd completely missed the
three smaller rooms to the right of the main entrance, possibly a quarter
of the show... oh dear, better check the map thoroughly next time at the
start.
ToXin
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