Fantasy Partizan 2004

Total Model: On Location

Fantasy Partizan 2004

By ToXin

Feb 21, 2004

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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