I had a good feeling about the new venue for the CWD, and it turned out I was right. Andy and Derek at Big Battles Ltd in Cirencester had set out the variety of tables needed in advance, and I was able to pop in to check things out and put names on tables the preceding Friday. I left convinced that everything was going to be fine.
I was a little concerned about numbers, as a few gamers had to cancel quite close to the date for a variety of completely understandable reasons. But in the end, the show was buzzing - Andy said he counted 40 people at one point, which would be a record. The venue cost £300 to hire, and I collected £310 from attendees at a tenner each, so I was well content. The extra tenner will go to the 'Many Tears' dog rescue charity, who do wonderful work rescuing mistreated and homeless dogs.
As usual, it is my pleasure to thank those who took the trouble to bring games to the event. The standard was as good as ever, as was the cheerful and friendly spirit in which everyone participated. I think most individual visitors found a game to join in with if they wanted, which was also pleasing. The reduced workload that resulted from using the new venue enabled me to put on a game myself, which was great fun and a first for me after 6 events. Thanks to Chris and Dillon for joining me in my first CWD game.
I reckon it only remains to put out some photos of the day. My thanks to Big Battles and Steve Johnson for permission to share some of their images. Unfortunately, running my own game prevented me from gathering as much information about the various games being played as I would have liked, so apologies if important info is missing here and there.
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| Overview of the hall. There were 8 games on show. |
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| My own game, Poland 1939 using my own Startline rules. A quickly-conceived bit of fun involving an encounter game between elements of 10th Mechanised Brigade and 2nd Panzer Division. |
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| German forces close in on the Poles around the chapel. |
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| Next to me in 'WW2 Corner' were Matt and Paul with their 1/200th Russian Front game, using BKC II. |
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| Nice close-up of advancing German armour. (Courtesy Big Battles) |
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| Stuart Surridge and the Wyre Forest Gamers put on an impressive Ancients game which was much admired. |
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| All 28mm figures, each individually based. Crikey! (Courtesy Big Battles) |
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| Steve Johnson (centre) brought another great 'imaginations' game set in the Horse and Musket period. He came on his own, but quickly found some eager participants to help him out. |
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| Among whom was Dave Pike, an old wargaming buddy I hadn't seen in years. Great to catch up Dave! |
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| Close up of the action on Steve's table. (Courtesy Big Battles) |
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| Dave Kenyon and friends are another group of regulars. They brought a Franco-Prussian war game with figures sculpted and cast by Dave himself. Very impressive, and classic old-school. |
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| I'm afraid my attempt at a close-up of some Prussian guns doesn't do the figures justice. |
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| Tim Cull brought along a game based on the 1664 Battle of St Gottard, between Ottoman and Imperial forces. A typically original choice! (Courtesy Big Battles) |
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| The game was played through twice. (Courtesy Big Battles) |
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| The Cirencester Wargames Club brought along a large number of lovely Renaissance figures to fight out an imaginary battle using their own 'Risky Renaissance' rules. (Courtesy Big Battles) |
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| As with Tim's game they managed to play through the battle twice. In both cases, this was enabled by home-brewed, simple rules. (Courtesy Big Battles) |
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| Last, but definitely not least, we come to the Ian and Paul's game, which was an impressive Wild West skirmish set up. (Courtesy Big Battles) |
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| Finally, a nice extra facility this year was the 'chill-out area', where fatigued gamers could take a break from the rigours of combat. |
Prizes
There were 3 prizes this year - the Stuart Asquith Trophy for best game, the Chris Gregg prize of an original artwork for Best Presented Game, and the Pendraken prize of a £25 gift voucher. It was very generous of Chris to put in the work to create such a great picture as a prize.
Andy and Derek very kindly agreed to judge and present the Stuart Asquith Trophy. They had no doubt that Ian and Paul's Wild West set-up was the winner, due to the magnificent and dedicated modelling skills shown in the creation of the buildings and terrain, along with the variety of fun scenarios which were played out. Chris also wished to give his own prize to the same game, and so for the second year running a single game received two prizes. I judged the Pendraken prize myself, and awarded it to Dave Kenyon's game as I fell in love with his shiny toy soldiers, and much admired his skill in both sculpting and casting them himself.
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| Ian and Paul with their well-earned trophy. According to Ian, the credit was all due to Paul! |
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| Dave receives the Pendraken Prize for 'Keith's Favourite Game'. (Courstesy Steve Johnson) |
And so that just about wraps it up. I have already booked the Big Battles venue for Sunday 19th October 2025. I have a feeling that if things go well, 2025 might be a record year for us. I guess we'll see. I had a lovely day, and was happy to hear from everyone I spoke to that they had also enjoyed themselves. Well done everybody!
'Til next time!