I made my first visit to the Hammerhead wargames show at Newark Showground yesterday. I went a bit further than I would usually travel for a show, but I linked it with visiting some family in Nottingham. There were a few castles on the way and back as well.
The venue is a large well-lit hall with plenty of free parking. I arrived just after kick-off, and the queue went down quickly. Unlike the York show, there was a focus on games. A few big games, but plenty of smaller participation ones, and a DBA competition, which a pal was playing in. You could easily have spent the day playing participation games.
That doesn't mean there was any shortage of traders. Most of the big names and a few smaller ones were there. They also used the table hire system for the bring and buy, and I picked up some 15mm armour, an LCVP, and a very nice 28mm Old Guard unit. As well as some bits and pieces from traders.
There were a few games I had seen before, but a lot of new ones as well.
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| 28mm harbour and siege game. Very nice medieval cogs. |
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| Predator game. Lots of jungle. |
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| Very British Civil War. I must dust down my figures for this. |
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An imposing Indian fort.
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| Napoleonic Epic on the Warlord stand. This looks decent at this scale of game. |
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| Lake Peipus. Teutonic knights in 28mm. |
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| If you wondered where all the Wings of Glory models went. Here is the answer! |
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| The new ancient naval rules that came with Wargames Illustrated. |
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| I know nothing about these rules, but it looks like a manageable game size. |
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| Borodino on hexes. |
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| Multiple participation games. |
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| Italian Wars |
And finally, Wargames Illustrated ran the painting competition. Some pretty impressive brushwork.
It was a long drive for me, but I enjoyed the show. It also has the excellent Newark Air Museum nearby, which I'll do a separate blog on.
For goodness sake, prioritise things: #1 Wargames show, #2 Castles, #3 Air Museum and only if there’s time left #4 Relatives.
ReplyDeleteOf course, if you’re staying over at your relatives house then you might want to imply that everything else was purely incidental 😉😂🤣
I too enjoyed Hammerhead, but had to leave quite early - still managed to grab a fair few bargains at the bring & buy and purchase numerous books, rules, magazines and miniatures from various traders. We do keep thinking we ought to checkout the air museum too, but never seem able to find the time (plus I’m more of a tanks, armoured vehicles, artillery guy). I look forward to reading about your visit to the air museum.
Cheers,
Geoff
My first trip, given the recommendations of you and others, and worth the effort
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