Triples Swag

Not so large stash.

Well I think I will start with what I did not get and end on a high. Camels, oh they do make me spit! Same with the Essex Persians. Someone was selling a mix of Essex but these they did not have. I really need Essex Persians as they are to go with the Essex I already have so I will mail order and as such will get Essex camels so no big deal. The Newline's Numidian Cavalry were not on display but the infantry were. They are so much more chunky than the 1/72 Plastics that they would not be a good fit so happy to stick with just the plastics (no issue regards the Newline, just would be obvious another supplier). The Pendraken question remains unanswered, they only bring army packs to the shows so unable to make up a unit to see what they look like. Lee needs a few WWII bits so he will order some at some point. Meanwhile he left mine with a few 15mm Matchlock to paint up, biggest problem will be ordering these figures if we go with it as you have to do it blind. No stand space for the range at any of the shows I have been to nor pics on line! No barbed wire either but will get from Maelstrom Games at some point.

Whilst I did not pick up the Donnington Galatians I did get the Museum ones as they also had command figures and I thought it might be nice to add a bit of a mix for a change. It's great that at the show you can buy single figures as it can round off units, especially if like me you are converting from one rule set to another as in several cases.

Came with a  free paper bag!

Obviously I managed to get the paints, plenty selling Vallejo at old prices and I got replacements for white and black at £1.75 a bottle so happy enough. I also picked up a couple of packs of dice, 20 in total so ready for FoG and Impetus.

Other than that I got nothing really.............

Oh OK I did get something else. Timecast the Holy Grail of wargaming were there but whilst I like them and will buy some for extra variation I have to say that I don't think they are as good as the rep. But I really do like Total Battle Miniatures resin buildings. The cast quality is as good as Timecast (I think slightly better) and have better prices for the same sized pieces. If you use their painting service the finished product looks better as well. They are local to me so it's nice to support them but make no mistake if they were not as good I would go elsewhere. The range is ever growing so adding to your buildings is no problem. They have a small range of 25-28mm a fair range of 15mm and for me a great sized 6mm. I wanted buildings that could be used for Belgium and Prussia/Austria whilst Lee bought Spanish. I can see me buying Russian if we get round to that campaign anytime.

Thatched Row House

This is a really nice piece (as they all are really). The detail is great and I think it will paint up fairly fast and I look forward to the thatching! it was also the most expensive of all the buildings I bought coming in at £6

Thatched Barn

Keeping with the thatched theme I give you the barn. I bought two of these, one to stand alone (I want a farm house for it) the other to go with a warehouse. The pic does not make it real clear but hay is coming out of the two bays to the right. The view of my thumb should give an indication of the size. Price wise it was the lowest price  at £3 each. The front has a large double door for waggon access.

Large Warehouse

I love this one, it's another £6 building and more great detail. The overhang for the waggons (I may add the pole for the hoist. Steps up to the main doors and the wonky roof. Round the back is a set of three low archers to strengthen the structure.

I also have a Church with a dome spire at £4 and a timber building which is larger than the barn but comes in at only £3. For some reason I did not photograph them so you will have to wait to see them painted. Their website shows all the buildings painted so you can use it as a guide. You do get some mold lines and a little flash, time will tell if that is much of an issue. Also I do have one bubble in the resin of one piece that I have seen but it's neither big or looks to spoil the model, again once they are being cleaned and primed I will have a better idea on just how good they are. The fortified town is fantastic as is the other tile pieces and as Lee pointed out you can use it with the town walls (seldom) but nothing stops you using the buildings from the town loose. All considered it's a great piece and one day I will have one.

So not a bad stash, I think given both the financial position but also the fact I have so much gear anyway future Con's won't see me spending like I used to, I simply need to fill gaps these days, but also consider what I had delivered two days before the con.

Numidian Reinforcements.

My order from Hayfield's arrived, I really need another box of the Zvezda Cavalry which I will pick up in a few weeks time and then I can get to painting the rest.

The Full Project.

Not shown are the Numidian light Cavalry already painted and the Roman Deserters, again already painted. I also fancy another box of the HaT Numidian Lights or possibly two as I can have so many units of Light Cavalry and you get three units out of a single box. I have yet to get the figures out together and assign to units but after that I should be able to decide what more I need to give me a few options around the basic unit. I saw the rules at the con but at £25 I just don't think they are value for money. I will continue to search out a second hand copy.

Triples and back again.

Well it was Triples yesterday and what a good day it was. I live 45 minutes away so it really is the local show. In fact though it is further away now it's about 20-30 minute's quicker to get to as we no longer have to drive through Sheffield. Lee had arranged to pick me up at 9am so at 8.45 I clambered into his car and along for the day was Adi who I had met just the once before and is a real fun guy and we all spent the day trading war stories. Of course we had given ourselves an hour to get to the Con and set off 15 mins early so once near the site we went for 2nd breakfast.

It seemed the local car park rolled well on initiative and installed a guy on the entrance who ambushed us all for £3 parking, good job we were in a  good mood having just feasted so well at MacD's.

I like the new venue, no stairs, everything all together in two rooms* (though it took till lunch to find the second room). Traders for the most part round the edge of the room, displays and participation in the centre with bright lighting.

* The wargames themselves were in a off shoot from the main room, easy to see but what a difference. Dim and dismal lighting (is that a 4?, anyone selling glow in the dark dice would have done a great trade) and it was cold in there. If the con gets any bigger I think they will put them in the car park! In the same room but tucked away at the very end was what is probably the worst bring and buy I have ever seen. Ran by the guy who often runs it but possibly a victim of E-Bay, the lower numbers on the day or perhaps just what seems the steady decline and lack of interest that bring and buys seem to generate. Anyway apart from 40K it seemed that it really only held a lot of books, a few bits and bobs and the stock owned by the guy doing the bring & buy. He was (again) openly bragging to a guy about how he had snapped up a bargain for latter sale. This is the crux of the problem. Anything worth grabbing he gets, he buys it and gets the commission and the selling fee. In effect he not only gets first dibs but buys at a discount. He see's it as part payment for him doing the B&B (I assume then he makes no money (yeah right!)) I see it as short sighted strategy that is paying him back. What's the point going looking if nothing is worth the ticket price as he has had all the good stuff? Less peeps looking, less sold, less taken to be sold the following year. The circle is maintained. He gets a worse image when he is selling games he bought in The Works even if he is not making a huge mark up, they are still in my local store!!!If Triples are paying attention, if you want the bring and buy to function like a real bring and buy, stop using outside sellers and man it yourself.

As mentioned above, numbers did seem to be down and that was in part put down to a local football teams playoff game being on, either way it was not badly attended but by 3pm it was looking beyond sparse. Still a good return for me.

Met fellow blogger Phil of The Wargammer site and his posse. He has already posted his Triples event (see sidebar) and had a chat with them all. Whilst he grabbed my pic I feared for my camera's health so kept it hidden. Nice bunch of lads and it was like we had all been mates for years! (Which after the camera gag may well not happen LOL). What I find interesting about these events is the sheer number of old and new acquaintances that spring up. Lee is a bit of a whore so every other minute someone would come up and chat to him about this and that. Hell we only got through the door before one bloke (the original holiday centre owner) was chatting with him and telling him he wanted Lee to paint some 10mm's for him. Later he caught up with us and handed the fig's he wants painting. He had a pack of Hussars that he needed painting, just mentioned someone who did not wear glasses was required to paint them. I for some reason mentioned I did not need glasses and promptly was given half the pack and told they need to be painted as Aide de Camp's!!! Upping the ante seems to be a wargamers trait LOL. The reward? You get to go over to his new gaff for a free game or so when he is sorted. He is going down the route of 10mm and with the offer of free games if you paint some gear for him he hopes to get lots of figures painted. I wish him well in the venture and look forward to painting these up for him, but the trust that gets put out there, the man did not even have my name, seems being a wargamer and entering the building with Lee is enough.

I did not take many pics as usual I left it to the end and was really feeling the day, but for your viewing pleasure.

Huntingdon & District Wargames Society 6mm Napoleonic game. Very friendly chaps who some how managed to play the game and chat to all and sundry. The pic shows just part of the battlefield and if I remember right they were using their own rules.

A close up of a few of the bases. They hammer a nail through the bottom of the base for the Hama Beads they use as markers. This acts as a great information system and also instills respect of the miniatures by those who insist on slamming their hands on the table! The figures are Baccus.

Like a Stone Wall put on this huge WWI display, that had tables flying off in all directions! Rather than the usual trench bound slog match this was fought over open terrain and seemed to have a fair bit of movement.

Another view to give you an idea of the size of the game, plenty more table dog legging to the left.

Old School done to a large scale. Each figure is hand cast from split moulds and must have taken forever to just make. The owner has for the most part just one mold per figure type but for the most used figures he had two!!! He would cast in his wife's kitchen and make them in two groups of 4 at a time.

Close up time. High gloss is the order of the day, as is the basic board. More detailed terrain just detracts from the style of the game. Many a older wargamer really got misty eyed over this one.

Very nice WWII display by Barnsley Association of Wargamers. Italian V Commonwealth and this is just a taste of the battlefield. So well done as were many of the displays.

A view from further around the table. The standards of display are so high now it has to be daunting for anyone wanting to put one on for the first time.

Mosborough Old Boys put on a ECW display, again this is just a part of it. As it was getting late in the day nothing was happening but it looked nice and I did spot my Regiment marching to the action. I think the power of the Sealed Knot is shown with the painting of the Kings Guard as it shows them with red pikes just like my company had theirs painted. Unfortunately no information is available to say that this was historical, indeed it was my company commanders way of making sure he could keep tabs on the pikes he supplied!

Another 6mm Naps, this time The Glory Boys. Effective terrain again, this time using Adler Miniatures.

A better view of the table. As mentioned by another blogger (Big Lee I think), some displays lacked either information or easy to see information on who they were and/or what they were fighting. The top pic of these two shows how easy it is to achieve this.

So that wraps up the show (I will do a stash post later). This would be it for you more normal types but we had to drop off a couple of Adi's excellent flags off at another of Lee's mates place. So we all trooped in to say hi and look at the battle the three of them have ongoing (the joys of a permanent table). I have never, ever EVER seen so many 28mm painted figures in my life. What's even better these figures are so well painted they could make the cover of any wargames mag! The table was great as well and the buildings very very good. Imagine the jaw dropping surprise when you find out this is just 20% of what they own between them! I did not take any pics as the camera was in the car. I have been invited to play with them when they get the next game set up and that is something that can't come soon enough. Andy the third member of their posse is another nice relaxed type of guy, all three play for the fun of playing, my idea of heaven. We spent about an hour to two chatting and showing me work they are doing on yes yet more figures and running me through the battle so far. Then it was a drive home from there dropping Adi off ad then back to mine more than ten hours after I left!

Triples Shopping List and Random Mutterings.

Triples shopping list and random mutterings.

Well I'm off to Triples tomorrow and should be there for opening which is just perfect. It was always my favourite con really but so much has changed since the last time I attended. First up it was often the weekend one side or the other of my Birthday (MARCH!!!!!) now it's May. Next up it's at a new venue, well that will be a bonus for me as I did not fancy those stairs! and one reason for the move was the need for extra space. Good News, so what's on my list?

Essex will be one target as I need a couple of packs of Persian Cavalry to finish off the birthday ones I received also they have camels so I can get the ones I already own finished off.

Newline need a visit to check out their 20mm Numidians though at £3.30 a pack of three they will have to have something nice to get me to add them to the plastics. I also really need another Zvezda Carthaginian Numidian Cavalry box as I really need just a few more for the 20mm project to be ready to work on. I received my package from Hayfield's yesterday and have to say I really like the Zvezda and they are well worth the extra.

Donnington seem to be the only supplier holding Gallatian Infantry so I will take a look at them and if they are not a fit for what I need then I will probably pick up the closest I can find from one of the others. This and the camels will as good as complete my Later Seleucid arm, well as far as lead goes anyway. Painting well that's a different story.

Vallejo, if I can beat the local shops price I will pick up a few more colours, I feel I have arrived as I am in need of a new White as it's almost used up! Maybe also some horse colours, any suggestions?

Warbases will get a visit, i will pick up a few bits but mostly just to say thanks for the great service I have received in the last 6 months, really fast, helpful and pleasant guy.

Looking at Barbed Wire options, AP is on the clock at £3.59 for 2.5m so will be looking to beat it.

The sticky question of dice, at the moment I use my ASL dice but this means sometimes using them twice to get enough dice in. So buying some of the cheap as chips dice should be considered.

Timecast will get a nod as I need 6mm buildings but another company also do nice buildings and slightly lower in price so will be looking them up as well.

Pendragon for the 10mm ECW/TYW options. Still don't know where we will go with this but I think we will buy a few packs just to try them out. If we go with them it will mean a big spend to build up the armies.

Want to chat at Triples? if you see someone who looks like this, it may well be me.

Different Jersey though, 96 Hood will be the flavour of the day.

OK the random stuff now. Phil from The Wargaming Site got me thinking when he was writing about the standards of our hobby suppliers. The general consensus is that they all should be professional, have good websites and react fast to queries. All this was sparked by a mates problems with Heroics and Ross (problem was out of H&R control and has been resolved) but as my professional background is Retail Operations Manager level I have both insight and a personal interest in this matter. I also really should side with the customer as I HATE poor service and unprofessional action.

But we have a few issues that really need to be considered to get the full picture. Many of these companies are part time or if not fairly shoestring affairs. This means that either (and sometimes both) time or money is in short supply to do everything that is needed. Even so a basic standard should be expected but even that can be wanting. So what is reasonable?

E-mails and phone messages replied to. If service is up and running then it's fair to expect a reply within a few days but consider someone who has a full time job, they may well have to fit in casting, packaging and posting out so many orders at some points that they really struggle to get round to it, especially if it's just before or after a show. Still I think it's fair to get a response within 5 days especially if a weekend is included in the time period.

Pictures of the figures on the website. The real gripe of wargamers. Conventions may well be the place many of us get our figures from but how often have they been pre-ordered or selected from the Internet? Also Internet is very big business and so many of us do a lot of buying there. It makes perfect business sense to have all your figures on line with a good and secure ordering system to speed up taking our hard earned off us. The problem for some suppliers they simply do not have the now how to do this themselves and have may well have used someone to build their website who would have to be relied upon to add this feature or maintain it. It's likely in this case to cost a fair bit to do and as such becomes not viable, especially if they have a large catalogue. Money better spent would be to get a training session to learn how to do it and then devote a few hours a week to steadily doing this until you get the whole back catalogue on the system. Will it add sales? yes for sure but possibly not enough to warrant the already limited time for some. But this is a flawed strategy as slowly they will loose sales to competition who's product you can see. What the internet has done is allow us to see and purchase just about anything, if I want a hard to get (say in the UK) set of figures then by direct from where ever they are made. Companies such as H&R really should have pics, they have been around for so long and it's so important that such bread and butter companies get images across.

Getting what you want not an alternative/mistaken item and when it happens getting it sorted. Lack of a retail mind is often the reason for either slipping something similar in the parcel or not reacting fast to errors. Customers tend to hate these errors and can turn a happy loyal customer into a never again and outspoken unhappy camper. Quickly sorting out errors though has just the opposite effect, we love it!

Another similar issue. Out of stock and waiting, waiting and the sands of time drifting away. OK three weeks but I have waited every day for THAT parcel. I will use Hayfield's as an example. I ordered about £25-30 of items, I know already that they take a few days to get back to you, not sure if it's a one man band but it's always the same guy (Andy) who gets back to you. I received an e-mail from him stating the sale item I had ordered was gone (no surprise as it was the last one) and another item was going to be out of stock for two weeks. He was happy to send what he had and send the rest on or hold the stock. I was happy to hold as he told me it was a couple of weeks before the other item came in. A couple of weeks later he lets me know they aer in. Do I still want them and if so how to pay? We sorted the detail and 3 days later they arrive. At all stages I knew what to expect, instead of three weeks of letterbox camping. Warbases is great because he e-mails you he has sent the items out, this he does when he gets home at night, power to him, great service. Keep the customer informed and they stay happy longer, problem is that it takes time and unless they are well organised , lots of time.

Time is the issue for these guys, especially if they are a part time business. So should we cut them some slack? I think so, not a lot after all they are taking our cash but any of these companies that are at the point of going from part time to full time they have it the hardest because that other revenue will be missed for some time whilst they try to make it as a going consign.