The venue is very good and with the one minor complaint about parking, I would say that it is one of the better wargame/military show venues in the Midlands. I arrived just after opening time, having driven up from Worcester and spent the first hour walking around the traders and stockists which are situated around the sides of the main hall. For me, the most eye catching was the WWII display of actual military equipment - the centre piece being a working Jeep and trailer and a display of Police cars modelled in 1/25th scale. Other displays of note (showing beautifully painted miniatures) were all of the modelling stands. The Black Scorpion display and the Westwinds Productions display cabinet are worth special note.
Later I browsed the wargame display tables and enjoyed entering in to conversation with some of the exhibitors. I had taken my camera, but once again completely forgot to take any pictures. Wargame displays that caught my attention were the Samurai game, small, but very well done and the huge WWII exhibit that was near the main entrance.
When it came to spending my pocket money - the main recipient was Mr Models, a retailer that is based on the west side of Birmingham and one that I regularly visit, however the show displays that this store puts on at exhibitions is quite special and tempted me with purchases of tools, Plastic card and rod, superglues, resin and (the for the first time ever) a Zuron cutter which was reduced to half price!
Other purchases were a box of 1/35th Tamiya Samurai from the Bring-and-Buy stand, this is a set that I had owned and built as a teenager, but just couldn't help taking a nostalgia trip and picking up again! I bought some second-hand Military Modeller and Practical Wargamer magazines, which I have already read from cover to cover.
I also picked up a 'bargain priced' and as new edition of Aeronef by Steve Blease for just £2.00. This is why I love these shows.
I spent some time speaking to Mark and Russel on the Parabellum stand. And just for Mark here is the picture of my Flintloque terrain set out on the pool table - over one hundred separate pieces of mainly scratch built terrain to support my ever growing Flintloque miniatures collection. Just 'click' on the photo for a better view.
In addition, the Blog that we talked about is Figoblogotheque, a huge and regularly updated collection of other people's Blogs, see; http://figoblogotheque.blogspot.com/I was disappointed to read on the TMP message boards that there had once again be thefts from the Bring-and-Buy stand, a negative story from an otherwise faultless show.
Tony
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