Blast-Tastic - Sci-Fi Wargame Show

Will I be the first with a show report?

Earlier today Sue and I visited the very first Blast-Tastic, a Sci-Fi Wargame show organised by Angel Barracks and held at the Filton Community Centre, Bristol. We arrived just after 9.15am after a horrendous journey down the M5 from Droitwich - it was raining cats and dogs and the numerous road works didn't help.

This was the first time I had exhibited my 40mm Flash Gordon collection and I was intrigued to see what the reaction would be, after all this is a very personal collection in a rather unusual scale. I set the display up with The Crashed Rocket Ship to the left and The Rock Kings Throne Room to the right. The figure display in the centre was built by me out of off-cuts of 18mm MDF board, the construction of which will no doubt feature in a future post.

I used a Flash Gordon LP cover (the iconic Queen soundtrack) which was bought from a second-hand record shop in Cheltenham. It proved to be the ideal backdrop and I then situated the miniatures over the table. I will tell you that when I told the record shop owner what I intended to do with the LP cover, he called over all his staff and asked me to repeat what I had just told him. I think they found it quite amusing.

I was not able to display all of my miniatures - too little room and a fair number remained in the storage box under the table. Similarly my Flash Gordon gaming folder and various books had to be displayed on a chair to the side.

Details of The Crashed Rocketship gaming board can be found here.

Here you can see The Rock Kings Throne Room gaming board, details of which can be found here.

The remaining images were taken by me at the show - I apologise for the quality of the photos, as the lighting wasn't that good and flash was far too severe.

Just look at the size of this box! I originally thought it was a display prop, but NO this is the box that the game comes in. It's HUGE.

Sue and I had a great day out and were on our way back up the M5 (this time in glorious sunshine) by 4.15pm. I would say that the show was a little quieter that I had hoped for, but the lack of paying customers was more than made up for by the friendly atmosphere and the ability to browse the other games and chat to the gamers and organisers.

I would have liked to have played some of the games, but felt that it was only proper that I stayed manning the display and answering questions. I did however pick up some much needed pots of paint.

Tony