SKELP 2013.

Last Saturday, 19th October, I made my annual trip to Forfar for Skelp! 2013, the nearest Wargames show to Aberdeen. Thanks to a lift from Aidan, it took less than an hour to get to the Reid Hall. The weather was atrocious, with heavy rain for most of the day.

                                                   A view of the hall on arrival.

After dropping off the things I had to sell at the bring and buy, I had the good fortune to spot a bargain: 100+ painted 20mm Belgian WW2 infantry and 6 tanks for £60! Downside was that the seller was not providing a container, so I had to buy a carry case from Erik at Figures in Comfort and transfer the figures from their cramped cardboard box.

 After making my planned purchases from Warbases and Crooked Dice, I had a look around the tables.

                                            Views of the hall from the stage.

                                        Glasgow Wargames Group's Xtreme G Racing.

H.G. Wells Little Wars Centenial game. This ran a few times during the day and involved the use of spring loaded sucker pistols to fire at the figures after they had all moved.

 

Kirriemuir's Charge of the Light Brigade participation game.

                                     A Flames of War Demonstration/participation game.

 

        Falkirk & District Wargames Club's 'A Lost World Adventure' participation game. 

 Nothing happening at the Leuchars participation game: a rare event at all the shows it's been at this year!

SESWC's Chaco War demonstration game. This game was of interest as it falls into my current inter war/VBCW fad. Also the figures used are made by Sholto at Sheltrum Miniatures, and I intend acquiring some soon.

 

I had a good chance to talk with the traders and chew the fat, and share inspiration with some of the other gamers and old friends.

 

At Claymore and Carronade, because we invest time in travelling, we would normally spend more time at the show to get a bit more out of the day out. As Skelp! (and Targe next month) is as close to a local show as we will get, we tend to leave after we have done the needful.

 

Sadly we were unable to have our traditional Forfar Bridie lunch at Saddler's due to a combination of the weather and Rick only being able to make a brief appearance as he was off to Dundee to see his father in law. We did manage to have a bridie at the hall before they ran out.

 

After a few (successful) visits to the bring and buy and settling up and collecting my unsold item, we left just after 1300.

 

The scene in the hall as we left.

 

All in all a great morning out, with lots of good buys that may find their way into future blog posts.

 

Next show is next Saturday's Aberdeen Railway Modelling Club show.