Britcon was held over the weekend of Friday 9th August through to Sunday 12th August at Nottingham Trent University, right in the heart of Nottingham. Britcon is a great addition to the wargames show calendar in that it follows the format of American wargames conventions with the emphasis on participation and ‘competitive’ gaming. Also on offer is accommodation in the student union buildings, so it’s easy for gamers to spend the whole weekend playing their favourite games with like minded people. With over 400 gaming attendees, the show certainly achieved it’s objective. Add to that, the 400 day visitors ( free entry if you booked on line in advance!) and a super selection of traders in attendance, there was comfortably over 1000 enthusiasts at the show over the weekend!
And boy, were they enthusiastic! I went to the show on the Saturday with Andy and Ian Callan to do a ‘recce’ in advance of our demo games of ‘Bill Hooks’. The hall was packed with gamers at 9.45am, absorbed in their games. On the Sunday, we returned to set our demo up in the Wargames Illustrated Room at 8.30am to find the gamers up and at it already! I did ask one of them if he had actually gone to bed!
A quick shout out to the traders – many of the dependable ‘big boys’ were there – Sarissa Precision, Warlod Games, Perry Miniatures by Dave Thomas to name my favourite three but three new stands caught my eye:
Winterdyne Commision modelling had an amazing selection of high quality 3D printed terrain pieces, you can see the full catalogue here: Winterdyne Commission Modelling Shop – 3d Printed Wargaming Accessories and Models from Winterdyne Commission Modelling
F4FreddieTerraFirma had some of the nicest table ready scenery that I have seen ; F4freddieTerraFirma – Etsy UKhttps://www.etsy.com/uk/shop/F4freddieTerraFirma
And the stand that took my cash was Athena Miniatures. I very much liked the War of The Roses range and picked up a couple of packs of character models. All being well they will feature in a future blog but to see their range, click here: https://www.athenaminiatures.co.uk
As well as the trade stands, there was an extremely well run and stocked bring and buy. Although I wasn’t tempted, the two Callan brothers were constant visitors and certainly helped recycle a number of items!
Of course, the main reason for my attendance was to help with the demo games of Never Mind The Bill Hooks, held in the special Wargames Illustrated room. On the Saturday, the room featured three amazing games showing off the Valour and Fortitude rules, with the author Jervis Johnson on hand to answer any questions. He was ably assisted by Rick Priestly, Alan and Micheal Perry amongst others, so it really was worth calling in to say hello!
The pictures above give some idea of the scale of the games. Massive tables and massive armies as well as spectacular scenery made the room a feast for wargamers eyes!
A few more pictures showing the detail on the tables. I suspect that Dan at Wargames Illustrated will have some better pictures, so look out for these in a future issue!
And so onto Sunday. It was the turn of ‘Bill Hooks’ to take over the WI room. Our tables weren’t quite as spectacular but the gaming fun was as good!
We put on three games – Boat Hooks, Bill Hooks Italia, and Bill Hooks Fantasia. I think it’s fair to say that we did more chatting than playing but there were some good games played. My new French force was soundly beaten on the Italia board, The English Fleet scoured the French from the sea and I think that the Evil side put the ‘goodies to flight in the Fantasia game!
The centre piece for the Italia board was a fantastic model castle, originally made by, I think, Hudson Hall in America and somehow brought back to the UK by the late, great Duncan McFarlane in his luggage!
And so as Sunday came to an end, it was time to pack up and go home to mull over a most enjoyable weekend spent playing war games in the company of some very good friends. I really enjoyed meeting up with old friends and acquaintances and making new ones and I think that this is the side of the hobby that gives balance to our obsession!
I must mention Pete Ware, who I am sure made the longest journey to attend Britcon. Pete hails from Perth in Western Australia and had come to Nottingham via Edinburgh!!!
As usual, I missed almost as much as I saw. Next time, I will get to the Lard demonstration room! Britcon 2025 is already in my diary and I look forward to attending on the 8th -10th August 2025!
Happy modelling!