Old West at Cavalier 2023

Bank robbers make their getaway

Tonbridge Wargames Club staged a highly innovative Old West participation game at the Cavalier show. 

Masterminded by my friend and regular wargame opponent, Ian, the game utilised a simplified version of GW’s Legends of the Old West to present a range of simultaneous and potentially interactive scenarios ranging from bank robberies to Indian attacks. 

It wasn’t just cinematic, but a complete splice-up of Hollywood Western themes, and proved particularly popular with youngsters keen to make their own imaginative contributions. The figures (mainly Dixon) and buildings (mainly Products for Wargamers) were from Ian’s collection except for the train and Chinese labourers which were provided by Bernard.

A small Western town: home to so many dramas

The Tonbridge club (not to be confused with Tunbridge Wells Wargames Society) is a small but friendly club that meets just off Tonbridge High Street and plays a wide variety of games. 

Tonbridge Wargames Club

2017 Scoreboard

A bloody denouement in the corral

My gaming, painting and blogging activity contracted further in 2017 but this was due mainly to other pressures rather than loss of interest.

My penultimate game of the year was a cowboy skirmish game kindly staged by my friend Ian using Games Workshop's old but solid Legends of the Old West. The bad guys (me) were holed up in in a livery stable. Given equal points I was expecting to blow away the lawmen as they approached over open ground, but this was not to be. At one point I decided to come out, guns blazing, but I failed to hit anything and then got well and truly gunned down.

Now for the overall tally. I played 2 games of Command & Colors Ancients, 2 games of X-Wing,  1 game of Battles of Napoleon, 1 game of Crossfire (early Great War), several 'training' games for Great War Spearhead, 4 games of Test of Honour, 1 exploratory run-through of Rommel, and 1 game of Legends of the Old West.

On the modelling front I started a couple of 3mm armies for Rommel and accumulated some 28mm Anglo-Zulu War figures for The Men Who Would Be Kings which I am currently rebasing.

Blog posts declined from 42 in 2016 to 27 (including this one).

My next post will be in the new year and will outline my likely pursuits in 2018.