The Alde Garde Chronicles nr 8 - 2017
November 4th 2017: The first Saturday in November always means "Crisis day" again.
Well, at least for the Alde Garde it is, as we always try to be there with a demo. Again a very good job by the organsiing club: the Tin Soldiers of Antwerp.
As said, the Alde Garde always try to present a demo at Crisis; sometimes a new one, sometimes recycled but with new elements (figures/terrain etc). Crisis never let us down, it is a great show; sometimes hot, sometimes crowded, sometimes smelly but always great and we like it.
As already stated above, sometimes we present a new demo and this year it was a game of the French Revolution 1793 as this is the favourite period of Jan. Trying to present it took some time to get the good figures for it, and of course painting took some time but now it was there at last. We had a (part of a) new fortress also which got a lot of attention that day and later on on our blog.
The Alde Garde is just the two of us so there is always little time to walk through the two halls and to visit other presentations so it just was a quick tour and we saw some great demo's and participation games; some pictures underneath. Plus some photos of our demo of course.
Hope to see you next year at Crisis.
Well, at least for the Alde Garde it is, as we always try to be there with a demo. Again a very good job by the organsiing club: the Tin Soldiers of Antwerp.
As said, the Alde Garde always try to present a demo at Crisis; sometimes a new one, sometimes recycled but with new elements (figures/terrain etc). Crisis never let us down, it is a great show; sometimes hot, sometimes crowded, sometimes smelly but always great and we like it.
As already stated above, sometimes we present a new demo and this year it was a game of the French Revolution 1793 as this is the favourite period of Jan. Trying to present it took some time to get the good figures for it, and of course painting took some time but now it was there at last. We had a (part of a) new fortress also which got a lot of attention that day and later on on our blog.
The Alde Garde is just the two of us so there is always little time to walk through the two halls and to visit other presentations so it just was a quick tour and we saw some great demo's and participation games; some pictures underneath. Plus some photos of our demo of course.
Hope to see you next year at Crisis.
Alde Gardes' trip to St Helens (june 15th -19th 2017)We were invited for years by Steve Ayers to come over to England and visit the wargames show Phalanx and stay over for the weekend at his and his lovely wife Gwen and join the group of gentlemen which are gathering there for a wargames weekend.
In 2017 at last, we could manage to undertake the grand trip to GB to organize a wargames demo on behalf of the Lance and Longbow Society during Phalanx , the Spartans' wargames show, stay some days at Steve's and Gwens' house and have a game on Sunday with a bunch of other well-respected gentlemen who call themselves the Gentlemen Pensioners.
So on an early Friday morning June 15th, we sleepy started our car (fully loaded with our medieval demo of Venlo 1372) somewhere in the South-Eastern part of the Netherlands and drove through Belgium, France (the Channel Tunnel) and various Motorways in GB to St Helens.
After unloading most of our wargames stuff at the Spartan show location (we had to wait some time until the gymniastics cleared the hall) we went to Steve's and Gwens' house at Salford where we were very warmly welcomed; not only by Steve and Gwen but also by a delegation of the Gentlemen Pensioners of which later more. And last but not least ........ we were surprised with a great plate of fish and chips and some excellent London Beer, which was very much welcomed by us after a trip of almost 900km.
We felt immediately at home and the conversations that evening felt as if we knew each one of the group already a long time. Of course the beer made it more easily, but we think it is a great group to discuss history, wargaming, the shows, but also daily live. Even the Brexit was a theme that was not neglected, but the outcome didn’t find it’s way to 10 D.S.. Even our Dutch/British accent was accepted and on the moments we were searching for the correct English expressions, patience was all over.
Next early morning after breakfast, we went to Phalanx, building up the rest of our demo. The Gentlemen Pensioners had offered to play our demo game, so that we had time to explain things to the onlookers and answer questions. For the first time in 15 years we had enough time to discover in a relaxed way everything else that was happening on a Show.
We gave a short explanation of the game and the Hail Ceasar Rules to the playing members of the Pensioners and off they went. Being a spectator to your own game felt a bit strange at the beginning, but we were quickly used to it as we saw how much the players enjoyed our game. They had a great game as we heard later.
After packing up between 4 or 5 o’clock we went back to Steve's home and had a great and enjoying evening with chatting, drinking etc. Nothing fancy, just great.
Sunday afternoon we had an ECW wargame with the whole group in which the Alde Garde was on the same (Parliamentary) side and in which Peter had a great flank battle with Ian lasting almost the whole game and Jan just gave his best to immitate the British stiff upper lip and defending the centre of the battle line.
It was a great wargame and we forgot who won (suppose it was the British/Dutch Parliamentary combination but it could also be the Royalists, boooh) but the battles were fought out with great but friendly elan and Steve and David did a great job as umpires. We loved it.
This was followed by a lovely evening with what was left of the Pensioners, as some had to say goodby a bit earlier as they had to leave for home, family and/or work.
What remained was a good night, breakfast in the morning, saying goodbye to our hosts Gwen and Steve and a journey home almost along the same route as we came. We made a slight detour and visisited Tilbury Fort, which happened to be closed on Monday. However we were able to take some nice pictures still.
We must sincerely thank our hosts Gwen and Steve for inviting us, feeding us and letting us sleep at their lovely (red) house. It was a weekend which we will always remember; it was just great!
Of course our sincere thanks to all the Pensioners Chris, Dave, David, Ian, John, Martin, Neil, Nick, Steve and Will and of course Lynne, for giving us the feeling that we were for a limited time part of the group; thanks for the interesting conversations we had and the overall kindness we felt.
Maybe we can repeat this again some day, but perhaps we can first meet at a Crisis show in Antwerp; we would love to bring a suitable demo to the location so that you just have to come over to play and chat and have some Belgian beer of which is said tasts good.
We have used pictures from both several Pensioners and from ourselves, but because of the lightning at Phalanx the quality of the pictures of the show games isn’t so well. Also pictures of the Sunday game are included, all taken by the Pensioners.
Some other pictures in grey tone as this is better then the yellowish pictures we made due to the lighting in the hall.
In 2017 at last, we could manage to undertake the grand trip to GB to organize a wargames demo on behalf of the Lance and Longbow Society during Phalanx , the Spartans' wargames show, stay some days at Steve's and Gwens' house and have a game on Sunday with a bunch of other well-respected gentlemen who call themselves the Gentlemen Pensioners.
So on an early Friday morning June 15th, we sleepy started our car (fully loaded with our medieval demo of Venlo 1372) somewhere in the South-Eastern part of the Netherlands and drove through Belgium, France (the Channel Tunnel) and various Motorways in GB to St Helens.
After unloading most of our wargames stuff at the Spartan show location (we had to wait some time until the gymniastics cleared the hall) we went to Steve's and Gwens' house at Salford where we were very warmly welcomed; not only by Steve and Gwen but also by a delegation of the Gentlemen Pensioners of which later more. And last but not least ........ we were surprised with a great plate of fish and chips and some excellent London Beer, which was very much welcomed by us after a trip of almost 900km.
We felt immediately at home and the conversations that evening felt as if we knew each one of the group already a long time. Of course the beer made it more easily, but we think it is a great group to discuss history, wargaming, the shows, but also daily live. Even the Brexit was a theme that was not neglected, but the outcome didn’t find it’s way to 10 D.S.. Even our Dutch/British accent was accepted and on the moments we were searching for the correct English expressions, patience was all over.
Next early morning after breakfast, we went to Phalanx, building up the rest of our demo. The Gentlemen Pensioners had offered to play our demo game, so that we had time to explain things to the onlookers and answer questions. For the first time in 15 years we had enough time to discover in a relaxed way everything else that was happening on a Show.
We gave a short explanation of the game and the Hail Ceasar Rules to the playing members of the Pensioners and off they went. Being a spectator to your own game felt a bit strange at the beginning, but we were quickly used to it as we saw how much the players enjoyed our game. They had a great game as we heard later.
After packing up between 4 or 5 o’clock we went back to Steve's home and had a great and enjoying evening with chatting, drinking etc. Nothing fancy, just great.
Sunday afternoon we had an ECW wargame with the whole group in which the Alde Garde was on the same (Parliamentary) side and in which Peter had a great flank battle with Ian lasting almost the whole game and Jan just gave his best to immitate the British stiff upper lip and defending the centre of the battle line.
It was a great wargame and we forgot who won (suppose it was the British/Dutch Parliamentary combination but it could also be the Royalists, boooh) but the battles were fought out with great but friendly elan and Steve and David did a great job as umpires. We loved it.
This was followed by a lovely evening with what was left of the Pensioners, as some had to say goodby a bit earlier as they had to leave for home, family and/or work.
What remained was a good night, breakfast in the morning, saying goodbye to our hosts Gwen and Steve and a journey home almost along the same route as we came. We made a slight detour and visisited Tilbury Fort, which happened to be closed on Monday. However we were able to take some nice pictures still.
We must sincerely thank our hosts Gwen and Steve for inviting us, feeding us and letting us sleep at their lovely (red) house. It was a weekend which we will always remember; it was just great!
Of course our sincere thanks to all the Pensioners Chris, Dave, David, Ian, John, Martin, Neil, Nick, Steve and Will and of course Lynne, for giving us the feeling that we were for a limited time part of the group; thanks for the interesting conversations we had and the overall kindness we felt.
Maybe we can repeat this again some day, but perhaps we can first meet at a Crisis show in Antwerp; we would love to bring a suitable demo to the location so that you just have to come over to play and chat and have some Belgian beer of which is said tasts good.
We have used pictures from both several Pensioners and from ourselves, but because of the lightning at Phalanx the quality of the pictures of the show games isn’t so well. Also pictures of the Sunday game are included, all taken by the Pensioners.
Some other pictures in grey tone as this is better then the yellowish pictures we made due to the lighting in the hall.
