Joy of 6, 2016

I have just returned from a couple of enjoyable hours at the now annual Joy of 6 convention, run by Baccus and The Wargames Emporium in Sheffield. Each year the show gets bigger and bigger and this year was a bumper event. I have dumped all the photos I took. I apologise for the quality, the light in Sheffield Hallam University doesn't lend itself to good photography on a bright sunny day, plus they were all taken on a camera phone. anyway, on with the pictures.

This is the main hall, overlooked from the stairs entrance, the dominating board is the First Day of the Somme game at the bottom:

And a better picture of the entire board, a good looking game, my only criticism is the lack of support and communication trenches... But I think that would have cost a bit too much.

The Deeside Defenders had a refight of the film 'The Bridge at Remagen'. An interesting concept for a game!

Back to the First of July, this was the southern portion of the battlefield.

And the northern extent. It was nice to see the names of places I am very familiar with on the Somme, including many I have actually excavated!

The Cold War Commanders had a Cold War game called 'Red Effect'. Another large table.

I tried to get a decent picture of the Mailed Fist's game of Britannia, but the light reflecting off the Roman fort made it difficult!

Nearby was the MAD Gamers with the Battle of Dresden:

And the Leicester Wargamers with their refight of the Battle of Ligny.

My second favourite game today (after the Somme) was in one of the ante-rooms and was the Imperial attack on Hoth from The Empire Strikes Back.

This was massive and included the Rebel base and transports.

Along with the attacking AT-ATs (MicroMachines, if anyone is wondering).

Even the Imperial landing force was present.

Next door was the Battle of Endor, complete with the Death Star!

Even more AT-ATs were present:

As was Darth Vader:

Three of the ante-rooms were open and full of games, in one of the others, there was the Legion of Blokes and their game of the Battle of Wilton.

Waterloo was also present with Lee Sharpe & Ian Willey's Hougoumont game.

An excellent looking game and inspiring for future Blucher games.

There was also a couple of games of Saga in 6mm put on by Per Broden.

Andrew Brentnall's The Battle of Pharsalus.

Commission Figurines had their MDF Napoleonic figures battling it out:

Leeds Wargames Society staged a ground attack game from WW2:

And more Ancients in the form of DBMM from the Milton Keynes society:

Meanwhile, in true cinematic style the Remagen game was having an interval!

The light had improved for me to be able to take a photo of the Roman fort displayed by the Mailed Fist.

Another WW2 game was the Battle of Ponyri, by the Luton Lancers.

Lots of tiny SDKFZ 251s.

In the same room was Break The Line, by David Elks & Tim Rodgers.

And the RAF Cranwell gamers with their Battle of Skalitz.

And finally, my haul. I bought myself about £20's worth of 2mm houses from Brigade. I was thinking of redesigning my Blucher buildings to represent a larger collection of structures than the usual sized 6mm buildings. 2mm buildings seem about the perfect size to create an urban spread:

Watch this space for how they turn out. So, all in all another great Joy of 6, and a demonstration of how diverse 6mm gaming can be. I hope this show gets bigger and bigger as it seems to be doing.

Thanks for reading!