Plunder A-Plenty, Me Hearties, From Fun Morning At Our Busy Local Wargames' Show!

My haul from Cavalier

Given that there was a point last night (health concerns, late night visits to "out of hours" doctors, woo-hoo for the NHS) when I wasn't at all convinced I'd be able to make it to our local wargames' show today, I'm glad that I persevered.

As usual I met up with Nick and Alec (who'd brought along one of his school friends) at the Angel Centre in Tonbridge, for Cavalier 2018.

By the time I arrived, they were already knee deep in an Ancient Chinese sea battle (see below), but the boys eventually lost interest and we wandered around, looking for other games they could join in with.

In marked contrast to recent years, the event felt busier and more upbeat (although never so rammed that I felt claustrophobic), which is definitely a good sign for the hobby and the show that happens to be on my doorstep.

After admiring a number of the beautiful display games, we found a splendid 54mm game (Prussians vs British) that welcomed public participation.

Not a scale - or period - I've entertained before, but the two gents running the game let Alec and his friend take over the British, while Nick and I took command of the already battered Prussians (below).

Needless to say, despite our best efforts, the battle went to the younglings, but I must confess I was rather smitten by the elegant simplicity of the game and the chunkiness of the toy soldiers (usually I like my detailed 28-32mm miniatures).

There was an old school, pick-up-and-play, air to this game that had me picturing HG Wells scrambling around on his drawing room floor playing his Little Wars!

After the success of that game we couldn't find any others for the youngsters to join in, but there was still plenty to see.

Zombies! Who doesn't love zombie games?

Big Castle!

I love these trees in this Sharp Practice game

Eventually, Nick decided it was time they head off for lunch, but before they did we stopped at an independent trader selling largely second-hand items, who assured us that all the prices were negotiable.

In true American Pickers style, I bundled myself a good deal: five painted pirates (too good to pass up), a Romulan warbird that Alec found for me, a couple of old Villains & Vigilantes modules, and a superhero RPG I'd never seen before (With Great Power) - all for £30.

While some of the "regular" traders might have been absent, there was no shortage of opportunities to spend money, and I did quite well in restraining myself after cracking the seal.

I picked up the Ferengi Faction Pack for Star Trek Attack Wing (which was the one item actually on my shopping list - and turned out to be 20% off) and, on the Bring 'n' Buy stall, a Hirogen ship for display (there were three different Star Trek ships there, but the Hirogen won the day because of its Voyager connection).

Given that I was supposed to be focusing on Star Trek (for ship-to-ship battles) and Doctor Who (for my general skirmish needs), the pirates were a bit of a leftfield purchase - but I'm sure I can find some use for them (even if that's just opening up a whole new avenue for gaming purchases).

Guess I should count myself lucky that I didn't come away with a crate of 54mm toy soliders!

• If you're interested there are a few more pictures of some of the games we saw over on my Facebook wall.

Shiver Me Timbers! Now I just need 20 or 30 more pirates and a couple of giant ships!