Well, it came around again... the wonderful pilgrimage to that fountain of joy, BOYL at Wargames Foundry. The Ansell family and cohorts once again put a great deal of effort into organising a full weekend of Oldhammer wargaming, excellent food & drink and great company. Many thanks to all involved. Garth much be mentioned as his speeches when giving out the painting competition prizes were an event in itself. That man should be on stage!
I booked into the Beaumond Cross Inn again, as did a number of hobbyists as it's well priced and very convenient to both Foundry and to excessive drinking in the evening... more of that later.
Rooms are nice and clean, with lots of tea/coffee/fresh milk etc and, of course, there's a bar downstairs along with a great restaurant...
Plenty of parking... free if you book through there own site, £5 a day (or stay?) if you book through an external site.
Friday evening, after a great afternoon meeting up with everyone I made the 'noob' mistake of having a full meal before going to join up with the drinkers... I went upstairs afterwards for a quick power nap and then woke up at 9pm. Doh! Decided to stay in the room, drink red wine and watch rather a lot of rubbish on the television. Note to self - don't eat before going out.
It's only a short ten minute or so drive over to Foundry and then a lovely short walk from the parking area through to the courtyard... I recall it was raining last year but no such weather this time around.
Taken from Foundry's site;
You are passing the battlefield of East Stoke on your left (last battle of the War of the Roses, bloodiest battle in British history (we host tours of the battlefield which are organised by Julian Humphries the military historian: we also provide the food here at Stoke Hall) there is a good book by Michael Bennett called 'Lambert Simnel and the Battle of Stoke'.
At the time of the battle, Stoke Hall was a leper colony. We have a statue of St 'Leprosy' Leonard embedded in one of our walls.
Couple of pics of the fields where the battle took place... quite a bloody history to the area!
On to the pics...
'Ketil Trout's stunning Asgard dragon won my heart...
Incredible Slann with the occasional Tenoch thrown in...
Classic old Tom Meier sculpted dragon by Ral Partha...
Citadel/Marauder giant... another classic by Aly Morrison.
A John Blanche classic I don't ever recall seeing... all Ral Partha minis barring the horse which is an old Citadel medieval...
The extra classic Citadel Giant!
Tony Yates' Adventureland sculpts, all one offs 'for his grandchildren'. Yeah, right Tony!
The freebie show miniature this year was a great sorcerer / wizard by that renowned sculptor Bob Olley. He reminds me of either the one from The Time Bandits or John Cleese as Tim in The Holy Grail... either way a cracking sculpt.
The old Games Workshop 'Dark Future' game done properly.
Brilliantly organised Bristolheim. Stunning scenery.
For more detail check out their website; https://broheim.net/
Some of the entries for the painting competition...
Citadel barbarians...
Old Jes Goodwin ogres...
Three of Games Workshop/Citadel personages of gaming history; Rick Priestley, Tony Ackland and Alan Merrit. Top blokes one and all. Had great conversations over the weekend with them all. Rick, like me, is a lover of old lead - especially vintage Minifigs!
A few great Tony Yates' sculpts available from Foundry here.
A few of my favourite Foundry pieces...
Tony (Yates) was presented with a gift from a family of admirers. I've never seen him so happy!
Only got a pic of the Saturday schedule...
Various lovelies from the cabinets...
Old Asgard Miniatures cowboys sculpted by Bryan Ansell in the later 70's
A Tom Meier sculpt for Ral Partha with Bryan's head on... here kitted out in a Foundry T-shirt...
A classic wizard from the GW dwarf card game series... never released unlike the rest of the carded minis... I only know one other copy beyond this one although there is a fan sculpt based on it.
Left to right, myself, Tony Yates and Diane Ansell.
A collection of the the greats... alongside me!
Well organised as always...
I've borrowed the group shot off Tony Yates blog (he said I could use any pics needed very graciously)
Check out Tony's blog - two posts on Friday and the Saturday at BOYL;
Kev's 'Eds
Diane volunteered me to organise this this year... I was only to happy to accept... organisational skills thrust to the max!
We imprisoned Kev in one of the courtyard stables; I don't think it was the ex slaughterhouse one but... well, you get my drift. I descended on the unsuspecting crowd and soon had the full number of names taken. 13... unlucky for some!
The master at work...
Trish Carden and Kev hadn't seen each other in a long time so it was nice to see them chatting away... she made sure she kept prodding him to get back to sculpting of course!
A lot of varied head sculpts below... next year I think we'll change the donation structure as some took a lot of time compared to others.
Tim Prow turned up for a visit... I was a fly on the wall to some interesting stories!
Thirteen heads of various types sculpted altogether so an excellent wad of cash headed towards the prostate cancer charity... many thanks to everyone who joined in.
Not to forget the food... I have to say the catering at Stoke Hall is second to none... they really have the best bacon/sausage butties I've ever had... and I've had a few!
Many thanks again to the Ansell family and crew. An absolute hoot of a weekend and so looking to next year!
Previous years reviews are here (have to scroll passed this one of course).