Vapnartak 2025

Jamie, Andy and I went up to York on our annual Vapnartak pilgrimage on Sunday. As usual it was a chance to catch up with friends and to get some it's-my-birthday-next-week purchases.

My impression is that trade stands increasingly dominate the scene at the racecourse. Demo and participation games being exiled to some pretty cramped spaces upstairs. However, what games there were were pretty good.

The guys from Sally 4th had an excellent Midshipman Hornblower Versus the Pirates game. 

This was played using Pulp Alley; a wonderful game that I really ought to get back on the table some time soon.

Ken Reilly and the Leeds club, as usual, had a massive game; this time an Italian Wars bash.

A group called The Brompton Bankers presented Alloway Creek, an AWI scenario. The terrain was basic but effective with the road and river sections being printed on mousemat material.

John Savage and the Harrogate crew put on a wintry Midgard battle between Romans and Celts. This was surrounded by players and on-lookers all day and I was only able to capture one overhead shot.

In between chatting to several of the Lardy community around the table (great to see Charley W back on his feet after he's been so ill) I was struck by how effective John's terrain is whilst remaining practical. I think a key factor is that all of the terrain pieces are well integrated into the theme. Using and reusing the same winter printed base cloth John adds appropriate terrain pieces that work together to create a seamless whole. Even though the units are on verdant bases, the whole effect is chilly.

East Leeds Military Society put on the Battle of Tabaruzaka, 1877, a Satsuma Rebellion battle using the Black Powder rules. An interesting choice of period.

Another game that caught my eye was Somewhere in the Western Roman Empire, 376AD. This was by a group called Westow Academy and used the Art de la Guerre ancients rules. I get the impression that these rules have become quite popular with the kind of players who previously would have been playing DBM and similar. Not a set I'm familiar but the toys were lovely.

Vapnartak is always a great chance to catch up with wargaming friends from across the North. Andy C is another friend who's been poorly recently and it was great to see him and Simon G from the Elton club near Chester. I'm hopeful of persuading both of them to come to Crisis Point this year.

I always make a point of saying Hi to Annie of Bad Squiddo Games as we share a birthday that's always shortly after Vapnartak. Occasionally we grab a selfie.

And finally, the shopping. With my birthday just around the corner I tend to splurge a bit.

One of the retailers (Gripping Beast?) had a table with some books at sale prices. I picked up these five for just £20. My ACW library is building nicely.

A pack of six Perry Russian peasants armed with assorted captured weapons looked like it might be useful for the Livonia campaign. The Warbases water cart will go with the cart horse I have awaiting painting - great for pretty much any Sharp Practice force.

AB Miniatures provided crews for my 20mm Soviet M1938 howitzer and 57mm AT gun. These are generally expensive by high quality figures. I'm a little disappointed by problems with flash and mould alignment on a few of the castings in the 122mm crew set.

Finally I encountered a new (to me) manufacturer; Templar Wargames. They make 20mm modern figures. At present the range seems to cover British Marines/Paras, Islamic insurgents, and African irregulars. On a suck-it-and-see basis I picked up an Islamist medium mortar team and a pack of African types. I'd meant to pick up guys with AK-47s but by mistake I got a pack of eight with RPG-7s. The figures are quite small in stature but I think I can use at least some of them in Andreivia.

All in all I very much enjoyed the trip to York and thanks are due to Andy for picking up the tab on our usual call into Tadcaster for beer and pizza on the way home. My shout next time!