It must be 10 years or more since my only previous visit to the Triples show, but yesterday the weather was fantastic enough to demand a drive in the countryside to Sheffield, only 45 minutes away for me.
As a show, it was OK, much as any other I guess. I arrived in the afternoon and it was fairly quiet although there did still seem to be quite a few people around. The lighting was better than that at Salute (not saying much) but not great. Still, I was able to see what I wanted to see and the lack of crowds made it that bit easier.
Two priorities for me to see were Bruce Weigle’s St Quentin FPW game in 6mm and The Ilkely Lads’ Zorndorf. Both were superb and worth the trip alone. The scenery and sense of accuracy/reality of the St Quentin table were among the best I’ve seen, and it was nice to see some Heroics & Ros figures in use rather than the inevitable Baccus you tend to see these days. The battle had been played through earlier in the day so all was quiet by the time I was there. There was to be a re-play on Sunday.
I specifically sought out James Roach (Olicanalad) at the Zorndorf game as he’d recently painted a commission for me (the Saxon Rutowski Dragoons posted previously) and I hadn’t met him before to say hello. James was very welcoming and we chatted for a few minutes before confirming some further commissions that he’s going to fit into his busy schedule. The game itself was very impressive and it was great to see close up the large table covered in James’ work. The cavalry especially, and the hussars in particular, were awesome, as were all the hand-painted flags. Definitely eye candy!
Shopping wise I did pretty well. Some bargain old Ospreys (The Black Watch, Sudan armies and Ottoman armies), a handful of paints and some brushes, as well as a few figures – not something I generally buy at shows actually. I picked up a couple of packs of Perry’s from Dave Thomas, and a pack of Copplestone 15mm fantasy (bears and shape changers) for something completely different. Best of all was a good chat with Graham at Crann Tara (and Bob who was there at the same time), who in between discussion on future release plans, future games and flag commissions, did me a very generous deal on some superb Royal Ecossais who will be accompanying my Legion de Fleurie when they are done. Graham is a real enthusiast for the hobby and always a pleasure to spend time with. His corner of one of the halls was fairly warm, so he would definitely have earned the beer he was promising himself when he got back to his hotel!
A good trip out then, a bit of spending, and some familiar faces.
A couple of pics of the St Quentin game (I forgot to take any of Zorndorf, but James will have better on his blog anyway):
