Claymore 2024

[streetgang]

Just wanted to say that it was really an awesome experience to attend the Claymore show this year while on holiday to attend the Tattoo. While the American conventions are bigger and spanning multiple days, I felt like the 5 hours of Claymore packed a heavier punch.

An honor to meet Leon and others and have chats with vendors whom I've known virtually for decades. I had pre-ordered some items from Pendraken yet still managed to surprise myself in picking up Chinese and US winter gear armies for the Korean War.

Never thought of gaming the Korean War but I suppose the beautiful lead just seduced me!

[jimduncanuk]

You must be the 'merican from Virginia that I chatted with in the flea market.

You were impressed that I had visited more states than you had.

Glad you enjoyed the show.

Jim

[Ithoriel]

I really enjoyed the show too.

I caught up with Leon and Adele but missed out on talking to Peter Berry of Bacchus because every time I went to find him he was busy with a customer, which is probably a good thing.

The show seemed quieter than last year to me, though I may be wrong. I do wonder if the above average inflation in the UK service industries, coupled with the effect on local prices due to the Festival are having an effect, making it less worthwhile to travel to Claymore for traders and punters.

Carronade, in Falkirk, earlier in the year seemed busier than last year and seemed to have more traders than Claymore. Once again this may be only my perception of things.

While it was, as always, great to meet old friends an awful lot of conversations this year were about people not present due to very serious illness. I'm getting to that age I guess!

The news of the sudden death, last week, of Derek Hodge, who among many other things ran the Two Fat Lardies themed "Deep Fried Lard" event in Musselburgh every year, was a particular shock and sadness.

Many pictures were taken. I'll get them up online later this evening and post a link to them here.

Finally, if by any chance you were there and helped an elderly gentleman back up on his feet at the Iron Gate Scenery stand, thank you again!

[streetgang]

You must be the 'merican from Virginia that I chatted with in the flea market.

You were impressed that I had visited more states than you had.

Glad you enjoyed the show.

Jim

Guilty as charged! It was a pleasure chatting with you and I was quite impressed with your list of states that you had visited, it certainly put mine to shame!

Josh

[Scolty]

Terribly sad news about Derek.

I arrived on the Friday to set up our game and had a quick chat with Leon as he contemplated where his stand should go as his usual space had been usurped by a small library!

I really enjoyed the show chatting to people about their games, however the absence of a few of the bigger traders meant that impulse buys this year were almost nil. I'm saving my big Pendraken spend for Colours in September!

I did have less time than usual as I was involved in the 'Descent on the French Coast' game which was a first for me being involved in such a large game. Highly enjoyable day.

Scolty

[Gwydion]

Awful news about Derek.
We never met in person but we talked a fair bit online. Lovely man.
My condolences to his family.
I have no doubt he will be missed in the wargaming world. Best wishes to the events he was associated with.

[Leon]

Just wanted to say that it was really an awesome experience to attend the Claymore show this year while on holiday to attend the Tattoo. While the American conventions are bigger and spanning multiple days, I felt like the 5 hours of Claymore packed a heavier punch.

An honor to meet Leon and others and have chats with vendors whom I've known virtually for decades. I had pre-ordered some items from Pendraken yet still managed to surprise myself in picking up Chinese and US winter gear armies for the Korean War.

Good to see you at the weekend and I hope you had a good journey back home.  Really interesting to chat too!

The news of the sudden death, last week, of Derek Hodge, who among many other things ran the Two Fat Lardies themed "Deep Fried Lard" event in Musselburgh every year, was a particular shock and sadness.

it was really sad to hear about Derek, we heard on the way up there in the van.  I think I've known him for about 15 years and the shows will be a bit strange without his grumpy charm.  As a bit of trivia, codes V8 and V9 in our Vietnam range were conversions done by Derek as he wanted some for his own armies.

[streetgang]

I ended up adding a blog post on my whole experience if anyone is interested: https://lecoqfou.blogspot.com/2024/08/claymore-2024.html

[Scolty]

Hi Streetgang,

Very nice report on the Show. Could I just say that you were probably distracted by the books on sale at our game. The book was indeed about wargaming the sieges of Havana and Manila (1762-1764) and was written by a good friend of ours who sadly passed away earlier this year. The game was a fictitious assault on the French coast, mid-18th C and the figures were 40mm!

Glad you enjoyed your visit to the Show and Edinburgh!

Scolty

[streetgang]

Hi Streetgang,

Very nice report on the Show. Could I just say that you were probably distracted by the books on sale at our game. The book was indeed about wargaming the sieges of Havana and Manila (1762-1764) and was written by a good friend of ours who sadly passed away earlier this year. The game was a fictitious assault on the French coast, mid-18th C and the figures were 40mm!

Glad you enjoyed your visit to the Show and Edinburgh!

Scolty

Hi Streetgang,

Very nice report on the Show. Could I just say that you were probably distracted by the books on sale at our game. The book was indeed about wargaming the sieges of Havana and Manila (1762-1764) and was written by a good friend of ours who sadly passed away earlier this year. The game was a fictitious assault on the French coast, mid-18th C and the figures were 40mm!

Glad you enjoyed your visit to the Show and Edinburgh!

Scolty

Scotty, my apologies regarding my ignorance on  mislabeling your incredibly beautiful game. It's a a very fitting way to pay tribute to your friend Stuart. It was a visually stunning setup with so many beautifully painted miniatures and evocative scenery (oh my those ships!!). I had read your post prior to the show and didn't put two and two together (I can be a bit dense at times).

I edited my blog post to more accurately reflect the genre and purpose of the game and to pay tribute to your friend.

[Ithoriel]

Finally managed to upload my shots of the games at Claymore 2024.

88 assorted images here - https://imageshack.com/a/aDn17/1

[streetgang]

Finally managed to upload my shots of the games at Claymore 2024.

88 assorted images here - https://imageshack.com/a/aDn17/1

Wow! Thanks for posting those, alot of details I missed on some of those tables. Great photos.

[d_Guy]

Indeed, thanks for posting the pics Ithoriel. I particularly appreciate the photos of placards, rules, etc. to give some context.

I am rather interested in Flag of War "Boarder Wars". You don't happen to have more pics of their exhibit?

[streetgang]

I am rather interested in Flag of War "Boarder Wars". You don't happen to have more pics of their exhibit?

Hope this helps. The rules were an impressive hardbound with lots of information, diagrams and scenarios. The units appeared to be packaged similar to Test of Honour with game markers and unit cards along with miniatures. I think it was 8 dismounted reivers and 5 mounted reivers in each box. The game table looked like it was about 4x4 and maybe one box set per side for the demo games. Sculpts we're rather nice.

[d_Guy]

Excellent Streetgang. Thank you so much!