If you keep an eye on our Facebook page you might have seen the odd post from me at Stoke Rochford Hall during the gaming weekend held there. If was a splendid weekend with two excellent dinners, gaming all day Saturday and Sunday morning, held in the superb venue of a country house built in 1840 (imagine Downton Abbey and you’re halfway there).
Both days saw two games being held, a large Aeronef fleet action on one table and games of 15mm Gruntz on the other (Robin Fitton, the author of Gruntz, was one of the attendees). As a further attraction (if you needed one), I took up a small selection of Brigade stock, mostly Aeronef, 2mm Scenery and Land Ironclads, in keeping with the main theme of the event (I would have taken some 15mm stock as well, but the sale has wiped out our stocks of resin items so I didn’t have a great deal to take !). It was a chance for everyone to delve into the drawers of Nef and LI and pick out exactly what they needed, especially with me suffering a chronic inability to add up and continually undercharging.
Friday evening saw everyone arrive for dinner, nominally at eight but it ended up being eight-thirty by the time everyone had arrived. The menu at SRH is superb, as was the wine chosen by our host, Dave Frampton, and I retired well after midnight after an evening spent recounting gaming stories.
On Saturday, very slightly hungover, I played in a titanic Aeronef fleet action with over 150 vessels fighting over the disputed (and little known) Danish Virgin Islands. Forces from Italy, Denmark, the USA and a large bunch of pirates fought themselves to a standstill, with the Italian/Pirate alliance of convenience triumphing.
On another table, Robin’s superb scratchbuilt 15mm scenery played host to a skirmish game which I failed to take any photos of – however, I’m sure Robin will have plenty.
Saturday night’s dinner was fancy dress or dinner jacket, with everyone joining in. Some splendid Admiral’s uniforms appeared, along with Biggles, the Turk and several very smart DJs. It should be noted that the medals on our host Dave’s chest (far left in the first photo) are real, not part of a costume …
On the Sunday I was able to give the Gruntz rules a try – having heard many good things about them I’d never had the chance to play, so was very grateful to be able to join in Trevor Brown’s game. The rules are completely different in flavour to the Hammer’s Slammers Crucible set we played recently, being a more skirmish level set but still capable of handling reasonable numbers of tanks and vehicles.
That concluded the weekend’s action, with a long drive home in prospect I set off just after lunchtime.
We’ve provisionally planned a date for another SRH event next year, slightly earlier at the end of January – and we’re already planning the game (the Aeronef Battle of Jutland !).
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