Partizan 2026

 On Sunday I went to my first Partizan show, which is held at Newark in the midlands. This was the first time I've been to the show. I don't usually bother because it's a pain to get to on public transport (I won't get into why I wouldn't drive there - it's complicated!). I had to get the train to London Liverpool Street, then the Underground to London King's Cross, then the train to Newark (if I'd fallen asleep I would have ended up in Aberdeen, as that's where the train was headed). Allowing for connection delays, that was a journey of around 3 hours each way - for the time and cost (travelling by train in the UK ain't cheap) I could have flown EasyJet to the south of France for the day and had lunch on the Mediterranean coast.  However, I've always wanted to go to Partizan, as it's often described as the "Holy Grail" of historical wargaming. More importantly, several mates had all flown over for it - Malc from Spain, Kerry from NZ, Richard from Canada and Allan from the US (and there was the chance to say "hi" to other UK-based chums like Phil Hendry and Steve Jones).  As this label demonstrates, my previous convention experience has been limited to Salute and the occasional other London show.

The difference between Salute and Partizan are clear: whilst Salute covers the "wider" hobby, with plenty of sci-fi, fantasy etc, Partizan is almost exclusively historical; whilst Salute provides an incomparable shopping experience, Partizan has far fewer traders (mainly the "big names"); whilst Salute presents an "inclusive" attendance (so to speak), with plenty of families and people under 40, Partizan does not. Please note that I don't say this at all negatively - they are just different shows for different audiences (but with a large overlap).  I'm pleased to have gone to both this year. The standard of the games was as high as I'd been told to expect; it was almost too much to take in, given that every single game was worth studying in detail. Some were huge, of a size that one rarely sees at Salute these days. Downsides were: (i) the tables in the hall were quite tightly packed and the venue got very hot very quickly; (ii) there was very little in the way of refreshment - just a small cafe on-site, then outside were a burger van and another van selling ice-cream; (iii) there are no public transport links to the venue itself - I hadn't realised there are no taxis at Newark station; luckily, I bumped into "Eclaireur", who had the foresight to book a cab, and made the journey with him. Given that I'd bought most of what I needed at Salute last month, purchases were limited to 4 packs of Perry figures I hadn't been able to buy earlier and some Coat d'Arms paints. 

Here are my photos - there are a lot! That reflects the quality of the games; there was just so much to look at and pretty much every game had fascinating little details that were worth photographing. The terrain in particular was very impressive; it was noticeable how many layouts captured the "undulating" nature of real landscape. The show leaflet lists the names of the people/clubs who put on the games, but with no details of what those games were; as a consequence, I'm not sure who was responsible for some of the games shown below. As always, apologies to those I didn't see.

First up, there were two lovely 25mm AWI games. Steve Jones had the Battle of Chatterton's Hill, 1776:

The second was Bemis Heights, 1777 by Chesterfield Old Boys (using "British Grenadier!" rules):

The Ruckusteers had a "Never Mind the Ruckus" game set in the Borders:

Westbury Wargamers with the Battle of Minden, 1759:

The Bookdock Sayntes had an enormous Relief of Lucknow, 1857 game. It was perhaps more of a diorama, but the attention to detail (as with so many of these games) was awesome:

 

Friends of a Military Gentleman had a Seven Years War game, which presumably used John Ray's own self-sculpted figures:

The Leggetts had this autumnal Peninsular War game:

There were also 3 ACW games. Here is Gettysburg day one from The Bodkins:

I didn't take many photos of the second ACW game, and didn't register who it was by:

Lastly, North Star had a more boutique game with lovely figures and terrain:

There were two 25mm Samurai games. This is from The Iron Brigade:

The second was this amazing display by Shrewsbury Wargames Society:

Glasgow Tradeston Wargames Club's Battle of White Mountain, 1620:

The Bunker's modern(ish) game based on the film "The Wild Geese":

WW2 eastern front action from Derby Wargames Society:

Like a Stonewall Group had this impressive Battle of Finisterre, 1805 game:

Skirmish Wargames' "Trench Raid" with amazing attention to detail:

Reveille had this very clever and eye-catching "Robin Hood" game using Lego minifigures (largely knock-offs from China, apparently):

The League of Augsburg has a War of the Spanish Succession game in 25mm:

The was a "Lard Zone" with 5 games presented by various people. These included a very detailed Arnhem 1944 game....

...and a Tyrolean Rebellion, 1809 game using "Sharpe Practice" rules by The Gentlemen Pensioners:

...and a Peninsular War skirmish game:

...and a stunning "Charlie Don't Surf" Vietnam game from Harrowgate Wargames Club:

Fieldcraft UK had the Battle of the Bulge, 1944:

Another large War of the Spanish Succession game, but I didn't catch who was responsible:

Peter Dennis had a Sudan game using his paper figures:

The only really large medieval game was the Battle of Lewes, 1264 by Morris & Chums:

 

Forest Outlaws with "War in the Pacific":

Another WW2 game was an Operation Sealion invasion of Walmington-On-Sea by the Wargames & Military Modelling Association from Doncaster:

Forest Outlaws teamed up with Kallistra to present the Battle of Vosages, 58 BC:

Another massive game, somewhere in the "Back of Beyond" of China from The League of Extraordinary Kriegspielers:

Veteran Voices had an ingenious 1980 Iranian Embassy siege game:

 

Some of the other smaller games: