Britcon 2023 - Participation and Demo Games
Your chance to play!
As well as a host of traders (including a number of first-time exhibitors anywhere on the wargames circuit) this year's Britcon also features a host of participation games as well, so you can not only splash some cash, you can also roll some dice (or flip cards.. etc etc) during your visit to Nottingham's newest wargames show.
This year for your playing pleasure we have the following games on offer:
As well as a host of traders (including a number of first-time exhibitors anywhere on the wargames circuit) this year's Britcon also features a host of participation games as well, so you can not only splash some cash, you can also roll some dice (or flip cards.. etc etc) during your visit to Nottingham's newest wargames show.
This year for your playing pleasure we have the following games on offer:
Retired Wargamers Reloaded Present "Eagles and Lions at Carentan"
The date is 12 June 1944 and Carentan is awaking to the sound of gun fire. The town is currently held by units of the 6th Fallschirmjager supported by the 91st Air Landed Artillery, but the US 101st Airborne troops are attacking looking to take the town away from them.
The game is based around the actions of the 12th and 13th June 1944 and has been devised around the scenarios in the Rapid Fire scenario book “Normandy Games”. One of our group, Paul Barnett, came up with the original idea. He planned the game and was responsible for the layout and the 3d printing. Richard Sell carved or in his terms “whittled” the shape of the landscape, while Tony Toms, Paul Barnett and Laurence Taylor helped with the scenery.
Two scenarios from the Normandy Games book were combined and slightly enlarged to provide a more representative impression of the geography of the area. This also allows for two different games to be played. It took around nine months work to construct the set. The boards have been carved to shape to allowed the canal and rivers to be set into the boards and built up for the railway line. This also enabled the buildings to sit correctly on the hills. This was followed with time spent placing the hedges, trees and surfacing flocking the fields to get a realistic feel for the area.
The buildings and railway line are 3d printed, with some additional resin and plastic buildings all needing to be painted and weathered to fit within the set. The figures and vehicles are from a wide number of companies. These include, Skytrex, Peter Pig, Flames of War and The Plastic Soldier Company.
The scale 15mm was chosen as this gave the best opportunity to get the feeling of space and distance while still permitting the figures and the vehicles to be recognised. The Rapid Fire reloaded rules are quick to play and easy to explain so made an excellent choice for the game. Our members are always willing to answer questions or to discuss to the game with you at the convention.
The date is 12 June 1944 and Carentan is awaking to the sound of gun fire. The town is currently held by units of the 6th Fallschirmjager supported by the 91st Air Landed Artillery, but the US 101st Airborne troops are attacking looking to take the town away from them.
The game is based around the actions of the 12th and 13th June 1944 and has been devised around the scenarios in the Rapid Fire scenario book “Normandy Games”. One of our group, Paul Barnett, came up with the original idea. He planned the game and was responsible for the layout and the 3d printing. Richard Sell carved or in his terms “whittled” the shape of the landscape, while Tony Toms, Paul Barnett and Laurence Taylor helped with the scenery.
Two scenarios from the Normandy Games book were combined and slightly enlarged to provide a more representative impression of the geography of the area. This also allows for two different games to be played. It took around nine months work to construct the set. The boards have been carved to shape to allowed the canal and rivers to be set into the boards and built up for the railway line. This also enabled the buildings to sit correctly on the hills. This was followed with time spent placing the hedges, trees and surfacing flocking the fields to get a realistic feel for the area.
The buildings and railway line are 3d printed, with some additional resin and plastic buildings all needing to be painted and weathered to fit within the set. The figures and vehicles are from a wide number of companies. These include, Skytrex, Peter Pig, Flames of War and The Plastic Soldier Company.
The scale 15mm was chosen as this gave the best opportunity to get the feeling of space and distance while still permitting the figures and the vehicles to be recognised. The Rapid Fire reloaded rules are quick to play and easy to explain so made an excellent choice for the game. Our members are always willing to answer questions or to discuss to the game with you at the convention.
Rubicon Models will be demoing their new Vietnam skirmish game, "Oscar Mike", a Platoon level tactical tabletop game with light resource management, hidden orders, supporting fire and Command elements among others. The demo sees a Squad of Marines who have been chased into a nearby village trying to call in and Evac via Huey before they get overwhelmed by VC units.
Pandyman Games will be running demos of their newly released WW1 game Trench Offensive - A 28mm scale, 2 or more player competitive Great War inspired trench combat skirmish game, which was first unveiled at the 2022 edition of UKGE.
The COGS group from Chesterfield will be staging another huge demo and participation game at Britcon this year, this time featuring the new and highly popular Xenos Rampant ruleset.
Here are some photos of the game, together with images from other games they have staged previously.
Here are some photos of the game, together with images from other games they have staged previously.
Renatio et Gloriam - Epico Demo
CCC games and Helion Publications are delighted and proud to confirm that the renaissance CCC ruleset, Renatio et Gloriam, will be published by Helion as part of their wargames suite for the period.
They will be published in Jan 2024 along with a first army list book for the mid 17th century (ECW and TYW Army Lists), with five further army list books to follow during the following 2 years. These are sequenced as follows, WSS/GNW Army Lists, Mid to Late 16th Century Army Lists, late 17th Army Lists, Italian Wars Army Lists, Far East Army Lists.
We will be running Epico demo games from Friday to Sunday. Epico is the streamlined version of Renatio et Gloriam.
The games typically take about 2 hour to play though, so there will be plenty of action to see.
There will be plenty of opportunity to ask questions about the game
If you are interested in the rules you can visit the website, or the facebook group or the offiical forum
CCC games and Helion Publications are delighted and proud to confirm that the renaissance CCC ruleset, Renatio et Gloriam, will be published by Helion as part of their wargames suite for the period.
They will be published in Jan 2024 along with a first army list book for the mid 17th century (ECW and TYW Army Lists), with five further army list books to follow during the following 2 years. These are sequenced as follows, WSS/GNW Army Lists, Mid to Late 16th Century Army Lists, late 17th Army Lists, Italian Wars Army Lists, Far East Army Lists.
We will be running Epico demo games from Friday to Sunday. Epico is the streamlined version of Renatio et Gloriam.
The games typically take about 2 hour to play though, so there will be plenty of action to see.
There will be plenty of opportunity to ask questions about the game
If you are interested in the rules you can visit the website, or the facebook group or the offiical forum
MAKE IT GAMES LTD is a publishing company that creates board and card games that make learning fun - they recently exhibited Got It!, our maths card game at the UK Games Expo and are looking to continue demoing the game here in Nottingham, so if you have kids and would like to introduce them to games as an educational tool please come along and see them at the show!
DAK Attack is an acclaimed WW2 skirmish game from author Brendan Wheatley, covering the derring-do and gung-ho actions of the Long Range Desert Group (aka The SAS!) in North Africa. The DAK Attack rules have been very positively reviewed in the latest edition of Wargames, Soldiers & Strategy Magazine and with Brendan himself running demos Britcon is a great opportunity to dip your toe in the water (well, probably "sand") with these new highly enjoyable and card driven game.
Brendan will be running a rolling series of 30-ish-minute demos throughout the entire weekend, with the system supporting as many as half a dozen players at any one time - so with the weather set to be summery (OK, not quite North Africa 1943 summery, but...) and Rogue Heroes still available on BBC iPlayer it’s the perfect opportunity to sit down and fit a bit of SAS-style action into your visit to Britcon this year
Brendan will be running a rolling series of 30-ish-minute demos throughout the entire weekend, with the system supporting as many as half a dozen players at any one time - so with the weather set to be summery (OK, not quite North Africa 1943 summery, but...) and Rogue Heroes still available on BBC iPlayer it’s the perfect opportunity to sit down and fit a bit of SAS-style action into your visit to Britcon this year
The Wings of Glory Aerodrome are a regular and much-loved feature on the UK wargames show circuit, and this weekend in Nottingham will be bringing a veritable hangar-full of gaming systems to Britcon for you to get stuck into. Wings of Glory is the definitive super-easy-to-pick-up WW1 air combat game, and if you're one of the very few gamers who have never played it yourself you'll certainly have seen other gamers hurling their Spads, Albatrosses and Camels around the tabletop skies and having a whale of a time - so whether you’re an ace or a novice why not pop along and ask to join in a round or two of ludicrously colourful air to air combat?
As well as allowing you to be the Red Baron, the core Wings of Glory system has also been extended to cover the world of Napoleonic Naval gaming, all using the same simple movement and firing system of the original WW1 game - and both of these systems will be available to play and try at Britcon this year.
As well as allowing you to be the Red Baron, the core Wings of Glory system has also been extended to cover the world of Napoleonic Naval gaming, all using the same simple movement and firing system of the original WW1 game - and both of these systems will be available to play and try at Britcon this year.
The Pit are now to all intents and purposes "Mantic (when at a show)" and as part of that awesome responsibility Matt and the gang will be demo’ing Mantic’s Kings of War Armada fantasy naval game at Britcon this year.
Kings of War Armada shares a lot of its' gaming DNA with Warlord Games' Black Seas, making it very easy to learn and play - but in porting (see what we did there..?) the setting over into Mantic's Kings of War universe means the opportunities for generating loads of very different fleets, all with their own unique feel and playstyle, are hugely expanded. Fancy trying your hand at bellowing out "RAMMING SPEED CAPTAIN!" in Orcish? The Pit stand and KoW Armada demo needs to be on your Britcon agenda!
Kings of War Armada is very easy to learn and play, even with the optional rules. The current 2 forces feel unique in their playstyle and the included fleets in the starter-set provide some great games. There are 10 scenarios included in the rulebook for those looking for more than just knocking fleets together.
For those looking for a fantasy ship game, the scope for expansion with Armada is huge with Mantic’s Kings of War setting. You will also be able to play Armada as the Kingdoms of Men with the correct scale ships you may already have when the rules are published. Armada doesn’t have a huge amount of rules detail in terms of ships taking damage to specific sections, as the combat system is streamlined for easy and quickness of play. It does have a lot of flexibility in force building with the optional upgrades, and that can only expand as more factions become available and the game grows.
Kings of War Armada shares a lot of its' gaming DNA with Warlord Games' Black Seas, making it very easy to learn and play - but in porting (see what we did there..?) the setting over into Mantic's Kings of War universe means the opportunities for generating loads of very different fleets, all with their own unique feel and playstyle, are hugely expanded. Fancy trying your hand at bellowing out "RAMMING SPEED CAPTAIN!" in Orcish? The Pit stand and KoW Armada demo needs to be on your Britcon agenda!
Kings of War Armada is very easy to learn and play, even with the optional rules. The current 2 forces feel unique in their playstyle and the included fleets in the starter-set provide some great games. There are 10 scenarios included in the rulebook for those looking for more than just knocking fleets together.
For those looking for a fantasy ship game, the scope for expansion with Armada is huge with Mantic’s Kings of War setting. You will also be able to play Armada as the Kingdoms of Men with the correct scale ships you may already have when the rules are published. Armada doesn’t have a huge amount of rules detail in terms of ships taking damage to specific sections, as the combat system is streamlined for easy and quickness of play. It does have a lot of flexibility in force building with the optional upgrades, and that can only expand as more factions become available and the game grows.
As well as this diverse mix of miniatures games, Britcon will also feature a dedicated Board Game & Roleplay Room, hosted by the Nottingham Board and Wargames Group. Located in Lecture Theatre 8 (on the right hand side of the main competitions area) the room will be set up for you to come along and use the space to play your own games, or to borrow games from the extensive library of popular titles all provided by Gary and his team. There will also be opportunities to take part in game-testing, with some as-yet unpublished titles on the tabletop, all of which are keen to get your feedback as playtesters over the weekend of Britcon 2022
Warlord Games need no introduction - and especially so at a show running in their home town of Nottingham. The Warlord rules portfolio covers some of the most popular and well known titles in the industry, and they will be demo'ing a number of them on their stand at Britcon this year (just in case you haven't already tried them). The systems they'll bring depends on which staff are available on the day, but we're pretty confident you will be able to try your hand at Bolt Action, Black Seas and perhaps even their new 200AD Celtic-themed skirmish game Slaine
Lard Workshop
Running on Saturday in The Old Chemistry Theatre, Lard Workshop is Too Fat Lardies Nottingham Extravaganze, with a host of amazing looking games being played throughout the day.
The players have all signed up in advance (and paid!) to attend, but you are more than welcome to drop in and ogle the eye candy of some incredible tables and fantastic figures throughout the day.
The players have all signed up in advance (and paid!) to attend, but you are more than welcome to drop in and ogle the eye candy of some incredible tables and fantastic figures throughout the day.
