Derby Worlds 2017 - Tabletop Wargaming Convention

I spent today at the Derby Worlds Wargaming event which was the second day of the weekend event. This was the second year running that I had visited the event but last year it was at a different venue. This year it had moved to Bruntingthorpe Proving Ground in Leicestershire.

The events website can be found HERE and it's Facebook page is located HERE.

The event was signposted at most road junctions once you approached the general area of the convention so navigation was fairly easy and the car-park had a considerable number of spaces. There was no real way of channelling people into the front entrance so queuing rather relied on the good nature of those in the queue itself. The two people on the front counter were very efficient though so we weren't left out in the cold for very long, lol.

There were a few demo tables in the lobby area which also contained the toilets that were somewhat optimistically meant to serve the venue. It's not often you have to queue to use the men's toilets...this was only a minor inconvenience and was only an issue when the event tournaments had breaks at the same time. 

There was also a food area off to one side that was more than adequately staffed and only became crowded at lunch time which coincided with most of the tournament events also having their breaks. It was however priced somewhat steeply but about what you'd expect for such locations. A pork roast bap/cob would set you back £6, a small portion of chips was £2.50, etc. There was seating provided and again this was fine right up until the expected lunch-time rush. They also had a bar which may well have effected some of the afternoon tournament performances...

The tournament area seemed slightly cramped. This didn't seem to trouble any-one I spoke to at the event though it did make it tricky if you wanted to watch.

They were also selling a wargame designed specifically for the event which I have to be honest didn't really interest me. Details can be found HERE however should you be curious.

Demo and Display Stands

As expected a large number of the traders had demonstration and display stands that were all of an impressive standard. Most of these were situated around the exterior of the event...this was fortunate for reasons we'll discuss in a moment. I also had a demo of a game called Blood and Plunder that I'll cover in more detail further down this feature.

Second Thunder were also present offering demos of the upcoming black powder expansion to their 'Open Combat' skirmish game system.

Traders and Stalls

If you were fortunate enough to be a trader on the outer edge of the area you were one of the lucky ones. The middle of the trading area was cramped to the point that if more than one person was talking to some-one on a stand then getting past was a chore. Additionally it was difficult to distinguish where one stall ended and the next started. These opinions were also voiced by several of the stall owners I spoke to as I went around the venue.

It might be worth them considering moving the tournament events to some kind of marquee or secondary hall as several other events (such as the UK Games expo) have done in order to free up some space to give the traders room to manoeuvre.

Oathsworn had their usual wonderful selection of anthropomorphic animals from their Burrows and Badgers range amongst other things. 

Hysterical Games had their Panzerfaust range on show as well as some examples of their other services.

White Dragon Miniatures also had their impressive model range on show,

Blood and Plunder

The pirate miniatures game Blood and Thunder from Firelock Games has been launched via two Kickstarters (details of which can be found HERE and HERE) of which the second is still accepting late pledges at the time of writing.

After a brief overview of the basic rules and an explanation of the values on the cards I was given the choice of playing as the French or the English. So with two English units at my disposal and a character to lead them I heroically charged at the enemy under cover of daylight...

The game used an interesting mechanic of drawing from a deck of cards and the card suit decided both initiative order and number of actions. This added the tactical factor of either being more likely to go first but having less actions or giving the enemy the advantage and having more actions to counter their activities later. More experienced units get more actions as well which adds another layer of tactics. I demonstrated my advance grasp of these concepts by charging across the cover-less beach into the guns of the enemy...

Attacking both with ranged weapons and in melee used a simple target number mechanic modified by circumstances such as range and made for a fast and brutal demonstration. Ranged weapons required reloading time and units became less effective as their resolve was shaken by incoming attacks and loss of manpower. Unfortunately we didn't have time to explore the use of the amazing looking ships and also I must admit I was slaughtered by the French, lol. I am now looking for stockists of the rule-book so it obviously impressed me...

In Conclusion

All in all it was a good day only slightly marred by some minor venue issues that I think I've already mentioned above.

Thoughts and comments are (as usual) most welcome.

Should you ever choose to purchase something based on one of my features or reviews then it would be nice if you could let the company know where the inspiration came from...who knows...they might be grateful to the poor unappreciated blogger who sent you their way...if however I've put you off a product...well...you can keep that info to yourself...