Claymore 2012

I was at Claymore 2012 yesterday and I think I may have spent a bit more than was healthy...

As usual I attended with my brother-in-law and, despite roadworks, we were there a little after it opened, which at least meant we avoided the queues.

My plan for the show was to buy stuff for various projects I have on the go/planned, so with that in mind, I set about scouring the stands.

It Came From Beyond the Still

I picked up the pdf of these rules a few weeks ago, and it's just a game that appeals to me. I had ordered the Reaper Greys and Alien overlord figures(1), as well as the Tengu Greys, but needed some humans. My plan was to pick up some Hillbillies and possibly some Men in Black. I bought the Hillbillies from Bluemoon miniatures - specifically the McCluskys. The Men in Black were from Copplestone, who also produce Greys (something I only found out at the show) - needless to say, the Greys were also purchased. That should be enough figures for that project, so now I just need to schedule the time to paint them.

The Bluemoon figures aren't too bad. I have always avoided buying them in the past as they're in a sealed box with not particularly good artwork and no clue as to their actual size. Size-wise, most of them are large 28mm, although a couple of the figures are huge, standing just under 40mm.

Pulp

This is another period that appeals, although I have only a handful of figures - some archaeologists and some mummies. I picked up a packet of Copplestone heroines, some Artizan figures and some Dixon 20th century civilians. I still need more opponents, but at least I can now try and get some of the good guys painted.

Science Fiction

I bought some more Kolony figures from Pig Iron and some Copplestone not-predator figures. I also picked up a second SF Transport vehicle of the type I found at Wappinshaw last year. It's in a different colour scheme, so I'll have to repaint at least one of them

Demon apocalypse

I'm always on the lookout for figures for my modern demon stuff and, with most of the new Chaos releases from Games Workshop at the show to tempt me, I bought the Flamers of Tzeentch and Plaguebearers of Nurgle box sets. They had the Blue Scribes there as well but, as much as I like the figure, it's FineCast, and there's no way I would buy a boxed one without checking it first. If I decide to buy it, I'll get it from my local store, where at least I can take it back as often as necessary to get a usable one.

I also picked up a demon from the company whose name I can never remember...

I was looking for some Mantic Ghouls and found a box that said £10.00 for 20 Ghouls, which was a very good price. When I took them home, however, rather than 20 Ghouls, the box had 30 Zombies. I suppose this is a good thing, but I don't really need any more zombies, and it means I'm still looking for the Ghouls. I also picked up a set of plastic gravestones, which I had planned to use when basing my Ghouls. Still, there's always next year...

Scenery-wise, I bought a couple of Ral Partha skull fountains.

Miscellaneous

Figures

I bought a Reaper Bones (their plastic range) Ghost. It looks not too bad, although the plastic feels quite soft and is bendy (the pose doesn't help, however, as the ghost is passing through a gravestone), but I think it'll paint up fine.

I picked up an Urban War Sandrunner. It's a four-legged beast with a rider, and I hope it'll be of use with the modern demons, but time will tell...

Vehicles

I bought a 28mm HMMV and a crashed Blackhawk helicopter model from Britannia Miniatures. The helicopter is probably the bargain of the show for me, at £11.95 (unpainted)

Scenery

Just the usual grit, grass tufts etc. (including buying a set I already have and haven't yet used).

Paints

I have quite a few vehicles lined up, so I recently dug out my airbrush (unused for several years). I normally use Tamiya paints for the airbrush, but I picked up some Vallejo Air to try. I also bought their black and sepia washes, to see how they compare to the Citadel ones. As usual, on getting home, I found I already had the sepia wash. I really hope it works, as otherwise the two bottles will last me a long time.

Rules

I picked up the Bush Wars supplement for Force on Force, but nothing else. I nearly bought .45 Adventures, but until I get the pulp figures painted, there's no rush.

Final thoughts

The show was as good as ever. It felt quieter than last year and there was no crush around any stand. Having said that, there always seemed to be people at every stand, so hopefully the traders made a profit.

There were loads of kids and a lot of women there, which can only be good for the future of the hobby.

The display games were well presented and well attended. There was a Dystopian Wars game that I was almost tempted to play - some of the models for it are amazing, but I think I have more than enough projects on the go at the moment :-)

We left just after 2pm, and I had all of £10.00 left. Given how much I had taken with me, that was the most I've ever spent at a wargames show - by quite a large margin! We did manage to get lost twice on the way home (and given that's the third or fourth time we've done the journey - and we had satnav - it doesn't say much for our navigation skills), but we did eventually find some roads we recognised.

Time to start saving up for next year :-)

Footnote

1 These figures arrived mid-week, so I had to go to the post office first thing on Saturday to collect them. This entailed me getting up even earlier than on a work day, but at least the post office was quiet.