Auckland Wargaming Club

The second 'Postcard' from AWC Member Ben Hill at the Derby Convention in the UK.

Can I just say two words, Wargasmic Retail! This is one of the biggest trade shows/competitions in the UK. Salute (April) and Warfare at Reading (later October) are bigger but I ain't seen nothing like this before. I would estimate 30 or 40 trade stands with everything from haystacks to 54mm plastics. Gripping Beast, Musketeer, Magister Militum, Donnington, Hasslefree, Adler, Front Rank, Baccus and many more plus a bunch of retail outlets and web shops selling all sorts of different things including figures by unit or even individuals.

Mid-1884, The Mahdist Rebeliion is reaching it's peak - Gordon is isolated in Khartoum, and the rebellion steadily spreads north towards the Egyptian frontier. As the main relief expedition to go to Gordon's aid is finally being formed, news comes that a large number of European, Greek, and Egyptian Civilians, along with a small British Hospital Corps detachment, have been cut off in the town of Dongola; and the local Egyptian Commander has only a small number of Bashi-Bazouk Irregulars and whatever Civilians that can fight to try and defend the town (who's defences are in a poor state)...

A successful DBMM240 “Armies of the Movies” tournament was played at the AWC on the 6 December 2009. A full report will follow elsewhere, meanwhile here are some photos of the event and some of the armies involved…

Note: No Spartan Rhino’s were harmed in the making of this Photo Gallery!

Romans (both Early & Late Imperial and Hun Allies) and Seleucid & Alexandrian Macedonians with Scythians, Galatians, and more, from the collections of Nick Buckby, Glen Tibbles, & John Moher - these photos are from a large DBM 'Mega Game' (about 650 AP) in November 2001 that also involved Auckland Wargamers Philip Abela; Gerard Lelieveld; and Greg Simmonds:

These are a collection of German Seebatallion Marines (Copplestone & Pulp) from Kieran Mahony's collection facing off against the Sudanese Fuzzy-Wuzzies (Perrys) from the collection of Roundie (Wayne) Steward:

15mm Essex English Civil War figures from the collection of John Moher - most are Essex with some Frei Korps making up the numbers...

First up we have the town of El Segundo, from the collection of, and entirely scratch built by, Kieran Mahony - one of the AWC's more prolific model & terrain makers! It was inspired by the hip-hop song "I left my wallet in El Segundo...":

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Then we have the AWC version of Deadwood - again this entire town is scratch built, this time by Roundie (Wayne) Steward, another of the AWC's more prolific modellers (and possibly its most prolific figure painter)...:

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An assortment of Modern Era Soviet forces from the collection of Kieran Mahony:

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