Blast from the Past - Devon Wargames Show, 1992-93

Some of our younger club members can't remember 1992, neither can some of our older members for that matter.

This year with another Exeter Legionary Show looming next month, I thought it might be fun to show the origins of our local show and its very first incarnation back in 1992, when JJ still had hair and was known to like a beer or three.

In 1992, there was no Internet and the only way to get any advertising was to get the local press to come out and write daft stuff that might attract local people to see what our hobby was all about.

The Leader from 1993

So the next time anyone asks when the Exeter Wargames show got going, you can now say with some assurance that it was in August 1992 at the Clyst Vale Community Centre, Broadclyst, hosted by the Exeter & East Devon Wargames Group that became the Devon Wargames Group when the tanks rolled into Barnstaple and we annexed Chas, Clive and Nick in the North Devon anschluss.

The Games Time Forgot - Devon Wargames Group Games Past

In 2011 the Devon Wargames Group reached a landmark of having been in existence for 30 years. In that time the club has played many games and, in a small way, helped promote the hobby of wargaming in the South West. We take pride in the fact that several of our members no longer live in Devon but have chosen to stay members and travel many miles to attend games and meetings.

A few weeks ago whilst tidying JJ's wargame cave I discovered some old pictures taken in the days before digital cameras ruled the earth. The pictures were of games that the club has attended at other venues ranging from the Wargames Holiday Centre in Scarborough, as it was in those days, to Colours at the Hexagon in Reading.

I have posted a few shots of club members present and past, plus some shots of the games we have played over the years as a club.

First up an AWI game staged at Colours in the Hexagon at Reading, where we put on a demo game of the Siege of Gloucester Point opposite Yorktown using an early computer version of "Iron Duke".
Check out the old DOS black and white lap top behind Gary in the picture below.

Demo game staged at Colours, Reading in the late 80's

Poor photo of the game that was played at Reading - AWI Siege of Gloucester Point

Next up the game where Chas earned his battle name "Mad Dog Carter", after he lead a Union charge down from Cemetery Ridge in this Gettysburg re fight we did, I think at the pub in Warrington.
And all because he was bored watching the Confederates manoeuvring to his front.

Mad Dog Carter celebrating his surprise attack with a not so sure looking Ian

The pub at Warrington was also the venue for our big 20mm re fight of the D-Day British beaches running from Sword to Gold. This was a massive game and took a lot of curry and beer to get through. Happy Days.

Some of the German commanders in this game were a bit shell shocked towards the end

The club also ran several trips up to Scarborough, the old venue for the Wargames Holiday Centre. The following pictures are of a massive Napoleonic game we played based on Dresden with the ornate gardens forming a classic centre piece on the table.

Hordes of Austrian cavalry in our Dresden re fight

The Austrians closed in on Dresden

More recently the guys attended a club get together at JJ's for a Napoleonic gathering to help launch my new laid out wargames room.

As you can see our club is all about having fun with the great hobby that is wargaming.