Downend Folk House Craft Fair

Last Saturday was the annual Downend Folk House Craft Fair, held at Lincombe Barn, where our wargames club also meets. This year, the club was invited to take a table at the craft fair to show off what we do each Sunday afternoon. 

So, four of us, Nick, Craig, Clive and myself turned out and staffed our display, which included figures and rule books, plus a demonstration game of Sword and Spear, using Clive's Crusader and Saracen 28mm armies. Here is what we put on display. We had a mixture of 10, 15 and 28mm figures, some 15mm vehicles and a number of different sets of rules. We also had some unpainted metal figures and some sprues of plastic ones, so that people could see what the raw materials look like before we get to work with sprays and brushes.

Then, there was the game. This was a hugely enjoyable experience, mainly because it was fun, and, let's face it, if gaming isn't fun, why do it in the first place?

Anyway, Craig and I were the Saracen generals, opposing the Frankish infidels led by Clive and Nick. I took the Saracen right, with most of the heavy cavalry and light  horse archers and Craig had all the foot, some camelry and the rest of the mounted troops. The plan was for the Saracen left and centre to hold the line while my cavalry swept across the table to roll up the Crusader line and capture the main prize, the One True Cross (or a decent replacement from the Acme True Cross Company) in the centre of the Frankish line.

Unhappily, my screen of horse archers was soon whittled away and the victory points were mounting for Clive and Nick. Elsewhere, the power of the Frankish knights became apparent as they charged into combat, sweeping all before them, at least until Craig's camelry and armoured foot managed to turn the tide.

In the centre, the generally not very good infantry of both sides clashed around the ruins of what were presumably the remains of some antique city from the classical past. Finally, my heavy cavalry gained the upper hand, with only one unit if armoured infantry standing between me and the Frankish camp and True Cross. Also, a gap had opened up in the centre, giving another possible path to victory. Most of the best Crusader units had been destroyed, so things were looking up, except that our army was heading towards Break Point, due to the loss of so many poor units. All that we needed to do was hang on, clear the way and the prize would be ours, except ....................... the Saracens lost another unit of rubbish foot, which took us past Break Point, leaving the battered and sorely depleted Crusader army victorious.