Hammerhead 2025

I went to Hammerhead 2025 a little while back. Unfortunately, a nasty outbreak of 'Real Life' has prevented me from posting up the pictures until now! However the delay does mean I have forgotten more of the details, so apologies if I forget something. I'll run through the games I took pictures of first, then save a few reflections to the end.

 

 First up, some Starship Troopers-y action (Yorkshire Renegades)?

 

Some SAGA action.

One amongst several Forest Outlaws' games: Batman and Robin in Gotham.

I 'think' this was another Forest Outlaws' game. The details of this one escape me, my apologies. Looked quite neat though.

 

I think this one was some kind of Jason and the Argonauts thing, with this kind of spiral hex-type terrain I have seen for a couple of different games. Looks a very efficient way of doing certain types of episodic/ladder games in a relatively small space. By Winterpig? (update - Winterpig confirmed!)

WW2 in Italy - think I have seen this one a couple of times before. Always seems to remind me a little of Kelly's Heroes final battle, for some reason! Anyhow, looks really good, by Anschluss I think.

Wings of Glory. Always looks fun.

 

This one was an ECW game, Langport if memory serves. By Wyre Forest gamers, who presumably have loads of pike, shot and horse in every scale that exists.

The OMG guys doing their modern thing:

 

The latest Paperboys' iteration is Chariot Wars. Where were they when I needed them when I was a youngster?!?!

I am so sorry, I really can't remember at all who might have done this one. Nice boats, in any case. (Update - apparently by Pete Foggin, of the Tyneside group, according to a kind reader!)

The really huge Bloody Omaha game by Charles Rowntree that I have seen a couple of times, but never fails to impress. Looked quite busy this one too.

I think this was some kind of Battle of the Bulge thing near the Warlord stand?

Robin Hood, with big figures, by Big on Strategy.

Shaun of the Dead, by The Bunker. They were a friendly bunch! And loads of really nice vignettes in the game.

There were a few DBA games (sorry not many good shots, I wouldn't have wanted to interrupt or distract the players). Were these the truest participation games, I wonder?

Sails of Glory - always looks good fun!

Another cold looking Midgard game - think I might have seen this one before, or something very similar.

The Boondock Sayntes did something a bit different for them, although as beautiful as ever: the Battle of the Fords of Isen

Apologies, not entirely sure about this one: I think it was a nice, very bright looking WW2 game by the...Gentlemen Wargamers?

More Starship Troopers, this time by the Werelords:

The Very British Civil War team, with their very particular 'look':

Witch Racing, an old staple of Hammerhead (by Grantham)

A Cold War Gone Hot game (Harrogate)?

Redcoats attacking a Native American village in the FIW (Derby):

The Battle for Moria (I think - also tentatively by the Women's Auxiliary Balloon Corps IIRC off the programme). It was an eye-catching design, with interior and exterior bits.

A Cruel Seas game (by Wakefield)

A WW1 game, with nice tanks and terrain. Not sure who did this one, but very pretty.

I am not sure this was exactly a zombie game, but it did look like a zombie-type game! Nice terrain.

I want to say this was another Middle Earth game, but I can't quite recall. But I think it does look like Rohirrim against Goblins.

More fantasy stuff...maybe To The Strongest? Does that have a fantasy version?

Kings of War from Phoenix Gaming. There was, as you can tell, quite a lot of fantasy stuff at this show.

The Dragon Perch Wars, also by Phoenix Gaming. Nice buildings and dragons!

I want to say this was WW2 with bobble head miniatures? From Lincoln? Nice terrain and mat, anyway.

I think this one was modern Cthulu, by Peterborough.

I didn't quite get what this next one was - some kind of fantasy or SF trench game? It looked pretty great visually, but didn't really intuitively get what was happening (Update: Trench Crusade by The Dented Bascinet HQ).

This was a Jacobite Wars' action, very very loosely based on the Siege of Derry IIRC. It was big and involved and pretty in a very doable way I thought.

Like a Stonewall did a big 'Mighty Eighth' game, which looked good fun.

These next games are a kind of jumping through space-and-time into different gaming worlds multi-board game (there are portals on each board). To get a kind of 'moving to different tables' demo game experience? Looked really interesting and they had obviously put so much into it (They being Chesterfield, who used to run this show back when it was a Fantasy and SF show).

Naturally, this is the dungeon crawl board.

This is the pirates' board. With ships with hand-made rigging, obvs! Amazing...

I forget...maybe late C19 board?

Medieval board...

Post-Aocalypse Board...

A Badgers and Burrows game next, also by COGS. The 1990s White Dwarf vibe is pretty much perfect.

Void Scar, with some kind of SF game. Maybe something a bit Battletech-y?

I think this is more COGS. I have seen this game a few times before I think, but it does look good.

A Space Hulk-y/Aliensy game from The Scourers. I really liked the way the terrain worked with the mat on this one.

 

A really big Italian Wars game next, possibly Fornovo. One of those 'so big, can't quite get everything in a single good shot' games.

Another robot game. Looked like Transformers type robots are similar, and a nice set-up.

There was a really nice-looking gangster game next. There seemed to be (understandably) a fair bit of gangster legend (like SAGA is to medieval fighting) but all good fun.

Somewhere between whimsy and a black wargame next, with one side trying to steal white goods and the other side trying to pull away tanks with tractors! Lots of knowing visual jokes.

Another one of these ascending hex boards, here themed around bairns' TV shows - Grotesque Gogglebox by Bunny Badger Games. Looked good fun, and really great design. Also, Crooked Dice must have been coining it in...

More stompy robots, in a Battle-techy way. I think maybe these were Blitzkrieg miniatures.

Another Forest Outlaws' game: this one is the 'Siege of Cairile Crfy', which was some kind of 10mm medieval siege affair. It looked nice in that Kallistra way, but I should have asked for more details.

A bijou but nice looking fantasy-horror game (by Dragon Lodge)

 

An Old West game, by the Veterans:

I think this next one was the Manoeuvre Group people, but doing it as hard SF. TBH, it was so hard it could more-or-less have been ultra-modern...

Next up was a game called 'FitzAubrey's Last Hurrah' which I guessed was some kind of Nelsonian/Hornblowery adventure? Looked nice in any case, by Lancaster.

I thought this was some kind of monster-y or zombie-ish type game: please forgive me if I got this wrong!! By the Doncaster group, I think (Update: Sanford Floral Committee Presents Best Kept Village 23 Years Running – Doncaster Wargames Society).

A Gates of Antares kind of double game. I liked the futuristic buildings!

As a show, it was..quite good? It was busy but not totally rammed. I got pictures of everything except the new Rubicon game I think, which was just too crowded every time I was near. Exhibitors were all friendly and helpful. There was a reaonable slant towards fantasy and science-fiction, which probably fairly reflects the games that get played most often in real-life. Some of the games really did feel like demo games where someone might have let you throw some dice rather than a participation or convention game per se. As my son generally feels a bit too shy to want to play, this is fine by me - but it does mean that the distinction between this show and Partizan is slowly being eroded, I think? There is still some difference in emphasis, but it has worn a bit thinner over time, I think. I also think - and this applies to the Partizan demo areas as well as this show - that somehow it is not quite an optimal environment for relaxed game playing with strangers? This isn't really a fully formed thought, but my intuitions about this are becoming sharper. There are very few of those games that I simply wouldn't play in any context...therefore if I don't play them, maybe the context isn't right? Similarly, I don't particularly like shopping at shows - it is convenient at the top-level (loads of gaming stuff in one place), poor at the bottom-level (trade stands aren't always easy to navigate and compare). The table sale seemed pretty good with plenty of bargains to be had. It could be a bit of a scrum...but I suppose that is useful information that people like it and it could be even bigger and better (and slightly more spread out).

 

Baccus wasn't there (their van broke down on the way apparently) which is always a bit of a shame for me, as I like to have a look over the latest releases, maybe have a quick chat with Peter and the team. But he did send out all the pre-orders he couldn't deliver straight away, so I got my parcel later that week. At the show, I bought a couple of SPI boardgames and a copy of Goths, Huns and Romans (the first edition of what would become Comitatus - I had given my copy to a friend - now very sadly deceased* - along with a couple of appropriate armies (Late Romans and Goths) years ago). My son picked up some painted SF stuff, and also a box of plastic Agincourt English. There were lots of things I fancied, but since painting has been relatively slow recently, I refrained...next year, perhaps? There are loads of really good plastic box sets that are out at the moment, but I feel my painting and playing have to be able to justify that, to at least some extent. Also, without Baccus, there is very little 6mm stuff; there didn't seem to be that much 15mm stuff either.

(*especially sad since Newcastle - our football team - have just won the League Cup! He was a bit older than me, and died in his 50s, so he never got to celebrate them winning a trophy in England).