Wow, that was a very very very busy weekend!

Myself, Lindsay and Megan all volunteered to help run the UK Games Expo this year, it’s 20th year and I have been attending for 16 of them!

We headed down on the Thursday morning to get our t-shirts, groats and passes, after which we chilled out in the hotel with a pizza.

We then had shifts for the next three days, Lindsay and Megan were on the Crew Room, which was basically covering stuff all over the place, I spent time in a Shop & Drop, Hall 4 and the Crew Room.

My favourite part, someone arriving 3 minutes before entries for the painting completion closed on Sunday, his train had been massively delayed, and he had yet to collect his ticket, so I got to escort him to get his entry in before sending him to get his tickets, just trying to be helpful.

It was exhausting but an awful lot of fun, and I am so glad I was able to be there for it, to be honest if I wasn’t volunteering I couldn’t afford to be there for more than a day.

But there is something so special about not only being at an event, but also being able to help make the event happen for other people.

What I Am Spending At Expo

I picked up a new TT Combat cutting mat, that’s something I buy every year as it’s super useful

From The Army Painter I got a Drybrush and some of the John Blanche paints, Heavy Metal, Grim Rust, Grimdark Shadow and Voodoo Shade

I got a new bottle of Feldgrau and some US Dark Green from Vallejo

From Games Workshop I got the event exclusives, Cadia Stands and Dawner’s Reward

I got the standard merch of a t-shirt and event pin

Plus a few more bits from The Army Painter, Warhammer and AK Interactive for painting, those being a Scrubby Cup, Emperor Gold, Khorne Red, Tyran Blue and a Gold Playmarker Pen from AK Interactive

I did get a couple of games, staring with Machu Pichu, a fun little party game

And The Lord of the Rings Duel for Middle Earth

What I Am Modelling

I started off by painting a few bits for Trench Crusade

An Observer mercenary, which is a really cool little model

A couple of Red Brigade Yeomen armed with Flamethrowers

A Heretic Legion Trooper armed with a Flamethrower

A Sin-Eater

A trio of Heretic Priests

A couple of Anointed, one armed with a Flamethrower, the other with a Greataxe

And the obligatory Artillery Witch

For the early war French I painted a couple of Renault FTs

I also painted some Legionaries for my True Sons Chaos Space Marines Warband

So what’s up next week?

  1. Blood Angels Landspeeder
  2. True Sons Daemon Prince
  3. Cadian Command Squad x 5
  4. Ultramarines Saturnine Terminators x 6
  5. Neophyte Hybrids x 10, Primus & Magus x 2
  6. Vanquishers x 10
  7. Sd. Kfz 222 (Late War)
  8. Rat Ogres x 3
  9. Deffkoptas x 3 & Kutom Boosta-Blasta
  10. World Eaters Daemon Prince

What Tabletop Games I Am Playing

I played two games of Bolt Action this week, first on Wednesday when I took on Gavin and his Battle of the Bulge themed British

My 750pts list is now

Rifle Platoon

Oberleutnant (Regular)

Heer x 8, LMG, NCO with SMG (Regular)
Heer x 8, LMG, NCO with SMG (Regular)
Heer x 8, LMG, NCO with SMG (Regular)

Sniper Team (Veteran)

Light Mortar Team (Regular)

Armoured Platoon

Panzer II Ausf C

Panzer I Ausf A

Panzer 38 (t)

The game was pretty hard, he had a Sherman and a Wolverine, the latter of which took out my Panzer 38 (t) on the first turn.

We played the Breakthrough mission and it was a classic game where it came down to three dice rolls

The game was a draw but had I passed at least one of two morale tests, I would have won, and had the game gone to turn 6, he potentially would have won!

Then on Friday I played David and his Australians, an army I have never played before, we again played breakthrough and

David’s M3 Stuart and my Panzer 38 (t) spent most of the game pinging shots off each other

It was an impressive win for David as he made some amazing tactical decisions and had some really great dice rolls that systematically demolished my Germans

He ended up winning the game 8-2

On Sunday I was supposed to be playing in a Warhammer 40K tournament, I went but was quite unwell, and only managed one game against the kid

It was a really tough game and I lost very badly, but hopefully 11th Editon will be somewhat kinder to me

But Space Marines are a very tough army to overcome, with the Oath of Moment and the various buffs they get

On Tuesday myself and Graham had a game of Bolt Action, my early war Germans took on his British

It was a tough game, I managed to destroy all of his infantry, but I couldn’t touch his tanks, Germans during the Blitzkrieg didn’t have very good anti-tank weapons, my Pak 36 and Panzer 38 (t) were just pinging off his armour for the most part

I did manage to damage the Churchill, and reduce its movement, but the Matilda II was beyond my weapons.

What Video Games I Am Playing

I am really enjoying Over The Top, its incredible fun, and I am trying to play a bit more Darktide.

What Achievements I Have Unlocked

Look Out!

Crush someone with an object		05/06/2026
Single Player

Play a match in Single Player		07/06/2026
Over The Top!

Have the Charge bonus with 15 other people at the same time		07/06/2026
They couldn’t hit an elephant at this distance

Kill someone with a rifle at 100 meters or more		07/06/2026

What I Am Creating

I did a video on my Bolt Action 500pts list for the Escalation League

What I Am Spending

It was Humble Choice, so that got me

  • Diablo IV (annoyingly on Battle.Net)
  • Shin Megami Tensei V: Vengeance
  • Crysis 3 Remastered (gifted to a nibbling)
  • Nordhold
  • Heroes of Hammerwatch II
  • Rogue Waters
  • Cubic Odyssey
  • Mini Settlers

I also bought Heroes of Hammerwatch, seeing as I now has the sequel made sense to get the original