That Cavalier Attitude ...

The wargames season has begun, as always, with our own local con, Cavalier, hosted by the Tunbridge Wells Wargames Society. But this year, having obviously outgrown the school where it had been held for a millennia, it was decided to move to a new venue: Tonbridge's Angel Centre, a convenient 15 minute downhill hobble from my flat ... which meant Rachel didn't have to play 'nominated driver' and could spend the morning in bed watching Hollyoaks!

I arrived dead on 11 and met up with Nick by the ticket booth. The first thing that struck me, with the sports centre's high ceilings, was the absence of claustrophobia that had become a signature characteristic of Cavaliers' past. The main hall housed the traders and, except for a few corners where punters hovered, were all easily accessible.

There were a couple of games set out in this main room, but the bulk were squeezed into a sideroom with the bring'n'buy, where the more familiar tightness and lack of oxygen returned.

Nick and I both felt that while the standard of games this year was as good as ever, there were no "wow", stand out displays, which was a shame.

The big discovery of this year's exhibition though came in the traders' hall where I was introduced to AT-43, the pre-painted sci-fi miniatures game from the sickeningly talented French design studio of Rackham.

Truly this game is a thing of beauty - and the salesman's well-rehearsed pitch helped - and I came away with a hefty box of figures, rules and scenery. All the money I had allocated for Mongoose's prepainted near-future game (which wasn't represented here at all) went on this elegant monster of a game instead.

If I took anything away from today - besides an AT-43-sized hole in the my wallet - it was an agreement with Nick that we really need to get down to tabletop gaming again. We've been very slack in recent months, which probably explains why we haven't been able to settle on a new system or era to focus on. Now we just need to find a time when both of us are free!