Foundry have just released a new set of rules for the American Civil War called Bull Run to Gettysburg. As is their wont, they planned to have an open day to coincide with this, but the riots got in the way and it had to be cancelled (seriously). Instead it was held today, so slightly less fanfare, but an ACW theme nonetheless.

Foundry Open Days are small and intimate affairs without the impersonal crush of a Games Day – and I rather like that. You can actually get to talk to people (like the author of the rules) and to play the games if you choose, or simply float about the racks and see what you can find in the bargain corner. Speaking of which, as they’ve been rationalising their unspeakably vast ranges recently, the bargain section was pretty big this time. Three racks were temporarily seconded to clearance duties, and a large table groaned under the weight of discontinued paint. Some very nice colours there, and I availed myself of a pot or 50. It would have been rude not to.

Having acquired my many pots of paint I decided I’d let my wallet recover for a little while and left the clearance racks for the other happy gamers. They will, in any case, be there next week too. The Foundry factory is also its shop, and you can visit 10-5 on monday to friday. They don’t put the clearance racks away just because it’s not an open day. I thought that if I spent the money in two lots it wouldn’t count as much…

The bulk of these discontinued pots were from their WWII colours range which I rather like. It’s not so much as colours to paint WWII figures (though I may do that too), just as a nice selection of drab greens and browns to give a more credible feel to anything pre-modern before dyes were chemically light-fast and washable. On a related note, my favourite photo in Kevin Dallimore’s Painting & Modelling Master Class book is one of a regiment of orcs that have been painted in Foundry’s Napoleonic artillery colours and look brilliantly drab (page 131 if you’re interested).

Being an ACW day there were a couple of participation games to play, and even someone dressed in the appropriate gear. I’m afraid that my photography was a bit ropy today and so I haven’t got a usable shot of him, but take my word for it: people dressed up. The gaming tables looked very nice indeed. Here’s a slightly fuzzy picture or two (must be the haze of battle).

And an opposed river crossing ready to begin…

…and with the lead flying. One of the defending units has just been badly mauled by a handful of dice that included nothing but 5s and 6s. Ouch!

These scenarios were designed to be quick introductory games for the rules rather than full-blown battles, which I thought was a very good idea for the open day.

Hopefully you can see past the dodgy camera work and tell how good the battles looked.

And I’ve just noticed how long I’ve waffled on for, so I’m going to finish this report tomorrow. Games aren’t the only things that happen at these open days.