Lead and Steel 2026 - Event Report

 

Saturday was "Lead and Steel 2026", a small Oldhammer focused convention in Sheffield. It's held in the hall of a social club, and had a good mix of vendors, participation games, demos, and people playing their own games. The event was free and came with a pretty substantial goodie bag.

I've split out the painting competition, the bits and bobs I picked up and a demo game I had for separate posts so this doesn't run too long.

As I walked through the door, I was immediately directed to the "Oldhammer Pick N Mix" - a fund-raiser for Cancer Research UK. You could pick up five models for £5. I had failed to bring any cash, but a friend who will stay anonymous so other people don't hit them up for money chipped in for the bits I was after. I've since been told this effort raised £741 for charity, which is excellent going.

I went around early on and took a few photographs of some of the games going on. This is Far Corfe, a huge participation game which uses original Necromunda rules as the basis for its rules. You could make a gang and turn up on the day. It was a big, chaotic event with loads of random things happening. It looked like everyone involved was having a blast.

The Warmachine demo table that was at Chillcon also made a return appearance. It's not quite Oldhammer, but its rules haven't changed much since it started, so it gets an honorary mention. I meant to get a demo of this and failed to manage my time properly. I really must not mess this up a third time if I see this demo table again!

One of the games where some folk were just playing each other was a game of Warhammer 40,000 3rd edition. Seeing the old models, books and cards gave me a major shot of nostalgia.

Also being played was a game of Warhammer Fantasy. I'm pretty sure it was somewhere between fourth and sixth edition, but I didn't want to interrupt to ask.

Meanwhile, on the participation side of things, someone had brought along Man O' War along with a few squadrons that people could play with. I'd absolutely intended to give this a go, as I hadn't played since my childhood, but time got away from me. I did walk past someone trying to explain the wind direction rules at one point.

Also available for participation was this game of the original Adeptus Titanicus. This is way before my time, but it looked really nice.

All in all, this was probably my favourite wargaming event I've been to in years. It was very relaxed, with a good mix of playing and shopping. There was a nice goodie bag, the charity pick n mix was amazing, the vendors were all small indie folk who are great, and there were several games I'd be up for trying next year now I know what to expect. I believe it's happening again in 2027, and its probably my top priority for planning events next year.

A week of some progress - Old memories and a painting class

In order to accommodate a guest, I needed to move all my stuff out of the spare room last week. This led me to a not inconsiderable amount of surprise at the number of boxes I had with things in them that I wanted to keep.

I also finally found my Forge World resin Baneblade, which I bought probably over a decade ago now. It is an effectively instruction-less kit (it definitely will be if I can't find the papers it came with), so that will be an adventure, And No Mistake.

How do I lose a Baneblade?

This (less the Dreadfleet box, which I brought down at the same time) is what it was hidden under. The shoe box and the ice cream tubs contain cardboard scenery, epic plastic ruins, Heroquest models and a few other surprise delights.

The Sea of Blood box includes all the Plague Fleet contents as well. My parents threw that box away at some point while I was storing my stuff there to consolidate boxes. I weep for how much that took off the value of the entire lot, even if I have no intention of selling any of it right now.

On Sunday, I got to escape the house to travel with my darling wife up to Leisure Games, where she was teaching a painting class. I went up with her, as we didn't know the numbers and she might have needed some help, but it turned out to be a pretty small class so I got to sit in the corner and get caught up with my own stuff.

So, here's the day's progress! I didn't paint constantly - I can't keep my attention on it that long - so I ambled around the shop every now and again as a break.

This is the disk I'm painting for the Tzeentch Herald. What do you think? This is a base, a wash, some blended lighter blue, then another wash. Sim thinks I'd have been better off drybrushing rather than wet blending, but I do also kind of like the effect I've got. I'm going to be building up the contrast towards a blue grey in time either way, but was curious as to other people's opinions.

Here's the Herald himself. This is using the colours from the relevant demon-related White Dwarf, with base, wash, and first layer starting to be added. It's still really quite rough at the moment and there will be a lot of smoothing on the blending.

The tail has a nice smoothness to it. I want to add a little contrast, but I also kind f like how it's looking as it is. He's an odd little beastie.

Here's a chap who is going to be a Slaanesh unit champion in my new Warriors of Chaos army. I'm trying out a technique from the 'Eavy Metal Masterclass book for the bone, hence it having been painted black when I don't usually use that as a base. He was white undercoated, and I've done the base and was on his robe.

Here's his back. I love the tattered cloth on this old model - it's a really good look at takes the wash brilliantly. I'm currently planning on spending quite a bit of time on this chap and entering him as my Golden Demon entry this year.