STaB PBI Day

On Friday I finished work at 3pm and headed south, arriving in Yeovil around 7pm at a rather run down Travel Lodge. I was going to stay with friends but they were away so £50 a night Travel lodge was the order of the day. A quiet night refreshing myself on the rules of PBI and then early to bed for a 6.30am start on Saturday.

I arrived in Bournemouth for around 8.30am to find things well under way setting up tables and the like. I was greeted by Miles and Les from STab and Martin and Nigel from Peter Pig. I was also introduced to Kevan Gunn whom I have never met before but was aware of through the RFCM group. Kevan had driven for 9 hours on Friday and stayed over in Bournemouth. By his own admission it is a 'bit mad' travelling so far for a one day event. Having now experienced the day, I can see why he does it!

PBI is Peter Pigs WW2 company based rule set. It requires 60 to 80 figures and a few vehicles which act as support to the infantry who as the title suggests are the focus of the game. It is a square based game which means that no measuring is required and works on the basis of platoon commanders motivating their troops by way of a dice roll, who once motivated roll for action points allowing them to perform various actions such as move, shoot and assault. Tanks are used but are not (from what I see) game winners. Although I have two armies for PBI (late war US and Germans) and have read the rules through many times I had only played them at shows where Martin demo'd them. I have played many other WW2 sets such as Rapid Fire and Blitzkreig Commander and Peter Pigs Abteilung many years ago, but WW2 has never been a major period for me. PBI appeals to my requirements of small forces without the need to represent every halftrack or jeep.

There have been a few PBI days, not only in Bournemouth, but also in Portbury Bristol. and elsewhere. I have been meaning to get to one for some time. Everyone was very friendly and helpful to a complete newcomer. I think there were at least a couple of other newbies there too so I wasn't alone. I highly recommend it to anyone contemplating attending either a PBI day or the Civil War Battles day run by Miles at STaB. He really knows what he's doing! Plus there is probably the best chip shop I have been to across the road from the hall where the event was held.

Anyway some photos!

Here Martin is showing Colin how its done. This was a really nice 'Russian front' table. PBI is palyed on a 4'x4' table so doesn't take up much room!

This is an 'action' shot of my game with Nigel. He was playing late war Germans with a load of panzerfausts. His aim for the day was to get the most tankk kills by foot troops, which he managed! I was using my late war Yanks. Here we are fighting over a nice desert table.

Although not my game, I did fight on this table with Kevan. Kevan was suffering with a bad head, the after effects of his 9 hour drive the previous day. To add to his problems he played me in our first game and had to talk me through step by step. Much kudos to him for his patience in the face of adversity. Kevan is a really nice chap and I look forward to seeing him again in December at the Portbury PBI day. This table represents somewhere in Northern Europe. Very nice scenary again.

A general shot of the hall with games in full swing.

Presentations. I think this was the overall winner (Chris...? from SELWG). Martin and Miles look on.

Amazingly, Lee Burton did worse than me and ended up on a negative score! Well done Lee! Damn nice chap too. But then every one was nice.

Nigel was suprised to have won 'Most tank kills with infantry'. He was gracious in victory! Miles says this award will be ranmes the 'Nigel Heals trophy' next year.

Another general view of the hall.

To cap the day off, pre-release copies of 'AK47 Republic - Reloaded' were for sale. Whoopee!

Great games, great people, great day.