Smoggycon 2012 Part Two.

Smoggycon for me is a show on the way up. Its friendly,it has helpful organisers and its easy to get to for me.
 Southlands may be a sports centre,[a bit of a rarity in the North East since the recession.] but it has good parking,and the show puts on good value tea and food.
 The trade is a good balance of the larger traders,ie Dave Thomas, Irregular Miniatures,Old Glory and Pendraken,and the new smaller traders,just starting out.
 For me the show hit my wallet hard. I bought some more Perry Renaissance figures,when I say a few [thats for the benefit of my wife.] The reality was I bought quite a few.
 I also have bought two packs of Old Glory Gendarmes,to try them out. They look pretty good.
The reason being that Foundry had let Dave Thomas down,and he couldn't get me my Christmas present from my wife, 24 Foundry Gendarmes.
 I get the impression that Foundry can't get their act together and have management problems,may be next year.
 The big thing for me was I was able to buy 61 Wargames Newsletters from Ian Kay!
 To some gamers that might be a so what,but to me it was a great event.
 Some of the magazines are over forty years old,and I think still have a relevance today.[ Maybe I'm deluded.]
 Games wise,there was an Impetus tournament. These are good rules,and probably made for a good tournament, I cant say.It did seem popular.

 Games wise, I liked the ten mil. Malburian game, lots of figures,and a nice set up.

I also liked a 20mm Battlground Kursk set up.The rules look interesting,and I thought the set up was very effective.
I'm probably doing a lot of clubs a disservice at the show as I didn't get around them all due to the game I had running.
 I checked out the new style bring and buy,copying from the York show,unfortunately I thing E bay is starting to make big inroads to the bring and buys,I got the impression the set up was a failure,with very few being willing to sell their own stuff.I personally think its still the way to go.
So was the show a sucess, I know talking to three traders that they did very well,and couldnt complain. The numbers through the door again looked like it was up,and I left the show skint and knackered,usually a sign of a good show. 8 out of 10.