Its a very brave person who decides to hold a new wargames show in the United Kingdom. One will be competing against a lot of shows that have become established and a lot of traders who tend to pick and choose their shows carefully to save on costs etc. Anyway the Wear Valley Wargamers are to be applauded in attempting to drum up wargaming support in my county, hence John and I attended Stand To at the Locomotion Railway Museum to stage a game.
[ Caption] The actual train used in the Railway Children, NB Jenny Agutter's hat on the front of the train] I was disappointed that she wasnt there, draped across the front.
The show was never going to be a major event, but if it helps get ordinary non wargaming people interested then more power to the show. I sometimes forget when I am in my wargaming bubble, just how popular trains are with the public, especially children. As a result there were a decent amount of families coming through the doors to be confronted by five games, and twenty wargames traders.
And to be fair, it seemed to work. Certainly there seemed to be a lot of fathers and their sons, [aged 8-15] [not the fathers] who wanted to find out a bit more about wargaming. Better was the fact that World War Two is of interest to the children through school projects so the children knew something of what was going on.
Entrance is free to the museum, and what better way to spend a few hours in a train museum and then stare at some burned out men playing with toy soldiers. I honestly think it worked, and the venue seemed perfect for this type of event. I dont know if the traders had to pay anything for a stall, but hopefully it was just a token amount as it was always going to be difficult to make a sale to the non wargaming public. Saying that I saw one trader who I have never seen before with some fantastic scaled and painted World War Two aeroplanes that seemed to be doing well.He also had some beautiul 20mmm painted dicast tanks that were perfect to use on a wargames table.
I thought it was a good time to air my 15mm desert war units, and John suggested using the Blitzkrieg Commander rules to make it easier to play. [that was for my benefit]
Loving losers I wanted to use my 1941 Italian army, and as usual they didnt disappoint. Saying that I achieved a record 11 blunder throws! which scuppered any chance they had. [Thats 11 double sixes by the way in the command phase]
The gents from Westerhope Northumberland kindly made the trek south, and put on their wonderful cut price wargame for the benefit of the public [ and me]
Here's Brian showing off the result of his 5 and 2 diet. I apparently was very rude about him in an earlier post. So I can only apologise for that, he was a very good sport by the way.
I would like this bombard, purchased from the Pound Shop and included in a large bag of soldiers.
The men from the Westerhope group looking quite intimidating, they're actually pussycats really, with my favourite game of the year.
I was there yesterday and thoroughly enjoyed myself. Locomotion (museum) was a real eye-opener, especially the Crusader tank, as I never knew the place existed before last week.
ReplyDeleteThe Westerhope's budget game was indeed an inspiring vision and well worth giving credit too. I must admit that I was much taken with your own table, and the beautifully painted armies on display.
Many thanks for showing off your collections on the day, as you certainly helped to promote the hobby, and your table even interested my old father (who gave me a lift in) who isn't even remotely interested in our hobby.
I didn't volunteer for the Army's rock climbing though :)
Roy
I was worried about this event before I went, I thought it wouldnt work. To be very honest I thought it was great. The museum has grown and is a good venue with plenty of parking and plenty of space.The lads did very well who put this together.
DeleteThanks Robbie
A little gig like this wouldn't be one I'd trade at - see my remarks on Durham for the reasons but had I known of its existance the TWATS might have done a game there as from that perspective the show is worth supporting.
ReplyDeleteI do seem to remeber getting an email from a bloke I didn't know back at the beginning of the year mweentioning the event- but have seen no advertising or follow up so had no idea of the date and only a dim recollection of the venue ....
Afternoon Andy,
ReplyDeleteIt was a last minute thing for us, but honestly it worked.What I liked about the venue was the space and light. There is a really good train hobby shop in the venue which was very good to. It was an interesting problem how to explain what we were doing to a group of retired ladies, but once they grasped the principles it was entertaining.
What was really interesting for me was a retired gentleman who had been in the Cherrypickers in Malaya whose Major had fought in the desert campaign and was captured by the Germans. Rommel invited the officer dinner the same night, and the next morning the British advance released him from custody, it was a good gig.
But if no-one really knew about it how successful could it be ? Also how do you gauge success- commercially Durham would be a non- starter for me yet its always fun to do perhaps this one could become the same but only if it is actually on the radar in the first place
Deleteyes it was a good first time attempt and a great location. More games would have made it better though.
ReplyDeleteThanks for your kind comments on our game (westerhope wargames group)-we liked the look of your table too-however we were the only one's to get our photo in the northern echo!!-see you soon.
ReplyDeletejohn c(or william coutts if you like!)