Sheffield Triples Saturday 2015.

 John and I have been attending Sheffield Triples since it was originally in the city centre near the railway station. For us it was probably THE show, as it was full of trade and lots of games. It reached its pinnacle when it was based at the University and was filled with loads of excitement,[ well its seemed that way to me]
Since its move into the Sheffield Sports centre [sanitised building full of gym bunnies and security] I have felt it lost its way.Still I didnt sleep too well on the Friday night due to childish excitement.

 So did the show continue its slow downward slide into extinction?
Well yes and no. I dont wish to denigrate the efforts of the Sheffield Group, as any show organiser has a lot on their plates. I will list firstly the things I feel are bad, and then end with the positives.
 Several weeks ago on the WD site someone was whining about the cost of tickets to attend Salute, ie £15.00, or £10.00 if you bought an advance ticket, and this is for the biggest show in Europe.
By my calculations it cost £9.20p to attend Triples, which is really not in the same league size wise as Salute. This includes the parking fee to leave your car in a field.I understand this did allow you entry for both days, but I was never going to travel two days running.
 I was going to pay this anyway so can't really complain, but it is a fair amount of cash.

Secondly, the venue, I really hate the majority of venues that are used to stage wargames shows nowadays. I understand one is limited in suitable buildings, but the modern venues are really soulless places, usually shared with fitness classes, children's creches, breeze block buildings and large badly lit halls.Still they do have bigger car parks, which was a problem at the previous Triples university venue. [I am trying to find positive things to say]

Thirdly, Triples when it was at the University was chock a block with wargames. I remember games in every room, from the average to the well made exciting game. This year, its fair to say the number of games is shrinking, and by quite a number. The games on show, were of a good quality, and some were really fine looking games but there was less of them, by some way.

Fourthly,wargames shows spread over two days are finished. Granted I dont attend two day shows anyway, but Triples which was a two day event due to the large number of competitors can no longer justify this. I reckon if there were 20 wargamers entered in the competitions then I am being very generous. A two day event can only really flourish if there is a very good reason to attend both days. Most wargamers cannot afford to give up two days of their time,whether through family commitments or because of financial reasons. I really think the Sheffield group need to look at this, because listening to many of the traders it was clear that they weren't getting the returns for a two day commitment, and lets be right they are the main reason for wargamers attending shows currently.  
                                     
Attending on the Saturday, it was noticeable to me that numbers were down, yes there was quite a queue to get in, but I reckon by 12.00!,  people had drifted away, and it was quite obvious by 13.00 that the place was pretty empty.It reminded me of Saint James Park on match day.
 Thats not wholly the fault of the show organisers because this is happening more and more at all the shows, but again it emptied pretty dramatically.

Anyway onto the positives.Both John and I agreed that we had had a good day, in both the buying and selling of figures. The Triples Bring and Buy has always been a good place to sell stuff, but again this was pretty quiet with none of the old rush and push of old.
 As I walked around the games on show, there was some nice games to see, and its always good to talk to other wargamers about their games.

My favourite was this Mahdi game. Lovely painted figures, a well made terrain and some good crack from the lads who hailed from Sheffield. I know that they had got Adrian Walls to make the boards, but I wanted to take part in the game, which is how I tend to judge a display game.I may be wrong with which group it was but I believe it was the Beasts of Bolsover, who have always put on quality games. Anyway, well done.

Beautifully painted Bashi Bazouks, pity about their maorale though.

The gents from Ilkeley Old School displayed Placenoit in 28mm, using a version of a sand table which again I wanted to take part in.I hope some members of South London Warlords attended the show as it was refreshing to see a couple of displays commemorating Waterloo. Perhaps the battle wasnt that important a thing. 

There was also a Mad Max participation game which was very well done, with some great models.
Unfortunately I didnt get details of who put the game on.
So will I attend Triples again? Of course I will, especially as I understand that the date is returning to March, which would be a sensible thing in my opinion. As a show was it a success? On a personal level yes, from a wargamers view point in general, the answer would be no. I really think the Sheffield group need to sit down and think carefully about what works and what no longer works. Otherwise I can see my favourite show heading the way of the old Northern Militaire.