Durham Wargames Club open day.

Well I said I would report back on the effects of some of the bigger and favourite traders cutting the number of shows that they attend. On Saturday John and I took the short trip to the Durham Open Day, The friendliest Club in the north?
 Durham wargames club have been around a  longtime now a bit like yours truly. I can certainly remember letters from one of the founder members Derek Sharman in the Wargamers Newsletters dating to about 1968/69. I think they have held wargames shows since the late 1970's although that might be doing them a disservice, anyway I digress. Basically the show has been around a long time.
 Gone are the days when the group staged very large events at the castle, university buildings and the like. Derek Sharman who has long gone from the area attempted to make the event a family day out with re enactment societies, competitions and the like, he took great personal financial risks and sadly failed somewhat. Still he gave it a go.
 When John and I used to put games on at the show there would be four rooms of games and traders and one room which held  bring and buy event. Like other shows it grew steadily and used to get a few hundred through its doors.The last few years the number of games shrank and the number of traders increased. The event held at their HQ in the old DLI barracks is a great setting but not ideal for  large numbers of punters. When they introduced the 'policy' of more traders than games it became very very crowded. This year Dave Thomas has started his wind down and no longer attended carrying his range of Perry, Victrix and the like. He was a popular go to trader. Similarly Pendraken have pulled the plug. A  shame really because this company has grown a great deal and provides a lot of great figures and the other great stuff. Ian from Eagle Miniatures a former Durham member also couldnt attend. I dont know if this will be permanent but his expanding 28mm ranges were top quality. So of the old faithfuls Ian Kay and his dad were holding the fort with their lovely Irregular miniatures.
So did the changes affect the open day?
 Well I thought things were quiet the short time I was there but I understand the club claim numbers remained steady. I can confirm that the bring and buy was very very quiet which I normally tend to use as an indicator of footfall. John and I sold a minimal amount of stuff and it wasn't because of the price.
 The games on show were pretty decent and I particularly liked the group's Star Wars set up which had some great terrain and models. Conrad another member of the group staged a lovely 54mm Turk/ Russian renaissance game which was up to his usual high standards.God knows where he stores the figures and terrain but it was a nice looking game with some lovely personalised figures.
  As for the trade, it was okay with a new trader, Lasercut Architect  selling some first class and very clever mdf pieces. I really like the steam punkish? turn counter and causality markers they were really eye catching. Alan from Hokka Hey had expanded his terrain stock which is a great value range.
 Amongst my purchases, yes I know, I bought three books and when I got home discovered that I already owned two of them...! This is becoming more common when I attend shows, and probably explains why I have two draws full of paint I thought I didnt own and a large box of books that I need to sell. I did manage to get my grubby hands on the new musketeer vignette and a couple of samples of the SYW musketeer range from Graham of Crann Tara who was attending as a punter. I cannot recommend these enough. Graham has somehow  linked up with the son of Charles Stadden who is a brilliant sculptor. The horses in particular show all the Stadden brilliance. I cant wait to finally buy the two regiments. Needless to say the stock was sold out before it was even advertised.
 It was good to chat with Graham and blag a tea off him.
 So did the non attendance of the bigger trade names affect the footfall. Personally I thought it did but then I didn't hang around after 12.30 so there could have been a rush later in the day. Will it impact on the survival of the Durham show, somehow I doubt it simply because the event has been low key for a number of years and doesnt seem to rely on numbers as much as other events. Given that the club will need to consider which traders to encourage to attend to fill the empty spaces if they want to sustain the open day as a wargaming event and not just a club day.