Visited Vapnartak (York) show today

[Norm S]

The 2023 show circuit kicked off today with the Vapnartak show.

I have done a quick appraisal on the blog. LINK

http://battlefieldswarriors.blogspot.com/2023/02/vapnartak-2023-york-wargames-show.html

 

[Padre]

I went with my youngest (12). He watched while I bought stuff, mostly scenery for my campaign pics.

My Tilean Campaign can be found at https://bigsmallworlds.com/

[Sane Max]

Interesting – I found it less crowded than it has been, but I had to queue for 45 minutes to get in and they have confirmed it was a record attend – so I can only assume they have made more space for humans to actually move about inside.

I spent quite a lot, I didn’t have a shopping list so just went ‘Ooh shiny’

I also did something I have not done in YEARS – joined a participation game. always been a sucker for Space Hulk, especially the cleaned – up second version.

[willz]

Cheers for your post on the show Norm, I was at PAW2023 putting on a Mollwitz participation game. Plymouth is a small show with 230 paying punters through the door on Saturday and 70 paying competition gamers plus about 80 paying punters on Sunday. It was a great weekend and I ran my game 3 times, using my own fast play rules. What I have noticed with lots of wargame shows is lack of advertising and most seem to be on facebook and none appears to be aimed at the general public. I believe that we should encompass and welcome more non hobbyists to have a look at our hobby, maybe they may enjoy it and take wargaming up as a hobby.

[Sane Max]

willz wrote:

I believe that we should encompass and welcome more non hobbyists to have a look at our hobby, maybe they may enjoy it and take wargaming up as a hobby.

I disagree. when was the last time you saw a VIZ style advert for ‘Golf! It’s Great! ask at your local Golf Club for details.’ or ‘Do YOU want to play Chess but don’t know where to start? Just pop down to the National Chess Championships and have a go!’

If people want to wargame, I believe they will.

[willz]

Sane Max wrote:

willz wrote:

I believe that we should encompass and welcome more non hobbyists to have a look at our hobby, maybe they may enjoy it and take wargaming up as a hobby.

I disagree. when was the last time you saw a VIZ style advert for ‘Golf! It’s Great! ask at your local Golf Club for details.’ or ‘Do YOU want to play Chess but don’t know where to start? Just pop down to the National Chess Championships and have a go!’ If people want to wargame, I believe they will.

Probably did not articulate that as well as I should, as a wargamer I have to hunt down information on wargame shows as clubs seem to think a post on facebook is all that is needed to inform fellow gamers that there is a show on.  So what hope is there for the rest of the world, we do not need to be an insular inward looking hobby, we should be welcoming to all.  All I wish to do to advance the hobby 😀.

[Andrew Beasley]

I totally forgot it was on!

with a strong emphasis on traders

To me, this was always a trader show with the odd game thrown in – first chance to spend Christmas money.

bizarre why some insist on wearing their backpack, doubling their body mass!

Comfort blankets? Never worked out if it was better to be hit by a carrier bag of metal in the knees or slapped in the back TBH. I seem to remember a couple of choke points by popular traders that became true kill zones for youngsters as the bags where at head height.

I’m really glad that I did go

Did you get stuck in the mud field (also known as ‘car park’) or have they finally sorted this? I did once park around the corner and escaped the car break-ins by three vehicles. From what I was told the police came and chased them before they had worked down the line to mine! Two years in a row a group targeted the show – not sure if they thought gamers where rich or had interesting goods in the car…

The games look neat – the dark age one especially thought you gave me a start to see the BSG fighters in the middle of the WW 2 ones 🙂

Nice to read it was still an eclectic mix of scales – the shows I used to attend had drifted to 28s more and more but I noticed at Partizan there where more scales appearing again…

As for the seats – agree totally – it’s a literal pain the lack of them esp. at lunch time. I used to have issues at Kelham with the bar area and food spilling out into the walk ways nearby.

So, is it the case that the bigger shows will survive or grow and it is the small to medium shows that will have to worker harder as some traders cut down on their overall show support?

Gut feel – if the recession does bite hard (going by the shops locally supply is impacted but spending is not yet) I think LOCAL shows will not be impacted from the visitor numbers as the entry cost easily off-sets the postage costs BUT the traders need our support all year round to keep trading as peak sales from shows does not pay a monthly mortgage…

[Norm S]

Hi Andrew, Every previous year I have ended up on the field, but this year, bizarrely as I drove along the roadway, I suddenly spotted a space! So a good start 🙂

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