Warfare Show Report!

[Leon]

This past weekend saw us make the final drive down south for this year, for the Warfare show in Reading.  Along with Colours, these two shows have become among the biggest of the year, eclipsed only by Salute and Triples.  We travelled down on Friday to stay with our friend in Hemel.

The weather on the way down was rough, with a blanket of fog seeming to cover the entire country, and this continued Saturday morning, with a constant drizzle dampening the spirits for unloading.  Luckily it had eased off by the time we arrived at the Rivermead Leisure Complex:



Last year there was some confusion as to where our stand was, this year we had a nice spot in the middle of the hall, quite close to the entrance.  There are two large halls for this show, one containing most of the traders:



And the other containing most of the competition games and a nice array of display/participation games:



Across the hall was the Bring & Buy, along with a couple more traders:



There were also a few more competition games in the squash courts on the other side of the corridor:



Saturday started very quietly, with the first hour especially so.  After that it picked up as more and more people filtered in.  I'm not sure if it was the weather which stopped people arriving at 10, or if a lot of people went into the competition/B&B rooms first, but once business got going it was good.  As usual, you can never tell what's going to sell at shows, and this one seemed to be the show for the big spenders!  All of the BKC Starter packs went straight away, followed by a few of the 1000pt Warmaster army packs.  In between these big sales though, there weren't many smaller ones, which allowed us chance to have a look about.

The Forum members were out and about, and we saw Bertie, AndyRob, Pendragon (who was severly tempted by the Dungeon's!), Eldamarelf (who was running a participation game), Kustenjaeger, Blaxkleric, Battleeditor and Paint It Pink!  I'm sure there were more, but they were keeping schtum!

One negative during Saturday, was the announcement over the loud speakers that they had caught someone stealing from the Bring and Buy.  This is really a shame, as wargamers are an honest bunch.  Unfortunately this also happened this year at Colours, although no-one was caught.  It does make you wonder if it was the same person, and hopefully now that they have been caught, it won't be happening again.

Saturday flew by in a good way and before we knew it, we were covering up the stand and heading off back to Hemel for some chilli chips, wine and discussion.  The wine came back to haunt some of us on the Sunday...

Sunday's are always quieter, and apart from a couple of busy spots here and there, we were able to go and chat with some of the other traders.  Dave also spoke to a couple of people about doing some vehicles for us, as our other designer is going to be out of action now until at least February.

I used Sunday to go and get some pics of the games, which can be found below.  This almost resulted in serious injury, as a carpet had been laid over the wooden floor in the competition hall, resulting in some rather large lumps and bumps.  Luckily health and safety didn't seem too bothered about it!

There were no Cat in the Hat photo's from this show, as the Hat has been sold!  One of our customers came by on Sunday to pick it up, so we'll have a nice new helmet this coming weekend at Smoggycon.  We will of course be grabbing everyone possible to model it for us...!

We started packing away at 3, and were ready to go by 4:30.  Strangely the competition games were still in progress, so I'm not sure what time they got done.  The journey home was quick and uneventful, and we landed back in Middlesbrough at about half 9, ready for some takeaway!

Only two shows left now, Smoggycon this coming weekend, and Recon the weekend after, and then we've actually got a weekend off!

So, onto the games!  First up is the participation table run by Eldamarelf:








And the rest:

[Eldamarelf]

So, onto the games!  First up is the participation table run by Eldamarelf:



Many Tactics were used by most of the partisipants however the young lady in this picture decided that she wanted all the ships quickest game I had run all weekend and yes she did win how could anyone else do anything they could not get off the mainland.

It was a very good weekend though me and Andy were tired after running the game on our own for the 2 days but much fun was had including que jumping at the local Nepalese and a few drinks with friends.

I did not even spend too much had lts of stuff comming home mind but not for me!!

Tom H
aka Bilbo

[Sgt Steiner]

Hi

>I'm sure there were more, but they were keeping schtum!

I was there but am the shy retiring type ie you were busy the times I passed by and didnt want to disturb you whilst making millions  

Your Sassanids looked soooooo tempting...................................

Cheers
Gary
http://sgtsteiner.blogspot.com/

[Leon]

Hi

I was there but am the shy retiring type ie you were busy the times I passed by and didnt want to disturb you whilst making millions  

Your Sassanids looked soooooo tempting...................................

Cheers
Gary

You should have popped over, it's always nice to meet the Forum members.  And it would have made Dave get up, he spent most of Sunday sat reading Montgomery's memoirs!

[Eldamarelf]

You should have popped over, it's always nice to meet the Forum members.  And it would have made Dave get up, he spent most of Sunday sat reading Montgomery's memoirs!

Is that possibly due to the large amound of Wine consumed Saturday evening??

Tom H
aka Bilbo

[Leon]

Is that possibly due to the large amound of Wine consumed Saturday evening??

Tom H
aka Bilbo

That could have been a factor...

[Pruneau]

Looks like a great show with some splendid games.  There's one where people are actually walking on water! 

[Paint it Pink]

Thanks for the mention too. Lovely show with lots to see and people to talk to.