Show: Wappinshaw, Glasgow

[Leon]

This one is moving venue this year, over to the Kelvin Hall in Glasgow.  As always, if you'd like anything in particular, make sure to let us know before Sat 25th please!

For more info, head over to the Phoenix Wargames Club website: http://wappinshaw.blogspot.co.uk/

[Leon]

Just a quick reminder on this one, we'll be needing any pre-orders in by Saturday 25th please, so not long left now.

[Wulf]

Will you be bringing ancients with you? I don't need anything specific, but I could be tempted by an impulse buy or two...

[Leon]

Will you be bringing ancients with you? I don't need anything specific, but I could be tempted by an impulse buy or two...

We'll have all the army packs with us, so you can have a browse through those.  If there's any of the regular packs you'd like bringing along, pop me an email through and we'll get them cast up for you.

[Wulf]

I actually might go for some Dark Ages - Norse, Anglo Saxon, Norman. Not all 3 though! Probably 2 packs, Anglo Saxon & one of the others.

[Leon]

No worries, we'll have those with us.  Give me a shout if I can help with anything.

[Wulf]

One thing, I assume you'll have Minibits stuff with you - keep me a few 7mm dice frames - not the dice, just the square frames. 4 packs I think.

You don't do any mounted Crossbowmen at all do you? The Impetus list for Normans calls for them, and I can't find any ion 10mm...

[Leon]

One thing, I assume you'll have Minibits stuff with you - keep me a few 7mm dice frames - not the dice, just the square frames. 4 packs I think.

You don't do any mounted Crossbowmen at all do you? The Impetus list for Normans calls for them, and I can't find any ion 10mm...

Can't think of anything suitable on those I'm afraid... 

[fred.]

Kallistra have some 10mm (well 12mm) mounted crossbows - but they are a bit later than Normans, they have a wide brimmed helmet, with eye slits. Nice figures, but a bit too late, and probably a bit big to go with Pendraken Cavalry, but they go nicely with GW Empire.

[Wulf]

No need to send me away from Pendraken, there are Mounted Crossbowmen in the Late Medieval range, ELM23 - but, again, too late a period 9although I'd like to see them - probably the hats would look wrong...)

Leon, could you bring a pack of those to Glasgow so I could have a look?

[Leon]

No need to send me away from Pendraken, there are Mounted Crossbowmen in the Late Medieval range, ELM23 - but, again, too late a period 9although I'd like to see them - probably the hats would look wrong...)

Leon, could you bring a pack of those to Glasgow so I could have a look?

No bother, we'll bring a pack along for you.

[Wulf]

I have never actually ordered anything to be picked up at a show before... Should I pay in advance? Should I email the details? I know now what I want,

Anglo-Saxon Army pack
Norman Army pack
(pack of ELM23 for a look at)
Plus Minibits
4x DF7x 7mm dice frames
1x BS6025 6cmx2.5cm bases

[Leon]

I have never actually ordered anything to be picked up at a show before... Should I pay in advance? Should I email the details? I know now what I want,

Anglo-Saxon Army pack
Norman Army pack
(pack of ELM23 for a look at)
Plus Minibits
4x DF7x 7mm dice frames
1x BS6025 6cmx2.5cm bases

That'll do fine, I'll forward this list to the Pendraken email, and we can sort out the payment on the day.

[Leon]

Bit of a quiet one up in Glasgow this year unfortunately.  I think I heard numbers of around 200 through the door, so that's probably similar to last year give or take, but the defining difference was the extra traders at the show.  To go from 15-ish I think in 2012, up to 29 traders advertised this year, you really need to see a huge jump in footfall to keep the available spending power on a level.  Without extra punters through the door, all of the traders take a hit, and we were somewhere around 50% of last years takings, which was a shame.  

This seems to be a common occurence at shows this year, whether due to increased operating fees for the show organisers, or simply wanting to make more money out of the event, I don't know.  As a trader, I'd much rather pay an extra sum on my trade stand than lose several times that amount in sales.

The new venue is great though, from a show and visitor perspective.  There's a lot of space, it seems easy enough to get to, although I can't speak for the parking outside.  For the traders though, there was a real negative on the loading/unloading front.  There is only a single door for everyone to get in/out of, and only a small sliplane fitting 5 vans in to unload.  This created a headache on the Saturday morning, as more and more traders arrived and couldn't get anywhere near the door to unload their stuff.  This isn't the club's fault, and they were doing the best they possibly could to get everyone sorted and inside as quickly as possible.

Next year this show will be moving again due to this venue being renovated for the Commonwealth Games, so I hope the Phoenix club can find another suitable site for it.  The guys have done a great job in the past few years improving the show, and if it could find itself a suitable long-term home, it can potentially grow to rival the current leaders north of the border, in the Carronade and Claymore shows.

There's some pics on the Phoenic club's blog: http://wappinshaw.blogspot.co.uk/2013/06/a-very-few-pics-from-wappinshaw.html and I've got a pic of the venue which I'll get uploaded tomorrow night.

[Mike L]

Leon,
we actually had about 350 through the door and it was our biggest so far. (Cannot be certain of exact footfall as we let uninterested mums in for free). Being on the door for most of the time I got the impression that most visitors bought something but weren't spending as much as usual. As a club we do try to ensure that the selection of traders compliment each other rather than compete but it appeared that the more established tarders had slow days. More traders bring in more gamers but also dilute their average takeings, it is a delicate balance as you kow. We had a lot of very good feedback from the public it is just a shame we cannot use that hall next year. Especially when we discovered that there was a large side door that made emptying the hall so much easier.
Personally I managed to stay within period and did not get distacted (apart from buying FOG Ren on B&B which doesn't count) Just spent about £50 more than intended. But 80% of that was with yourselves, so sorry to the other traders.
Thanks for the support over all these years
Mike