It's that time of year again to head north into the lead belt for The Other Partizan, only this year with some slight trepidation.
I'm beginning to realise that in some areas of my life I don't really like change. I didn't like it when the organisers put us all together in "The History Zone". I preferred it when shows mixed different things in together. I'm still not sure if we were better or worse off from the change. I think, broadly speaking, that we suffered from being put together in a history ghetto and that we were less likely to be "stumbled upon". Still, we developed what we did to make best use of the space.
This year, a week or two before the show we were advised of another change. The "History Zone" was to go, and all Societies were moved into the entrance gazebo, between the bring and buy and the main hall. This is needed to accommodate the every increasing and ever enlarging 28mm "demo" games in the main hall.
My initial reaction was that we should see more people go past the the stand, but that area is definitely a corridor you use to move in and out of the building. Getting people to stop was going to be a problem, unless we already knew the people stopping ("Oh hi! It's you!!") or they'd come with the intention of finding us.
Which is sort of what happened straight off, with the arrival of Dr Gary Sheffield, historian, wargamer and member of WD. He immediately declared he wanted to play our WW1 game, as he missed COW and he'd also never played NQM.
Tactically he was faultless, as you'd expect from the man who wrote "Forgotten Victory". Alas he did roll some terrible dice and lost the barrage in places. However, his judicious use of armour enabled him to keep things moving.
He succeeded in taking the all the main objectives, but failed in his attempt to win a VC.
He rounded off the game with some gratuitous pointing.
Chris was running a D Day NQM game down the other end of the stand. You can see from this picture the issues we had with the set up. The space was a bit more cramped, and we didn't have room for all of our banners, as the roof struts were too low in places to put up the full set. You can see from the first photo on the blog that the Ronssoy banner ended out in the thoroughfare, which wasn't ideal. It was also not safe to let people handle the weapons, and trying on helmets was also more difficult as people made their way past us.
Chris had sorted his issues out with the D Day game, and it looked good on the end of the stand. Unfortunately it turns out there were no Northants Regiments of any type landed on D Day itself, so it's back to the drawing board for next year.
I managed to get away from the stand to pick up some paint I needed and have a very quick look round, but it was very busy and we were a bit adrift, so quick trips weren't really an option, even with four of us running things (thanks to Chris, Steve and Jason).
Were my fears born out? Well, for the first time in my memory we didn't sell a single book or anything. We didn't take enough cash to cover the cost of the bacon butties for the team. By comparison we sold 10 books at Partizan in May, which is around about what we expect. The only thing different was where we were standing. I checked with the organisers and was told that this is it for the future.
So we will need to look very seriously at our offering for next year. Chris says all the copies of NQM he brought up for Dave L to sell went, so that bit worked for him, but it clearly isn't working for us. Whilst our presence is as much about telling the story and sharing the message about the need for battlefield protection it is good to be able to cover our costs, but without a doubt not only didn't we do that, but we had considerably fewer interactions with people too.
I get why this is happening. We don't pay for our tables, traders do. Traders want to be in the main hall. near other traders and the high profile figure fests in the "Demo Zone". If they'd been where we were and had the sort of day we'd had and paid for a location, they'd not be happy.
The Society of Ancients, who were next to us, had a much better day, selling quite a few games. This even included some of the ones I designed. We need to think about what they were doing that we weren't.
Much to ponder, with no obvious solution.
OK. My view FWIW. I don't organise it and have no say. Just a punter and probably in the minority as most visitors want to see the huge demo games.....
ReplyDeletePartizan has grown complacent IMHO. It styles itself around the glam demo games put on by the same few names. What will it do when these ageing stalwarts decide they have had enough or age decides for them? Where are the new replacements?
Trade. It's not how it was. Pendraken and Col Bills used to be regular attendees; Gripping Beast, Grubby Tanks will retire (next year?) It's getting slimmer and slimmer. Why have Warlord got such a huge empty space? OK presumably they pay, but it's dead space. Areas to meet or even sit down are limited. Why do Warlord get special treatment with their walled off ghetto? Hardly any customers from what I saw.
Venue. I hate big sheds. OK Kelham wasn't perfect, but better than the Showground.
Space is at a premium and huge demo games take up a lot of the available space. Some were so tight together it was difficult to get past / around. See rant on Warlord.
This year i thought people were more selfish than previously. Not as busy as May, but lots of knots of people chatting and blocking passageways. The games weren't much better. Some were so deep in players you couldn't see the game. On one trying to get a photo, produced a look of contempt / anger / disdain - how dare you interrupt my game? No engagement from any; some looked to be so engrossed in playing they may as well have been at the club. Really not sure what that was demonstrating.
I was surprised to see the societies in the gazebo. Did I stop, no. Cursory glance at everything in there as time is at a premium. Since introduction it serves as a bit of an overspill, nice and cool in hot weather, but a corridor. Author zone? Great idea. Attendance nil to very few. Prime position, taking up space. See Warlord....
If trade drops off as it seems it will, the only attraction will be the big demos - getting bigger and bigger to outdo each other. Will that be enough? Not if they become as self-absorbed as they were. I think it can only trade on being the showcase for so long....
Neil
There’s a few points to discuss there, to say the least. This is the first show with the new layout and no doubt they’ll iron out some of the wrinkles for next year. The challenge is that for the people who are putting on the statement demo games the only way to compete for attention isn’t through innovation but through size. The only way to “improve” is to just get bigger year on year. Last year or the year before saw the most ludicrously enormous Lord of the Rings game that took up a large chunk of the demo area. Now everyone is trying to do the same, and that squeezes everyone else. I wonder if they could simply set a standard table size on 6’ x 8 or 6’ x 10’ for every offering and see what happens. The cramming in of more and more tables is creating the people blocking passageways problem. You only need two people to stop for a blockage to occur. People running these big games being oblivious to the public is a known issue, going back decades. Bankinista wrote an article about the problem in one of the glossies in the early 90s, if my memory serves.
DeleteAs for trade…well I don’t really do 28mm, and the 15mm guys have steadily withdrawn over the years. The array of 20mm plastics has reduced too, but that could be Ukraine/Russia affected. Honourable exceptions for people with smaller figures and kit must be made for Baccus and Tumbling dice. I pretty much only ever buy painting materials and books these days. I’ve even stopped buying my bases from Warbases. It’s cheaper to buy online from “Products for Wargamers” or see them at Campaign. Warlord obviously want to be big in their local show and no doubt pay handsomely for the privilege of being so. Their marketing strategy seems to be based on being impossible to avoid, so I guess they don’t much mind not selling a lot to be in people’s faces. I expect TFL pay for the Lard Zone to get their games away from the generic participation zone.
I wouldn’t want to go back to Kelham. I found it too dark, parking was a nightmare and it was horrible setting up a stand. The big shed may be unattractive, but it has a lot of practical advantages.
The organisers told me they’d had as good a footfall as in May, and from what else I heard the people who like that sort of thing really like it. We just need to rethink what we do. We’re running large participation games in a corridor. It isn’t great for us. Our offering differs from a lot of other groups in the “Society Zone”. Mostly they’re selling booklets and leaflets. We’re a bit of a hybrid. SoA are new back at the show and may well have issues like ours in years to come. Fact is we usually use a 8’ x 6’ table to allow for explanation and off game admin areas, I don’t think we can get one fitted in there and be able to easily move round it. That was an issue with our 6’ x 4’ game this year. Even with the smaller footprint a small child tripped over some of our display equipment.
Sorry, that was something of a brain dump post show.
DeletePutting stuff in the gazebo should be thought about carefully. It's a narrow space with tables offering one side to the paying public - that doesn't work for games, only trade stands. The main problem is that it's an add on. People just pass through to "get to the show".
Perhaps it would be better as a separate feature that people would have to visit. Downside is most won't.
The gazebo is an admission that the current show has outgrown the venue. One year Hammerhead hired another hall and spread games and traders between them. The second hall was much quieter (better catering and carpet floor). People are the problem, they have to be herded or they won't do things of their own accord. So people didn't go across the car park - presumably cost wasn't justified by attendance.
The lack of space is linked to purpose. What is Partizan trying to do? It used to be marketed as the "showcase" - big diorama demo games with a hint of "glitterati" elitism and the Duncan MacFarlane MW/ WI photoshow. This remains part of it. Traders were added to fund it and they got trade off the back of attendance. Participation games were added as were societies and author zone. IMHO you cannot fit all that in one shed, however big. Or if you do, space needs to be carefully thought about.
As you can tell, I have a love / hate relationship with the show - I go because it's local and I get a chance to meet up with people. Yes the games are impressive, but I dislike the undertones of elitism; "the best show on the circuit" - prizes judged by "celebrities" . A lot go for the traders but this is becoming less and less. I wonder if there is a waiting list? Priority for regulars.
Hammerhead has a different vibe, possibly due to a clear purpose. The trade stands are different too.
Now I'm aware this is a voluntary effort and needs lots of work. Why fix what isn't broken?
I still think the venue is problematic for all that it wants to include. The other problems are cultural - personally I think the US has a better idea, but that's just MHO.
Neil
Lots of good thoughts in there. alas the show is only interested in one thing. 28mm figures. We have reached the ludicrous position where the best participation game wasn't even in the participation zone - it was in the Lard Zone, with a glossy re-treading of "What a Tanker". Hardly breaking new ground.
DeleteGosh, you were quick on the keyboard! I was only there for a couple hours in the afternoon and found some aspects of the new layout a bit puzzling, with huge open spaces and really jammed in bits. Sorry it wasn't a great day for you. The game looked fabulous though.
ReplyDeleteI had a good day. spoke to some nice people, ran the game twice. The Society, alas, did not. The new layout has some issues. No doubt they will refine it. Putting people who want to talk to people in a corridor might not be the smartest idea ever.
DeleteSorry I missed you, but I did have a chat with Chris sometime in the afternoon.
ReplyDeleteDamn. sorry I missed you too.
DeleteDeep breath, I was a no show this year - life stuff - but I regularly attend both partisans, hammerhead, VAP, recon, battleground, and in the past what is now Leicester plus reading and Newbury. In another life I was a club member and we put on big participation games - isandwana at salute in Kensington was like 12x8 seeing as I made the base frames from scratch all bolted together. Now I just go and look, buy stuff and maybe participate (usually at Chris’s table). I don’t think much has changed between salute in 78 and partizan in 26 except the audience is 40 odd years older on average! That should worry the organisers. VAP in York is a shadow of itself and yes it had acres of empty space next to crammed in traders this year - go figure that out. Fast forward five years and the non 28mm brigade will be gone from shows and yet I suspect the likes of Warlord will not still be expanding - I don’t see bright uplands for the big show nor warlord types but I do see a future for the hobby and related social events and probably more local ones. So I would not focus on partizan I would focus on who you want to reach with your mixed offering. You mentioned james Morris’s Midgard lord of the rings behemoth? I don’t think it was any bigger than the ww2 giant tables you get - it just had big homemade scenery ! The big demo games show off the almost unattainable for pretty much any of us - but don’t be down hearted - on Facebook there is loads of 1/72 activity which tells me there’s even more, not on social media and often they don’t care about painting standards etc - they just enjoy wargaming and that’s its strength. And in theory injection moulded plastics should have long gone but they haven’t. They are still relatively a cheap way to enter the hobby of wargaming (which is not wholly owned by the big companies and 28mm crowd despite what media publicity might imply) And not so long ago I followed james morris as Mogsy makes when his big thing was a gazebo game at Sutton hoo open day with a few kids playing. Midgard was yet to appear. I suspect he got a lot more satisfaction from introducing those kids to Anglo-Saxon history and gaming than he gets from dealing with a load of old gits like me looking at his latest offering which as far as I can tell are genuinely popular because they are fun and engaging games. Yes he might be earning more money from the likes of me but we are not the next generation of gamers. My view is ditch the biggest shows and pursue the smaller ones - I realise less footfall might equal the same financial problem you had at partizan but then the challenge is maximising publicity for those events your going to. It was good to read a post written with head and heart and with minimal imagery - thank you. Of course the only certainty is change.
ReplyDeleteWe have started the conversation about what shows we think we should be doing. You should know, if you read this blog regularly, that I really, really like MK Campaign as you get to see a lot of real people, not just wargamers. What was sad this time at Partizan was that the USP for us is letting kids try on helmets and pick up swords. That's just not possible/safe in the gazebo. As Neil has noted above the area isn't helpful for people like us with a hybrid game/leaflet offering.
DeleteSorry to hear it didn't go as well as hoped. This is a bit by-the-bye but potentially related - I went to look for some figures online the other day and had not realised quite how hollowed-out the 15mm scene has become (I have masses to paint so have not needed to buy for quite a while). Sad and a bit worrying to see so many of the old familiar names no longer trading. It sounds like you are seeing some of that ageing vendors/customers and changing tastes effect at shows as well.
ReplyDeleteHopefully things will be better for you next time.
Cheers,
Aaron
Yes. 15mm manufacturers are dropping away faster than they are being replaced. The gap may eventually be filled by 3D printing as an STL for a 28mm figure can easily be rescaled, but it isn't really the same.
DeleteI would say it's not much better for 20mm or 28mm; a lot of the former are with Grubby tanks who has been retiring for the last two years and now Gripping Beast are going which takes Front Rank and Lurkio 15mm.
DeleteNeil
20mm is a bit of an odd one. The new work being done for 1/72 plastics for Strelets, Red Box & Orion is stunning, although some of the back catalogue is a bit dodgy. Irregular's 20mm is back in production I've heard.
DeleteIrregular Miniatures - 15mm as well I understand, although not a lot is listed. I think you have to ask.....
Deletehttps://www.bowandarrowminiatures.uk/
Neil
I have seen 20mm malburians on the bow and blade website - they are being selective so I guess lobby and you might get products? And I agree with trebian on the quality of injection moulded plastics which has matched 28mm. Yet you can still pick up the older figures cheap and get inspiration from Pauls Bods blogspot, who seems to get past any sculptures/mould problem with his fantastic paintwork - and the results look great!
DeleteI have been told that the website is lagging behind items in production. If you email them about specific figures from the Irregular back catalogue they will cast them for you even if they aren't listed.
DeleteI really enjoyed the game, Graham, and thanks for your kind comments. I did buy a copy of NQM, although online when I got home. This was my first visit to either Partizan, and I must say I thought it was great. I've been going to Salute regularly for the last few years and have got less and chuffed with it. Not sure I'll be heading back next year. I also enjoy Colours, because that's very local to me, and go to some other smaller shows such as Vanquish at Bourne End. Saturday's show was the best big one I've been to this year.
ReplyDeleteI was staying with my best man, Alan, who was my wargames opponent at university. He has drifted away from the hobby in recent years, but I'm happy to report that his interest has been rekindled!
It was good fun to run the game for you. It sounds like we don't know how lucky we are in your view! In May we were in the main hall, near where WD's game was being run. We ran Ronssoy 3 or 4 times and had people watching it being played too. Where we were we only had one video blogger stop by. I think if we'd been in the main hall "Gary Sheffield playing WW1 game" would have warranted some attention from them.
Delete😀
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