Vappa 2023 (Sun 5th Feb)

[Jeremy]

I wonder what effect online sales are having on traders bothering/needing to turn up? 1st Corps and Museum Miniatures have been noticably absent the past two years and I would likley have bought from both on the day. Maybe rising costs generally are making it more difficult?

These days there’s little incentive to buy at shows aside from not having to pay for postage. Shows have become more of a social day for me than a defined shopping day. This was the most I’ve bought at a show in ages

[FreddBloggs]

Everyone knows the best vineyards are in Clearwine. You don’t get a fine claret in Gimpy’s now do you?

Ahhhh Ckearwine is Bison tribe raiding terratory, they are the next KS I think.

[BaronVonWreckedoften]

I wonder what effect online sales are having on traders bothering/needing to turn up? 1st Corps and Museum Miniatures have been noticably absent the past two years and I would likley have bought from both on the day. Maybe rising costs generally are making it more difficult?

The ultimate problem with wargames shows is that, unlike most commercial events, they are run not by an (inter)national organisation of manufacturers/traders, as would be the "norm" in other businesses/industries, but by a local club. This is ok for smaller shows which have a tradition of the same visiting clubs (for games) and traders, but for larger shows, as the most successful inevitably become over time, it is rather like having the International Motor Show at the NEC in Birmingham organised by a bunch of blokes who all happen to drive Ford Mondeos and drink (though not to excess obviousy) in the same pub. Recipe for disaster, right? Back in the 1990s, I can recall Neville Dickinson trying to form a trade association of wargames-related manufacturers in order to - among other things - address many of the shortcomings of wargames shows and better organise them from a trade perspective: cheaper stand costs, better power supplies, better signage, better venues and access, and a planned programme of shows to cover the country, avoiding temporal and geographical clashes etc etc.

Despite being obviously a good idea, it all fell apart, or rather never got started, because the "cottage industry" end of the spectrum distrusted Neville and didn't like the idea of paying subs to belong to a trade association, and organising clubs wanted to hold on to their money tree. In reality, traders would probably have actually saved money by paying less for their show pitches, but "Big Nev" was "Big Nev" and he managed to rub too many people up the wrong way, plus many traders got preferential treatment from their "local" club(s) and were happy with that. Of course, those sorts of arrangements only last until a business changes hands (and often location), or as soon as the "old guard" of the club retire and new people take over with their own ideas on how to run things. I suspect that it is too late now to change things: the market has been "pinched" to the point where traders can use their "show budgets" to offer postage discounts, and save all the hassle and ball-ache of travelling miles (as they get older); the sector is too small and fragmented to organise; and there is nobody with the standing to take it all on - or the time if they are that successful.

[Jeremy]

Speaking to both Annie and Ian running up to the event, they rely on these days a lot as it provides a much needed cash injection from impulse buyers. Annie said this weekend she beat her target, which is good

[FreddBloggs]

For many traders shows used to provide cash flow, these days post covid many have adapted to all their wargames earnings coming through the banking system, so it is much less imperative.

Also Kickstarter has shown a way to generate operating capital, again one of the uses of show cash.

lastly, travelling any distance the sheer cost of van tank filling got crazy.

Best show of the year for me, for many years has been Joy of Six, laid back, busy with your target audience wandering around.

[valleyboy]

Now never being able to attend shows I'm really looking forward to Partizan for a general catch up., a chance to stock up and see inspiring games