S.E.L.W.G. ’04 SHOW REPORT
The annual SELWG Wargames Show took place on Sunday 17th October at the Crystal Palace Sports Centre in London. As usual, it was an early start for many. With over 65 Traders and 30 war-gaming tables to get into the venue before the Show opened to the public, at 10am, the first 2 and half hours of the day are always a bit frantic. But, as befits a Wargames Show, the volunteers from our 70 odd club members carried out a semblance of military precision, and the last trader was slotted into place at 09.45 hours. Iain Dickie, of Miniature Wargames, said, “Arriving in the nick of time is fashionable and it means you get lots of help getting into the venue”, or words very similar. Yes, he was the last Trader to arrive!! And that was after we had run 6 monthly adverts for the Show in his worthy publication. But, as he quite rightly said, someone always has to be last in. It is also quite some years since Iain has taken a Stand at our Show so it was good to have him along to complete the duo with Duncan Macfarlane’s Wargames Illustrated. (Enough of the toadying-up, if that doesn’t get us a discount for next years advertising I give up!) Having 4 unloading areas and 20 plus hired flat-bed trolleys is an essential part of the setting up procedure and a dry, if somewhat damp, start to the day was a healthy sign from the Gods. There are always a few completely new Traders attending the Show and with forethought we had sent maps showing each trader where their unloading spot was. Only one ended up with a trolley full of stock in the main hall when he should have been on the balcony area. Like all military manoeuvres, nothing goes exactly to plan…
The queue of visitors waiting at the main door between 9.30 and 10am was a lot shorter this year than in previous years. Either people have fine-tuned their travel arrangements, or the grey-clouded skies deterred the early risers. (Apparently a very busy M25 and problems on British Rail, or whatever the present day name for the rail network is, also slowed down the arrival rate.) One of the only drawbacks to the venue is the fact that there is no covered way outside the main entrance, and if it is raining or windy the early attendees are at the mercy of the weather. But once the doors are open to the public we get everyone inside straight away. Just inside the main entrance are the refreshment bars, both alcoholic and non-alcoholic and the smell of coffee and bacon sandwiches assailed the senses of the SELWG club members who manned the ticket desk throughout the day.
The journey into the venue leads you along the balcony area past the first of the many Traders, set out on either side. The far end of the balcony area opens out into a larger area, where the first of the visiting Wargame clubs and Societies displays are laid out. This year there were no less than 33 Traders on this level, offering everything from magnetic bases to very reasonably priced fully painted figures. (I know because during one of the few free moments that I had during the day I actually stopped to admire, and purchase, 3 Necron Destroyers and 3 Necron Immortals (all fully painted) from the Second City stand. Total cost, £24. The basic cost of the items, unpainted, from Games Workshop direct, would have been £39. With a saving like that even I was able to justify breaking my self-imposed rule of NOT buying any more figures this year. Hell, why else would you be going to a Wargames Show anyway?
Let’s face it; the hobby pretty much relies on these types of events to continue growing. There is nothing quite like the sight of a well laid out wargame table with detailed scenery and painted models (or ‘toys’ if you prefer) to get the imagination, and wallet, open.
Also on the balcony was a demonstration of model painting. Max Longhurst, Jim Booth (both members of SELWG in years gone by) and Roy Dixon, all famous names from the British Military Modelling Society (BMSS), had a number of superbly finished large-scale models on display. They also gave practical demonstrations of their own individual styles of painting and had a constant stream of interested visitors all day long. BMSS also put on a display wargame, in 1/48th scale; a first for them at our Show.
Those of you who have been attending the SELWG Show for a number of years will remember that we used to host a Painting Competition until quite recently. Lack of entry numbers eventually caused us to drop that part of the show, but from my position on the Command Post, situated next to the Painting Demonstration, I have realised that there are still quite a lot of people who are interested in seeing Painting Demonstrations and admiring large scale figures. One of the great advantages of the balcony area is that you can walk round the part where there are no Traders and look out over the vast expanse of the main hall and get a birds eye view of the 21 visiting Wargame Club displays, and the 26 Trade stands which line the outside edges of the main hall. If there is one thing that I think makes our Show just that little bit more special than many of the other excellent Wargames Shows hosted by other Clubs, this is it. The view from the balcony is the BEST… This is what war gamming is all about to me, and that is why we have the Command Post where it is. Just so I can sit there during the day and look out over 21 tables covered with impressive troops and terrain… and of course to return the odd item of lost property. This year, one passport (British, but now living in France and over for the day with fellow French wargammers) and a large umbrella - which was claimed just before closing time.
Two sets of stairs lead down from the balcony area into the main hall, passing the centres’ swimming pool on the way. Unlike other show venues, ours is not the only activity taking place in the centre on the day. We have had several tongue-in-cheek suggestions from visitors over the years we have been at Crystal Palace about how we could utilise the swimming pool itself. For Heath and Safety reasons (and because we are a family type event) we have had to dismiss them all. The fact that 2005 is the 200th anniversary of the Battle of Trafalgar is very tempting, (and we do have something in the project stage for that celebration,) but the Crystal Palace Management have to consider the other 364 days of the year, not just our one day…..
The 26 Traders in the main hall take up over 360 feet of sales space, and if we had more space they would take that as well. Again the range of products on offer from the Traders is impressive. Many companies bring out items especially on Show days, and it is a good way to save your self a fair amount if you can attend a Show and collect the ½ hundredweight of metal alloy instead of having to pay postage charges. There is always room for visitors to get to the stands to see what is on display as we leave at least 10 feet between them and the club displays in the central area of the hall. The club displays were of an exceptionally high standard. We also managed to accommodate 3 more clubs than last year, although we still had to disappoint some clubs, for lack of room without compromising our unwritten ’10 foot’ rule. The most dominant period of the games on display was World War II. The scales ranged from 6mm to 1/48th, and this year they were all about ground combat, although a couple of the games did have aircraft involved as well as the land troops. As ever we gave prizes in 4 categories for the games on display, with the Judges nominating their top 3 choices. This year the Judges had a tough choice when it came to picking a winner for the Best Scenery and Best Participation Games, as more and more clubs put a tremendous effort into their games. The results were as follows: -
Best Club Display BARNES & WHITEHALL WARRIORS
For their ‘Zombie’ game, complete with severed head on a pole
Nominated
Lance & Longbow Society and SEEMS.
Best Scenery SHEPWAY WARGAMERS
For their ‘Archen WW II’ game.
Nominated Deal Wargames Club and Shoeburyness.
Best Demonstration Game SHOEBURYNESS WARGAMERS
For their ‘Operation Epsom WWII’.
Nominated The Garage Gamers and Shepway Wargamers.
Best Participation Game HERNE BAY & WHITESTABLE
For their ‘Diamond Geezers’ game.
Nominated Ad Hoc Gamers and South London Warlords.
Overall, we had some 1,000 + paying visitors. Around 300 young people under 16 years accompanied by an adult, and Senior Citizens, were admitted for free (some of us SELWG members are fast approaching the last category so have a vested interest in extending this facility to the more aged visitors). The figures in total are about average for our Show, but the number of youngsters attending has risen quite a bit, probably a good thing for our hobby. Most of them appear to favour the fantasy/non-historical type of war gamming - in fact we have had a request by e-mail from one father and his 7 year old son, who attended the Show, regarding where they could purchase figures that they saw on the Barnes & Whitehall Warriors ‘Zombie’ game.
And that is the whole point of all the hard work and effort that we as a club put into the Show, expanding the hobby of war gamming and military modelling.
So many thanks to Max, Jim, Roy, the Ad Hoc Group, Barnes & Whitehall, BMSS, Crawley, Deal, Eastbourne, Games Workshop, Garage Gamers, GLC, Herne Bay, Heston, Ilford, Lance & Longbow, Loughton, Mid Anglia, The Mongrels, North London, Peter Pig, Pike & Shot, SEEMS, Shepway, Shoeburyness, Sittingbourne, Society of Ancients, South London Warlords, Southend, Streatham, Tanelorn and Tunbridge Wells Clubs and Societies.
To all the 67 Traders, sorry, too many to list individually, that tempted our wallets a huge ‘thank you’ for your patience during the start and finish of the day - especially those last few unfortunates who got caught in the downpour at 6pm. We almost got away with the weather, but not quite.
All in all the Gods smiled kindly on us. Now I just need them to smile kindly on my dice rolls when I take my expanded Necron army to the Warhammer 40K competition at the ‘Warfare’ Show in Reading on 20th and 21st on November.
Finally, make a note in your diaries for Sunday 16th October 2005.
Come and celebrate Britain's most famous Naval victory, the Battle of Trafalgar, with us at SELWG ’05 in the Crystal Palace National Sport Centre, London.
