I went t Lardwerp today - a gaming event were the Too Fat Lardies showed and set up some games in the Tin Soldiers Antwerp clubhouse.
I arrived around 11.00, and had to leave again around 12.30. Some work in the garden was waiting for me!
Although I was only there for a short while, and the event was smallish compared to the yearly CRISIS convention (more about that later), it was a lot of fun. I bumped the many friends from the "old Belgian wargaming guard" (also more about that later) and had lovely chats with fellow wargamers I hadn't seen for almost 3 years (we all know why ...).
So, what was some of the wargaming news I picked up?
- Crisis most likely will never happen again, or at least not in the format we were used to. There are several reasons for this: the "organisational flow" was interrupted for 2 years, but there also is a lack of volunteers for people willing to help to put the thing together (this seems to be a common problem in many hobby organisations). People want to attend, but people don't want to help, or at least not in a structured manner ...
A second big reason is Brexit. Many of the traders are UK-based, and Brexit has made it very hard for small businesses such as wargaming traders to cross the channel and set up shop in Antwerp for a day. - A similar sentiment was aired w.r.t. Warcon, the yearly event that was scheduled in February or March and was organized near Ghent. Probably over as we know it.
- So, there were some chats with the "old Belgian wargaming guard" and some vague plan was uttered to organize a smallish gaming day (no traders, just games), in an effort to have at least one national wargaming event where the Belgian wargaming could meet and see each other. After all, although wargaming is a hobby that takes place in small unconnected gaming groups (apart from some larger clubs), it stil is important to have some sort of community feeling. We'll see how things will evolve ...
- Brexit again: rumour has it that some traders have lost upto 70% of their customer base. European gamers don;t want to go through the hassle of ordering from the UK anymore. It's back to the pre-EU early nineties ... I still remember fondly trips to London to stock up on gaming stuff, exactly to circumvent high P&P and import taxes. Perhaps the gaming trips will come back?
Overall, it was a pleasant visit, and great to egt the wargaming mojo back!
So, any loot?
Not so much. There was one trader present (https://www.tabletopper.nl/nl/), so of course I had to buy something, even though I don't need anything. But still, supporting the hobby and all that ... so I got a few explosion and smoke markers.
One of the TSA members also sold of some old wargaming books, so I got a couple for 5 euro each. The Featherstone title was still missing in my extensive collection of old wagaming books.The Terry Wise I have as a reprint from the History of Wargaming Project , but now I have the original. And I had the 1st Fred Perry book, but not the 2nd one ;-)
And here are some photos from the games, in no particular order. All quite spectacular, specially the last few photos, which are from a 54mm Arnhem game.
Sad to hear Crisis will be no more. Otoh, a smaller event focused on actual gaming instead of shopping might be a really really good thing for wargaming. Through the years the numbers of games you could actually participate in at Crisis declined significantly (ignoring the very brief participative demo's some companies put on to promote their product, they're not really games).
ReplyDeleteI very much like the idea of back to basics smallish gaming events. If there was more opportunity to actually meet others interested in wargaming and play a game together, perhaps new clubs might get started. Or maybe not, volunteer engagement may have been fully replaced by consumerism and short attention spans. Still, let's hope for a revival.
Yes, wrt bigger cons there's always the question whether it's a shopping mall or an actual 'playing games' event.
ReplyDeleteAs for participation games: that's a mixed bag. With our gaming group, we have run games at CRISIS for over 20 years. Some were specifically aimed as participation games, and some simple as a "demo game", meant to act as a starting point for talkign with fellow wargamers. Over the years, I've become somewhat ambivalent towards participation games. Some years, kids were dropped at our table while the parents went shopping. Another year, a participant started to argue about the rules. One time someone told me "I paid for entrance, and now I want to play a game at your table." Such experiences are not motivating for continuing to run proper participation games.
Games at conventions serve many purposes: indeed participating; or simply showing what the hobby has to offer; and for many smaller gaming groups as a talking point and getting people interested in a specific period or ruleset. In the end, it's about expectations at both sides. Does a customer expect to be able to play in whatever game he fancies, without any form of time commitment? And is it expected from a club to have to run game all day long?
I like the way they do it for Free RPG Day, where you have to register in advance and have to give a couple of choices in case your favorite is already fully booked. Certainly for a small event this should be manageable. And yes, gamers should behave and clubs are not babysitters.
DeleteI was so bummed for not being able to get there - flat tire at the worst possible moment - but whatever thing gets started to have some semblance of a wargame-day, I'll be participating.
ReplyDelete