Battleground 2016 Show Report

Started by Leon, 29 November 2016, 12:13:15 AM

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Leon

29 November 2016, 12:13:15 AM Last Edit: 08 December 2016, 04:02:09 AM by Leon
Things got off to a rough start on the Friday with the tables arriving 2 1/2 hours late, so 4:30pm instead of the 2pm we'd booked them for.  This threw everything into chaos, as the helpers we'd hired from 2pm-4pm had gone and we had to drag as many volunteers as possible to get the tables into the hall and set up.  We had several traders and a couple of gamers sitting around waiting on us as a result, so apologies to them and thanks for your patience.  We'd switched to a new table supplier for this year as some of the traders wanted stronger plastic tables instead, so we'll be having a chat with them to iron tthe wrinkles.

On the Saturday morning the show opened with a nice little queue and the hall started to fill up.  As with most shows these past few years, things start to quieten down after midday, although I think we had a few more people still there at 2pm than last year.  We'd added an extra 4 games to the show, mainly participation ones, in an attempt to keep people involved for longer and I think this worked.

Last year's main niggle was the catering, who weren't prepared for the number of visitors.  This year we seem to have fixed this issue and the cafe had enough bacon in stock to keep everyone fed and happy!  

Another positive was the tabletop sale again, which was packed out for most of the day.  We'd added more tables for this year as well, so it was good to see them all bought up and people selling off some unwanted goodies.

This year we'd done a ton more advertising for the show, with 5000 flyers sent out, 20+ forums posted on and over 20 different Facebook groups as well.  We'd put posters in all of the local gaming shops and even paid for Facebook advertising to boost the visibility of our event.  We'd added more games and some new re-enactor groups as well, to give more for our visitors to look at and get involved in.

Unfortunately for the 2nd year running our visitor numbers were down again, 427 in total compared to 469 in 2015.  With the traders and games included, the hall had 567 in total compared to last year's 590.  It's a rather odd one as we've added more to the show, increased advertising dramatically, yet the numbers are declining.  We're working on some ideas to fix this.  

Of the 427 visitors we had, 335 of them paid and then we had 92 who qualified for the free entry.  This meant that we were 19 down on the freebie side and a couple of people remarked that there were noticeably less female visitors this year.  Our 'Free Women and Under 14s' policy has always come with an element of controversy from a vocal minority, so this year we had altered our advertising a little to simply '£3 Adults, rest of the family free'.  It might be only a small change, but we are wondering how many women saw this and decided against coming along.  There were still as many dads and kids knocking about.  We've got some interesting plans for next year though, which could potentially boost numbers quite a bit, so keep an eye out for those!

Feedback so far has been very positive again, with most of the visitors I spoke with enjoying their day.  A couple even took the time to search me out and compliment us on the show, which really makes things worthwhile.  I've not spoken to the traders just yet, so hopefully they all had a good day as well.

Thanks to everyone who came along, traders, gamers, re-enactors and of course visitors.  The 2017 show will be taking place on Saturday 25th November, so we hope to see you there!

8)

All of our photos have been uploaded to our Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.848800305262225.1073741833.388912817917645&type=3

We've had the following reports so far in the blogosphere:
- http://herkybird-richardbradley.blogspot.co.uk/2016/11/battleground-2016.html
- https://independentwargamesgroup.blogspot.co.uk/2016/11/battleground-26-november-2016.html
- http://nevermindthejankers.blogspot.co.uk/2016/11/battleground-show-2016-very-brief-game.html
- http://slimreidy1.blogspot.co.uk/2016/11/a-great-day-at-battleground-wargames.html
- http://blog.belisarius.org.uk/2016/11/battleground2016.html
- http://nevermindthejankers.blogspot.co.uk/2016/12/to-strongest-at-battleground-show-2016.html

We'll add any more as they appear.
www.pendraken.co.uk - Now home to over 7000 products, including 4500 items for 10mm wargaming, plus MDF bases, Battlescale buildings, I-94 decals, Litko Gaming Aids, Militia Miniatures, Raiden Miniatures 1/285th aircraft, Red Vectors MDF products, Vallejo paints and much, much more!

paulr

Great to hear it all went well, pictures certainly look impressive :)

I'd be having more than a chat with the table supplier >:(

Perhaps, '£3 One Adult, £3 Family

Or you could make the Family £4 to deal with the female controversy
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Steve J

Glad to hear that the show went well, despite a slight drop in numbers. Show attendance is something that my chums and I have chatted about of late, and generally feel less of a need to attend these days compared to 5 years ago. Why? A variety of reasons, but a big one is that with traders having good web shops, I can order stuff from the comfort of my armchair as it were and so no longer have to go to a show to see and buy. Hope this makes sense? We still attend a few shows, mainly Colours and Reveille (when family commitments permit) as we enjoy the social side of it.

Leman

I tend to limit myself to a maximum of three shows a year. Next year I am intending to attend Battleground, which means Vapnartak will have to go.
The artist formerly known as Dour Puritan!

Techno

Pleased to hear it went well.

Thanks for the links to all the piccies.....and thanks to those that took them !

Cheers - Phil

Norm

Thanks for the report Leon, the numbers are interesting. Can I offer a few observations from my own perspective.

I usually do between 3 - 5 shows per year, but last couple of years, that has dropped to 1 or 2. This has been due to my back playing me up (good days, bad days). The problem is that even if I get past the typical 100 mile journey, I find the time I can spend on my feet limited, I really need frequent sit downs - but shows are VERY poor in general at providing this. They may have a catering area, half the time that is upstairs and can be hard to get to if in pain. If there was more seating around the place, those of us (increasing numbers) with some mobility issues, would be able to take 5 minutes out and then be off again. Problem is, if the seats were there, fitter people would also use them and so they would be less available to those that need them, not sure how you address that. A lot of people think they understand this point - but you really have to be in those shoes to really get it.

SPENDING - I have a local show that I want to see have a good future and thrive, so I tend to make big purchases there, so the traders will come back. I have never understood the mentality of those gamer reports that say something like 'very good show, but I managed to resist spending and picked up two dice' ...... the equation is simple, spend money and traders will return and shows will have a secure future. I do not mean that to sound arrogant, money supply is a personal thing, but out of attendance figures, if you take out those that don't spend and those that use shows just to sell on a bring and buy (i.e. divert money away from the traders)  and then don't recycle that cash back into the trader hall, then I think true attendance figures (i.e. those attendees that  really matter tho the show's success) is lower than returns on the actual door show.

At my last show nearly everything was 28mm. Baccus do the 6mm, Pendraken 10mm, Kallistra 12mm and Lancashire Games 15mm, but outside of these companies (if they are present), nobody is really supporting the small scale and this is especially true for terrain. If you do the smaller scales, then there is not much for you to see at the show, either supply or demo games etc and so looking at costs, I think that part of the customer base may well be staying away from the shows - or at least being less enthusiastic about attending. I know for me to attend a show, I need to see Kallistra and Pendraken on the bill! So the loss of diversity on the show scene is an issue .... unless the reality is that we are now truly in a 28mm world and less than that is fringe?

I love the shows, it is always a great day out for me - they are certainly something not to be taken for granted ...... use it or lose it as they say.

fsn

Quote from: Leon on 29 November 2016, 12:13:15 AM
Our 'Free Women' policy has always come with an element of controversy from a vocal minority
Yes. I went last year and didn't get the promised free woman.

One wonders if the reduction is due to tightened spending in the general populace. The dangers to the pocket of going to a show are legion and great. Easier to stay at home and order on the internet.

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Leman

Spending is an odd thing. At Phalanx I spent about £60 across the range from 10mm to 28mm (but not 20mm - haven't done that since about 1972). At Warfare I spent about £200 - with regard to figures it was all 10mm and 15mm, plus terrain for those scales (yes, Ithoriel, I finally bought a 10mm St.Privat house plus some delightful half-timbered houses from Pendraken), plus a couple of books and a set of markers for Square Bashing which Warbases had produced for me.. It really depends on what I need at the time.
The artist formerly known as Dour Puritan!

Steve J

I go to shows mainly to see the games on offer, rather than to buy things. The latter I find it easier to do online and occasionally to collect pre-orders. The former can be a bit hit and miss, with some games having plenty of info and people to talk talk, others the complete opposite. I do like to see re-enactors as I find them great to talk to. As for traders, sadly they are mainly dominated by 28mm, which is fine for large parts of the hobby, but of no use to me.

fsn

That's a good point. I tend to walk past a number of stands 'cos I try to restrict my ranges to 10mm only.
Lord Oik of Runcorn (You may refer to me as Milord Oik)

Oik of the Year 2013, 2014; Prize for originality and 'having a go, bless him', 2015
3 votes in the 2016 Painting Competition!; 2017-2019 The Wilderness years
Oik of the Year 2020; 7 votes in the 2021 Painting Competition
11 votes in the 2022 Painting Competition (Double figures!)
2023 - the year of Gerald: 2024 - Silver Medal (Cavalry)
2024 Painting Competition - Runner-Up!

skywalker

We, Redcar Ironbeards had a great day but due to spending most of the day running our game I did not get chance to exchange cash for goodies  :( :(
I wonder if the growth of traders on EBAY a some gamers are getting too lazy to get off their bums and come down and support the show/hobby/gaming community.

We as a club although small (5 full time members) try and attend as many shows as possible to put on games.
This year we got an invite to attend the Recon show at Pudsey on Saturday after one of the organisors played our game at the Muster on the Parade Ground show in June

Ithoriel

I enjoyed the show, though I spent less than expected due to the traders I'd intended to buy from seemingly having brought everything but the items I was after! Still, that's what the internet is for :)

I combined the show with a few day's visit to my sister and her family in Durham. She provided transport and did some shopping in the nearby retail park but I could have taken the bus that links the site to Durham Uni's main sites.

I understand Durham Uni are intending to move everything back from Stockton to Durham itself, not sure what that does to the current venue.

The building is light and airy so made an excellent location.

I'd happily come next year if I can set up the same combined visit.
There are 100 types of people in the world, those who understand binary and those who can work from incomplete data

Leon

Quote from: Norm on 29 November 2016, 08:42:04 AM
...I really need frequent sit downs - but shows are VERY poor in general at providing this. They may have a catering area, half the time that is upstairs and can be hard to get to if in pain. If there was more seating around the place, those of us (increasing numbers) with some mobility issues, would be able to take 5 minutes out and then be off again. Problem is, if the seats were there, fitter people would also use them and so they would be less available to those that need them, not sure how you address that. A lot of people think they understand this point - but you really have to be in those shoes to really get it.

The seating is something I've been trying to work out but we're limited in our space within the hall itself.  There is some seating out in the reception area next to the coffee machines, but this year we added an extra table inside the hall, purely for seating, around halfway around in the far corner.  I saw a few people using it during the day which was great.

Quote from: Norm on 29 November 2016, 08:42:04 AM
At my last show nearly everything was 28mm. Baccus do the 6mm, Pendraken 10mm, Kallistra 12mm and Lancashire Games 15mm, but outside of these companies (if they are present), nobody is really supporting the small scale and this is especially true for terrain. If you do the smaller scales, then there is not much for you to see at the show, either supply or demo games etc and so looking at costs, I think that part of the customer base may well be staying away from the shows - or at least being less enthusiastic about attending. I know for me to attend a show, I need to see Kallistra and Pendraken on the bill! So the loss of diversity on the show scene is an issue .... unless the reality is that we are now truly in a 28mm world and less than that is fringe?

The traders is another area we've worked on, especially getting a good mix of scales/genres.  We added Baccus when Irregular dropped out, brought Hawk Wargames up for their 10mm Sci-Fi and also added 6mm terrain from Leven Miniatures.  We had 3 different 10mm games on show this year as well, which was excellent. 

Quote from: Ithoriel on 29 November 2016, 03:06:32 PM
I understand Durham Uni are intending to move everything back from Stockton to Durham itself, not sure what that does to the current venue.

There's no change to the venue thankfully, Durham are moving their students back up to Durham itself and a private education group are taking over the campus as far as I know.  So all the buildings/facilities will remain in operation, with maybe a reduction in the number of students onsite.
www.pendraken.co.uk - Now home to over 7000 products, including 4500 items for 10mm wargaming, plus MDF bases, Battlescale buildings, I-94 decals, Litko Gaming Aids, Militia Miniatures, Raiden Miniatures 1/285th aircraft, Red Vectors MDF products, Vallejo paints and much, much more!

paulr

Lord Lensman of Wellington
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2022 Painting Competition - Runner-Up!
2023 Painting Competition - Runner-Up!

Roy

Blog post for The Old Guard Wargames Group's game

http://nevermindthejankers.blogspot.co.uk/2016/12/to-strongest-at-battleground-show-2016.html

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Oh look, there's me!

- I'd just like to point out that I've 'borrowed' the photos shown in the post from various sources.
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