Battleground 2019 Report!

Started by Leon, 05 December 2019, 01:11:43 AM

Previous topic - Next topic

Leon

05 December 2019, 01:11:43 AM Last Edit: 07 December 2019, 12:08:10 AM by Leon
The dust has settled on Battleground 2019 and it was a cracking day!  Our Free Entry promotion continued and this year we saw a nice little bump in numbers and a lot of folks stayed longer as well.

The previous issues with the tables seem to be all sorted out now and they were delivered well in advance on the Thursday instead.  We were delayed a little getting into the hall, but once we were in at 2:30pm, we soon got everything up and ready for our traders and gamers to start arriving.  We finished up at about 9:30pm and headed home for a quick snack and nap before getting back to the venue for 6:30am to get the rest of the show setup.

One thing we noticed this year was that we had a lot more people there from opening.  Normally we get around 200 through the door in the first hour and then another 100 or so per hour for the rest of the day.  This year we had over 400 straight in before 11am and then a steady trickle through the rest of the day.  A lot of people seemed to stay longer as well and the hall was nicely busy until after 1pm I think.

The catering was very well received again this year and despite them refilling the van 5 times (!) they still ran out of food by 1:30pm.  We'll be talking to them in the next few weeks to make sure that they've got enough stock on hand to get them through to 2pm hopefully.  Inside we had Rach and Carl on the hot drinks station keeping everyone warm on what was a rather chilly day!

The standard of the games on show continues to rise and we're hugely grateful to all of the individuals and clubs who put so much time and effort into these games.  We were a little light on participation games this year but I don't think it took anything away from the show and the display games were outstanding.  We'll have a chat and see if we can attract a few more participations for next year.

Another hugely positive addition last year was the Battlefields Trust talks and we were extremely pleased to be able to have them back.  This year they held two talks, one by Arran Johnston about the Covenant armies and the second by Phil Philo, about the Battle of Guisborough and their ongoing work to find out what happened and where.  Downstairs the Trust had Mark Hornsby (their newly resident modelmaker!) and his excellent 2mm scale model of the Guisborough battlefield.

We'd added some extra living history tables this year and the Vanguard, Rosa Mundi and 68th DLI groups did a great job chatting to the visitors and showing them a huge variety of equipment.  We also had a medieval combat trainer on hand as well to teach folks a few techniques!

For our Tabletop Sale we'd altered the booking rules slightly and limited people to a 2-hour maximum.  This worked perfectly and allowed a lot more people to get onto the tables and shift some unwanted gaming goodies.  The tables were booked up for most of the day with only a few gaps appearing around 1:30pm, which was great.

Numbers-wise, we had the most people ever at the event!  Our visitor numbers didn't quite hit the 2017 levels, but the added gamers and re-enactors pushed our total slightly over the previous best:


.2013201420152016201720182019
Traders56596862626464
Gamers52485367858788
Visitors498517469427607567596
Re-Enactors0001141011
TOTAL606624590567758728759


We'd like to thank everyone who came along, the traders, gamers, re-enactors and of course the visitors.  Next year's event will be taking place on Saturday 28th November and we hope to see you there!

All of our photos have been uploaded to our Facebook page here: https://www.facebook.com/pg/BattlegroundShow/photos/?tab=album&album_id=1615308681944713

And here's a selection of the feedback we've had so far on the blogs and social media:

Carryings On Up The Dale blog: http://www.carryingsonupthedale.com/2019/12/battleground-2019-and-battle-of_2.html
Herkybird's blog: http://herkybird-richardbradley.blogspot.com/2019/11/battleground-2019.html
One Man and His Brushes blog: http://onemanhisbrushes.blogspot.com/2019/11/battleground-2019.html
Zabadak's blog: https://zabadakszombieworld.blogspot.com/2019/12/battleground-2019.html
Westerhope blog: http://westerhopewargames.blogspot.com/2019/12/battleground-show-stockton-2019.html
Ithoriel's pics: https://imageshack.com/a/iGqA7/1
Independent Wargames Group blog: https://independentwargamesgroup.blogspot.com/2019/12/battleground-2019-return.html?showComment=1575596430654#c7718005784110714990
Grimsby Wargaming blog: http://grimsbywargaming.blogspot.com/2019/12/battleground-show-part-2.html?view=magazine
Jim Duncan's blog: http://jim-duncan.blogspot.com/2019/11/goodies-at-battleground-2019.html
GA PA blog: https://gapagnw.blogspot.com/2019/12/ferozeshah-at-battleground.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

Sounds like another great success, well done all :-bd =D> :-bd
Lord Lensman of Wellington
2018 Painting Competition - Runner-Up!
2022 Painting Competition - Runner-Up!
2023 Painting Competition - Runner-Up!

Sandinista

Sounds great, I do miss the UK show scene :'(
Love the stats bit also great insights to the background work with the tables and catering etc.

cheers
Ian

Techno

Damn fine !!

Some cracking pics in those blogs ! :-bd

Cheers - Phil

Steve J

Another great show and just wish it were closer to home :(. I think the re-enactors really bring something to these shows, as they do (did?) at the WMMS one. Keep up the good work!