After having our busiest show ever last year, we had high hopes for 2023 and it certainly didn't disappoint!
Preparation was a little bumpy as traders are still reluctant to travel as much as they did pre-pandemic so it took a little longer to get the hall filled up. A few traders weren't able to make it along but we added Phoenix Games Studio, Tiger Miniatures and Vixen Miniatures to the line-up, as well as welcoming Four A Miniatures back after a couple of years off.
In the end we had 30 traders, 25 games, 4 living history groups, 1 museum, 2 historical talks, a tabletop sale and a prize giveaway too, so definitely enough to keep people busy for the day. Setup went smoothly too, with the hall available a bit earlier than usual so we were able to get all of the tables up in time for the traders and games arriving.
For the last couple of years we've been putting a bit of money into Facebook advertising and it's had a great effect on the visiblity of the show, with almost 300 people responding to the online Event page. This carried over to an increase in door numbers again, taking our total to 867 in the hall and making this the new biggest ever Battleground! These past two shows have shown that there's definitely the potential in the north-east to hit the magical 1000 people mark, so we've got a few plans to try and hit that milestone over the next two years.
There are some photos of all of our games and groups over on Facebook here: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.870851278378101 for anyone interested, and we'd like to say thank you as always to the clus and individuals who've given their time and effort to attend.
The historical talks were really well received this year too, with many visitors coming along purely for this reason. Alex Clifford went first with his presentation on the International Brigades in the SCW, followed by John Sadler giving a talk on the Anglo-Scottish border. We'd like to thank both of them for giving their time to come along, as well as Tony Fox for organising the talks.
One thing which didn't go quite to plan was our big prize giveaway! We'd put numbers on all of the programmes given out to the visitors and the plan was to draw winners from a hat until we'd given out all 30+ prizes. However... a lot of the visitors had left the hall by 2pm so we had 850-ish numbers in the hat and maybe 300 people in the hall, resulting in me having to read out over 100 numbers before we'd found enough winners! If we do that again in the future we'll be trying a slightly different method I think.
As mentioned above, numbers at the event were the highest we've ever seen:
| . | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 |
| Traders | 56 | 59 | 68 | 62 | 62 | 64 | 64 | 37 | 48 | 53 |
| Gamers | 52 | 48 | 53 | 67 | 85 | 87 | 88 | 46 | 84 | 84 |
| Living History | 0 | 0 | 0 | 11 | 4 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 22 | 25 |
| Visitors | 498 | 517 | 469 | 427 | 607 | 567 | 596 | 472 | 664 | 705 |
| TOTAL | 606 | 624 | 590 | 567 | 758 | 728 | 759 | 567 | 818 | 867 |
The atmosphere in the hall this year was fantastic and it was great to see so many people sticking around until later in the afternoon. The feedback we've had so far has been really positive and we've included some blog reports below from some of our visitors and groups.
Next year's show will be held on
Saturday 30th November 2024, so we hope to see you there!
If you come across any other reports please let me know and I'll add them below.
Westerhope blog: http://westerhopewargames.blogspot.com/2023/11/birthday-weekend.html
Independent Wargames blog: https://independentwargamesgroup.blogspot.com/2023/11/battleground-2023.html
Carryings On Up The Dale blog: https://www.carryingsonupthedale.com/2023/11/battleground-stockton-2023-10th.html
One Man and His Brushes blog: http://onemanhisbrushes.blogspot.com/2023/11/gaming-battleground-show.html
Dougie's Wargaming Blog YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3nYotfxfnEM
Zabadak's blog: http://zabadakszombieworld.blogspot.com/2023/11/battleground-show-2023-stockton.html
Wargames in the Dungeon blog: http://wargamesinthedungeon.blogspot.com/2023/11/tank-and-infantry-battle-on-st-james.html
Glorious Little Soldiers blog: http://gloriouslittlesoldiers.blogspot.com/2023/12/a-game-of-soldiers.html
Retro Attic Mancave video report: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KVt1GvNKqZQ
Just Add Water blog: https://justaddwater-bedford.blogspot.com/2023/12/battleground-wargames-show-stockton.html
:-bd =D> :-bd =D>
Very impressive, great to hear all went well :)
Well done Leon,
Hard work is paying off.
Well done, that man. :-bd
So next years show was held 2 days ago - 2023 ? Good luck, hope it goes as well. Sorry
Ok ... just googled "Battleground 2023"
(https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/c2nZz0wr2j7nCoQuF8-Cxb5mK8g=/0x0:960x1200/1200x800/filters:focal(397x268:549x420)/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/72320416/FxE1dF2WABoPpbq.0.jpg)
Think the gamer on the right is very good at a double envelopmnet. :-\
"Leon from Pendraken did a cracking job." Well done, Sir, well done.
Congratulations Leon and all at Pendraken / Battleground! :-bd
Wasn't able to attend, myself, unfortunately, due to NHS appointments needing to take priority (they were working on a weekend, after all). I did 'talk-up' the show beforehand, mind, when people enquired to others "if the show was worth attending?" Obviously, I said yes.
Here's a couple of blog addresses:
Joe Newton's visit (as a show-goer) (http://zabadakszombieworld.blogspot.com/2023/11/battleground-show-2023-stockton.html)
Matt Crump's mention of the show (as a person running a participation game) (http://wargamesinthedungeon.blogspot.com/2023/11/tank-and-infantry-battle-on-st-james.html)
Thanks for the replies and the links, I'll get those added in!
Here's another blog link:
Tantobie Warfare And Tactical Society' game (http://gloriouslittlesoldiers.blogspot.com/2023/12/a-game-of-soldiers.html)
The blog post reads that it was a well received game by show goers, and I've read on another blog that the game and miniatures looked really good. Got to say I agree.
Here's another another blog link:
Just Add Water (https://justaddwater-bedford.blogspot.com/2023/12/battleground-wargames-show-stockton.html) blog
A show goer's photo's of some of the games.
B-lls! Yes, I pressed quote instead of edit and got this post instead. If reply (comment #10) can be deleted by a moderator, then please do so.