The Fall In Wargaming Convention in Lancaster PA (1 Viewer)

[Warrior]

My cousin and I made our annual trip to the Fall In Wargaming Convention this past weekend in Lancaster PA, it's a three day gaming/selling/seminars/socializing event, we had a great time

Some amazing games were being run, the dealer hall was professionally laid out, many top shelf dealers selling their merchandise in well presented booths (well, "almost" everyone, there's one in every crowd no matter where), the flea market where hobbyists can sell off items they no longer want was great as well. There are also many seminars where battles, campaigns and such are discussed, last year several family members of Band of Brothers veterans were there, that was something special as they spoke about their Fathers and family members war experiences.

The social aspect cannot be overlooked, 1700 (yup; one THOUSAND seven hundred attendees) like minded individuals chatting about history, battles, catching up with friends, it's a great, positive vibe, my good friend Ed "Rusty" Miller runs it, he does a great job, several friends ran games as well including not one but two Bunker Hill games, there was also a tremendous Tarawa game and a Stalingrad factory game among others.

These conventions go to a level toy soldier shows can never reach sad to say; for the most part they are just one day shopping events populated with a few full time dealers and mostly hobbyists thinning out their collections, the "WOW" factor you get from wargaming conventions is just not there. The shows like MFCA and MMIS offer some nice painting seminars, a tremendous exhibit area full of world class figures and dioramas, so they've got that going for them.

My cousin and I sat in on a great Franco Prussian War game as well on Saturday, we had fun just observing the game and the strategies involved.
I also bought a number of great items for my 20mm collection; again, I had a great time with my cousin, a brother from another Mother, we'll be back next year for sure.

 

[Warrior]

Here are more pictures and also all the great swag I bought for my 20mm collection.............

 

[sfarrelly]

I gotta agree with whats written above. Some of the best long weekends ive had were going to wargaming conventions in the US - one in Columbus and one in Philly many many years ago. There was so much to do - multiple rooms with sellers/gamers/talks and it was really interesting. So much more interesting than a 1 day sale.
Just talks alone would be interesting. Imagine if we could get Clive from Grey Goose or Blake from TGM or Stefano from Saimex or Andy or Rob B to do a 30-60 talk in the evening after the London Toy Soldier show about their career in toy soldiers - I for one would stay for that rather than rushing to packup at 3pm then split. Would be nice to add in a dinner or the pub with a group of people as well.

 

[wayne556517]

Great post George love this stuff thanks.

 

[Warrior]

I gotta agree with whats written above. Some of the best long weekends ive had were going to wargaming conventions in the US - one in Columbus and one in Philly many many years ago. There was so much to do - multiple rooms with sellers/gamers/talks and it was really interesting. So much more interesting than a 1 day sale.
Just talks alone would be interesting. Imagine if we could get Clive from Grey Goose or Blake from TGM or Stefano from Saimex or Andy or Rob B to do a 30-60 talk in the evening after the London Toy Soldier show about their career in toy soldiers - I for one would stay for that rather than rushing to packup at 3pm then split. Would be nice to add in a dinner or the pub with a group of people as well.

TFT at the Chicago show many years ago used to have a Friday night K & C Dinner where Andy would talk about his company and the hobby, I think WB and Frontline also were speakers at the event.

Once that stopped, I spoke to the then show promoter about having his own Friday night dinner in the hotel, sell tickets, have a cash bar, have it as a catered event, have one manufacturer, one dealer and one collector speak for half an hour each about their experiences each year...................and it went in one ear out the other.

Imagine 1700 attendees; a staggering number, wargaming from all I can see is a thriving hobby that thinks outside the box to attract attendees, between the dealer hall and the flea market, there was gee golly whiz a lot of money exchanged, the theme this year was the birthday of the U.S.M.C., many games like the Tarawa game worked around that theme.

If you want shows to be well attended, then come up with ways to attract more people aside from "Come and spend money with a few dealers and numerous hobbyists thinning out their collections."

Speaking of which, there was a vendor in the dealer hall with mountains of 1970's/1980's plastic, Airfix, Atlantic, Matchbox, Britains Deetail, Timpo, etc, etc, his prices were in line with where they should be today, but he told me he's getting up there in age and is thinking about liquidating his stock, he's got a 30 foot by 10 foot storage unit; filled top to bottom, front to back, it would probably fill 20 or more cargo vans.

He gave me his card; we're going to have a talk..............

Wargaming conventions like this one vs toy soldier shows is apples to hand grenades.

 

[HobbyBunker]

The Wargame shows in the UK are very well attended it seems. The HMGS shows still get a draw but not like they used. I hope to Historicon next year. I skipped the last couple because most of the sellers where hobby shops like myself. The old days far more manufacturers would come - I guess like toy soldier shows! Last time I was there a guy from Ohio had 5 booths and everything was 30% off! How was that this year? Hobby type shops vs. Manufacturers? Was Battlefront there?


"Speaking of which, there was a vendor in the dealer hall with mountains of 1970's/1980's plastic, Airfix, Atlantic, Matchbox, Britains Deetail, Timpo, etc, etc"
Scott! He is good dude - He was at Chicagoland Show this year.

 

[Warrior]

The Wargame shows in the UK are very well attended it seems. The HMGS shows still get a draw but not like they used. I hope to Historicon next year. I skipped the last couple because most of the sellers where hobby shops like myself. The old days far more manufacturers would come - I guess like toy soldier shows! Last time I was there a guy from Ohio had 5 booths and everything was 30% off! How was that this year? Hobby type shops vs. Manufacturers? Was Battlefront there?


"Speaking of which, there was a vendor in the dealer hall with mountains of 1970's/1980's plastic, Airfix, Atlantic, Matchbox, Britains Deetail, Timpo, etc, etc"
Scott! He is good dude - He was at Chicagoland Show this year.

I did not notice if Battlefront was there, they might have been, there seemed to be not a lot of manufacturers there this time, there were a lot of vendors who had exclusives, either figure lines, scenery, board games or rules sets that they were selling. Some really nice, well presented, well laid out booths, a lot to see and buy.

The flea market, unlike years past, did not have quasi vendors peddling mountains of inventory, it was packed with hobbyists selling off unused armies, unpainted figures, unwanted scenery and such, got some nice stuff for my collection.

I remember when Scott used to come to the shows to buy; now he's in the liquidation phase.

 

[OzDigger]

Great to see a related military hobby prospering, I don't know how popular Table War Gaming is in Australia. However, I've met several guys into Online War Gaming such as Call of Duty etc, and had some interesting discussions with kids about Sten guns etc. I was kinda surprised to meet younger guys interested in the same stuff as me. If only we could crack the Online Gaming market somehow, over 40,000 attended the recent Three day 'Dreamhack' event in Atlanta, of course most would have been into fantasy etc, but still worth considering IMO.

 

[Warrior]

Great to see a related military hobby prospering, I don't know how popular Table War Gaming is in Australia. However, I've met several guys into Online War Gaming such as Call of Duty etc, and had some interesting discussions with kids about Sten guns etc. I was kinda surprised to meet younger guys interested in the same stuff as me. If only we could crack the Online Gaming market somehow, over 40,000 attended the recent Three day 'Dreamhack' event in Atlanta, of course most would have been into fantasy etc, but still worth considering IMO.

The problem with cross pollination is on line gamers are into on line gaming, wargamers are into table top gaming, maybe they would collect a figure here or there, but the odds of them becoming good, steady, monthly or bi monthly customers are not great.

I used to attend the wargaming conventions here in the US as I was the US rep for several 20mm UK manufacturers including Britannia, SHQ, Kennington, Battlefield Miniatures, Shellhole Scenics, Sentry Models........one by one they ceased trading so I started to bring toy soldiers to the conventions...........I'd sell a figure here or there, mostly personality figures foot and mounted or flag bearers, I did have a couple of customers who gamed with 54mm/60mm figures, so they would give me nice show preorders to pick up at the shows, over time, they became mail order customers, so the show sales went south, I thought about not attending any longer in the Fall of 2019............then in the Spring, COVID hit which canned the shows and that was that.

It's a good thought, but in theory, it's not viable IMO.

 

[OzDigger]

The problem with cross pollination is on line gamers are into on line gaming, wargamers are into table top gaming, maybe they would collect a figure here or there, but the odds of them becoming good, steady, monthly or bi monthly customers are not great.

I used to attend the wargaming conventions here in the US as I was the US rep for several 20mm UK manufacturers including Britannia, SHQ, Kennington, Battlefield Miniatures, Shellhole Scenics, Sentry Models........one by one they ceased trading so I started to bring toy soldiers to the conventions...........I'd sell a figure here or there, mostly personality figures foot and mounted or flag bearers, I did have a couple of customers who gamed with 54mm/60mm figures, so they would give me nice show preorders to pick up at the shows, over time, they became mail order customers, so the show sales went south, I thought about not attending any longer in the Fall of 2019............then in the Spring, COVID hit which canned the shows and that was that.

It's a good thought, but in theory, it's not viable IMO.

Thank you for your input George, you are correct of course, but a figure here and there helps out and may start a passion for collecting Toy Soldiers.

 

[Warrior]

Thank you for your input George, you are correct of course, but a figure here and there helps out and may start a passion for collecting Toy Soldiers.

Every collector started with one figure at some point, so you are correct, all it takes is one person to get hooked and you're in business.

 

[theBaron]

The problem with cross pollination is on line gamers are into on line gaming, wargamers are into table top gaming, maybe they would collect a figure here or there, but the odds of them becoming good, steady, monthly or bi monthly customers are not great...

Would you say, though, George, that among the table-top gamers, interest in painting their figures with more skill and detail has grown over the past 10 years or so? It seems to me that previously, most gamers were satisfied with a general level of painting, enough to look good at a scale distance on the table. But today, many gamers spend a little more time and effort to paint their figures to a higher standard? I think the fantasy wargamers have had an effect in this, since that in that part of the hobby, it seems that high detail and painting skill is much more expected. The fantasy wargamers have had their own shows, of course, but we've seen now increasing cross-over as they participate in the more traditional branches, like shows for historical miniatures. We're trying to adapt to that and encourage fantasy wargamers in our show, for example. Because as we've both talked about, the purely historical miniature area is dwindling, as its fans gradually age and die off. And the fantasy wargamers represent people applying the same skills as a historical painter, just for a different subject. And they also pick up the odd historical kit or figure, with gradual increase.

Prost!
Brad

 

[Warrior]

Would you say, though, George, that among the table-top gamers, interest in painting their figures with more skill and detail has grown over the past 10 years or so? It seems to me that previously, most gamers were satisfied with a general level of painting, enough to look good at a scale distance on the table. But today, many gamers spend a little more time and effort to paint their figures to a higher standard? I think the fantasy wargamers have had an effect in this, since that in that part of the hobby, it seems that high detail and painting skill is much more expected. The fantasy wargamers have had their own shows, of course, but we've seen now increasing cross-over as they participate in the more traditional branches, like shows for historical miniatures. We're trying to adapt to that and encourage fantasy wargamers in our show, for example. Because as we've both talked about, the purely historical miniature area is dwindling, as its fans gradually age and die off. And the fantasy wargamers represent people applying the same skills as a historical painter, just for a different subject. And they also pick up the odd historical kit or figure, with gradual increase.

Prost!
Brad

Great point; the thing I noticed at this convention is how nicely painted a lot of the figures were in the games, the scenery for the most part was top shelf too, many gamers are now using those Cigar Box Matts and also, Teddy Bear Fur Matts too, so realistic looking.

The thing wargaming has going for it is what you touched on; kids for the most part start off as fantasy/sci fi gamers, then as they get older, some "graduate" to historical gaming, so they have a constant flow of new gamers.

The toy soldier hobby; not so much.

If I was 10/15 years younger, I'd venture back into carrying wargaming items and get out to the three major HMGS shows as well as the several local ones we've got in the Northeast, but that ship has sailed.

 

[theBaron]

Yeah. classic toy soldiers-the old glossy and mostly hollowcast pieces made as toys are making that transition from collectible to true antique. There are fewer and fewer people who remember playing with them, for one thing, so demand has been declining. We saw the "I played with that!" phenomenon working in the other direction as plastic toy soldiers became more and more collectible, as the people who played with them as kids (like yours truly) reached the age where they have disposable income enough to buy back their childhood. And we've seen makers spring up to fill that demand. That will last for a while longer but eventually change, too. That's just a natural progression, not just with toy soldiers, but other toys, and other subjects, too. The clock is always ticking, time is always moving on.

Prost!
Brad