I went along with various other people to the new 'Steel Warriors' show at Magna recently. The venue is an old steelworks on the outskirts of Rotherham and which has served as an events venue for years now (I last went there to a James Bond themed charity do!).
There are quite a few people for Sheffield Wargames Club involved, although afaik it isn't an 'official' club show like Triples used to be.
The hall is pretty big and a big chunk of it was set out for sitting/eating. I got there around 11 and was pleasantly surprised by the busyness and general hum. For the first go, the main attendees were people playing in several tournaments, there were also some traders and a big Bring and Buy.
There were also some of my old pals from the Northern WW2 re-enactment association. The lovely jeep belonging to Y Troop, 47 Commando.
And Pete from 4 Ko, Grossdeutschland. Get that top button done up...
There was a big X Wing tournament.
Some of the bring and buy. I came away with some aircraft and armoured cars. I was sorely tempted by a huge Atlas of the American Civil War, but declined.
Bolt Action tournament.
There were some lovely BA setups.
There was also a 54mm game with lots of eye candy.
This rather lovely Sherman motoring up the road.
While a Stug IV lurks.
The Jagdtiger might be slight overkill!
There was also a Bloody Barons tournament.
Also with some lovely setups.
I was very taken with this Winter War BA setup.
The DBA tournament was in a separate room. It was very intense in there! They were planning on getting through six rounds in the course of the day, so had stay focused. I had a chat with the facilitator and he said they were aiming for 50 minutes per game.
Some rather lovely Hoplites.
And hordes of Huns!
There was a big Through the Mud and Blood game.
And the Rotherham District Wargamers put in an appearance.
This was very much a gaming show as most of the people were there to play games, a lot of games. I was pleasantly surprised though and had a chat with a couple of the organisers who had some ideas for next year, but for a first go I thought it was pretty good.
Thanks very much for covering this show, I have been looking out for a review, but there hasn’t been anything.
ReplyDeleteWe were going to go, but it would have involved a hotel stop and the list of traders looked thin and the number of tournament games high. Also the marketing / info was quite thin. Taking all of that together, we felt it wasn’t a financially viable visit for our wants this year.
I hope the show was good enough for the traders that they will return next year and that the show will see some growth with some new traders added. It looks like a great venue and the ample seating appeals to me.
Do you think they have the balance right between venue, trader, tournament and demo / participation?
tbh, it was primarily tournament gamers there, but I think there is room for growth and a change in the balance. I'm not sure the traders did brilliantly well, but it was a shame Irregular dropped out as I usually buy some stuff from therm.
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