So today four of us, piled or should be crammed into my car and headed over to Penkridge in Staffordshire. From North Wales it took 1h,20mns to get to Penkridge. Straight off J13 of the M6.
Parking at first was a problem, being a Sunday and the church being just next door as such, but a local gamer pointed us in the right direction, namely, a bit further up the main road, a hundred yards or so and on the left next to the Methodist church.. Free car parking. And only a slight walk to the hall.
There were a mix of private sellers, shops/business's and semi traders as I tend to call them. People who regularly part time trade in minis or games etc.
So here are some photos of the show, firstly, before you say "not many people there", these were taken at 1pm after I got tired feet and a lot of visitors had already come and gone. I didn't manage to get any shots of the re-enactors either. It was quite busy till around 12hr.
I will discuss my bargains later.. :)
(Click on the images to expand them & Apologies if I have miss labelled any traders)
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| The central area, with Lesleys Bits Box on left. Demonstration game on stage. |
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| Minisryou - Selling painted GW figures |
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| Left wing area, with snack bar at end. |
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| Minisryou definitely the smartest table, next to the South Stafford Models. |
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| Minisryou 40K painted army for sale. Looked impressive. |
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| Errrr central area again and trader I have forgotten the name of. Sorry! |
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| Chaps from www.magicgeek.co.uk with lots of card games |
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| www.tritex-games.co.uk Stand, selling prepainted plastics individually and sets. |
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| Tritex-Games again. |
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| Magic Geek stand. Lots of CCG stuff and games. |
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| e-collectica games stand. Really really nice suppliers of boards games. They have a website! |
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| And a market stall soon too! With an openning day discount. Seriously if you play board games, gives these folks a try. |
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| Wargames Miniatures stand, lots of resin items, and scenery. Inc some build buildings. |
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| South Stafford Model Club display. Some very nice pieces on show. |
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| Un known trader, with mix of stuff, mostly in westwind and dystopean wars. |
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| Stafford Games stand. FOW and Warlord Games and Mantic etc. |
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| The other view of model stand. |
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| James Resins Stand, a mix of resin terrain pieces mostly for 15 and 20mm scales. Some nice stuff, but too small obviously..! |
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| James resins price lists. Always good to see an upfront and clear pricing. |
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| KRGames 1:600th figures - www.krgames.co.uk |
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| The organisers own stand with lots of GW, BTD and other bits and bobs. |
Well my shopping haul for the morning was;
9 x LOTR metal figures, bought loose for 50p to £2ea depending.
1 x LOTR strategy battle hardback book (worn) for £2.
2 x Boxes of plastic LOTR figures for £10
1 x 2.5oz Pot of Masters Brush Cleaner £3 (The stuff is brilliant btw)
And..
1 x Figures in Comfort Legion Case! (RRP £200) for £40.
The case contained three triple depth vehicle trays, a couple of un-used single depth pick and pluck trays and another used, figure case in side. Looking very similar to battlefoams stuff from the USA. Though not quite sure its the same. Anyhow, for £40! The case alone empty was worth it, as it will happily store and transport my FIC Correx "Company Boxes" that I have.
So all in all a great trip out. The tea and coffee, food and snacks were well supplied throughout the morning, with burgers and cup cakes available to purchase from the snack counter too.
I did feel however the show was maybe a bit heavy on the "Business Traders", rather than the individual sellers, but then someone has to help pay for the hall and tables etc.
So all in all a great day out, some good bargains grabbed and, apparently the organiser is considering maybe doing another in 6 months or so. As long as it does not clash with anything else I am going too and I have some pennies to spare, it is one I will definitely consider again!
Thank to the organisers
2 comments:
Glad you enjoyed the day chap - hope the LOTR kits you wrestled out of me come in handy. After initially having only 5 genuine sellers wanting tables after 5 months of pushing it i thought it will look rubbish being half empty - i needed to cover my costs and if i get a good mix of traders everyone should find something they like. The stalls were snapped up by traders within 6 weeks of letting them know and only a couple dropped out in the last month for 4 waiting in the wings to take their places. 2 genuine traders also turned up the day and managed to somehow squeeze in. I will try to push for more individual genuine sellers again and try to arrange the hall again not to get more in but to improve the layout and mix of tables. The pics are great but dont tell the full story as you rightly pointed out - its was packed for a good hour and half but saying that some sellers think it should be open longer next time so that demo games can be fully appreciated and they can keep the buyers in longer ;). if anyone else has any ideas how to push or improve the show further please let me know contact me via berenzed@gmail.com or facebook penkridge wargames page - cheers
It was a good day. More individual traders would be nice, but at the end of the day you have to make the event pay for its self.
I think pushing the advertising is the main thing. Warboot suffers the same problem. People often over look, events like this sadly.
TMP and other wargames forums are a good start, but also the wargames magazines, (though the tend to charge hideous fees for adverts), they may have event lists you can get an entry upon.
Sites like the newark irregulars calendar are very popular; http://www.newarkirregulars.org.uk/calendar2012.html
gettting a listing on there for the next one would also help.
The big thing is convincing people it is worth the trip.
Longer openning hours, by say an hour or two, would probably help. Any longer and you might find it gets very slow at the end.
But some people are busy sunday mornings till mid-day so, going through till 2 or 3pm at least gives them a chance.
The main thing though I think is regularity. One of things, will only get those who are keen. Once it is regular, you get word of mouth and that attracts more people. Regular and well promoted and lots of photos! Photos are always good as if people are doudting whether to go, seeing a photo of tables and what has been at previous events, gives them more of an idea of what to expect.
Well thats just my ten pence on the topic..lol. Cheers, though was a great day.
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