Well, got up early and headed for crewe.. a regular show on my gaming groups agenda for the year.
We have been for the past 5 or more years.
Usually a good little show, though mostly modelling related, there is usually some Wargames Content and the bring and buy.
This year, the show was sadly, not up to par on previous years. May be it was the 5 nations rugby or the football matches on.
However there were obviously less people, and a couple of empty stands. The models on show were nice, but many re-displays from last or previous years and few new things that I could tell.
The whole atmosphere felt subdued and I did not see that much trading/cash changing hands by the traders, certainly nothing to write home about.
So much so, that I was not minded to take any photos and that was the first.
I found a box set of 40k, for a bargain price, so that was good.
But otherwise, I bought some plastic glue, and a few pipppets and a couple of files, and that was it. Spent about as much on gaming sundries (40k box set, excluded) as I did in the Weatherspoons pub for lunch, which was nice.
We were all in agreement, it was a slow and very lack lustre day. Sadly it was freezing but the show, had no out side displays, no firing range and less displays and it was obvious.
So.. will we be back in 2014.. hmmm.. time will tell! Sadly it could be the end of the South Cheshire Militaire for us, if this is the start of a continual decline. I rather hope not, as its was once a good show with lots of interest.
Not sure where the issues lay, the organisers, the timing, the choice of traders, the lack of promotion, the failure to invest in the show year on year etc.. but what ever it is, I hope it is addressed as it would be a shame to see the show go completeley.
So, there you go.. a show without photos because I just didn't feel like taking the camera out of my bag to shoot some. A rather sad sad day. Hoping this is not the start of things to come, with gaming shows thigs year!
2 comments:
Hi Sorry you had a bad visit to our show
(ONLY JUST HAD THIS PASSED TO ME)contradictory to your account on visitors the door was up by 250 on 2012.
Having only seen this account of our show we are unable to ascertain exactly what was missing, the traders on the whole offer a wide range of merchandise ad we did have at least 6 new traders.Reading thru again. i think the lack of wargames traders and tables is the biggest gripe, yes we did have a hall full at one time but it's dwindled down to the odd one now unfortunately.With out further contact we are unable to remedy the problems highlighted in your comment/post, especially the one you didn’t mention..financial climate..
The Show will continue for as long as possible..we've been going now for over 30yrs and this is the first Negative report i've ever seen or heard of..
Yours Steve Grosvenor
Club Secretary and Show CoOrdinator
Hi Steve,
Thanks for the comment. As I said in the post, I couldn’t see what the cause was.
I have been going to the Militaire for many years even before starting this blog, and if you read back through previous years posts, it is one show I always try to get too. One for its timing, as its early in the year and two because I like the atmosphere and thirdly for its proximity.
This year however it seemed subdued and downs on numbers, there were bare empty tables and it felt much smaller. If the numbers were in fact up, that is encouraging, and it may have just been my perception. I have tried many years to do my own bit to help advertise the Militaire, placing listings on forums such as TMP and event listings and club email groups I know.
As someone who just turns up, pays to enter and has no involvement in any of the organising etc, I can only comment on how it felt at the time, what I saw and experienced. I attend a number of shows throughout the year and I am sure there are times where my own experience differs from others. Where they will thoroughly enjoy a show and I won’t, or vice versa.
But I hope you don’t feel my comments were an unfair criticism of the organisers, it was not meant as such. It was just my honest reflexion of how I felt on the day and also how a number of us from our group who went felt, as we discussed it a lot, comparing differing years over lunch. In fact, this was the first year, when we haven’t had lunch in the venue, but chose to go into town. And that is not to say the venue food was bad in way (we have eaten many a meal there, and had many a cup of tea/coffee without qualm) , it was just we felt we had seen most of what we wanted to see and could afford to take the time to go out for lunch and return later.
Believe me when I say, myself and my friends hope it was a one off and it may indeed be mostly due to the tough financial times etc that gave us the impression we had, as we certainly don’t want to see the show cease. In fact, we want to see it grow. So we are planning to be back in 2014.
If you feel I have been unfair or unjust, in the above, then please accept my apologies, as it was not meant to be. Merely my reflections on my experiences.
Goose..
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