Well another Group North open day is over here in South Australia. Whilst in the past I've often only found a few things to make critical comment on, and much to praise, this time I'm afraid the praise is hard to find.
Rick and I arrived, had our scenery inside and set up and were trying to find someone to confirm that the table we had set up on really was intended for us, long before any club official appeared. We were then assisted in bringing in stock for the sales stall and get settled in, but unlike other years it was not a team of cheerful helpers designated to assist visiting sponsors, just one person.
Attendance overall was disappointing and probably indicative of the poor level of publicity given to the event. Apart from word of mouth contact, only one person I spoke to had seen any thing in the way of pre-event promotion and admitted that was not prominently displayed. The organiser needs to understand that people attend functions because they have heard they are on. They don't just materialise out of thin air. If there isn't anyone who knows how to promote an event, then for goodness sakes find one.
Old faces were there, but in diminishing numbers. Some called in for a visit, but very few stayed. At least two I spoke to no longer attend very often because of the type of gaming the club has adopted. A couple of others expressed the wish for the club to return to the variety of wargaming it used to be involved in, but thought it pointless to try anymore as there is a dominant Warhammer clique.
Previous events have usually had a rush period for a couple of hours as visitors descend on the sales stands. This time it was very short and mostly seemed to consist of the above mentioned older members or ex members, who looked in and then left They tended to head for the sales stalls, make some purchases, shake hands with some old friends and then leave. I estimated the rush period to be perhaps 45 minutes, maybe an hour if one was prepared to be very generous. Unlike other years, outside visitors seemed few. These visitors had money to spend and seemed to know what they wanted, but the overwhelming predominance of Warhammer in the hall, had little to hold them for long once they had made purchases at the stalls. As a result the crowd had thinned out by 1.30pm and by 2.30pm it looked like a rainy day in an open market place. That is a shame considering the success of this event during the past 12 years.
The only cheery greetings to visitors came from the two members cooking a sausage sizzle out front of the hall, and two people running the canteen for the day. However it was cute, but a bit alarming to be served by a very small child late in the day, without any adult supervision. He was a nice little lad, but I worried about how a child of his age could do anything had some ill intentioned visitor decided to snatch cash out of the till he held open while serving me.
For an open day, apparently intended to promote membership, this lack of welcome and happy faces to chat to visitors, was a blatant omission. Everything seems to be run by one person. Leadership is not to do everything yourself. It's to take charge of the membership and to ensure they run the day.
It was great to see Ross Dawe and his daughter working on a stall. What a blessing to have a daughter who understands Dad's passion for wargames, especially Ancients. Ross is always an enthusiastic person that I'm happy to see at any event. The guys from Christies Beach, from Military Hobbies and other groups were also present and it was nice to say hello to them on the day as well. Heinz Schroeder, who ran a very successful Open Day a few years back was only present for a short time as he was on Ambulance duty during the night and needed his beauty sleep.
I've briefly mentioned Warhammer. It was the predominant theme, even down to an annoying Warhammer movie being continuously run at one end of the hall. Who ever thought that idea up should remember that there comes a point when something is not entertainment, it becomes just irritating noise. And for those not watching it….and I didn't see anyone actually watching it, the noise interfered with people talking to each other, discussing rules etc. Away from the speakers it was just an unwelcome noise that several people expressed annoyance with.
The Warhammer theme was overdone to the point of being nauseating. I've no doubt this is why so few old faces were present for the whole event. A club attracts and keeps its members through catering to a variety of interests. That is certainly not being looked after as it seemed most non Warhammer games were being run by visitors, not the club. The older visitors at one end of the hall were engaging in some banter about a particular Warhammer table being declared as ‘Historical'. If indeed the presenter thought that he needs to go and read some history books and learn what a ‘historical' event was. The Warhammer games themselves were well attended, but mostly by beardless youths and older men who ought to know better. That's all very well, but it only represents a small part of the hobby. Making it so exclusive will only attract a certain element.
It was also somewhat depressing and disconcerting that not long after arrival a visitor and ex club member told me whose tabletop would be declared the best of the event. Not which tabletop, but ‘whose' tabletop. There were loud cries of ‘we want a re-count' from the historical gamers when a particularly ‘lack of effort' Warhammer table was eventually declared winner for the day. I must say that in my opinion it seemed to have a level of planning skill that must have taken all of five minutes, and a modelling skill that consisted of simply painting commercially available scenery. Indeed three of the five minutes planning must have involved which plain white board painted to select from the storage area and declare to be snow. The other two minutes in where to put the pre-painted stuff. The level of snow on the (commercial) scenery was totally unrelated to the solid white painted tabletop.
It was, in my personal opinion a reward for lack of effort, and I think the anger, the boo's, and the cries for a recount from the Historical gamers at the top end of the hall were well justified. It was insulting for those who had really put effort in. The insult came not from which tables had lost, but from the sheer poor quality of what had won over them. I would say there were at least four historical games that were far better laid out. The Flames of War game was good and avoided the usual crush of tanks to present a nice reasoned game. The Doctor Who game had fine detail made by the people presenting it. Beds in the huts actually made up, nice scratch built scenery and an interesting scenario.
One tabletop had been planned immediately after the event last year, which I unfortunately missed due to a broken ankle, and had been worked on across long months since, designing the battlefield, getting the scenery together…actually making things themselves, and then assembling the whole thing into such a spectacular 2mm WW2 battle that it tempted me to try the scale for huge actions. I can well understand their chagrin that such a lack lustre tabletop actually won over their honest effort.
But as was repeatedly said by the many unimpressed, it was Warhammer and so that Warhammer table won.
So having missed only two of these events since 1998, this one was deeply disappointing to me. It is sad to see a club that appears to be on a decline in ideas, and stuck with a singular approach to the sort of highly commercialised games it presented.
Having been asked by a couple of the visiting wargamers if I would put on a stall next year, present a display game, and provide some sponsorship prizes, I had to answer honestly and say no. As a person who has sponsored eleven out of the last twelve open days, and sometimes in the past very generously, it is just not worth the effort unless someone can purge the Warhammer clique. That sort of gaming does not encourage people to be creative and think for themselves. It doesn't encourage them to model, to invent scenarios and situations other than within the confined commercialism that the entire Warhammer system is. A club needs to encourage members to think outside the Warhammer rule book and today's event certainly didn't peep far outside those pages. One Warhammer retailer helped sponsor the event and that's great. But if the club wants other sponsors it needs to put on games they will also wish to support. Its simple commercial common sense that nobody will provide sponsorship for a group unless the club supports them too. Events in the past have varied up and down. Some years good, some not so good, and sometimes very good. This shows that the potential is there if good leadership is applied.
What could be done to improve things?
I'd like to see the event get back to a good range of games and some creativity. High standard table presentations will bring back the strength of the older membership and encourage more visitors. It was done in the past. As it is I can foresee a further decline, rather than growth.
The event needs a team of people running it. It looks like a bad example of a one man band. Members need to be designated to put on specific display games, to design scenarios and tabletops other than Warhammer. That will ensure a wider coverage of the wargames hobby. It can't be left to chance. Relying on your guests and visitors to put on a variety of events, so the club can concentrate on messing about with Warhammer does not make sense and is a very limited recruiting tool.
Event officials need to be clearly marked as to who is whom. A visitor having to ask who's who, is a bad public relations situation. If there were any prospective members visiting they surely would not have known who to ask. Wearing a tag is so simple and was prevalent in previous events. Also impressive previously was having all the members were a club T shirt. That was sadly lacking this time.
Signage. There needs to be a description of each event. There needs to be some club promotion posters. Toilets marked up high so people can see where they are in a hall with people in it. If you want visitors you have to tell them where things are, not just presume they will know. Have a sign showing where the club representative or office is located, so visitors know where to enquire, and exhibitors or stall holders know who to check in with. Have some new sandwich board signs made up for placing in the district to direct visitors. The present ones are far too small. If you want to attract outsiders you have to use signs they will see easily.
The food is barely adequate. I know convention food is always bad, but it really doesn't have to be if a little effort and thought is applied. It could be vastly improved with just a little imagination. Buy some lamb chops, perhaps a couple of steaks, and get the guys to grill them on request. One suggestion made to me, and which I think has merit, would be to get the ladies to cook some cakes, then sell a slice of cake with a coffee or cup of tea. A bowl of fruit for people to purchase would work. Heck almost anything to break the boredom of a sausage sizzle, pies, pasties and sausage rolls. There doesn't need to be a lot purchased. Just enough to be sure they are all sold, and the monotony is broken.
Club information. Almost nothing available. There needs to not only be information, but there needs to be a member or two designated to make sure that every visitor who comes through that door gets a hand out given to them. What events are planned for the coming year? I don't know. But after being to such an open day I should have come home with a list of events that might tempt me to visit again. There was no encouragement to join or to come along to club functions.
Speaking to the crowd. Something lacking at many conventions is a means of communicating with the crowd. This needs to be addressed, because unless they know what officials are saying, they might as well not say anything. This has been a problem for all eleven annual open day events I have attended at Group North.
Instead of a movie promoting Warhammer, run something promoting the club. The event is supposed to promote the club, so a silent slide show of photographs taken at previous events would make far more sense. That would encourage people to look at it and it could be used to promote coming games and special days. The idea is to promote your club, not a commercial company quite capable of doing that for themselves. This is a matter of getting priorities right and sticking to them.
If the present theme is to continue, change the name from the Club Open Day to the WARHAMMER SPECTACULAR so other wargamers don't waste their time attending.
Apart from the above, the club has a good venue that is roomy and always nice and clean, there are excellent storage areas and a good range of tabletops. Plenty of free parking room is available quite close around the hall which is of course a bonus. The area is quite pleasant, roads good and access is not difficult as long as you know where to go.
goes to sea with the Terrain Mat.
