First off, the key information: We are open from 10am-5pm Saturday, and 10am-2:30pm on Sunday. The full venue address is Barnes Wallis Building, Staff House Conference Centre, University of Manchester, Sackville Street, Manchester M1 3BB.
The nearest car park is on Charles Street, The University of Manchester, Manchester, Greater Manchester M1 7AR. According to its website it is only £2.00 GBP/day at the weekend.
For those arriving by train at Manchester Piccadilly, leave Piccadilly by the Fairfield Street Entrance, and cross the junction to be beside the Bull's Head pub. Turn left and go under the railway bridge, and immediately turn right, following the railway viaduct past the Optometry department. You'll pass two large red magnets (it's art..) and then turn left down some steps. The Barnes Wallis Building is in front of you.
If you want to arrange a game, this year we have allocated 4 tables (near the bar) for use by pick-up gamers, so feel free to take advantage of the free table space, and arrange to meet a mate at the show and have a game of whatever you fancy totally free of charge, courtesy of the BHGS!
Britcon is a very relaxed trade show, and many of our traders see Britcon very much as a place where chatting to you, their customers, is just as important as is relieving you of your cash – so don't be afraid to ask them about new ranges, upcoming plans, or just to shoot the breeze about life in general – that's what they are there for!
New Traders and Special Offers (so far…)
Grim Tree Games – a first time trader – are happy to announce that they will be running a pre-release demo copy of Mars Attacks from Mantic Games on a demo table next to their stand!
They will also have running demos of Kings of War, Deadzone, and lots of other board and card games. Drop them an email on info@grimtreegames.com before the event if there is a game you want them to bring along and save for you, or check grimtreegames.com for prices and availability.
Colonel Bills are offering their normal (and generous) 10% pre-order discount on all items (except painted figures). This includes all of their massive lines of 2nd hand stock, Polly Oliver 15mm AWI, Heroes of the Dark Age, Ainsty Castings and Depot Battalion ranges, plus the legendary Belt Fed Girls and our already discounted 4Ground stock.
In addition, just for Britcon they have 5 sets of heavily discounted '28SDMH115 First National Bank Building' MDF kits from the Dead Mans Hand range that they have on offer at a vastly reduced £55.00 GBP each. They are being sold on a pre-order/first come first served basis – normal RRP is £72.00 GBP
Warlord Games have just launched a Tank Battles add-on for the popular Bolt Action ruleset, which wil be on sale at the show. This is one of your first opportunities to quiz the Warlord team about these new rules, and then get tempted by some enormous tanks too!
University of Wolverhampton War Studies Department will be present at Britcon on Saturday, promoting their range of War Studies courses – so if you have ever wondered about taking the next step and doing a proper course in military history, you can chat to the team from the department at the show and find out what it all entails!
The Department boasts the country's oldest and longest running undergraduate War Studies degree programme, with decades of successful graduates. As part of their degree course, our students are given the opportunity to study and visit museums and battlefields in Britain and elsewhere. Full details on their website wlv.ac.uk
Hoka Hey Wargaming join us for the first time this year, with a range of handmade wargame scenery in various scales. They also sell a range of plastic wargames-ready storage boxes as well as magnetic and steel paper, plus some interesting and unique MDF models includes Rorkes Drift in 10mm scale. If you were tempted by the 25mm gaming at Roll Call earlier this year they also have a range of 28mm Elizabethans (formerly the Pendraken range) and the superb Border Riever Figures – see hokaheywargaming.co.uk for full details
Also new this year are All Rolled Up, selling the ARU – a handmade dice bag and gaming accessory. The ARU offers an innovative, flexible and all-in-one solution for bringing your gaming to the table. A game roll that combines pocket, pen tidy and dicebag into a single accessory – so that when you're All Rolled Up you're ready to game.
But, it's not just for gamers… All Rolled Up can carry dice, eraser, index cards, sticky notes, beads, writing gear, drawing kit, boardgame components, trading cards, wargame miniatures, stationery, make-up and more. No need to worry about forgetting anything – All Rolled Up has everything you need to be a prepared player or GM.
Specialist Games Collector are also new to doing exhibitions, having previously been an eBay-only trader. Theywill have a range of Mordheim, Epic, Necromunda and Inq' reconditioned GW originals, other 2nd hand items as well as some of the best Epic proxies out there from various 6mm manufacturers all on their stand.
We also have a well stocked Bring & Buy – Britcon is great for a Bring and Buy with the trade show being free to enter so you might want to consider dropping stuff off that you want to sell on Saturday and collecting the proceeds (hopefully!) on Sunday? The core audience will be the players so have a look through our roster of competitions and see if you have anything they might want to buy, and bring it along! We also help you out by giving you the chance to complete your Bring & Buy entry form in advance.
As well as the Wargamers Bar in the main room, the university also have a menu including pies, chips and pizza on offer in the Common Room (back of the main hall, up the stairs) over Britcon weekend. It may be busy when the gamers are on lunch break around 12-1pm, but otherwise is a great place to sneak out of the main hall and gloat over your purchases!
The Barnes Wallis Bar adjacent to the gaming area in the Barnes Wallis Room will be available for drinks from 1100 hours on Friday & Saturday and 1200 hours on Sunday. PLEASE NOTE: Bringing your own snacks/refreshments into the gaming areas is technically not permitted.
Our competitors have all been instructed not to bite, so don't be afraid to approach them with any questions! They are of course there (and have paid) to play in our competions and if you want to engage them in a lengthy discussion about which figures they've used whilst they are locked in the crucial point of a particularly tense championship decider they might not be able to find time to break off and give you a massively detailed answer, but generally the competition games are part of the spectacle of the show so make sure you look them over whilst you are there.
Hopefully that covers most of it – but for a full and up to date range of traders, see our website at The BHGS website
