"Best Brit Con for 2016?" Topic

A friend and I are planning a pilgrimage to England in 2016 and want to know what would be the best Con to attend? We are mostly historical gamers.

We do not want to go when the weather is bad as we hope to visit the museums and maybe tromp a battlefield.

Thank you

what would be the best Con to attend?

We don't have "Cons" in the UK. We call them "shows" and are more focussed on traders. Yes, there are ganes at our shows, but they are either "Demo" games (to look at, but not play) or "Party" games (to take part in, but usually only last an hour at most).

The best UK show without doubt is Salute at London's Excel in April.

and maybe tromp a battlefield.

Any particular battlefield(s) you interested in tromping?

We do not want to go when the weather is bad

Best stay away then

Salute is indeed a monster, but it can be a bit soulless with poor lighting and very noisy. I would also recommend Partizan if that fits your schedule. With one in late May and another early September you should get good weather.

Why does the weather matter if you are going to be a) in a show or b) in a museum? Anyway, whatever the weather is it will be different tomorrow.

I would suggest Colours which is in Semptember, so not too grim.

Naseby Battlefield, Bosworth and the R3 Visitor Centre at Leicester are within a 30 mile or so radius – they are the best. By 2016 the Civil War Centre in Newark, also in the East Midlands, will be open … so I'd combine those with Partizan (in May or September) or with Derby which is usually the first weekend of October.

Phil

There is a pretty good list of events here: link

Salute is the biggest one day show but Warfare and the Old Glory "Worlds" in Derby are also very large and the Triples in Sheffield is not far behind.

There are very few big shows in the summer. There is Britcon which is primarily a multi period tournament with some associated traders but compared to the other events the trade presence is much smaller.

If you want to kill two birds with one stone then Battlegroup South at the Bovington tank museum is not a bad option.

The biggest and best show is, as mentioned, Salute. Being London based will give you the most options for museum visits. The British Museum on its own takes all day to get round!

Other big shows that are in or close to London include Warfare in Reading (November), Colours in Newbury (September), and SELWG in Crystal Palace in South London (October?).

As far as battlefields go, Hastings is well worth a visit. Very atmospheric. The site is actually on the edge of the town of Battle, a few miles from Hastings itself.

While you are here you must visit a castle. It is compulsory! Wherever you go in the country there will be plenty to choose from. Among the most impressive are the Tower of London, Dover, and the Edward I castles of North Wales.

August and Scotland… Claymore and more battlefields than you can shake a stick at…Culloden is only about three hours drive from Edinburgh, and puts you next to one of the greatest artillery fortresses in Europe (Fort George)..
Museums in Edinburgh (several in the castle.. packed solid unfortunately with dumb tourists) – Perth (Black Watch), Aberdeen (Gordons), Fort George itself (Camerons, Seaforths, Queens Own Highlanders and whatever the hell they are called now days), and you will be sick of castles when you have finished (Glamis, Cawdor, Dornoch…) – and of course the west coast opens up Eilan Donan, and the regimental museums in Weegieland, with Stirling conveniently half way across…
Bad weather guaranteed :-(

Thanks everyone! Lots of suggestions for us to look at. I didn't even think of Scotland!!

Hastings would be awesome as well.

Deephorse, I want to avoid this:

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A word on British weather.

Unpredictable.

It is often cold from November to March. By April it is usually starting to warm up. Some days in April are T shirt warm, others are snowy! The hottest months are July and August usually. It can rain at any time.

The South-East has the warmest, driest climate. The South-west is warm but wetter. The North is generally colder.

You can't really plan a trip based on the weather. Whatever time of year you come, you may be lucky or unlucky! Summer is a quiet time for wargame shows, so if you want to get out and about Spring or Autumn are probably your best bet!

Claymore and August in Edinburgh, the weather is usually fair.

As Chokidar says no shortage of Battlefields, Museums and Castles nearby. Stay a week (month) later and there is also the Edinbugh International Festival.

link

link

I can see the argument for Scotland, but remember accomodation will get booked up early around Edinburgh at the time of the festival.
If you are looking at southern Scotland consider crossing the border to Berwick which has superb Tudor walls and a purpose built 18th century barrack complex that now houses a couple of small military museums.

I would suggest Colours which is in Semptember, so not too grim.

You may need to check progress on that one after their one year lay off.

I'll Second the vote for a trip to Berwick!

Re Berwick… agreed, even if the English do seem to have nicked it! At least the KOSB's Museum still stands within its walls!!!!! That whole coast line is littered in castles and places of interest and Berwick indeed is something to be seen…

ACW Gamer

Much will depend on where you are planning to stay and where you are flying in to…

equally important will be the duration of your visit. For example if you planning on spending a long weekend and are arriving in London you can kiss goodbye to any trips north to Scotland or west to wales. Both take hours to get to using trains, cars etc and can be horrifically expensive.

Once you have a clearer idea of you timings, arrival and departure points and crucially your budget there will be lots more relevant advice.

all the best

If you fancy a trip to Scotland Carronade (Saturday 9th May) is pretty much the same size as Claymore and Falkirk is just about as central as you can with Edinburgh, Glasgow and the battlefields mentioned by Jim just as accessible.

My suggestion would be to google the shows that have been described here – there are many bloggers out there who will give you an unbiased opinion.

Keep us posted on your plans and how the trip goes – it is always interesting to get an outsiders view

Dave Knight,

Here is an outsider question for you, we do the British gamers do this?:

We don't have "Cons" in the UK. We call them "shows" and are more focussed on traders. Yes, there are ganes at our shows, but they are either "Demo" games (to look at, but not play) or "Party" games (to take part in, but usually only last an hour at most).

I am laying out my Fall In report and this quote popped back into my head.

Here is an outsider question for you, we do the British gamers do this?:

I presume you are asking WHY British gamers do this?

The quote was from me, not Dave Knight.

As to why, the answer is steeped in history. The first UK shows were just "club open days" – a regular wargames club meeting to which the public were admitted. Over time, it was realised that traders would pay to have a stand at such events and sell their wares. The stand rents thus helped to pay for the venue. It was also realised that wargames don't actually make a very good spectator sport. The original club open days were all what we refer to now as "Demo" games, so some club members decided to run short games with easy rules to introduce the public to the joys of wargaming. These are the "Party" games, with the emphasis on short games with simple rules.

It is worth bearing in mind that Salute, the biggest wargames show in the UK, is in reality just the club "open day" run by the South London Warlords.

Major B,

Yes…."why" instead of "we." The HMGS Con games are all participatory and run for a few hours using all manner of rules I wonder hasn't this caught on in England?

The reason that is usually given is that with the UK being so much more densely populated most people live close enough to a club to bet there gaming fix there.

The club that I am in, Falkirk and District, meets every Monday night and one Sunday a month for an all day session. I normally play around 45 games at the club each year as do many of my friends. However I might only attend say 4 or 5 shows. Thus shows are more often than not shopping trips.

The exception to this is tournaments – many shows run these and the attendees often have very little spare time outside their games.

One further thought – if you are in the country for a few days and fancy doing some gaming a post on this forum giving times and locations might very well generate invitations from local clubs. I have picked up games in London, Grimsby, Blackburn and Lisbon by doing that over the past couple of years.

The Carronade Show is held in Graeme High School, and is about 20 yards from a substantial and well preserved section of the Antonine Wall, and quite possibly also on the site of part of the First Battle of Falkirk. From the back of the school you can also see most of the Forth Valley, including where a Jacobite battery at Alloa exchanged fire with a Govt ship making it's way up the Forth and the site of Grangemouth Aerodrome which was a Fighter and Training Station. So that's the Romans to WWII covered.

Within 10 miles there are the sites of 2nd Falkirk, Kilsyth, Sauchieburn (general area as no one actually knows the exact location), Bannockburn, Stirling Bridge and Linlithgow Bridge, as well as The Falkirk Wheel, the Kelpies and Stirling Castle.

Edinburgh and Glasgow also have places of historical interest ;-)