"A Modest Cold Wars Report" Topic

Hello, all,

I've posted a modest report on Cold Wars on my blog, including a batch of photos.

For the curious and those who couldn't make it, see more at:

link

Best,
Ed M

Very cool, thanks!

Oh! You know these barrels…?

I LOVED those. A buddy of mine came home with a bunch, but you got the best ones, the ones with the glass bottles!

Anyone know the name of the gents selling these? They were on the edge of the dealer hall, on the right if you faced from the door.

Oh, and I bought bags of the same trees and such from that vendor in the flea market:)

Yes, loved the stuff that exhibitor was carrying, but I don't recall the name. My convention book isn't with me. I'll check the vendor map when I get home (if nobody else comes up with it before then).

Ed M

Some nice looking games.

Tha nks so much for the report
Good pics and great AAR
Thanks
Clif

I can't remember the name of the vendor either. I saw those but being cheap, I opted for the unpainted ones they had at the other end (at least I think it was the same guys). Very nice little terrain bits at reasonable prices.

Thanks for sharing. :-)

I believe the vendor with the painted (and unpainted) barrels and sacks and such was "Recreational Conflict"

recreationalconflict.com

I didn't even realize that they were selling the unpainted versions --guess I'm easily distracted by shiny things.

Best,
Ed M

Yep, that's who it is. Father/Son team as I recall, and two wonderful gents all around.

Ed,

I believe the "Saturday Evening Exodus" for many who live close to the Lancaster area is becoming routine for most of them! Whatever the reasons are best explained by them!

Maybe it's time for HMGS to drop to a two day Show altogether for both CW and FI.

From what's been reported on so far, it does sound like the Host still has a long way to go to raise itself from the pit it's fallen into!

It is my observation that Saturday evening has become emptier starting many years ago. Of course there is more room to spread out too, as many play pick up games in the Lampeter room in the evening. It might be a good idea for the powers that be to actually schedule games in there too.

The Host is a work in progress, that is for sure, but workmen were in the rooms working on them. It is a big place. I know people involved in the cons are impressed with their plans to redo the place. There were artist pictures on the walls of what the place will eventually look like when done.

Great looking games, a dealer hall more full than I had seen in years and tons of younger people in attendance (lots of couples). It seems like Saturday that is a big pause from about 5-7pm as dayvtripoers clear out and people grab dinner before the evening push. Aside from the main areas, Saturday evening has a growing late night scene in the Wally's Basement flea market area -- there were easily 15-20 pick up games going on past 10pm. It seems like the late night crowd has shifted to this space from the main Distkefink room. Maybe it's the light, wider space and higher ceilings, but there was a great diversity of miniatures and board games going on late Saturday.

Yup, the painted barrels and bits are us recreationalconflict.com . We'll be putting them up on the website soon if you need anything.

Personally I think Sunday might as well not exist for most shows. Let people have the travel time/day off. Some people might complain, but attendance and sales speak louder.

Hah! I actually spent more money on Sundah than Saturday… Maybe it is that desperate desire to walk away with more, or maybe it is just the "spend what is left in your pocket" thing?

I enjoyed your products!

I wanted to comment on the show's "lightness"…. We did have a LOT of cancellations for events at CW 2017… please do not take this as "the shows are falling off on Sat"…. This simply is not true…. Fall-In! 2016 was slammed sat night until the wee hours of the morning both in scheduled events AND in the Lampeter….. the later being filled with pick up games until the wee hours of the morning.

Fall-In! in fact has been growing steadily over the last few years. Attendance there is on par with or exceeded CW a few times.

The layout for CW was excellent. There were nice aisle ways to walk down to get into the Distlefink to look at games. The table layouts seemed to allow a decent amount of room around each table.

The lighting always seems poor in the gaming areas though. Not the first time the valence lights haven't been turned on either. Not even sure if they work in the Distlefink.

Big thanks to the entire convention staff. Job well done all. :-)

The Lampeter is well lit---better than the DFink

The Lampeter is well lit---better than the DFink

Agree. We play our pick-up games there. Would prefer the Host to turn on the heat in there at night. Was cold in there Fri and Sat nights.

Thanks for sharing the pictures. +1 to the comments above by Dan and Kimber.

There were plenty of games (and gamers) still around on Saturday night at Cold Wars. I was in one of the club rooms on Saturday and it had at least 4 games going on until past 9pm. As was mentioned above, some games have moved into the Lampeter Room (which was chilly all weekend long). Some of the pick up games I saw there over the weekend were better looking than some of the games in the Ballroom.

As far as Sunday goes, HMGS will not be dropping it any time soon. Vendors continue to make sales on Sunday morning. I went by the flea market on Sunday morning. It was packed with buyers and sellers before 9am and continued to do business past 11am. Sellers who paid for one table on Friday or Saturday spread out onto four or five tables on Sunday. Some sellers made more on Sunday morning than they did on Friday. Since the flea market is open to all on Sunday, I'm sure some non-members showed up to take a table or two.

Finally, HMGS staff is working behind the scenes on Sunday morning. The Board has a meeting. Plus, some staff stay well past Noon wrapping things up. There are also a few GMs who offer games on Sunday morning for those who want to play one more game. The HAWKS always list a Sunday morning game or two. If nobody shows, they pack up.

As was said earlier, many thanks to the convention staff for a job well done.

Dan,

For several years now the Lampeter Room has been filled with both Tournament Players and other Gamers playing pick up games, or on going rounds of the tournaments. It's not a recent phenomenon.

Also, for several years running there has been, and continues to be a substantial exodus of people who leave around the dinner hours on Saturday evening, and never return to the show. Many of them have stated this in numerous posts here on TMP in the past. Even in the run-up to this most recent CW there were about half dozen posters who stated they would be there on Friday, but were leaving Saturday evening "like always"!

Over the last several years it has also been commented upon here, on TMP, and in a number of Blogs from attendees how empty the Distelfink room has become in the evenings (particularly Saturday evening) after the dinner hours. Often it's mentioned the room is about, or more then 50% empty. Very often there are photos posted that support the statements made in that regard.

There is a vast difference between "Scheduled Games", and games that actually occur! It's been stated by former Convention Staff Members that the convention staffs do a poor job of policing the convention game schedule. I've on more then one occasion signed up for games scheduled to begin at 8 in the evening on a Saturday night only to discover the GM doesn't show up to run the game. The game wasn't cancelled, but the GM for whatever reason didn't show as scheduled! So I either found another game, or something else to do with my time.

The Main reason for the growth in Fall In attendance over the last number of years is mostly due to the move of Historicon away from the Host! That is the main reason pointed out by many attendees time and time again! When 2018 rolls around it won't be a bit surprising to see Fall In attendance fall off from the level it has seen the last few years. That's just a prediction on my part based on what I've read and what I've seen in my experience over the years.

Maybe it's time the BOD survey the attendee pool to get some numbers, reasons, and possible suggestions of how to deal with the observed problem. Even most of the Vendors have commented how there isn't the usual Sunday Morning rush of last minute shoppers there once were! So pretending the Saturday Night Exodus doesn't exist certainly isn't going to solve anything.

People complained about both brisket and roast pork???

And gin & tonic for desert!!!

Sounds like Xanadu…

One suggestion I would make, since we're Monday morning quarterbacking, is that there are very, very few Sunday games. Why don't we put them all together in the Paradise room. The HAWKs typically run 1/3 to 1/2 of the Sunday morning games, and they run them in the Paradise room. We could release most of the rest of the rooms Sunday morning and maybe save a few bucks.

Just a suggestion.