"Vapnartak show report" Topic

In brief good for traders not so good for games – read my full thoughts on my blog link

The bring and buy was horrible… I may have bought something had I not been like a pinball with all the ignorant people and there backpacks pushing and shoving desperately getting to the tables first… As you say in your report… There was absolutely nothing special there you couldn't have bought online.. No real offers. 10% will never grab me…

Quite busy show but seemed fewer traders, no real discounting, the bring and buy too cramped and the format of that stopped me bringing stuff to sell myself. The prevalence of traders carrying only limited ranges or stock also is becoming more frequent (understandably) but the lack of stock of new releases by at least one very popular large company seemed perverse…. In short the retail side of the show is becoming less useful as most of what I wanted wasn't available especially as there seemed fewer traders and many I expected to see were not there.

Show games were only so-so. I really appreciate the effort to put on a big game but the two largest on the ground floor are very much of the same appearance every year- especially the back of beyond WW1/ middle east game which must have been on show with tweaks for the last five years or so. It is a great set up but i've seen it before. Time to give it a year or two off or move it elsewhere and give the space to some other group who can show something different and offer a bit more interaction. The WW2 game with a 28mm Hamilcar glider though was good- very good.

Participation games were a better bet up on the gallery level especially the Mortal gods, Dux Britaniarum and What a Tanker games. I especially liked the Brigantes versus Imperial roman game- that was great.

On the whole it was an enjoyable show but a less pleasurable experience than previous years, it may need to address a few issues to prevent any slide setting in as happened at Sheffield.

As the OP says in his report some aspects of this (and maybe other) shows are making my attendance at then less likely. I must admit this year, for the first time ever I questioned my attendance and travel to this show which is usually my favourite. Hopefully be back next year. Roll on Albanich, Phoenix, Phalanx and Border Reiver- or at least as many of them that I can get to. (Phoenix is a given though)

A fair and balanced review Dave

Can't say that I agree with the above all that much. York has always been predominantly a trade show rather than a display game event, nothing seemed to have changed there. A few regular traders were not there, Gripping Beast being the most obvious, but that is their decision, the organisers cannot force traders to attend. I checked who was attending before the event and pre-ordered stuff I particularly wanted and took pot luck on everything else. I don't expect major discounting at shows, I've never noticed it as being part of shows in the past. I certainly spent plenty and got pretty much everything I went for.

We made the 2 hour journey, but to be honest wished we hadn't. The tabletop sale was a crush, and there seem to be more people offloading GW stuff and tat and less quality. Hammerhead TT Sale is far better IMO. We only stayed about an hour, we all became fed up of ignorant people wearing rucksacks barging us about (don't people have any manners these days?) and the general crush. You couldn't move around freely, it seems to have become a victim of its own success. We'll be giving it a miss next year and try ROBIN instead. The games on show were a bit of a let down as well, that is to say if you could actually get near enough to see them. 5/10 I'm afraid.

Yes, it was crowded, but the free maps helped navigation. Glad I went with a written wishlist or it would have been easy to be overwhelmed. Found a quiet corner on the top level to gather thoughts half-way through.

Would have liked to ask a few questions of the stallholders but most were too busy just selling. Which has to be good for the hobby in the long run.

For me, it worked. Primarily went to buy, didn't bother with the Bring-and-buy, and only glanced at some of the games.

I think I spent the least I've ever spent at a show in donkeys years. We spent more on KFC on the way home than our combined spending at the show.