"New Bovington tank museum wargaming show boycott" Topic

Peter Pig has just signed up for this new show.
Saturday 13th July

We will be there with a stand and participation game. It has been brought to my attention as a trader and game provider that there is a campaign to boycott the show , which seems a shame. Traders and gamers have been approached and asked to not support the show.

I am not even quite sure why folk would boycott a show? Maybe the prospective boycotters will publish something here please?

I am not part of the show organisation. I always hate to see any games show boycotted. Just seems to be very destructive of the hobby? What would make you launch a campaign to get gamers to boycott a show?

Would anyone here ignore a boycott or you would you concede to such a thing?
Not a whole "hill of beans" , but it did cause me concern.

I've never been to the show, love the museum! I live "up north" but I'm now tempted to go!!!

Had a great time there last year. Do not see any point in boycotting it. Would be interesting to know why this has come about.

sour grapes it seems to me, how odd.
good luck with it martin

Maybe it's a case of "much ado about nothing".

I know at least one Knee Jerk reaction, however he is going now. The only place it is "The show with no name" is on the Battlegroup South Facebook site.

Trying to decide what game to put on, have me form from Stewart, although I may now be away, waiting to hear.

Tally Ho!

I wonder what would cause someone to call for a boycott of a wargaming show. I would be curious to understand why someone is calling for a boycott of this very fine show. I also find it very odd that whoever is calling for a boycott has not published on the various wargaming sites why they are calling for a boycott.

To answer some of Martin's questions;

What would make me launch a boycott of a wargaming show: If the show organizers either used the show to espouse a particular political view, or promoted extremist political/social action groups engaged in violent behavior.

Would I ignore a boycott or concede: It would depend on the reason for the boycott. For example if the show organizers donated some of the profits to a cause or group that I felt was against my own personal moral code I would go along with the boycott. If the boycott is for a reason I don't agree with I would ignore the boycott and if it called for due to a reason I thought was really ridiculous I would go out of my way to attend and spend money.

I know nothing about this but are the SS 're-reactors' attending ? That's caused problems elsewhere in the past.

Not on their website yet. Hmmmm.

I've boycotted both the Colorado cons because they turned into cosplay
events.

I agree with all the sentiments expressed so far. This show has got nothing to do with the previous show hosts. They decided to close the show down and not do it anymore. I believe as they "fell out" with the tank museum about the terms of running the show. these things do happen when dealing with museums and organisations I know.

As I understand it , Stewart (I know him) stepped in and asked if he could run a show . The previous show hosts said that was fine. Stewart also said he would also change the show by running it for charity (British Legion). The charity aspect might be the major sticking problem, although that would be bizarre.

I think this is all correct to the best of my knowledge, but I am not personally involved. I am just concerned about bullying, boycotting and poor manners being accepted behaviour.. Someone needs (? maybe not) to speak out.

Maybe the previous show runners will make me look silly by coming on here , deny all of my crazy assertions and wish this show for charity; the very best of luck. That would be nice. I can take the shame. All solved!

Guthroth. It is a new organiser who is not part of the previous organiser group. I hope this new organiser gets a website done and face book too. That is probably the way to promote shows these days?

What's the point of a boycott, if no one knows why you're boycotting something?

Seems fairly pointless, IMHO.

Just done a quick Google search on this and found this:
link

In case the link doesn't show:
Yes, very sorry, but it's official!! I know the show has always had a bit of a reputation for being on and off, but I was hoping to run it again this year. At my first meeting with the Tank Museum this year it was agreed that the show would go on again, and my parting words were ‘the same terms as last year' but sadly when these were given I have been unable to agree to the terms for running the show. The key changed points were that the museum wished to run the internal café. We were also not permitted to use the fields: so no camping and no party. We were only allowed the use of the museum during standard opening hours, but I could hire the museum for additional hours, with additional charges. I believe the museum thinks I made a lot more money out of the show than was actually the case, and it is with sad regret that I felt that the show would have gone through too many changes and would become a financial liability, as I am now officially a pensioner. I made the decision to close the show. I would like to thank all my traders, gamers and visitors who have supported the show over the past nineteen years. Indeed, we did just about make twenty if you count the years that we were part of the Model Expo. But of course I don't work on my own and I couldn't have done it without the support and hard work of the Battlegroup South Team, who have supported the show and myself since the start, and to them goes my biggest thanks of all.

Hope this helps,

B

I'm wondering what date the Boycott story originated. 1st April perhaps ……

After Battle group south (BGS) cancelled this years show I was asked by a couple of traders would I be interested in organising the show. So as not to upset anybody I spoke to BGS and they were happy for me to proceed I asked if they wanted to be involved or put a game on, they said no and didn't want anything todo with the show or the Tank museum.
I have previously organised the Weymouth show, and now being semi retired with time on my hands I thought why not, I love the hobby.
Since then a couple of traders have contacted me to tell me that BGS have asked them not to attend and to boycott the show, this from a group that are supposed to be part of the hobby.
They want the show to fail so they can approach the museum next year and demand better turns.
I found the museum easy to work with and has been said before I am not out to make any money from the show, any profits from the trailers tables will be donated to the Royal British Legion, why them? Because I was in the forces for 34years and they support all serving and ex serving military.

Good heavens! How childish…

That makes it all clearer. Thank you Stewart for casting a light!

I hope the show is a great success. How two faced to say go ahead then ask trade to boycott.

All sounds petty and not a little bit childish. I hope you have plenty of traders and punters and the British Legion gets a decent amount out of it thanks to your efforts.

This sounds all very sad.

I've just had a look at the battlegroupsouth.org website, which – alongside a bunch of details for the 2018 Bovington show – says:

"We have one rule, please DO NOT promote ANY museum events here … thank you" (from last Saturday)

"Sorry but any comments with regards to ANY museum event including the names of ANY organiser will be deleted!" (from last Sunday)

I hope you get a great turnout of both traders and public, Stewart, and raise a lot of money for a very deserving charity.

Stewart when is your event happening?

There's nothing on the Tank Museum Events website showing this yet.

TMP link

13th July.

Hope the show goes well, would have loved to attend but conflicts with my yearly American trip…

These show date is Saturday 13th July

Good luck with this. Shame the museum and BSG fell out, but it is a great venue for a show

They do it in the USA all the time don't like where the convention is boycott it, it only hurts the hobby in the long run.

Army Strong, what?

There's a difference between "That convention is too far away for me, so I'm not going" and "Boycott the convention!"

I don't see a lot of boycotting in the US because people don't like where a convention is. I do see a lot of people who simply don't want to make the trip. The US is a really big and adding 4 hours of driving time for a lot of people is too much. That isn't boycott, just convenience. I know I don't go to small cons in parts of the US that will require me to fly to them. It's just too pricey and too much time out of my schedule. However, I will go to places within 4-5 hours of driving because I can do so fairly easily.

If you are referring to Historicon, I would argue most of the 'I'm not going to Virginia' sentiment back in the day was because of distance rather than some coordinated boycott.

Well it appears to me … like everything … it's about the bottom line, i.e. making … However, I am in support of turning any/all/some profit over to organizations the supports the military, e.g. the Royal British Legion.

They do it in the USA all the time don't like where the convention is boycott it

Appears lately in the USA someone, some group/organization, etc. will find some reason(s) to boycott, protest, etc., just about anything. Some may be warranted, but many … maybe not so much, IMO. But everybody is entitled to an opinion in the US or UK, AFAIK.

I've read all these postings and I can't tell whether this show is on or not.

Of course not using the grounds for camping and partying is certainly a reason to boycott :-)

+1 to TGerritsen

The only person I ever heard mention something about a boycott was a certain gamer who swore, here on TMP, that if Historicon left Fredericksburg he would never go to another HMGS event. Of course that doesn't stop him from posting, every once in a while, to stir the pot.

I'm from southern Ontario, and it is a 9+ hour drive to the HMGS conventions and Little Wars. Moving any of the cons farther away would make me reconsider my drive. That's not a boycott. And I went to all the shows at F'burg. That was bad enough but at least I only spent 20 minutes on I-95.

I've read all these postings and I can't tell whether this show is on or not.

There is a show on at Bovington, but not run by the same team as last year.

As mentioned above, it is on Saturday 13th July.

I went to all the shows at F'burg. That was bad enough but at least I only spent 20 minutes on I-95.

And, Bowman, those were the longest 20 minutes of the trip, right? ;-) I only drove a few miles on I-95 going to Historicon in Fredericksburg, and every year it took me about 20 minutes to cover that distance. Thank goodness for US 15! Also made a stop in Gettysburg very convenient! Anyway, I'm glad you made the trip.

Money? If we were doing this for money we would have went broke a long time ago.

And, Bowman, those were the longest 20 minutes of the trip, right? ;-)

I would arrive about noon on the Thursday so it wasn't rush hour on I-95. But it was a stressful part of the trip. I feel bad for those who spend hours on that road.

I left US 15 at Harrisburg and went down I-81, coming down the back way. Then #66 to 17 south. Nice picturesque drive.