Vapnartak Games

A somewhat belated post.

Scrivs and I may the trek up to York to go the Vapnartak show. Ironically, when first mooted by folk in our gaming group we were the two ambivalent about the whole thing - but the only ones who went in the end.

I've always fancied going but had never made it Scrivs had last been about eight years ago.

I took my camera and grabbed some pictures of the games.

All the games were on a single narrow mezzainine up against some big wide windows  - ideal for watching horses run around for the benefit of our national gambling industry and which let in plenty of light, but made taking pictures very tricky. The area also became quite congested, further adding to photography challenges.

First up some Back of Beyond. Lovely looking game with some great vignettes and a period I keep looking at longingly (mainly due to the lovely Copplestone range).

Sadly this game in particular suffered from the classic "gamers playing by themselves and not talking to punters syndrome" to an almost hilarious degree. I thought that kind of thing was a tired old cliche long gone the way of the dodo, but despite standing by the game taking pictures and chatting between ourselves about how good it looked on two separate occasions the guys just played on and didn't talk to us (or anyone else that I could see).

Some sort of pagan Baltic game - again we were ignored on first pass, second time around the participation was in full swing, so no opportunity to interact.

What a Tanker. Fantastic looking table with lots of details. I do like the look of cowboy games but the investment in scenery needed (there are something like 14 very period specific buildings on this table for a game involving fewer models than that) always puts me off.

A 15mm ACW game - some excellent LED usage, and who doesn't love an observation balloon?

Sally Forth's version of "Peter Stringfellow's Lord of the Rings".

A *not* Game of Thrones set up called Harlot's Den. Lovely table with loads of great detail and the guys here were very chatty and making an effort to talk to punters.

Overall the games side of thing was disappointing. They feel like very much an afterthought (inconvenience even) for what is a trade/shopping event. They're shoved out of the way in a confined space. Combine that with some gamers not wanting to engage with the public and poor (from a photography point of view) lighting and you get the feeling the organisers would really rather they weren't there at all.

The shopping selection, conversely is large with some of the less frequently seen traders. However I'm not sure I'm interested in going to wargames shows just for the shopping - the eye candy is really important to the experience for me, so I suspect I won't make the trip again next year.