I shall try and keep this fairly brief and give some more thoughts not so much about the quality of the show but of attending it etc under the current climate.
But first the purchases were modest
The ancient rules were both show special £5 each and were bought due to their focus on slightly different game mechanics and periods covered -Spartan to Successors is dice less and uses playing cards and grid movement, different coloured cards allowing different classes of units to perform different actions etc. Limited command and armies designed to be around 12 units. Not fully read or digested.
To Ur is Human! Not read yet but as well as Classical Greek the Bronze Age is my next favourite ancient period.
Rapid Fire Reloaded also £5 is a quick play version of the Rapid Fire rules and appear to be very popular. I loved Rapid Fire and whilst I sold all my 20mm collection when Lee died I still have a few 15’s and a colleague who has a large collection of 15mm stuff I just need to convert him now.
Now a few more thoughts on the show this isn’t about the quality ( which was excellent ) but more about attending in general. When I saw the photos of the Falkirk show it was clear that the majority of people who attended wore masks when moving around and perhaps I naively thought this would be the same.
Laurence and Richard the principal organisers and thoroughly decent sensible chaps had advertised for some time that they asked people to be sensible, wear masks when moving around, don’t attend if you feel unwell and use the sanitisers etc around the hall. They didn’t wish to enforce the restrictions and relied on people’s common sense.
Unfortunately that failed big style, posters on the entry points reinforced the requests together with asking people to use the NHS checking in scan. Whilst a lot of people wore masks as they entered within an hour or so the vast majority of people weren’t. I met a couple of people I know who attended and who were full of cold and no masks why? Where was there consideration for others, I’ve also seen comments by some that they were unaware of the requests, pretty hard to miss if you came in the main entrance.
I can’t quite fathom out the difference between to the two shows in that respect. I’ve also seen some kick back now that the Salute organisers have announced that the Excel require people entering the facility to show they’ve had both jabs, are exempt or had a recent negative test with some people saying they won’t go as they will not be dictated to?
If by next year we are still in a similar position then I hope there is a rethink regarding entry to the event.
I briefly mentioned the York show in February next year, I know they are not having a bring and buy and have moved the downstairs games to the vacant spaces upstairs however if they decide to just ask people to be sensible rather than insist on mask wearing I won’t be going, the show is always busy, crowded and uncomfortable.
It’s a difficult decision as the hobby has supported me over the last 45 years through some difficult times and the shows have been an essential part in that, providing inspiration and an excellent way to meet with friends socially.
Once again there is no criticism of the organisers who did everything right except putting their faith in the attendees and bearing in mind the age profile of the majority of attendees it’s a bit like Turkeys voting for Christmas!