British BoLsCon/WarGamesCon

[DrLove42]

What with our cousins across the pond getting all the fun recently (E3, ComicCon and soon WarGamesCon) I was wondering how many of us plucky brits would be interested in having an equivilent war gaming con this side of the pond. This isn't me saying i'm going to start organising one, nor do i know if theres already anything out there for us over here.

So if your passports red, your swear allegiance to the queen and drink more tea than is healthy...or you know live in europe and fancy coming across even...or even any of you Yanks who feel like jumping the pond for special occassions, lets have a look at interest in a British BoLsCon....

And who knows...get enough interest and maybe we could start thinking about arranging something...

[Col.Gravis]

There are a few such events over here but one branded as a BoLSs event could only be successful it's true.

[Grailkeeper]

So if your passports red, your swear allegiance to the queen and drink more tea than is healthy...



I'm Irish, but two out of three ain't bad.:p

I'll be moving to London in Sept tho- I'd love to go to a Bols event then. (actually if there's any other Bols members who'll be studying in KCL say hi)

[Herald of Nurgle]

Well there's pretty much no chance of an 'official' BoLScon being held in Britain so I guess we should begin to consider perhaps getting together and forming a team to organise it!

I'm game for that sort of thing. ;)

[DrLove42]

Kinda what i was going for...if we can get enough people who'd be interested in doing it, and a few people who'd help organise things...doubt you'd get any official recognisation from any companys to "sponsor" but still.

Do it somewhere central, etc etc...Just testing the waters really..

[Aldramelech]

The Calender is already quite full over here. You would have to make sure you don't clash with all the big shows (or cons).

We have Salute, Colours, Partizan, PAW, Legionary, Triples, Fisticuffs, Crusade, Bovington. These are the ones I can think of just off the top of my head, there are others. Add in GW events and various card game and roleplaying events for good measure.

As the Chairman of a Club that runs one of those names events above, let me tell you that ain't an easy thing to do.

Then you have Finance. Were are you getting the £3000-£4000 pounds you will need to bankroll this? If the show doesn't break even, who is responsible for the losses incurred?

Those are just the two big questions. There are hundreds more.

Organizing and running a large wargamming event in the UK is very expensive, time consuming and risky. It takes several years to get to the point where the event becomes self financing and one bad year can put you back to square one.

[DrLove42]

The Calender is already quite full over here. You would have to make sure you don't clash with all the big shows (or cons).

We have Salute, Colours, Partizan, PAW, Legionary, Triples, Fisticuffs, Crusade, Bovington. These are the ones I can think of just off the top of my head, there are others. Add in GW events and various card game and roleplaying events for good measure.


I had no idea there were that many in this country to be honest.

I'm not suggesting renting out the NEC and inviting every gamer in 500 miles along for an almight bash. THAT i understand is well beyond our league. More considering something like a British/Irish get to together out of people on here, expanding your gaming circle a bit, meeting new players and fighting new people. Limit it to the most popular systems, (again maybe just my admittadly small game circle) but FoW and Warmachine aren't played in my area at all, only know 1 Gothic player and no Blood bowl, necromunda etc players to keep space clear, everyone who can brings scenery and tables if people are driving in, that sort of thing.

i fully appreciate that a full convention is out of our reach and have mucho respect for you if you help arrange one. Anyway like i said not planning anything, just gauging interest, testing the water...

[fuzzbuket]

we could hire a table (or two) at GAMES DAY 2010?? also is the BOLS store still running? if so we could all get a hat :P (or paint a shirt :P )

[Herald of Nurgle]

BoLS Store is doooown. I posted something on it way back a few months ago.

Even if a full con was out of reach, we could easily hire out a few tables at Warhammer World lol. If a bunch of homebrew people were interested in writing up a campaign book for us to use over the course of a weekend...

[rbryce]

I for one would be interested in gaming at gamesday, as i will be going, and meeting some fellow BoLSers would be a laugh(i know your only down the road Herald, but i dont get much notice when i go to numpton lol). i could imagine the article now, "BoLSers consume Gamesday like a Hive Fleet", or summat similar. count me in i guess!

[Lane]

Do hotels in the UK have ballrooms/ meeting rooms/ convention facilities?

Years ago, when Games day US was 2 days and almost worth going to, the 40k mailing list held what were almost a mini convention during games day. We arranged for a group discount at a nearby hotel and rented their meeting rooms. One year we had enough people reserve rooms that about 3000 ft^2 cost us about $10 per person.

Another local Con in the US charges $30 for a three day pass and has about 8000 ft^2 of convention space, in part supported by room reservations. Last year they had about 300 people attend and at least broke even on cost.

Start doing your research on facilities. Put your mathhammer skill to use.
How many tables for a given area.
How many people can you expect to attend.
Discounts based on room reservations.
What % of attendees will reserve rooms. Given the size of the UK this is impossible for me to guess. Some Americans drive to work would almost be a cross country trip for you.
Does a location allow room for growth? Can you get 2000 ft^2 this year and expand to 5000-10000 ft^2 over the next few years.

[fuzzbuket]

ill hopefully be able to drag a mate down :D if i go ill put a notice up here on where 2 meet ect,ect,ect :P im hoping to enter the youngbloods category with a nurgle termi ;P

[Grailkeeper]

Why not start off with something smaller than a con to test the waters? any of the people who runs a games club in the UK could put the word up in advance of a BOLS night, and get people to turn up who want to meet other BOLs members?

or maybe just a night out down the pub in some major city where we talk about buffo and melissa and how they probably don't know what stout and bitter are.

[DarkAngelHopeful]

I'd go to a BoLS gaming session in the UK if I were there. And hopefully I'll be moving there after this next assignment. =D

[SotonShades]

At the risk of trying to promote my employers, I know a great hotel with a large ball/convention room, just a short bus ride from an international airport, international sea-port and in a nice city with good night-life... Well, so long as we steer clear of Jesters (if only in deference to DrLove42!)

I'm sure there are hotels across the country who could host a brit-BoLs-con, just whether they could host it at a price we can afford.

I'd love to go to one, and might even be willing to help organise one with you (I'm sure you owe me at least one drink anyway DrLove42, so adding a few more for helping won't be a problem ;) )