his report on Cold Wars is assembled from the input of several people; Bill Rutherford, Toby Barrett, Pete English, Peter Hess, Victor Schmidt, and others. - Ed
Cold Wars was different in many ways. Both Bill Frye and I commented on the low turnout. Dealer room experience was slow but steady the entire weekend with several dead times. No mad rushes like in the past. We walked thru the Distlefink room early evening on Saturday night after the dealer room closed and I have never seen so many empty tables. You could actually walk around and not wait for an opening in a crowd or bump into anyone. I don’t think a lot of dealers did OK.
The dealers said there were lots of sales, but where people used to buy armies now they were only buying a few packs to round out their armies, and they attributed the slack sales to the weather (the noon rush on Friday didn’t start until about 2 pm due to the weather), the potential for war (people were unsure about the future), and the economy (customers were afraid to spend much money). Which is to say, they didn’t blame Cold Wars for it (good!).The flea market was in what seemed like a sealed box and cooked all of the attendees.
Attendence also seemed down when compared to last year as CW02 was a record breaker! The town was kind of dead too - no waiting in the chain restaurants. The onsite pre-reg system seems to work very well - Bill spent a LOT of hours testing, running staff through the paces, etc. and it showed.
John Drye, as planned, retired as Cold Wars Director. He was awarded a nice plaque and a lifetime membership for his services. Walt O’Hara, of NOVAG, is the new Cold Wars Director.
Best of Theme Awards Cold Wars 2003
Best Painted Army Dave Koslow (Samurai)
Best Non-Game Theme Event: SCA Reenactors—combat, armor, campcraft, and medieval life all depicted with accuracy, enthusiasm and amiability
Courier Dispatch News About the Hobby.
T
First Place Kawanakajima, 1561 Dave Koslow
Second Place Ankara, 1402 Mike Mallamaci
Third Place Capture the Errant Earl, J. Patrick & Seth Chambers
Fourth Place Samurai Skirmish, Henry Kogelshotz
Fifth Place The Horns of Hattin, Cy Taylor
Best Painted Unit Hussite Wagon Lager Jon Cleaves
Best Terrain Mike Mallamaci (Ankara)
Best Tabletop Generalship Dave Rheinert, Kawanakajima - Dave killed not one, not two, but THREE enemy generals during the course of the battle!
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