Welcome to MWAN Magazine, Issue #131! It's been a great convention season this year. Legio X was able to attend the Origins Game Expo, Historicon and GenCon. If you were to look for three shows that were "top of the game", then these three would be it.
I spoke about Origins in the last issue, so let me move on to Historicon. This is easily the largest of the historical miniatures shows in North America. Legio X set up a booth under the name "True North Miniatures." We sold the True North 15mm early WWII infantry and cavalry that Dave Jackson had sold as True North Productions. We also sold MWAN Magazine (both current and back issues) and sold out of every single copy that we brought. I'm beginning to think that MWAN Magazine has not seen much exposure in America's east coast region. I had a lot of people pick up a copy, look it over, buy it, and tell me that they'd never heard of or seen the magazine. They were usually quite surprised when I showed them the issue number on the front cover!
It was good to see all of the usual top-quality dealers at the show. More than a few companies actually read my editorial about the quality of displays, and had worked on them for the show. I can't claim all the glory, to be sure, as I'm hoping that most, if not all, found that better displays begot better sales! Michael Cosentino writes about Historicon in this issue, and one of his problems areas at the show is the Flea Market. The Flea Market is an institution older than Historicon itself. In the UK, they call it the Bring and Buy. It serves as a way for gamers to pull out all the old items that are no longer wanted, and allows them to sell them for cash at the show. The idea is that one gamer's junk is another's treasure.
Lately, however, a different flavor has soured the taste of the Flea Market at Historicon (at all three HMGS-East shows, really). There are still certainly many people who bring items to sell from their gaming closets, but there's now a new class of Flea Marketeer - the professional. Professional miniatures painters or resellers bring items to the Flea Market and turn very tidy profits. Am I against profits? Heavens no! I am against professionals in the Flea Market, though. That's not what the Flea Market is for. It's for moving out old, half-painted armies, or dusty books on subjects that you no longer game. Professionals belong in the dealer hall. That's what the dealer hall is for. If you're a professional, get a table and sell your wares there.
Of course, this is all a plot by the hugely rich manufacturers and importers in the dealer area. They don't just want some of the money, they want it all! Fair enough. To a certain extent, dealers in the dealer hall want to maximize their sales at the show. After all, that's why they go! I believe that this is a case of what's best for the hobby. The myth that I espoused above, about the hugely rich manufacturers and importers is simply not true. There are no more than five manufacturers or importers in the dealer hall with full-time employees. Metal costs have risen through the roof. Packaging is never cheap, unless you want it to look cheap. I believe it's a good thing for more companies in the industry becoming financially healthy. If a company is healthy, they will either bring in more items from overseas, manufacture more items, and best of all, have more items for sale, and have better customer service and prompter shipping, too! The only way for our hobby to have prices go down is for companies to become more efficient.
Think of it this way: A finite number of dollars comes into the show. The more that gets spent on ancillary items at the show makes for less dollars that show up in the dealer hall. That means reduced profits in the hall, reduced staff in the companies, reduced customer service, reduced shipping staff, and less variety in what can be purchased. In the US, there was a "Buy American!" campaign. Canada had one, too, in its day. Both were reacting to the same message as I'm pointing out here. The more money that comes into the dealer hall, the more good things that show up in the dealer hall next show. Break that cycle, and dealers start to close shop.
I'd like to see the Flea Market be limited to one day, Sunday, at the shows. It would allow the dealers the first two or three days of the show to grab as much of that inbound cash as they can. By Sunday, the dealers are all itching to get on the road. They're done. If the Flea Market opened on Sunday, and Sunday only, it may actually improve attendance on the Sunday for the shows. With the dealers taken care of, I'd remove any and all restrictions on what people could sell at the Flea Market. Many of the dealers may even cross over and become Flea Marketeers for the day. I believe that it's a win-win-win solution all the way around. It's just a suggestion, not a call-to-arms!
GenCon is the largest of the gaming conventions in North America. It's predominantly adventure gaming, such as role-playing games, collectible card and figure games, and traditional board games. Still, there are quite a few miniatures and related companies and games there. There were major problems with GenCon last year, as it had just moved to a new venue in Indianapolis, Indiana. This year, Peter Adkison, owner of the show, proved that he listened to complaints. Lines for registration were short, there were more people than ever, and every fantasy and scifi dealer and manufacturer under the sun was there (except Games Workshop, of course, who believe that they are in a different hobby!) I have to hand it to Mr. Adkison and his staff-this was an excellent show. Well done!
As we head into the fall, gamers will find that there are several excellent regional conventions to attend. I think it's important for gamers to get out to these, not only to support the hobby, but more to give the hobby a chance to support them. I find that there's nothing quite so regenerating for my painting or game mastering as playing in a game at a convention. It gets me all revved up! That, and I can find all the terrain, figures, books, paints, etc. that I'll need to run that game! Also consider Fall-In. It's another of the HMGS East shows (this time held in historic Gettysburg, Pennsylvania) and it's a good one.
One of the most fun conventions that we attended this year wasn't on anyone's convention list (including MWAN Magazine's!) We played at BobCon, the mini-convention put on by Bob Bowling of RLBPS fame (www.rlbps.com). He hosted a Desperado game in the wild west. What a blast! Well, it was a blast once Scott from Blackhawk Hobby Distributors had one of his guys go into the General Store and buy some dynamite! As any of you who have played Desperado know, it's not meant to be taken seriously. We all had a fantastic time. You'll see from the cover that we intrepid three of Legio X, Inc. were defending the MWAN South headquarters (somewhere just over the border in sunny Mexico!) We had lots of help, but in the end, the MWAN Editorials were looted and taken back across the border. This was all in retaliation for a previous BobCon where Michael Cosentino and I, both playing Mexicans, shot up the whole town, killed near-everyone, and walked away the last gunfighters standing! Famous lines like "Aw! You got mauled by a poodie-tat!" were jabbed back and forth when the circus animals got loose.
It's these sort of basement mini-conventions that keep us gaming between major events. In many ways, it's the best of all worlds, as you're not far from home, and you get to play with all your friends. The way Bob and Ann put on a spread, you don't go away hungry, either! From us at MWAN Magazine, we thank you for a great time!
I hesitate to bring this up, but I'm interested in readers' opinions. We are considering changing the format of MWAN Magazine to an 8.5" x 11" glossy magazine. It's quite a break in tradition for a magazine that's steadfastly stayed at 6" x 9" digest size. Why would we consider such a thing?
Many retail locations that we'd like to get into have a problem with the size of our magazine. It doesn't fit into the magazine racks, and it's not as picture pretty as other magazines that the same venue might carry. The standard letter-sized magazine is the norm in our society. Everyone knows how to handle, sell and distribute such a sized magazine. I'm afraid we're finding that distribution is hampered when we don't conform. The advantage for us of better distribution takes two forms. First, it's more income that we can count on to make the magazine healthy and functioning for a long time to come. Second, it will get the word out about our fantastic hobby to a wider audience. MWAN Magazine has the ability to connect wargamers to other wargamers, through the convention listing and the clubs listing. Getting these out to a wider audience allows us to grow our hobby with new people coming in. Well-painted figures in good photographs are just the thing to bring new people in, or at least get them interested.
The 8.5" x 11" format also allows us to better use photography to show off our hobby. Ours is a visual hobby. We don't play board games as they don't have the flavor, the panache of historical miniatures. It's the visuals that give you the excitement, at least it always has for me. More imagery would allow for more inspiration to those of us who are visually inspired. There should still be plenty of room for the meaty articles that we've all come to associate with MWAN Magazine, to be sure. In fact, one sideline benefit would be that it would be easier to photocopy our MWAN Magazine Rules Sets so that you can try them out. As long as the photocopies are for personal use, we have no problem with you doing just that.
Consider the idea, and please write me with your thoughts. Email me at editor@mwan-magazine.com, or write to me at the address in the magazine masthead (page 2). Your views are very important to us, and we don't want to make a change that would alienate our readership. We're only here because of you!
I'd like to put a call out for letters to the editor. Believe it or not, I haven't been bombarded with opinions and rants, and that's just not right! Wargamers are traditionally an opinionated bunch. Let me hear what you've got to say. I'd prefer to publish what's sent in, so anything that you do send, please read it through to make sure it's saying what you want it to say. Send it via email, email attachment or regular mail, but please send them. I enjoy them, and I think the readership enjoys receiving them in the Letters area of the magazine. Sometimes it's really nice to find out that you're not the only one with an opinion. That, and if you're in MWAN Magazine, your opinion has reach. Most convention organizers, manufacturers and retailers read the magazine, and it's a way to reach your fellow gamers with constructive criticism or an opposing view.
Carry on with good gaming, all, and remember that as the days become shorter, the urge to be outside diminishes, and wargaming abounds!
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© Copyright 2004 Legio X
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