Dealer area. Note the gold-shirted MagWeb.com executives at the booth on the right. As usual, VP Susan Lockwood is attending to business and doing all the work while VP Technology Tibor Vari and VP Programming Bill Abernathy wait for divine inspiration.

Friday was a madhouse of activity, while Saturday opened with a more sedate tone. In talking to a number of folks who stopped by the booth, we get differing opinions on purchases.

One fellow noted that he goes wild in the dealer area on Friday, making all his purchases at once, dumping his goodies in his room, and then gets on with the convention's main theme: gaming.

Another fellow noted that he makes all the rounds on Friday, noting what's available, picking up a few "must have" miniatures and other products, and then slowly purchases more over the course of the show.

And one fellow on Sunday noted that he never buys anything on Friday or Saturday, but only on Sunday, especially towards the ending 1 p.m. hour, where he can pick up some bargains to supplement his mainly mail order/Internet purchases. Sunday was another blur of activity.

Calm before the storm: Pre-show set-up in the dealer area on Thursday.

From a MagWeb.com perspective, this was the third best show of all the shows that we've attended across the country in the last six years. And I talked with a lot of the dealers who echoed the same sentiment.

After a dismal 2001, there seemed to be a more optimistic crowd this year, as if there was a pent-up demand waiting to explode.

In fact, and this is strictly anecdotal, one gamer friend I know tried to find 1" x 1" stands for his figures and came up empty at several booths. He was a bit surprised--I mean, who ever can't find 1" x 1" stands at shows? Finally, he found them at Renaissance Ink. They were labeled 25mm x 25mm, but just about the same thing, at which point he remarked that he was lucky folks didn't know about the metric system.

Jay Wirth of Renaissance Ink runs a full line of bases, paints, and other wargaming supplies.

Now, before you think this guy's just a dolt who can't find stands, I found myself in the middle of an unprompted conversation between two dealers remarking that they were running out of metal stands. They, too, were amazed. And finally, in talking to Jay of Renaissance Ink while buying stands (40mm x 20mm thin masonite in case you're wondering--it's for Snappy Nappy), I asked him about stand sales and sure enough, they were selling like hotcakes.

Should they be? Perhaps with the down economy in 2001, we started painting all that lead squirreled away in closets instead of buying new lead.

More Cold Wars 2002

Welcome and Introduction
Opening Impressions
The Dealer Area
On Conventions and Venues
Warhammer Ancients: Samurai vs. Ancients
The Pit: Card Game
Carribean Smackdown: Inn of the Angry Iguana
Borodino 2002
Swordfish Attack and Lord of the Rings Games
GM Help Desk
Attack of the Virginia Air Cavalry
Gladiator
And Another Cold One
Other Images of Cold Wars

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