Welcome to my blog, the story of my continuing journey into the World of Zombie Wargames.

Monday 22 May 2017

Four Rivers Gaming Convention

The bustling main fourth floor
Last  Saturday I went to the "Four Rivers Gaming Convention" held in the Discovery Museum in Newcastle (an excellent museum and well worth a visit btw) 
I can sum it up with "That's two hours of my life I'll not get back"..
I've been to some poor and very poor gaming events, but this just took the proverbial.
On the plus side first, I did meet up with a few of my friends (that I'd seen just two days before) that were involved with two of the stands. The setting in the main hall on the fourth floor is an excellent venue (a superb convention had been held there many years ago)
Larp weapons (the manufacturer of these is the guy on the right)
 On the ground floor,  were three (I think) traders
one of whom was a friend selling Larp weapons and accessories
Also on the plus side was free admission into the event and the museum itself.
I should have taken note of the omens even before I arrived, as the weather worsened and I had mi-read the starting time, arriving an hour before the official time of 11am.



The "competition" on the ground floor
At 11 am the doors opened and people flooded in, well into the museum at least (the topmost photograph shows the busy main hall at bout 11.30).
There really was next to nothing (maybe slightly less) to interest me in the whole event (I'd even recently been around the museum (just before Xmas) so it was time to go home, sometime after 12 noon.
I 'd bought nothing and the whole thing had cost me nothing, save for time.
The Curious Pastime 'stall'
I'd first found out about this event on FB, and found out later it was being run by a chap in my local gaming group (one I don't have much to do with) and that seemed to me to be the sum of his efforts in advertising  the event - tell your mates and hope they tell your mates!
It didn't help that another two events were on, on the same weekend (Partisan - wished I had the ability to attend) and a local "Comicon", a mere 5 minutes walk from the venue.
No matter, here's a round-up of the various games (and I use that term very loosely) and groups that were in attendance:


This stand had a connection with Super Dungeon descent

Some of the figures from the above Ninja-thing stall
The stall with the Ninja theme was, I think, trying to motivate people with their kickstarter and had some connection with Super Dungeon Descent (? - Explore?), but I find the figures to be gross and whilst the very nice lass behind the stand she wasn't appreciative of my comments (I wasn't rude though, despite by abhorrence of figures)
One of the games - some form of futuristic aerial thing,
Great looking models,  the players weren't very forthcoming
I got nothing - no-one at hand and no figures that I could spot
Another one....
Finally a game (Frostgrave) with someone chatting!
Good looking buildings (but bare boards)
Very good modular dungeon system, but no-one to enlarge on it
A space game I think, the single chap there  was very pleasant to chat to
A table of designer bags, I assumed you could buy them if you could find the seller.
Display by a historical theatre group
Just because....
On my way home I did buy a tube of polystyrene cement from a shop in the city centre, so not a completely wasted trip!

On a personal note, I haven't been able to much more to my projects this week, save for very disappointing efforts on my new terrain 'boards' (sadly, they may well have to be redone - arghh) and a little painting, but I should have some figures to show next week - fingers crossed!

I've also noticed that I have had an increase in followers and have been  remiss in my welcoming, sorry chaps but here's a belated welcome to you all.

That's it then for this week, thanks for taking the time to visit and as always your comments are both welcomed and appreciated

14 comments:

  1. Sorry state of affairs, but hey, at least there were "a couple of highlights" to brighten the day! :-)

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    1. Thanks WA and wekcome to my blog too.
      Seemingly it did get a little better dyrung the afternoon but obkly slightlyl nevertheless I did enjoy having a day out.

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  2. Replies
    1. Thanks ichal (I think), but I do hope you're being sarcastic !

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  3. well any comment seems redundant! Hard luck but at least it was time and not hard earned.

    I would not bother next year if I were you.

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    1. Thanks Clint, you;re right it is difficult to comment on what was a trying day, but I'll have a good laugh abouf it in the future.

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  4. Such a shame, the venue itself looks like a great spot.

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    1. The venue is excellent, the last time I was there (the year Lady Diana fird iirc) it was absolutely flourishimg with both vendors and games, such a shame it wasn't a repeat!

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  5. Trouble is i think Partizan was this weekend just gone and Chillcon is in Sheffield this weekend coming so perhaps bad timing.

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    1. I doubt very much that Partisan had any real effect on the event as it was so poorly advertised and it was also on for a brief time on Sunday!

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  6. Wow, poor show indeed. You'd think that if people go to the trouble of setting up a table or stall then they'd at least hang around and see if anyone else was interested...

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    1. And you thought Carronade waspoor eh ?
      I was so disappointed that what was on offer had so little effort put in.
      And there is already talk of next years show!

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  7. I played the Consett gaming club's Star Wars (spaceship) game at Stockton show, last November. If it was the same chap running the game as then he certainly is a top chap, as I hadn't a clue what I was doing but he helped me learn the game and play.

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    1. Yep, the chap I chatted to was very pleasant even though I had little interest in his game.

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