SELWG ... and why I didn't go

Yesterday was the day that SELWG (the annual wargames show organised by the South East London Wargames Group) took place ... and for the first time in some years, I did not go.

So why not?

After giving the matter some considerable thought I have come to the conclusion that the larger wargames shows have just got too large to for me enjoy.

I enjoy meeting my many wargaming friends and acquaintances at shows, but over recent years it has seemed to become almost impossible to have a conversation when we have met at the larger shows. The general level of background noise seems to have risen to such an extent that it has almost become necessary to shout to make oneself heard ... which everyone else is doing, thus increasing the sound levels, which in turn makes having a conversation more difficult ... and so on.

I also enjoy seeing what new items have come onto the market ... but again the bigger shows seem to have made this more difficult rather than easier. Traders are charged by the length of their display, and the bigger the display, the more they are charged. Therefore a trader will – for example – have a six foot-long setup which they take to wargames shows, regardless of the size of the show. It therefore follows that the more people you have at a show, the less you will be able to see on an individual trader's stand. Add to that the fact that increasing numbers of wargamers seem unable to go to a show without a backpack the size of a small car strapped to their back, and the problem of crowding – and the risk of injury as someone next to you at a stand turns through 180° and thumps you with their backpack – becomes even worse.

Then there are the 'games' that are on show. It has become increasingly noticeable over the past few years that more and more wargames clubs are putting on display games at wargames shows that are merely moving (and sometimes immobile!) dioramas. There are some very notable exceptions to this – for example, Peter Pig always has a demonstration/participation game running near to their stand – but the norm now seems to be beautiful terrain, exhibition-standard painted figures and vehicles ... and little going on in the way of a game. Sometimes a few figures might be moved and some dice thrown (usually after a very long time spent reading the very long rule book), but games never seem to get to anything like a conclusion.

I have run wargames at shows, but the games I have put on have been designed so that people can sit down, take part for an hour at most, and then do something else. They were not designed to exclude anyone who was not part of our 'group'; they were designed so that participants could fight a battle from start to finish in the sort of time most of us now have to spend actually fighting wargames in the modern world. I was once told that our games - however innovative, attractive, or enjoyable they might be - would never win a prize at a wargames show because 'They are the sort of game that people can play in their own club or home.' The person who said that had exactly missed the point; what we were demonstrating was something that anyone could put on without having to commit huge amounts of time, effort, and space to it. After all not everyone has the time to paint the necessary figures or make the terrain, the financial resources to buy everything required for a 2,000 figure per side wargame, or the space for a permanent 18' x 6' table to wargame on!

Finally – and probably the most telling reason why I did not go to SELWG yesterday – is that wargaming is my hobby and not my life. It is an important part of my life, but at the moment I have a host of other things that I could – and should – be doing ... so I did them instead.