I made a point of checking my expectations before Number 2 and I headed out into some of the most unpleasant chills in years to see what was happening at Cold Wars Saturday morning. Since I've noticed the quality of conventions declining steadily, I wanted realistic expectations going in, so I wouldn't end up frustrated or bringing in a lot of negative energy. Expecting a small but friendly con, we stepped into the short line at Registration.
And since I first started coming to HMGS conventions over 25 years ago, I've always been a day tripper. I think I've spent the night once at a Historicon one year, but generally, I like to swoop in, hit the dealer hall, poke around Wally's, then get some inspiration from the best tables. I'm typically done by afternoon. Imagine my surprise when admission for the two of us for said purpose was over 80 dollars! I don't think I've used a single swear word in this entire blog, but fuck off. I can't imagine a better way to kill participation than this foolishness. In fact, I don't think I'm gonna bring any family members ever again. I may skip Cold Wars myself. Purest enshitification move ever: offer markedly less, and then charge significantly more. This follows trends seen in so many aspects of American life, from onscreen entertainment, publishing, music, to restaurants and grocery stores. I hate to see my hobby go this route, so I say again, fuck off.
Of course, there are two possibilities. One is greed. Could be. The other is worse, the math doesn't math. Not enough demand. Folks who insist the hobby is as strong as ever need a check. On the historical side, it is in trouble. The growth seems to be elsewhere as there are tons of new paints, new Sci-Fi, and Fantasy stuff. In my lifetime, I've seen the embrace, then the utter rejection of a whole scale - 15mm! I've not even seen a Warlord Epic Game that wasn't put on by the manufacturer. Was there a 15mm vendor in the dealer hall? Maybe some buildings? Wally's is full of 15mm armies at every convention.
Too bad, as there were some great conversations and great tables - Cold Wars is a fun place to be for a few hours. I'd put it at a $30 dollar value for the two of us. Number 2 doesn't game or paint, but inexplicably still likes to hang out with her dad on these excursions. She's an extra pair of hands, too, when the credit card begins to buckle as it frequently does three times a year, But, because of the size, we had shopped and seen everything there was to see by about 11:30 and were done. Brigade Games was the only real draw for me this weekend, and I spent some at Your Hobby Place too, a regional chain with a location some 20 minutes from my home. Indeed, the online pictures of buildings at Diabolical Terrain exactly matched the ones on display. About half the time, a vendor will tell me they didn't bring this and that, so go ahead and order it online when you get home, bah!
Because of the cold, we didn't go down to the barn to see the tournament games. They have mostly been the same kinda thing every year.
The mood was positive everywhere, like I said, lots of friendly conversations. Lots of enthusiasm around existing tables, too, but I think overall it felt very underattended. Maybe less than at the Eisenhauer last year? Super Bowl weekend must have suppressed turnout to some degree as well, I'll wager.
I'm glad to see Pillage maintaining a foothold. Wally's was so underlit that it was easy to move through it quickly. And as is typical, my documentation only covers Saturday morning, so there may have been some games/events I never saw.
Still wrankled by the admission charges, I was less enthused about documenting everything I was shooting. So this will be a more potpourri presentation with less captioning than normal. Grats to all the GMs and players - lots of beautiful and fun-looking games! In no particular order, here are the tables that caught my eye:
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| Some Blood and Plunder - always cool! |
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| I love this, but I'm gonna do it in 15mm! |
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| Planters! Love it! |
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This table greeted us as we entered the Ballroom
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| I'm sure I've shot this teddy bear fur mat before but it's so excellent. And it has my favorite Crescent Root Studios stuff on it. Let's linger a spell ... |
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| ahh ... wasn't that nice? |
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| I love the aridity of this presentation - I need an icy glass bottle of Coca-Cola just looking at it. You know, the kind with condensation all over it, the sun shining through its caramel-y goodness! |
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| Are these those kits from Sarissa Precision? |
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| You remember the Alamo, don't you? This is one of two Alamo games set up for Saturday. |
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| Pillage with 12 players! I couldn't get in close enough ... |
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| Quite a few 15mm games going on - that's one reason I like going to these smaller cons. |
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| This may be my favorite of the show. Really well done! |
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| Not my cup of tea, this one, but I am attracted to shiny lights! |
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| This is a Russo-Ukraine battle! Too soon? They even have little drones in play. |
This year's theme was Wild Wild West! Tons of great set-ups - much to enjoy, but not at these prices. Looking back, I wrote about Cold Wars last year, and then not until 2012. So I missed it for over a dozen years in the past and will likely do so again in the future. It's an almost three-hour drive, and if I can't bring the girls, I'm gonna skip the whole thing entirely.
What did you all think? How do you rate this Cold Wars compared to past ones?
