Chillcon 2017 - An Overview

Having the day unexpectedly free on Saturday due to a change of work shift I decided to spend it at the Chillcon wargaming show in Sheffield. This is the first year for this particular show so a bit of support on my part seemed like a good idea.

The tickets were £6 and if you were fortunate enough to have advanced booked a ticket and/or were one of the first hundred people in the queue you got a gift bag...I arrived an hour after the opening so got bugger all, lol. There were several reasonably sized tournament events and a wide variety of participation/demo games in the smaller of the two rooms with a larger separate room been given over to the Exhibitors. Just before a corridor separating the two rooms was a cunningly placed refreshments stand that offered tea, coffee, canned drinks, crisps and sandwiches at not unreasonable prices...as some-one who has experienced everything from £7 for a lukewarm coffee after half an hour of queuing to no refreshments whatsoever at other events this was quite welcome...

Participation Games and Demos

As mentioned above there were a number of events in progress but as I arrived late and knew none of the participants I couldn't comment on their organisation...though as an outside observer every-one seemed to be enjoying themselves...

Gav Thorpe was also at the event running demos of his in development 'Big Stompy Robots' game and it was nice to see the board was much improved over the one I saw him using at ROBIN in Nottingham which was a bit sparse in comparison.

Exhibitors and Traders

Many of the usual suspects were there though as usual with these overviews I'm selfishly only going to cover in any detail stands that interested me...There were a small number of demo tables amongst the traders stands in order to show off their own systems but no where near as many as in the first room.

 As well as the traders I'm going to discuss below there were also stands for Warlord Games, Mantic Games and White Dragon Miniatures (amongst others) which I didn't get a chance to have a proper look at due to constraints of time and/or crowds in the way. White Dragon Miniatures were also discussed in some detail during several of my previous show reviews.

I'll try alphabetical order so i don't get accused of playing favourites...

Cosy Dice

I already own one of Cosy Dice's bags...now I own two...they also had some other bits and pieces on their stand including figure cases. Their website can be found here.

 Oathsworn Miniatures

My partner bought a couple of Oathsworn models from the companies 'Burrows and Badgers' range at Salute (Fennec Fox and Frog Fixer) and acquired another three at this event...at this rate we'll have one of everything after another few shows...

Purgatory and Broken Toad

Not sure if Purgatory were sharing Broken Toads stand or vice versa. Purgatory was a game recently funded via Kickstarter that I was too poor at the time to pledge to. Fortunately I was able to acquire a (very) late pledge after a chat with a very nice man at their stand. Broken Toad had some nice display pieces on their display as well.

SLA Industries

I treated myself to one of the models that I saw in the cabinet and then the sheer enthusiasm of the gentlemen at the stand made me curious enough to pick up the core rule-book for the RPG associated with the skirmish game itself. Their webstore is located here.

Warploque Miniatures

Warploque Miniatures had models from various of their ranges on their stand though the main focus was upon their Arcworlde game. I was running low on 'impulse buy' cash at this point so despite the show price I had to pass on the Arcworlde starter set...maybe if the same offer is on at the UK Games Expo in a weeks time...

Word Forge Games

Word Forge Games had several of their new models on display including some from one of their upcoming projects. I also picked up one of their 'Reaper' figures to go along with their 'Reapers Revenge' set that I acquired at Salute...it'll get an article soon...

So that was my day-out in Sheffield...and this was my haul...

Thoughts and comments are (as usual) most welcome.