Hotlead 2012; first pictures and thoughts (picture heavy!)

Saturday afternoon and the hall is packed and hopping!

Another Hotlead has come and gone, and even by the afternoon of Saturday we knew it was going well. Still have to count the admissions but I'm pretty confident it was a resounding success. We ended up with 63 miniature participation games plus the tournaments. The games ranged from 1/2400th scale dreadnoughts to 40mm American War of Independence. We had every era covered and a good selection of air games to go with the more usual land and naval battles.

The turn out on Friday nights is getting better every year.

We figure the Bring and Buy did about $10K is sales, raising $1000 for charity!

The Bring and Buy was bursting this year and did lots of brisk business. We handle the sales and take a 10% cut which we donate to a chosen charity. This year, since three staff work with cadets and one has been a Scout Master for 30 or 40 years, we're giving the money to those groups. The gate did so well that I'm going to match the B&B's grand. Making a healthy $500 each to two cadet corps and Mike's Scout troop (and $500 can do a lot for a small unit).We've had some staffers suffer heart attacks and strokes, so we're going to donate $500 to the Heart and Stroke fund too.

Some of the high quality games

One of several BIG Napoleonic games on offer this year (this one is the Battle of Bautzen 1813)

An entirely different Napoleonic battle

Some Lord of the Rings

Yet another BIG Napoleonic game (Waterloo)

Lots of Age of Sail this year

Pasha Dan's Pulp adventures with silly hats are always popular

"Hey! This is serious!"

The cast from Pirates of Penzance showed up to play a French Indochina game...

A rather elaborate chariot race game

some of the details in the chariot race model

vendors selling snacks

I even managed to get a game and a couple of beers in on Saturday night. My friend Brian ran a Russian front battle using I Ain't Been Shot, Mum! and I had a very noisy time with my friends (especially when we launched an early 'Urrrah!' wave-assault). My assault guns and SMG platoon had some early success but then we had a lot of dead heroes of the Soviet Union before crushing the fascist invaders.

A good turnout Sunday morning too

Sunday was also good, with more people staying to do some last minute shopping and we had more games running too this year. The Sunday morning VSF Bring and Battle has become a tradition too and is especially popular with the kids.

Some scratch built creations

Some pretty imaginative scratch built creations!

Another highlight was my old friend the Mad Padre had some leave to use up, so he flew down from Alberta to put on a red shirt and help out. We had a few good chin wags but oddly never sat in the same game! Meeting up with old friends is one of the attractions and I heard many at the show tell of meeting up with guys they haven't seen for years. I think the joy that my friends and I have in getting together helps spill over to the rest of the show and generate a good atmosphere.

A happy gamer

I'd like to give a huge thanks to my Snugglebunny for running the admin end of things. Mike, Chris, Steve (the New Guy) and Ian for being extra eyes on the crowd. Rico, Joe, Barry, Dave, the Mad Padre and Patrick for running their backsides off in the Bring and Buy. Don for keeping the website up dated. Everyone earned their red shirts and the round of beer Snugglebunny authorized.

Another attendee has already posted his opinions and pictures on another forum here.

So there we are. And I didn't buy anything this year! But I may still treat myself to something with what I made at the Bring and Buy (I do after all have a hobby shop set up in my dining room!)