Show Preparation

So, time for an update on preparations for the show on May 20th.

All the invites went out at the beginning of January to traders, games and societies.

We used to send these out in October or November but when we did that everyone used to put it to one side to deal with after Christmas. They would then forget about them and we would have to repeat the whole process in January.

So in the end we decided it was easier just to wait until January to send them out.

Deciding which traders to invite is a fairly straight forward process. We decided when we moved from Kelham Hall that, in spite of the extra space available at the showground, we would not increase the overall number of traders which would probably have resulted in lower takings for the existing traders. So at Kelham Hall we had between 42 and 45 traders and that number has stayed the same at the Showground.

This was not a decision that everyone agreed with - most particularly those traders who have not yet been able to get into the show. But we think it was the best way to go - spreading out the trade after the very cramped conditions at Kelham and at the same time giving more room for games and particularly for society stands.

The Pike and Shot Society at Partizan 2016

The society stands is a new innovation for Partizan but is in line with the ethos of the shows. As a club the Newark Irregulars only really now exist on the clacks - or for the non Pratchett fans on the internet.

As a result Partizan only exists to promote and support the wargaming hobby and to provide the sort of  show that we, the organisers, would like to go to. One way in which we thought we could help to support the hobby was by providing the free stands for all those societies and groups which may not have a game to put on or a business to run but who would like to get their message out to a wide audience. Hence the History Zone was born.

This May, societies who will be coming along to promote their own particular aspect of history and wargaming will include:

The Lance and Longbow Society
The Society of Ancients
The Pike and Shot Society
The Battlefield Trust
The National Civil War Centre
The Naseby Project
The Northampton Battlefield Society
and
Waterloo Uncovered.

Finally of course we have the games. At Kelham we were ever able to get more than perhaps 26 or 27 games in total and we always feared that we would get too many positive responses to invitations and end up having to cram too many games into too small an area. Especially when we were sometimes getting games of 16 or 18 feet in length. I am sure that many times people felt this was exactly what had happened.

One of Simon Miller's massive battles from Kelham Hall 

Of course at the Showground that is not, currently at least, a problem. With the much larger venue we have been able to effectively double the number of games. This year we will have somewhere around 54 games, split fairly evenly between demonstration and participation. I will have a lot more detail on these in future postings. Some of these games are now regularly coming in at 18 or 20 feet in length - although no one has yet matched the 30ft Operation Market Garden game that featured at one of the early Kelham Partizans.

Whilst we are about full up for this show, if you would like to put on a game at a future Partizan do pleased let us know and we will be happy to accommodate - no matter how long it is.