Today was the second day of the inaugural Warhammer Fest at the Ricoh Arena in Coventry. It was also my birthday.
After the debacle that was last year's Games Day, I was interested to see how the new format would work. It certainly wasn't manic like Games Day used to be, and it was certainly more than just the glorified shop that Games Day was last year, but if anything it was a little too quiet, with not enough going on.
I think I viewed things differently this year, having recently organised a con myself, but what the day really lacked was a clear structure. There was plenty of middle, with different seminars going on (although most weren't miked) but no clear beginning or end, at least as far as I could see.
That said, it was great to catch up with the likes of Neil Roberts, James Swallow, Nick Kyme, Graeme Lyon and Michael Knight, along with YOU ARE THE HERO and Fighting Fantasy Fest alumni Jes Bickham and John Blanche. It was also a pleasure to meet miniature designer Seb Perbet (the man behind the new Nagash concepts) who remembered my name from back in the day! (Now that did make me feel old.)
You can see more of my photos from Warhammer Fest
here. I was very pleased to pick up some more of James Swallow's Garro audio dramas, and I'm looking forward to cracking open this particular title!
Did you know...?
Dan Abnett, Steve Savile, Storm Constantine - who have all written for Games Workshop at one stage or another (for Black Library or the long-defunct GW Books), like myself - also celebrate their birthdays today?