I had a very enjoyable weekend up in Birmingham at the 2010
UK Games Expo. This was my first visit, and I was taken aback by the size and accomplishment of the event. As well as the expected traders, demo games and tournaments, there were no less than three
Daleks, three different Doctors, stormtroopers and Darth
Vadar, as well as Steve Jackson and Ian Livingstone!
In fact,
Fighting Fantasy had a notable presence at the event. Not only was there an FF stand, hosted by Wizard Books, and the aforementioned Jackson and Livingstone, there were also fans, old and new, by the score, and me. And best of all, the cover of the programme was Emerson
Tung's glorious painting of the
Eye of the Storm from
Stormslayer! That gave me a real buzz, I can tell you.
One of the highlights of the weekend was the talk on Saturday give by Steve and Ian about the history of Games Workshop and
Fighting Fantasy. It was very amusing and not only because of all the photos from the 70s. I even got an honourable mention and a round of applause - which was nice.
Steve Jackson, Ian Livingstone and their stalker (at least that's how it appeared in some of the other photos).
The crowds waiting to meet Steve and Ian (the queue went out the door!) whilst Gav Thorpe and Alessio Cavatore sign too.
FF editor Nick Sidwell proudly displaying his wares.
His wares - the brand-spanking-new FF gamebooks!
I also caught up with
Ralph Horsley (who I collaborated with a couple of times back in the day), chatted jungle maintenance and work avoidance tactics with
Gav Thorpe, and met
Alessio Cavatore who was there promoting his new board game
Shuuro (which I heard a punter describe as '
Chesshammer').
Ralph Horsley surrounded by his phenomenal body of (vibrantly colourful) work.
Alessio demonstrates Shuuro.
So all that remains now is for me to thank all those who organised the weekend (Tony and his team), everyone who dropped by and said "Hi!" and let me deface their new books, and Nick
Sidwell, the FF editor, who manned the stand all weekend, doing sterling work, and who scored me a pass for the event.
Labels: Alessio Cavatore, Doctor Who, Events, Fighting Fantasy, Gav Thorpe, Ian Livingstone, Ralph Horsley, Steve Jackson, Stormslayer, UK Games Expo, Wizard Books
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