Heck! That’s not what I was expecting when I signed up to attend UK Games Expo!!!
I had messed up my Salute 2018 booking, and figured it was worth doing another “big date” instead. I’d not been to the UK Games Expo before so I hadn’t appreciated how large it was or what a great industry networking event it was.
We had a small booth for Gaslands, separate to the main Osprey area and shared with Glenn’s (now successfully kickstarted) new game SSO.
For starters, it was great to see first hand how much awareness of Gaslands there is already. My standard pitch over the weekend began with “have you heard of Gaslands?” and really a lot of people had. They’d either heard good things, or seen it played at the club, or were a fan already. The game was certainly new to many, but my well-oiled sales pitch managed to shift every one of the 100 or so copies of the book I had with me, and sold me out of templates and tokens too.
Without a doubt, the unexpected highlight of the weekend was winning both the Judges’ and People’s Choice awards for Best New Miniature Rules. It was really a huge surprise and a really nice boost for the game’s credibility (and my ego).
Of course, I don’t know what was actually submitted for consideration and didn’t make it to the shortlist, but this was the year 40k got a brand-new set of rules! It’s also the year of Fallout Wasteland Warfare, SAGA second edition, Rune Wars and Star Wars Legion!
Again, I don’t know what was submitted and didn’t make the shortlist but – holy cow – little ol’ Gaslands is coming out top in a year with all those to compete with!? Insane! I wouldn’t have dared dream such a thing in 2015 when this journey began.
The Judge’s Choice award is particularly interesting. I mostly hear about people’s reactions to the game through the social channels. Unavoidably, there’s a bias there towards people that like the game, (people less often join the official group of a game just to tall smack about it), so it is really awesome to have the confirmation from an independent panel of industry folks that, even when held against the broader standard: Gaslands is a Good Game.
I thoroughly enjoyed my time at UK Games Expo 2018 and I want to thank everyone that stopped by to check out the game out or say “hi”, and in particular anyone who voted for the game! Thank you!