Well, it's a sad saturday for this little hobby pony...
Normally, I would by now be shifting through a trainload of pictures and be in the process of writing up my after convention report, every year my "top post" basically.
Alas, not so in this Covid 19 ridden year. TSA took the decision past april to cancel the show, as to be expacted and has been the fate for so many conventions and tournaments around the globe in 2020. And if you read on Facebook groups, or forums like LAF, things don't look to bright for 2021 either.
For example, the traditional year opener here in Belgium, WarCon, has been cancelled already, as have several scalemodel events. And recent rumours seem to suggest Salute 21 is already on the wire...
But there is even more that makes it extra sad for me (and probably a lot of continental european hobbyists), in that this years Crisis would be the last big chance for a wild shopping spree before Brexit hits. Working in a high valuables sector that often deals with the United Kingdom, and the fact a Non-deal Brexit is really certain for now, makes that import duties and taxes are going to hit rockhard come 1st of january.
While differing for every country of course, for us Belgians the UK now comes in the same "class" as the USA, Hong Kong and the likes: 33% of the total amount if the value is above 22 euro. Not only is there that, but meaning to go through customs now will mean delays, opened (and damaged!) goods, and the inevitable losses.
This all means I am spending my saved Crisis budget now on what I have become to call "the last round of mail orders", with my Games Workshop and Forge World orders made less then an hour ago of writing this. Because adding 33% to an already not cheap line of figures would make it really nasty in price. The reason I'm doing it already, is that in a week or three, the chrostmas online craze will start, add to that the Black Friday deals coming, and to THAT the lockdowns in place everywhere making people online shop even more... Needless to say, come the second week of december, chances are real your orders will go beyond that 1st of january deadline...
So yes, this has been a sad hobby saturday for sure, and I for one hope on the one side that Crisis 2021 will take place as the Covid pandemic has been quelled. But I look also forward in curiosity on how the landscape of the wargame manufacturer will be changed by Brexit, not only on price ranges, but on how the smaller companies will circumnavigate the extra work to get to mainland shows, and if it still is viable then for them. And if not, how the "gaps" will be filled in from mainland europe traders and what this will mean for the ranges on offer, because there is a strong difference in offered products and gamestyles between the continent and the UK in my opinion...
But that is perhaps something for another Opinions post in the future!
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