Home of Wargamers has come to an end. The annual press event of the Slitherine Group, was hosted this year in Castello Di Pavone in Northern Italy and was a great success. Journalists and players came from all over Europe and even the United States to see the latest developments in the digital wargaming industry, viewing presentations of the games and trying them on for themselves. The three days were very intense, with a lot of games covered and a lot of other activities, but most importantly we had a lot of fun, and we hope this also holds true for all the guests and developers, as well as all those who were with us on the forums and other social feeds!
Day 1 – Arrival
As mentioned, Home of Wargamers was held the a Medieval Castle in Northern Italy. Our guests arrived at in Milan and from there were picked up by a shuttle bus to reach the castle. After check-in our guests were received at the Armory Hall a royal lunch. Afterwards, we went to the awesome King Arduin’s Hall, were there were the official welcome speeches by Chairman JD McNeil and Marketing Director Marco Minoli, where the broader picture of the current wargaming industry was outlined. JD talked about the unique relationship between developers and mentioned that the Slitherine Group currently has over one million dollars allocated to different developers, helping them to release their games. This formula works, according to JD, because the Slitherine Group revenue grew by another 38% last year.
Marco then took the word from JD and talked numbers. 27 games to be presented at the event, of which 22 are planned to release in 2014. Marco also looked very pleased when he shared that 17 of these games are not set during World War II.
Day 1 – Question Time
Next up, Question Time, the first opportunity for the attending guests to ask questions to our panel of Iain McNeil (Development Director), JD McNeil and Marco Minoli. The debate was chaired by journalist Owen Faraday from Pocket Tactics, who took questions from the audience and pitched them to our panel. This was also the first time that the Slitherine Group experimented with Twitch, providing a livestream of the debate and taking in questions from the people watching at home via the Twitch chat and twitter. A great number of topics were discussed during the Question Time, such as the advantages and disadvantages of Steam, the position of female gamers in the wargaming niche and the views regarding Early-Access releases.
You can watch the recorded live stream here.
Day 1 – The Medieval Dinner
After the debate and a short break, the Medieval Dinner commenced. Hosted in a Magnificant Medieval hall. Here, dinner was served on traditional plates, by ‘servants’ dressed in Medieval tunics. It was a great time to really get to know each other here in the alcohol flowed in a truly Medieval fashion! Afterwards the guests were faced with the biggest challenge of their stay, finding their room for the night. Castello di Pavone is somewhat of a maze, with rooms spread all around. Those who managed to find their rooms could get some much needed rest, because the day after would be a very busy one.
Tomorrow we will post the summary of the second day, a day of announcements and game presentations, so stay tuned!
