Hammerhead was first staged at Kelham Hall following the cessation of the Fantizan shows. Fantizan, the fantasy arm of the Partizan show schedule, was run successfully by the Newark Irregulars for many years and ended due to the sheer logistical effort required running three shows a year. A number of Traders, disappointed at the loss of one of the most well-known and loved shows in the calendar, approached the COGS club in Chesterfield to see if they would be willing to take on the mantle. COGS had run a yearly show, on a smaller scale, in Chesterfield since 1998. After speaking to the Irregulars and the Vapnartak organizers, whose show fell the week before, the committee agreed to take on the show which would be named Hammerhead. The show remained at Kelham due to the lack of suitable venues closer to Chesterfield.

Why Hammerhead? The reason for this is simple, it was the first sensible name to come out of the members heads (the chairman’s head actually). It is non-controversial (No Armageddon protests!) and can just as easily apply to a fish as a weapon of war.

What is the ethos behind the Show? From the start, COGS shows in all their incarnations have made a point of attracting and staging participation games. Each year we have steadily reduced the number of display to participation tables. In 2008, we finally achieved the goal. Every game was playable by the show’s visitors. This is not to say that in a large enough show, display games have their place, the ethos of Hammerhead is to involve visitors in more than a shopping trip. This has worked well for Trader’s sales as well, since there is no sudden exodus of people in the early afternoon after a frenzy of shopping.
 
What persuades people to play? COGS works on a circular system. Visitors all receive a bag (a tradition borrowed from the Irregulars). Each bag contains a draw ticket. People can gain extra draw tickets by playing games. An hour before the end of the show, we draw them. The prizes are ‘letters of marque’, which serve as cash tokens to spend with the traders at the show. A win-win situation all round! We even attracted visitors from t’South on the basis that they knew there would be games available to play. We provide unique trophies for the most attractive and most popular games and the Hammerhead Trophy for the best overall.  

Why the free figure? Another tradition inherited from Fantizan was the issuing of a free unique figure at every show for the first 600 visitors. So far these have been, in 2006 a WOTR knight with a hammer, in 2007 a Chinese Hammerman and in 2008 one of a pair of Vampire and Vampire Hunter. Tony Quickenden has provided the sculpts for these and Paul Kerrison of Kallistra has churned them out en masse for us.

The first show took place in 2006 and drew enough of an audience as to make it an ongoing and self-financing event.

What of the Future? We had looked at shifting the venue to somewhere bigger and closer to Chesterfield. There were talks with Magna in Rotherham, but costs were prohibitive and it was considered too close to Sheffield. Another possibility could be one of the castles/manorial homes in and around Chesterfield itself provided there is a direct road from the M1 motorway. In the end though, we will keep Hammerhead as an East Midlands show.