Well, that happened.

When I started this blog back in 2018 it was intended as a fun reflection of my personal part of the hobby, mainly an exercise for myself. Previous attempts at blogging had taught me about typing into the vast void of the ever expanding Internet where everyone has an opinion and nobody is interested in anyone else's, especially mine.

Interestingly though, with a little bit of effort I managed to get a few people to read this blog (not just friends and family) and I like to think that some people do enjoy it. I've always been positive, I don't do this for money or exposure, I don't try to massively increase exposure by click baiting, GW bashing or following trends. I just talk about what I love and if anyone else is interested, well that is nice.

So, when my last post about my day at Colours 2023 as a new member of the club attracted some less than positive comments I was a little surprised. I'm all for constructive criticism but without any negativity from myself it suddenly got a little mean.

Mean comments about individuals in the club were made and then I was attacked for removing comments. Now I'm not an idiot, I've always known there are those kind of people on the Internet (others can be a lot nastier too) but in my tiny little corner of the Internet I didn't think enough people were listening to me to attract that kind of attention. I don't know what weird,  grumpy arguments had gone on in the past with these people, I'm not interested. I just like painting toy soldiers and rolling dice, that is what my blog is about, it's kind of obvious.

So in a weird twisted kind of way I'm taking it as a complement I guess?! My blog finally attracted the weirdos? The fact that they think they have a right to comment whatever they want on my blog and I let it happen is just bizarre. This isn't a public forum, this isn't Facebook or Twitter (Oh that cesspool is another conversation, I left that the minute there was even the possibility that the moron might buy it.) This is my little soapbox and if you want to make those comments go write your own blog and talk to the void. I'm not interested.

Anyway, normal service will resume shortly I am sure. 

Colours 2023 recap

Well it's over again for another year. The annual show from Newbury and Reading wargames society. I can honestly say it was great fun. This was my first year attending as a club member rather than a punter and I was not disappointed. 

Our weekend started the day before the show helping the traders as they arrived to set up at the grandstand. Despite the heat, not too many issues and everyone was very friendly. It was fun to get a sneak peak of some of the stands before the day too.

On the day of the show it was predicted to be a hot day, so plenty of cold drinks and fans set up, we braced ourselves for the heat and fun. I had volunteered to help on the Bring and Buy stall and on arrival I ended up being on the booking in desk, a very busy but fun task. With very minor exception everyone queuing to book in their lead and plastic were great fun to talk to and happy to indulge my excitement at seeing all the things they were selling. Highlights include a first edition warhammer, a full set of Sharpe DVDs that immediately sold (I really thought everyone that does this hobby would already have their own copy by now!) and some beautifully painted terrain (each piece immediately sold the moment I booked it in they were that good) The shock of the day was a boardgame that I used to own called Dragons Quest. I had sold it on the Bring and Buy a few years back and as I explained this to the current owner I realised the price label affixed to the box had my hand writing on it. It was the exact same copy!

I may have been tempted by a couple of items as they came in and reserved them for myself to buy later, one in particular were some original sculpt Adeptus Arbites that I just could not resist getting.

For the afternoon the Father in Law brought my youngest to come see the show and after we bought everything he had off his shopping list. (Including Roboute Guilliman which he has decided I have to paint for him) we popped upstairs to choose a participation game to play. We settled on a Star Trek game run by these chaps who were super enthusiastic and made it a fun game. Youngest took control of a Klingon fleet and I was left with the Romulans. Needless to say I managed to play a terrible game, at one point rolling three ones in a row to fail to do anything to the Warbirds bearing down on my fleet and the Klingons wiped out all my ships apart from the fleeing transport.

The Guilliman himself,  a beast of a kit.

The traders I spoke to in the afternoon all seemed to agree they had a good day despite the heat and I personally had some good feedback from visitors about the day. Unfortunately we had to leave before the end due to family commitments and when we left there will still plenty of browsers.

The next day my body definitely did ache, but that kind of ache that makes you feel like you achieved something. I am already looking forward to next years show, hopefully it will be a little cooler though!