Meeting the public

 Another year has flown by and once again the club are putting on their annual show. This Saturday the 6th we will once again be running the Colours Wargame show at Newbury Racecourse. There is little left for me to say about the show that I have not said over the last couple of years on my blog. It is a great day out and I really enjoy myself working on the Bring and Buy stall, meeting the punters and catching up with regular and new traders later on in the day. This year we are going to be jam packed with no spare trader or demo game space, filling all three floors of the racecourse pavilion. 

A couple of our club had a bit of a practise chatting to the public a couple of weeks ago now at the Corn Exchange in Newbury. This is the second year they have put on a geeky gaming day, kind of like a mini show with a couple of traders, D&D sessions and model painting. We were invited to come down again and put on a large Warhammer demo game and without blowing our own trumpets, I think we had a great looking table. 

Here is a photo dump of some shots from the day.

The battle was the siege of an Empire town by a large force of Orcs and Goblins. The Greenskins outnumbered the Empire, but still struggled to breach the walls. We were happy to chat to punters and let them join in with some dice rolling, so the game was not running at any particular speed. It was a fun day though and we happily offered advice to peeps on how to get into wargaming (or advised parents on how to save money when their children were already super enthusiastic!)

I think hobbyists are at their happiest when sharing knowledge, even better when the recipients are actually after that knowledge. I really enjoy seeing the smiles on peoples faces when they explore a hobby, whether it is wargaming, at a Wool show or collecting football stickers. It comes as no surprise to me that people say having a hobby is good for your mental health and I think the world is a better place if people go to these events and share their enthusiasm. True the enthusiasm does mean some of us get a little too excited and we got hot and bothered, but if we all put on plenty of deodorant and make sure not to swing our backpacks into other peoples faces I am sure we can all have a great time at shows, cons and events.

Hope to see you there, if you do come, pop upstairs and say hello!

And its all over for another year

 

Saturday the 14^th of September saw this years Colours Wargames show hosted by Newbury and Reading Wargames Society. This being the club’s 50^th year we wanted to put on a great show. The club are not specifically a historical society as we have had to change with the times to keep up membership. Three floors were taken up at Newbury’s racecourse main grandstand, two floors crammed with traders and a third floor full of excellent demonstrations of recreations of battles from history in various scales. Battles included Salamanca in 28mm, Abbeyville in 3mm (a crazy scale if you ask me) and the Battle of Downham Station pitting the Prussian ArmyKorp against the home Brits. The overall winner of best in show however went to Magrathea group and their Burrows & Badgers game, Siege of Lunedin.  The Leggatts, father and son, came second with Salamanca.

Attendance numbers were significantly up from last year, to where finding a space to park a car nearly became an issue. The club have been making a pointed effort to make sure the day has something for everyone, including a board game café where families can sit for a spell and maybe build railways across Europe. This was a brand new idea last year which I admit was under used in its first year, but this year it was super popular. In this authors opinion I think clubs need to start thinking about the changing trends in the hobby. Yes it would be great to have a show that was entirely focused to just historical gaming, but I think it would be tricky these days to maintain that. If we want enough people to come and support the show, things like the board games café can encourage a wider demographic to attend, we can then show them the virtues of the more traditional tables and keep the hobby going. It isn't just wargaming, a lot of hobbies are in danger of ageing out and not appealing to younger people. I'm not saying we have a bank of XBoxes and Nintendos set up at the show, but a bit of sci fi and fantasy at the show won't do any of us Grognards any harm. The weather was on our side for the day, sunny but not too hot. Feedback from traders and attendees alike was mostly positive with everyone seeming to have a great day. 

Traders of note included Perry Miniatures, Empress Miniatures and Warlord Games. Plenty of choice for someone to obtain some brave redcoats in whatever scale your eyes will allow you to paint them in. David Lanchester books also had the largest selection of military history books you will see anywhere. (Apart from maybe in the private collections of some of you dear readers.) We had a couple of new traders as well, one of my favourites being Beowulf Miniatures. I grabbed one of their wizards towers which will look great on a Mordheim or Oldhammer table. I did manage to grab a couple of other purchases, some Lord of the Rings models for a recreation of Weathertop and some very old school Space Orks that I am looking forward to getting some paint on soon. (Once they are out of their strip bath.)

This author spent most of the day on the Bring and Buy stall, so I did not have a huge amount of time to wander the show, what I did see looked brilliant, and I did get some time away to chat with some friends (including one that came all the way from Norway!) and I also managed to go and play a game with Mrs Lead and the youngest offspring. We had a great time playing a card game called Splendor with a fellow club member and his son. It was a great game that was just complicated enough, but the boys picked it up very quickly. I have orders to add a copy to our wish list for home.

A big shout out goes to the other club members who all gave up their time the day before helping set up and on the day. Some of them have been doing this a lot longer than I have and a lot of work goes on behind the scenes beforehand as well by a few hard working individuals. Shows like this and many others keep the hobby going and allow thousands of hobbyists to have a day out and get a proper close up look at lots of cool toys. Ordering on the internet may be convenient, but nothing beats the fun of getting your loot in person.

 

Overall then, an awesome day was had by all. There is probably one or two people who weren't happy, but you can't please everyone. Now we all just need to find somewhere to stash all our new toys.

Nb. Grumpy comments will be ignored and definitely not published. Go write your own blog.

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! 

Newbury and Reading Wargame Society Colours 2019

So, another year, another traipse around Newbury Racecourse. Well, I can definitely say I had a jolly good time. The day started out with grey skies, but the weather held out and I got to the Racecourse nice and early, coffee in hand to join the front of the queue. Once again the team of volunteers from NRWS (Do they call themselves by that acronym?) have done themselves proud with all their hard work. A perfectly professionally looking run show. The venue was great, the volunteers were all really helpful and friendly and everyone I chatted to seemed to be having a fun day. I managed to meet up with the Illustrious Opponent and have a good natter with him as well as some of my other wargaming friends. I rolled some dice, chatted to some traders and some other gaming groups and enjoyed my favourite show of the year.

So, what did I see? What caught my eye?
Firstly, I was intrigued by a new game, Contact Front by Gods Eye Games. From the chaps that brough Sons of Mars, this system covers modern warfare from 2000 to 2016. It was described to me as a rules light platoon level system, where after a short while one double sided reference sheet is all you need to play. As a wargamer who struggles with overcomplicated rulebooks this idea did appeal.

I was impressed by the multi-level table for the participation game to introduce the new fantasy skirmish game Thud and Blunder from the Ministry of Gentlemanly Warfare. http://bit.ly/TNBebook . I didn't get a chance to try it out (something I definitely will seek out in the future) but it was fun to see a table that wasn't on one plane.

Talking of tables that aren't flat, this participation game of Romans vs Icenci also impressed me. With a massive campaign map showing Boudica's progress across the south of England.

The Boscombe Down & Amesbury Wargames Club (why are all club names such a mouthful?!) had a mightily impressive tower for their fantasy siege game. My son pointed out it was as large as he was.

On that note I must add that yes, I brought my youngest son to his first wargame show. Earlier in the year on a video call to him on the way back from Salute he told me how much he missed me and wished he could come to the wargame show with me. I had explained that London was a long day for him, but he could possibly come to the more local show later in the year. So, after lunch, Father in Law very kindly brought my son over for the experience. (He had a good browse of the book stalls as well though.) Earlier in the week my son had read a book from the library about chocolate, including the history of his favourite food. He is now obsessed with conquistadors, I'm not sure if the uniforms and weapons, or if he just likes saying the word. So, we go upstairs to see what game to play and Crawley Wargames Club are running "Escape from the Aztecs." My son is sold when I tell him he gets to be a conquistador.
We had so much fun playing this game I only remembered to take one photo.

The idea of the game was to avoid the Aztecs, various wildlife, (giant snakes, crocodiles etc.) and quicksand and get to the fort at the other side of the table. Most of the adult players didn't make it and lost all three of their lives, but the three junior players had decided early on to try and stick together (the photo doesn't show it but they did stick close together most of the game) and they made it all the way across the table. In a wonderful act of kindness, the young lady playing on her last but one turn had the option to move another player an extra move. Instead of moving my sons piece nearer the Aztecs to distract them so she could escape, she moved my sons piece into the fort so he escaped. A wonderful demonstration of kind gaming.

The final game I managed to photograph was from South London Warlords. I had a brief chat with John Treadaway from Miniature Wargames ( a lovely chap and may I add an excellent publication.) who told me about the Dark Side of the Moon. A US Marines versus Chinese Peoples Space Force game based on the old tv series Space 1999. Figures and vehicles for the game are from Ground Zero Games. My photos don't do it justice, a mightily impressive table.

So, what did I buy? After all, that is the main reason we all go to the shows, to add to our lead mountains. Firstly I did as previously mentioned grab some of the new releases from Bad Squiddo.

God Bless Bruce for giving me the last Action Heroines blister. I am so grateful, I shall begin undercoating forthwith!
I picked up the following from crooked dice, now bear with, but I think they are actually perfect for my western town.

I have been promising myself a copy of this book for a while, after being impressed with Frostgrave I have high hopes for this follow up from the same author. Now I have a copy in my hand I can confidently say it really is a doorstop of a rulebook and I actually got it a bit cheaper than the cover price from Paul Meekin books. From a quick flick through I  can tell already I am going to like it, any book that mentions Johnny Mnemomic as inspiration gets my vote.

Finally, regular readers will know there is a tradition for one of my fellow gamers to always buy me random models of livestock. previous purchases have been pigs, buffalo, (useful) chickens and dodos (not so useful.) This year he has not failed. I shall now be imagining four Liverpudlian voices in my head asking each other "Whadya wanna do?" repeatedly as I paint these vultures.

Colours 2019 preparation

photo taken from newburyracecourse.co.uk

Well, its here again. It snuck up really quickly. Next weekend is the Newbury and Reading Wargame Society Annual fair. Or as we all know it to be called, Colours.
Regular readers will know this is my favourite show due to the minimal commute, but also as it just seems to be just the right size of show to be a fun day out without being too huge and overwhelming. Plus being close to home means I soak in the whole show and not miss anything and still be home in time for afternoon tea.
Bizarrely as I said, this has snuck up on me this year so I haven't really put much thought into research this year. Regular readers will know of my meticulous research for show days out and yet I have done none of that for Colours 2019. I haven't even done my annual delve through the under bed boxes for things to sell at the bring and buy. You can see the list of traders on the website here. Last year I produced a handy list of hyperlinks, but it looks like the club have added web site addresses this year so I shall not bother.
So a brief list of things of note. Perry are a last minute addition, as they don't always  come to Newbury either, will be good to see them. Bad Squiddo will be getting a visit from myself, I'm hoping to pick up some more of the new terrain resins, always useful. I may finally bite the bullet and invest in a Deep Cut Studios gaming mat for the dining table. I always drool over them at shows but you all know how it is, terrain isn't as much fun as soldiers. Finally, I have noticed Debris of War do some Gaslands conversion kits reasonably priced. I may have to make a visit to them to pick up some bits for my hotwheels collection.
Otherwise I'm thinking I'm just going to browse and take in the atmosphere. I may actually be persuaded to join in some participation games this year. After deciding to do more than just retail at a show earlier in the year and having fun at the speed painting competition,  I'm beginning to think there is more to these shows than just spending monies.

Newbury and Reading Wargames Society presents....

Colours 2018

It was a warm September day, a slight breeze and not a cloud in the sky. The perfect day to spend indoors with the backpack brigade. Yep it was Colours today.

As I have waxed lyrical in my previous post, this is my favourite show of the year. So I was up at the crack of dawn, baking some breakfast cinnamon whirls and bagging up some toy soldiers to sell. My illustrious wargaming opponent and I were nice and early at the front of the queue when the doors opened, so straight up to the bring and buy and we booked in our goods. I cannot emphasise enough how good a job the team do on the bring and buy each year. All volunteers, the efficiency in which they run it is a credit to the club. I know previously they have struggled to get it right, and I can say they now have it running like clockwork.

So, what did I buy? Well I didn't go crazy this year, it was nice just to enjoy the show and take in the demo games, but I did pick up a few bits.  Some bits of resin furniture from Trevor at Coritani www.magneticdisplays.co.uk. for my Heroquest games. I have bought from him before, nice resin sculpts, not too pricy and have that old school feel about them that is perfect for dungeon crawling.

I picked up a Chibi Raging Annie from Bad Squiddo and an Athena, Goddess of Wisdom to use in Ospreys Gods and Mortals skirmish game. For the same game I picked up some Footsore Vikings and a bag of less specific Black Tree design vikings from Mili-art.

Finally, I had to see if I could pick up a couple of giants in miniature from Wargames Illustrated (they are limited to 500 of each so they won't be around forever) I picked up a "Flash" Harry (mainly because it would amuse the Mother in Law) and an Alan Quartermain. I also grabbed a blister of 28mm scale pigs from Warbases  for a future project I will write about in the future.

The demo games had a couple of good tables of note. I didn't capture them all, but the following caught my imagination. Firstly, a 40mm scale table in full snowscape from Wessex games entitled Retreat from Moscow:

Next was a World War One table in 28mm presented by Adrian Shepherd and friends entitled The Race Across Idlib Provence.

A group call "Friends who like Rapid Fire" presented a most impressive display of 20mm WW2 vehicles much to the chagrin of my illustrious wargaming opponent who is in the beginning of the planning stage of doing his own Rapid Fire demo of Operation Goodwood.

A few Brits and the Hobby presented a demonstration of the Spectre ruleset. The giant scratchbuilt(?) tankers made an impressive centre to the table.

Overall a fun day out. However, I would say it seemed quiet this year. There didn't seem as many visitors. I dont know actual figures, but I didn't get as many backpacks to the face. This was reflected in my bring and buy sales, sadly I had to carry more items back home than I hoped. Anyone want to buy an original copy of Escape From Colditz?

Prepare the Colours

We're off on a lead hunt.

Even though it has been ten years since this grumpy old wargamer has worked in the world of retail, I have been on the odd occasion still been accused of being a little bah humbug at Christmas. I do however still get excited about one day of the year as much as Christmas, the wargame show.

Now my readership is across the globe so British readers, bear with me for a bit. In little ol' Blighty here most wargamers would agree the biggest show of the year is in London in April, Salute, hosted by the South London Warlords. My personal favourite of the year however is a little show called Colours, this year on the 15th of September, hosted by the Newbury and Reading Wargames Society. https://www.nrwc.org.uk 

Picture credit - https://newburyracecourse.co.uk


This is nowhere near as large as Salute but still a pretty impressive collection of traders and gamers all squeezed into Newbury Racecourse once a year in September. I guess it being hosted in my home town is one of the reasons I love it (No sweaty train journey for me, just a light stroll across our little market town.) But it is more than that. A lot of the traders have been coming for years, as have I, so although we don't know each other, they are as familiar as friends and some even remember my face.  Turn out is always good and the entire event is run by volunteers from the Society, a small team of people who do a sterling job every year.
The day is not just about shopping, I have made friends with fellow wargamers at Colours and the day is also an excuse to get together with some of them. We may not spend the day together (some are not as enthusiatic at getting up at the crack of dawn to get to the front of the queue as me) but the group trip outside the show to have lunch together in a local pub is also a highlight. (I shan't tell you what pub, it's a closely guarded secret I shall keep so that I don't have to wait longer to get served.) Venues for wargame shows are notorious for having food venders that could be described as slightly pricier than a grumpy old wargamer wants to pay, so our secret pub trip is always a delight. (more money to spend on toys!)

If you are going to a wargame show that doesn't have a handy pub and you don't want to pay for overpriced coffee and danish to keep you going, here is a first for a wargame blog, a recipe. I made these bars for a trip to birmingham for Games Expo and I can confidently say, they kept my energy levels going all day. Making them the night before a show is best.

Ingredients
1 cup (220g) of dates
1/4 cup (84g) maple syrup (make sure you don't buy maple flavour)
1/4 cup (64g) of crunchy peanut butter
1 cup (112g) of granola cereal
1 1/2 cups (135g) of rolled oats (porridge oats)

Chuck it all in a big bowl, get stuck in with your fingers and mix it together into a dough. Form into bar shapes (or if you are not particularly good at this, they look like turds.) Place on a sheet of greaseproof paper and stick in the fridge overnight. In the morning wrap each one seperately in tinfoil and stick them in your lunchbox. Don't forget to take your Thermos of tea or coffee too. Provisions sorted!

Just like Christmas, the days leading up to a show are spent in preparation. Colours has an always popular bring and buy stall, so I always spend some time going through my boxes of toys to clear out anything I haven't used in a while and hopefully get some pennies for. The show runners take a percentage of your sales but renting a whole racecourse for a day isn't cheap and its a guaranteed customer base, so worth paying. I regularly come home with a few pennies from selling off unused models.

The other preparation is scouting out the traders. I do this for Salute as well, going through the list of traders and perusing their websites, maybe even making the odd pre-order for collection (the best way to guarantee you aren't disappointed by something selling out.) On this note, I have compiled a handy list of hyperlinks for you of traders that are expected at Colours. The list is on the Societys page but without hyperlinks. I made this list for my own reference and so thought I would share. I hold no responsibility for these traders being there, or for any I have missed, I am just working off a list of names from the Society webpage and then googling as best I can to find a live website for the company. I have also ommited some sites that seem to not be as secure as my browser would like, so for the sake of internet safety they have been omitted.

 https://shop.ancient-modern.co.uk/
https://www.baccus6mm.com/
https://blotz.co.uk/
https://www.charliefoxtrotmodels.com/
https://www.colonelbills.com/
https://www.conquest-games.co.uk/
http://www.crooked-dice.co.uk/wp/
https://www.davidlanchestermilitarybooks.co.uk/
http://www.deepcutstudio.com/
https://eaglefigures.co.uk/
https://em4miniatures.com/
http://www.empressminiatures.com/
https://firepowergames.com/
http://glenbrookgames.co.uk.websitebuilder.prositehosting.co.uk/
http://www.greatescapegames.co.uk/
http://www.gringo40s.com/
https://shop.groundzerogames.co.uk/
https://www.grubbytanks.com/
http://www.hamandjam.co.uk/
http://www.heroicsandros.co.uk/
https://www.hystericalgames.co.uk/shop
http://www.tinytintroops.co.uk/Instant_Armies.htm
https://www.kallistra.co.uk/
https://www.magistermilitum.com/
http://www.magneticdisplays.co.uk/
https://newlinedesigns.co.uk/
http://www.parkfieldminiatures.freeservers.com/
http://www.paulmeekins.co.uk/
https://www.pe2collectables.co.uk/
https://www.theplasticsoldiercompany.co.uk/
http://www.productsforwargamers.com/
http://www.rapierminiatures.co.uk/
https://www.secondthunder.com/
http://www.shqminiatures.co.uk/Sitefiles/main.php
https://badsquiddogames.com/
http://www.tumblingdiceuk.com/
http://www.wargameterrain.co.uk/
https://www.sarissa-precision.com/
https://warbases.co.uk/
https://www.wargamesillustrated.net/
https://store.warlordgames.com/
https://www.westwindproductions.co.uk/
https://artofwarshirts.co.uk/
http://www.abcbrushes.com/
https://barwellbodyworks-shop.com/
http://www.battlezone-miniatures.co.uk/
https://www.debrisofwar.com/
http://daveswargames.tictail.com/
https://elitewargamesandmodels.com/
https://www.essexminiatures.co.uk/
http://www.gamesofwar.co.uk/
https://www.helion.co.uk/
https://www.krmulticase.com/
https://lancerminiatures.com/
http://www.lastmanlastbullet.co.uk/
http://www.lesleysbitsbox.co.uk/
http://www.propworkshop.co.uk/oakbound/
http://www.peterpig.co.uk/
https://www.possessedgaming.co.uk/
http://www.sgtsmess.co.uk/
http://www.tablescape.co.uk/
https://www.ehgaming.com/last-valley-scenics-wargame-scenery-terrain/
http://www.tigerterrain.com/

Phew, that was an effort.

Apologies if they are incorrect, if it wasn't pretty obvious I had the right site, I have just left it out. Please refer to the Society site for the official list.

 There are some new names I don't recognise here, but very briefly, these are of note:

Bad Squiddo, go see Annie for realistic, clothed (I know shock horror!) female miniatures, take her some dandelion leaves for her Guinea pigs too.

Lesley's bits box, if you are looking for that obscure old GW miniature, go ask Lesley, I don't know where she gets her stock, but she works miracles sometimes.

KR Multicase, why spend all that money on toy soldiers and not store them safely! They do custom cases for so many different things, even 00 scale railway (I know, apparently some people like trains.) if they don't have what you want, it may be worth asking, they may be working on it for the future.

Deep Cut studios, if you don't have a mousemat gaming mat for your table, buy one now. It is worth the investment, they are also really good for putting down on the table for card gaming, I know some of you out there like to play a bit of Munchkin sometimes.

Anyway, so I'll see you there...