12th September Newbury Racecourse

COLOURS 2015

So, after a year off, Colours returned ... still at fabulous Newbury Racecourse (loads of light, loads of space, loads of free parking ... ) ... but now a more 'trader friendly' one day format.

And I thought it was very good ... good big crowds, plenty of good games, most of the usual traders ...

(contemplating victory or defeat with the Society of Ancients at Zama )

... rather light perhaps on the fashionably sprawling 28mm games (maybe more to play rather than to ogle and that's no bad thing in my book ... ) ..

The Society of Ancients was on the same floor as the Bring & Buy but less affected by the long barrier queues that have hit us in the past.  Indeed it was a good experience throughout and our Lost Battle, Zama, was a winner.

This is the Society's 50th year and it was a great pleasure to be visited by one of the early activists, Neville Dickinson (he of Minifgs) ... Not everyone agreed about strategies and directions in those days ...

(Neville Dickinson chats with Eric on the Society stand at Colours)

Elsewhere the ancient/medieval enthusiast had plenty to enjoy especially he excellent Agincourt game from the Staines design stable which we enjoyed playing at Campaign earlier in the year ...

(Staines Agincourt game)

also around the show my eye was caught by some nice participations games and splendid larger scale ECW ...

... and I really like the way the biplane enthusiasts had tried to do their clouds ... I have tried my hand a rule devising for this period and 'terrain' and visibility is important up there (but not always well managed) - thumbs up to them: my own solution is still under wraps for now ...

... and I can't resist including a couple of vehicle shots from the desert in glorious 15mm ...

So, a great show (as I hope the pictures suggest) with lots to see and do - much of the regular trade fair and a good 'traditional' Bring & Buy with (I thought) a range of stuff for sale and bargains to be had.

It also seemed to me that people pretty much stayed for a full value afternoon (no 3pm pack up) - I presume down to the combination of just being one day, the Bring & Buy and the number of things to do ...

I hope that means Colours is back on the regular schedule and, yes, the one day format seemed to have worked.

For us the highlight was probably meeting Neville Dickinson (he founded the company that made my first metal figures, of course ...) ...

See you all at Derby where we will be combining with the Northampton Battlefields Society and doing Yarmuk ...

14th - 15th September, Newbury Racecourse

Colours 2013

There will be a number of catch up entries in quick succession as my timing get back on schedule.   The Alfred East Art Gallery has just celebrated its Centenary and some of my attention has gone that way over the last few weeks.   Congratulations and happy anniversary! ... meanwhile the Autumn shows season has clicked into gear with its usual bustling frequency.

Newbury Racecourse provided the customary good, bright and efficient facilities for Colours.   

The Society of Ancients had a triple feature: on Saturday Philip Sabin hosted games of Gaugamela (331) using his Lost Battles formula; on Sunday, inheriting lots of space from the big game, I took over the display space and put on Bosworth together with a display of the latest addition to the nostalgia collection: Phil Barker's 1960s flats army.

GAUGAMELA

(Gaugamela reconstructed as a Lost Battle)

(Gaugamela: the spectacular Persian host)

BOSWORTH

(click on the pictures for a bigger image)

FLATS FROM THE TONY BATH ERA

(Phil Barker's original Roman Army set up for Tony Bath's rules)

(closer in: splendid veterans of wargames 50 years ago)

Saturday got off to a somewhat grudging start ... I was doing the membership stand for Day One of the show and we are situated next to the Bring & Buy.   This queued past us all morning (yep ... all morning ): a phalanx several deep and right down the main avenue for the best part of 3 hours.  It has been like this in previous years but not quite as bad I think.   I commented wryly that it would wash out the first hour or so for us - I was optimistic, it wiped out the whole morning (nobody can really get at the stand because of all the bodies in the queue ... now that might give us a captive audience, but they aren't there for us, they want to deposit their wares on the B&B): to give everyone something to look at, I switched on my laptop and set it to slideshow pictures from the Chalons BattleDay.   Much though I like Colours, there has to be a better way to book in for the Bring & Buy.

Colours is a big show with plenty to look at and loads of good shopping opportunities.   During my breaks over the weekend, I particularly enjoyed ...

(John Curry's demo of the Fletcher Pratt Naval Wargame)

(Crawley's wintery Battle of Fraustadt, 1706 table)

(15mm World War II from Loughton Strike Force)

(Dux Bellorum presented with - inset - some splendid new 10mm figures from Pendraken)

(a ravaging 15mm contingent in Peter Pig's Vikings demo game)

Plenty of good things for the ancient and medieval enthusiast.   Had I had time I would have delighted in taking a seat for the Vikings game and for Dux Bellorum - both look great and I fear I'm falling behind the pack. 

We had a number of tight reruns of Bosworth on the Sunday ... I still find Mike Ingram's interpretation convincing, but Richard can overcome the handicaps of a poor deployment and Percy's reluctance if he can grab opportunities with both hands.   He nearly did so on the day, of course,  but was edged out of history by the slenderest of margins.

(Bosworth at Colours: Richard prevails)

It was also a good show for 54mm enthusiasts ... in addition to the Society game we were next to the Skirmish Wargames Society who this year put on a sprawling snapshot from Leipzig  

NB those are 54s, so that's quite a big table. ... and across in the annex, there were some 54mm ECWs ...

(The Rearguard at Rowdeford, 1643 by Devizes and District Wargames Group)

(Hastings & St Leonards ... also in the Annex)

Back up on the top floor, the nearby Pike & Shot Society had support from the Liverpool Wargames Society and their Battle of Bicocca, 1522 - a good looking 10mm Field of Glory Renaissance game ...

... and the Sheffield Wargames Society had a huge 25mm Crusades game ...

This is certainly one of those shows where it would take you two days to do justice to all the good things on display.  Hopefully the photographs give some flavour.   Backing all that up, of course, is an extensive trade fair and a range of competitions as well ... 

Great show, free parking, wonderful light from the big Racecourse windows, but they need to sort out the Bring & Buy queue ...

September 8th - 9th, Newbury Racecourse

COLOURS 2012

This year's Society stand seemed very busy explaining and packaging up the new style memberships (a rolling 6 issue subscription starting when you join up ... read more here ...)... and dishing out recent Slingshots as single issues.   From what I could see the stand was busy and I think the change must be going down well.

The Society was supported by one of Rob Broom's 28mm War & Conquest demo games ...

(click on the picture for a better view - they're building a Roman road!)

... in this case a fictional raid on a Roman working party (something to do with protesting about the route of a new by-pass ...) ...  Again, nice toys and a busy looking pitch through most of the weekend.

I can only give a fairly brief glimpse of this year's Colours Show as I was busy all weekend a few metres away from the Society stand  .... puting on a presentation of the second battle of Newbury for the Pike & Shot Society and the Battlefields Trust ...

(my pasting table depiction of Newbury 1644)

If you want to find out more about the battle (visible through the windows from our floor of the building ..) ... have a look at my ECW blog pages ( creating the battlefield ) and ( Newbury at Newbury ).

(eye-catching 54mm snow bedecked Napoleonics)

(Newbury again - this time in 28mm and the First (1643) Battle from W.A.R.)

Most of what I saw of the show was on our floor, but I did get down to the ground floor to pick up some more bases, and to buy a big expensive box of 'lang' Silfor tufts to tart up the Bosworth gear (I also bought some WW2 stuff but you wont want to know about that ...)..

(6mm Borodino)

Whilst downstairs, I got a glimpse of this splendid 6mm Borodino (covered with little Baccus guys) .. Leaning over and not really able to see what I was doing, I quite fortuitously took one of the best 6mm pictures I have ever been able to take ... so I unashamedly share it with you as part of my Colours report.  Do click on it (and then reflect on how small it really is) ...

(great work - this little Napoleon was a remarkable achievement)

If historical battlefields are of interest to you, you can find out more about them (resources, campaigns and events) from the Battlefields Trust.

Great to see President Boss meeting members on the Society stand over the weekend: Colours was one of the first wargames shows I did as what was then part of the Society of Ancients/Slough Barbarians participation games team.  In those days Roy used to run the show!    That was back in the Hexagon in Reading, and the first game I was involved with was 'David and Goliath' conceived by Andy Gittins* (a success in its own right, it evolved, of course, into the ever popular - dare I cheekily say 'evergreen' - 'Gladiolus').   Colours remains one of my favourite shows.

Ah .. those were the days!

*Andy, of course, went on to be President, and I have now handed the priceless Society regalia on to Roy.

10th - 11th September, Newbury

COLOURS 2011

After a busy weekend managing the overlapping events at Newark and Abingdon, it was back down the A34 for Colours at Newbury Racecourse - a more relaxed schedule meeting the public and playing participation games in the airy sunlight that modern racecourse stands seem to offer (beautiful as long as you're not right next to the window on a hot day!)

We had our usual slot on the 2nd floor, next to the busy Bring & Buy* and plenty of space ...


On Saturday, Philip Sabin, Eric Cruttenden and Alan Waller put on a reprise of the Kadesh game they did for this year's BattleDay. Lost Battles in the Late Bronze Age. A sprawling 28mm game with over 100 chariots. A very popular game.


Phil also had samples from the brand new 'delux' boxed game version of Lost Battles. I must get one - it is bound to be a classic, the quality is remarkable. Here's a look at the game by Aaron from the Planet Ancients blog list ('Lost Battles Arrives' link)

On Sunday I took over the Society pitch offering a choice of quicker Participation Games, Henry V's assault at Harfleur ('Greyhounds in the Slips') or my Britannia's Eastern Front DBA set up (Arthur vs the English invaders) ...

(once more unto the breach, dear friends, once more)

(The Sub Roman British win again: DBA in the age of Arthur)

Indeed, Colours sees a good turn out by the Society teams ... the Lance & Longbow Society downstairs were supported by a Wars of the Roses game ... while next to us upstairs, the Pike & Shot Society had a busy weekend too.

(RFCM's Bloody Barons with the Lance & Longbow Society)
(S.E.B. signing up members for the Pike & Shot Society)

Next door to us both, the Skirmish Wargames folk had one of their 54mm scale wargames. These are a regular feature at Colours .... But, well, maybe it's me .... I thought this one was the best ... Perfectly on theme to run next to our displays ...

(54mm Crusades wargame)

(a closer look at some of those 54mm Moslems)

(a closer look at some of those 54mm Crusaders ...)

It was the kind of game that makes you start planning and rummaging through all those 1:32 plastics boxes ...
We ran several assaults on Harfleur until the show slackened off in the middle of Sunday afternoon. Henry should carry the breach - the challenge is how many speeches he needs to deploy to motivate his hard-pressed soldiers (and the more he uses at Harfleur, the less easy it will be to stir up the lads when they find themselves cornered at Agincourt ...) ...
(Game 6: Harry has another crack at Harfleur)

Nevertheless, the action can be very bloody as the non-player characters fall victim ...

(A victorious Henry V cuts down the Captain of the Guard in the breach at Harfleur)

If you want your own copy of the game (plus Graham's Romans against the Elephant skirmish) you can order the Domino Double Header from the website store (Society of Ancients Games) - you will just need to have some sets of dominoes handy and some dice (everything else is in the pack including paper soldiers and a fold up tower ...)...

There were plenty of other ancients games on display...

(Rob Broom's War & Conquest demo)

... and a massive Roman battle against the Sassanian Persians ...


(the Roman war for the east)

The Society stand was reasonably well manned throughout the weekend (thanks, all), so I was able to get out with my camera and capture a few more highlights ....


(Isandlwana - a massive diorama of this chilling episode in the history of South Africa)

(an eye-catching game of the air war in Vietnam)

(World War II in a box - followers of my ECW blog will know why I was intrigued ...)

(another of those really effective ACW layouts ... )

I'm not sure how well attended Colours was ... whilst the sunlight was blocked-out by the Bring & Buy queue, it seemed impossibly busy ... as the weekend progressed visitors did seem thinner on the ground (and there were one or two trade stands absent from the usual line up I thought) ... I was able to thank both Black Hat and Lurkio for their super-prompt mail order service, and got some excellent new Saxons from Donnington ('New Era' ... you must have a look at these ...)..

Big tables again (bar Rob Broom's, which was exemplary in its compactness) ... but, like Partizan, mostly worth the space they took up.

Endless free parking at Colours, of course - plus a massive trade presence ... lots to see and a great day out. Great show. Make a date for next year ....

*(which sort of wiped out the first hour or so on Saturday - Colours now has one of those fiendish systems that causes massive queues as people check their items in: literally, from the SoA stand you could see nothing but backpacks and carry cases for most of the morning - I'm surprised there weren't more complaints) ...