Colours 2022

As Summer begins to wane my mind tends to move away from the garden and back towards wargaming, as the former needs little attention now whilst the latter most certainly does. Also I feel mentally it's time to focus back on painting, gaming etc as the nights begin to draw in and the show season kicks off near me.

Colours was always the start of Autumn wargaming for me and certainly tended to fuel my interest and give me ideas for new projects etc. This was aided slightly by the local IPMS show in Thornbury in August adding a wargames element, which was good. For some reason there was no advertising for this and so I missed it as it was a week or so ago. Shame as it's a nice little show with the added bonus of loads of superb models on display. Then my good friend Keith Flint began to organise the Cotswold Wargames Day, which whilst not a show per se, kicked off around the same time as Colours. So as you can see early September can be a busy month on the wargames front

This year Colours 2022 is back on Saturday 10th September after being postponed for obvious reasons in 2021. Normally I would not hesitate in attending, but with the current fuel price issue, inflation and cost of living rises that we are all having to deal with, frankly I had to give this some thought as whether I could justify it or not. I know this may sound mad to some but it is the harsh reality for us as a family and many others for sure. To help me decide I checked out what games were on and what traders were attending, but really it's the game that swing things for me, given my current desire to stick with a few core periods, projects and rulesets etc.

Whilst there are no competition games this year, there are some demo games, but maybe less than in previous years? Also there is free entry to help with the issues outlined above and to encourage attendance. Obviously if no one goes then the shows die, which would be a crying shame. Given that some have and others are likely to, it imperative to attend them if we are able to. Anyway, back on track and the following two games really caught my eye:

Bruce Weigle will be putting on his superb Battle for Malta campaign which I saw courtesy of the Little Wars TV chaps on Youtube (clivk the link). I've had the pleasure of meeting Bruce before and chatting with him at previous shows, so to say I'm a tad excited he is putting on a game again is a massive understatement!

Another game that is getting my creative juices flowing is the Battle of Pakozd by the Oxford Wargames Society using Chris Pringles superb Bloody Big Battles rules. Lately the 1848 period has really caught my fancy and I eagerly await his planned scenario book for the Hungarian War of Independence. He has also published the first of two books on the conflict that I hope to check out at the show.

Honestly these two games instantly made we want to go to the show and SWMBO was more than happy for me to have a day of quality me time (or maybe she was just glad to get me out of the house...) which is a rare thing these days, what with being a full time carer and all that.

I imagine that after a quick wander around the show, looking at the book sellers and chatting with Leon at the Pendraken stand, most of my time will be spent on these two tables, if they'll have me of course! Hopefully I will get to bump into a few familiar faces (but not rucksacks) and chew the cud as we tend to do when we meet up. After some 3-4 years since the last show I'm really looking forward to attending once again. Let's hope it's not too busy in the sense of having space to move around, but with no competition games, I think it will be OK. Maybe I'll see some of you there, if not I'll take some pics and post thoughts on the day once I'm back home.

Until next time, stay safe and keep healthy.