Colours 2024 - A Show Report

I was feeling somewhat jaded this morning after a lack of sleep, but with a glorious day beckoning and some chocolate (the choice of champions😉) to kick start my old body, I headed off to Newbury racecourse for this years Colours wargames show. I met my good friend Keith Flint at the entrance and we were soon inside, ready for what the show had to offer.

I must admit I was filled with some trepidation after last years poor showing games wise, but had high hopes as the games on offer looked to be pretty good. In the end I need not have worried😊. So without further ado, let's start with the photos which frankly is what most people want to see!

Just for you Chris😉.

A lovely game in 28mm using Chain of Command rules.

Lots of nice details all over the board.

Excellent reference books.

Postcards for the 'discerning gentleman wargamer'.

Simon Millar & Co putting on a lovely game as always.

The Battle of Ilipa 206BC. You can tell from the faces what it's like to play DBM...

War of the Roses is certainly the flavour of the month at present.

Really nicely painted figures.

This was a very popular game, with a slice of the action from Borodino, namely the Raevsky Redoubt.

Some excellent scenery on display along with lovely figures.

A lovely Operation Sealion game, which had lots of admirers.

Another General d'Armee game, but using the original rules. This was listed as Anglo-Ottoman War 1809...

The guys playing were having fun and things seemed to moving along at a fair old lick.

Salamanca 1812.

Loads of 54mm (?) figures on display.

A Burrows & Badgers game. Very impressive.

A medieval skirmish game. 

I loved these chaps that looked like Wombles to me, given their 'girth'!

Abbevilla France 1940. A Bruce Weigle game that was originally going to be Belgium 1940 I believe.

Nice scratch built buildings, but the 3mm figures etc were hard to make out.

The Liverpool chaps always seem to put on a great Samurai game.

Oxford Wargames Club and Borodino 1812, from the Napoleonic BBB book.

Well done to Chris Pringle & Co who even managed to get a Warhammer 40K player playing this and having fun too!

Anschluss Games, Italy 1944.

The Battle for Downham Marker 1870. An Invasion scare type setting, of particular interest as my Dad now lives there. 

An 0200 Hours game, with the objective to capture Rommel.

The only two books I bought, but very happy with these.

My only purchase aside from books, a 6mm Battlescale ACW church from Pendraken.

Post Show Thoughts

In the end we spent just shy if 4 hours at the show, which I think is a record for me! So as always some musings on the day out:

• Well the show was certainly a vast improvement upon last year, certainly on the games front, which was great to see. For me it was in the 'last chance saloon', but this is no longer the case, which I'm thankful for, as I do like the show on many levels. Colours certainly came back with a bang!
• I don't think I've bumped into so many gamers I know and I reckon Keith and I spent well over and hour just chatting with friends, which was a real pleasure. That social aspect was something we all commented upon and agreed was one of the reasons for attending.
• The quality of games this year was pretty damned good right across the board, from those small games we could all put on at home to those inspirational ones we all like to see at a show. In fact Keith and I did ponder on whether we might put on a game ourselves next year. Too early to tell but you never know...
• It was good to see most of the games had a info sheet of sign next to the table, which was so helpful when trying to figure out what was going on, and as an aide memoire from the photos when writing this post up.
• The show seemed less busy than last year, so I hope the traders did some decent business. It was certainly easier to move around on the ground floor where most of them are and to actually see their wares, which is often not always possible. Certianly no rucksack incidents this year!
• Once again the pricing of books on offer was bizarre, depending upon who you went to. So wise to have a good wander round before parting with your hard earned cash. The two Rapid Fire scenario books cost me about the same price as buying one from the Rapid Fire chaps themselves! Some of the prices being charged was mind boggling, knowing full well that with a bit of patience and shopping around online, you can get them much cheaper. I know they have to cover their costs, but there is a limit!
• Chatting away we talked a lot about what scale of actions we like and why, plus how much detail and granularity we want to go into. Ditto what size games we can play at home and how much time we have to do so. Alongside this was talk of how many more figures or armies do we need at our ages (60's) and how long we can continue to paint the smaller scale figures. I think it seems we are all pondering significant downsizing in the next few years or so. 

I'm sure there's more I might remember later to past about, but that'll do for now. I hope you enjoyed my selective view of the show and games and if so, it would be lovely for you to leave a comment.

Keith is coming over for a WWII game on Monday, so plenty to get ready for that. I've also started painting again with the CWD some 5 weeks away now, so need to knuckle down. Hopefully some photos to show on that front in the next few days...

TTFN.