Saturday 8th September was the first day of the Colours 2012 show. Just like when we went to Devizes it was another gloriously sunny day. The show is held in the grandstand at the Newbury Racecourse. Being such a high spec venue I thought it obvious that they'd have air-con ... but oh no! By George did it get hot!
However, I will say that it was a very well organised show from my perspective, i.e. putting on a demo game. Everything was well laid out and the venue has ample free parking along with a number of reasonably priced coffee and food outlets. The show is spread over three floors and is well attended by a good range of traders.
As part of the ongoing process of showing the world just how much fun War & Conquest is, my wife and I
brought along our Celt and Roman armies to put on a game with Rob from Scarab Miniatures. There was also Steve from Bristol Big'Uns on hand to help out with sage tactical advice.
Rob created a marvellous scenario involving the Romans trying to build a road which will result in the destruction of a tree and standing stones sacred to the local tribes. Well, the show is held in Newbury after all. (Note - for those not familiar - Newbury was the site of a well publicised "eco-protest" a few years ago when developers attempted to build a
by-pass road.) So the scenario seemed quite apt.
Here's a pic from the first game. Apologies, but I forgot my good camera so had to use my phone!?
The next three pics are from the second game - fought by Steve and Rob whilst we had a look round the show. The road has been built part way on to the table whilst the Roman army
spreads out to give the engineers protection as the tribes advance.
Later, the road has progressed further, almost reaching the standing stones.
Above is Scarab supremo Rob taking a few pics. Below we see things from the Celt perspective.
Both games were great fun and proved to be very closely fought battles. There were plenty of people who stopped by to say hello, chat about War & Conquest or gaming in general. Many thanks to all of you!
As the title said ... I've bought a new "Man Bag", here it is, with a Saxon Thegn on top to give you an idea of scale. Bought from the excellent
Figures in Comfort.
Our model collection has reached the point where my GW carry cases are simply not enough to store everything. I bought the cases years ago when I could get a 50% discount. The "
Maxi" bag above holds 8 standard trays which equates to almost 300 figures. This works out slightly cheaper than current GW cases, plus you can get a wide range of trays to suit your collection.
Other goodies purchased at the show included a box of the new plastic Norman Infantry from
Conquest Games. I nearly bought their Nuns & Monks set too. CQ plans to expand the range to include a bishop and a monk on donkey (Brother Asser?). A quick stop at the Dave Thomas stall saw me buy some Villagers and Pilgrims, plus some casualty figures from the Perry Crusaders range. Warbases provided me with plenty of new bases along with some excellent numbered casualty bases. Should have these done soon!
Anyway, a good show, some fun games and lots of gaming goodness. Certainly a show worth visiting.
