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.