Colours 2024

Andy and I went to Colours at Newbury Racecourse yesterday.  Not as big as Salute but plenty of traders and demonstration games to see and we spent the best part of six hours there (including over an hour eating our picnic outside and getting a little sunburned).  Other advantages over Salute include the cost (£5 a ticket instead of £12 plus parking plus ULEZ charge) and that it's not much than an hour's drive away.

My favourite demo games included one set in Japan:

The 1812 battle of Salamanca with what I thought were gorgeous autumnal colours but are perhaps sun-scorched summer Spanish colours:

Operation Sealion:

A Second World War battle between Finland and Russia:

And a fun Lego game of the trench run from Star Wars:

I haven't spent much money at shows in recent years but managed a good haul this time, including a lot of varied scenery (some of it from the Bring & Buy), the Vlad's Army (Dad's Army vs Vampires) expansion for the 7TV rules, and the Scooby Doo gang and Mystery Machine to paint.

Colours - 16 September 2017

Andy and I headed off to Newbury yesterday for Colours, meeting up with Adrian and Jonathan.  Colours is now just a one day event after a hiatus last year.  It didn't feel any more crowded despite the loss of the second day although I wonder if there were slightly fewer traders as the ground floor had a bit more space than previously.

I headed straight for the Bring & Buy as usual and this year picked up a couple of board games.  The first is Mombasa, an African trading game, currently 8/10 and #57 overall on BoardGameGeek and winner of numerous game awards in 2016.  The reviews look excellent and so I was surprised to find the game is effectively brand new, with counters yet to be pressed out!

The second game is Porta Nigra, lower down the overall rankings on BGG but still a very respectable 7.4/10 (for reference this is below Ra but above Peloponnes).  This is a building game set in the Roman period, inspired by the "Porta Nigra", a large Roman city gate located in Trier, Germany built in 200 CE and still standing.  I particularly liked the stacking building pieces.

As always, there were plenty of impressive looking demo and participation games.  Highlights included a Lego sub-sea exploration game (temptingly on sale with dozens of vehicles and sharks but I resisted!):

...a WW2 desert game:

...and a game of the Franco-Austrian war with some stunning scratchbuilt buildings:

Colours 2015

After last year's hiatus, Colours was back again at Newbury Racecourse today, but just today rather than the whole weekend.  Andy and I drove up in the morning, and I bumped into Adrian a few times who was there in the afternoon.  I missed Jonathan but he was spotted by Adrian.

I really like this show - I hope they can keep it going.  It certainly seemed to be popular with traders and wargamers - probably a bit more crushed than usual since folks only had the one day to get there.

I bought a resin river (seven 12 inch long pieces), a Nissen Hut and pill boxes for Dad's Army scenarios, a pack of Japanese garden items, and some paints and basing materials.  Not a bad haul.

As usual, some great looking participation and demonstration games.  Here are my favourites:

Ben-Hur in Playmobil

 Amazing scenery in an American Civil War game

Another colourful game (ECW?)

 Stunning interior

A close up of the bar area

Modern Afghanistan

Wings of Glory with clouds, zeppelin and lots (and lots) of planes 

'Allo 'Allo game (I loved the mat - googled it when I got home - £59!) 

Beautiful painting on one of the figure manufacturer stands 

WW1 stretcher bearer game