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.

Salute 2021

Andy and I went to Salute 2021 yesterday at Excel.  This was the much delayed April 2020 show so the theme was 80 years since the Battle of Britain, with a nicely printed cotton bag featuring a Spitfire, the free model was a 1940s schoolboy playing with a model plane, and there were full-scale replicas of a Hurricane and a Spitfire in the exhibition hall.

The COVID controls weren't made clear on the Salute website and so we were among a number of people caught out by them.  Fortunately, we managed to get the NHS app installed on Andy's phone and were then both able to show our vaccine passports.  So a slight delay in getting in but reassuring that all visitors had to show this or a recent negative test, and a good proportion of folks were wearing masks like us.

Understandably there were fewer people than previous years (partly COVID, perhaps partly because Salute 2022 is only five months away) but pretty much the same number of traders.  The noticeable difference was a reduction in the number of demo and participation games with quite a few empty tables.  But despite that, there was plenty to see and we had a good day out.

Highlights included this pirate battle:

A battle in Mexico:

A futuristic battle, seemingly influenced by the video game Horizon Zero Dawn:

This nice-looking WW2 game:

A very impressive Stalingrad game with a lot of height to it and with the River Volga in the foreground:

A couple of parody games about Brexit...

...and Trump's wall on the Mexico border:

We caught up with Eric C of Anderida fame, and Andy met up with his old squadron leader...

...who unusually was playing a WW2 game when we stopped by:

Expenditure was minimal this year.  I bought a set of reversible road/rivers and a small group of figures from new-ish company Tangent Miniatures.  These are called "Cosmic Travellers" but have more than a passing resemblance to the main characters from the Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy. 

Warfare 2019

Andy and I went to Warfare at Reading last Sunday.  It's the last time at the venue - they want to make it bigger and move nearer London in the hope of improving attendance.  Fortunately, the show is moving just 15 mins east to Ascot Racecourse, so looks like it's still worth the trip.  I didn't spend much but enjoyed looking around the stands and, especially, the demonstration games.

Some nice dioramas from a model manufacturer:

An amazing tower with decorated interior (tapestries, four posters etc) which had been built by the wargamer's children and their friends:

The moonbase wargame also seen at Salute:

Attack on a Saxon village:

A wintry Wild West game - with snow covered roofs, ingeniously created with white aquarium sand glued to acetate sheets - so the sheets can be removed.

The biggest game of Battleships I've seen... Cold War in the Med:

A submarine pen (bespoke product made with Blotz):

Pegasus Bridge (background) and V2 rocket (foreground left):

The Shire:

Salute - 6 April 2019

Andy and I travelled to Excel yesterday for another Salute.  A long journey but a good venue and so much to see.  Some of the highlights:

Cavemen hunting mammoths

Battle of Danholm 1807 (French vs Sweden)

The Williamite Wars in Ireland 1688-1691

A lunar battle in 10mm

Academics from University of Edinburgh wargaming attacking a crusader castle to understand more about how they were defended.

A fantasy/ancients game with fantastic scenery.

GORDON'S A-BRICK!  Flash Gordon in Lego!

And the highlight of the show for me... the Back To The Future trilogy in model form with two participation games: a hoverboard race for the second film and a Wild West shootout for the third film.  All three used the same location in different times and had an amazing light show controlled by an Arduino device which counted down the years, controlled the lightning in 1955, and set the Delorean tyre marks aflame in all three time periods.  Enjoy the video (includes a special bonus for David).

Warfare 2018

Andy and I head off to Reading last weekend for the annual Warfare games show.  Fewer visitors this year but still as many traders and demo games so plenty to see, and easy to see it.  I enjoyed looking around but restricted my purchases to a single pack of figures from Bad Squiddo Games who specialise in female miniatures - fortunately not the usual designed-for-teenage-boys figures that many other manufacturers come up with.  I bought this set, no doubt inspired by the more active female roles in the recent Dad's Army film, so they'll be a fun addition to my Home Guard project.

Here are some of the highlights from the demo and participation games...

Treasure Island with 54mm figures

WW2 North Africa

Playmobil Pirates

English Civil War attack on Bristol

Elephants!

Pirates - amazing game using Legends of the High Seas with superb scratchbuilt scenery (I want that fort!)

WW1 Trench Warfare

WW2 Stalingrad - incredible detail

Pegasus Bridge and Eastern Front - WW2 tournament games

Salute 2018

Another pilgrimage to another games show.  Salute really is a huge event and worth the effort to get there.  Usual wide mix of folks, with increasing numbers of stormtroopers, steampunkers and other costumes.  Best outfit though was a pink T-shirt worn by a little girl reading "This army needs more unicorns!"

My purchases were a few extras for my Japan project and some more MDF buildings, as I've decided to start converting my 13 years old cardboard Wild West city to something more robust.

We bumped into Jonathan, and Eric and his gaming partner - still playing ancients and complaining about dice rolls ;-)

Usual excellent selection of demonstration and participation games - here are some highlights: