Well the last post was the basic what it was like to go to the wargames show. This is more about my actual experience, and what the benefits are.
Newbury is a “toidy step” and takes some time to get there so it really is an annual pilgrimage for Anthony & I. So why do we do it ?
See New Products and New Companies in the metal/plastic/resin/paper
I have an aversion to buying new products sight unseen. I wouldn’t buy a new house without seeing it. Clever paint jobs and blurred photos (or absent photos) on the internet are no replacement for seeing new stuff for real, especially when its from a new company.
Antenocitis Workshop was one such trader where I picked up a load of new product – they’ve been a good supplier for scenery material but have now branched out into sci-fi stuff, so i got some of their new 15mm hab units and other gubbins. I also had a chat with them about some things which was illuminating.
Reduce P&P costs, and get Show specials
Yup you can pick a lot of show specials, and I did. GZG even had a free take your pick box of their 15mm figures, which required no purchases – just literally help yourself.. I didn’t, I know their figures are really worth it.
As Scenery Boy, I usually buy a lot of scenery at shows, ‘cos P&P is very high on large scenery pieces I like to buy. So Critical Mass Games got visited for more alien 15mm scenery. They were a bit p!ssed because being next to the front door, they’d been screened for a while by a wall of stewards for the first hour or so.
To be Sociable
Anthony & I have been mates for nearly 30 years and whislt we meet regularly for wargames sessions we don’t have time to talk often about other topics, so as my mobile phone seems to be heading for Silicon Heaven and we had a good chat about the benefits if iPhones, Android Phones, iPads and so on as we are both techies to different degrees and on different subjects.
Attending Colours also allows me to meet up with various online acquaintances as well. So the AVBCW demo game got a vist and I met up with Tym, Tom, Ook, and for the first time Mick A.
A face to face chat is always better than anonymous e-mails and forum postings, especially when we are trying to re-arrange BG-5.
AVBCW from another angle:
Anthony & I also met up with another former work colleague, and it seems we might be able to arrange some games with him now we have his contact details.
Oh, and the best thing about the wargames show is getting the shiney stuff. I always limit myself by taking cash only – usually the traders only accept cash anyway due to lack of access to card readers. But it does mean I have a strict budget. Otherwise, there is a tendency to go completely mad, it’s like the dream we all have of finding a model shop that has everything we ever dreamed of and more ! Sadly that dream usually ends in a rush to the cash point and then racing back to be unable to find this mythical shop.
Here’s today’s haul. Not going to go through it item by item, but you’ll see a lot of this stuff as new projects in the near future. 🙂
best of all I came home to a new CD of music….more of which later…
The Lost City of Carcosa 