Wednesday 19 September 2018

"Colours" Loot 2018

"Wizkids" Hellboy and the B.P.R.D. alongside the likes of the Fantastic Four and Spider-Man
This past Saturday I was lucky enough to make the trip to Newbury Racecourse and attend the annual Newbury & Reading Wargames Club’s show “Colours”. To be honest I haven’t been that impressed with this event since it was reduced in length to a single day a few years ago, but having come away with a motley collection of models and scenery pieces, including the obligatory ‘I never would have expected to buy that’ goody bag, I feel this was probably the best one I’ve experienced for some considerable time.

In addition, there seemed to be far more games being played on the two upper stories that I was interested in perusing than I can recall too, with an “Infinity” tournament proving to be particularly eye-catching, if not off-putting, with all the numerous colourful tokens being required in order to record each (predominantly unpainted) figure’s status. Sadly, for those anticipating a review of these wonderfully-adorned tabletops I won’t be providing any coverage here. However, one of the highlights of the day was briefly meeting up with fellow blogger Tamsin Piper, and she has done a first-rate job of detailing seemingly every battlefield present at the show on her excellent website “Wargaming Girl”.
"Doctor Who" WIPs - Romana, the Fourth Doctor & K-9, and Harry Sullivan 
It probably won’t come as much of a surprise to anyone who pays even a passing attention to my wargaming habits to know that I’m a big fan of ‘Wizkids” and their pre-painted “Heroclix” range. These plastic ‘clicky’ super-heroes and dastardly villains have been about for many years and I’ve re-painted more than my fair share of them to use with such notable systems as “7TV” and “Mutants And Death Ray Guns”. Resultantly, when I stumbled upon a stall containing a shoe box of some of the New Jersey-based manufacturer’s earliest figures for ‘50p a pop’ I had a darn good rummage and picked up both the entire Fantastic Four, as well as my favourite “DC Comics” Silver Age comic book character, the Blue Beetle.

Now admittedly I already own these miniatures and have actually re-painted the vast majority too. But recently I’ve found myself yearning to play a few games of “Heroclix” using the system’s somewhat simple 2002 “Clobberin’ Time” rules, and Reed Richard’s quartet would allow me to do that rather nicely. In addition, I was later lucky enough to ‘pick up’ the ‘out of production’ “Hellboy And The B.P.R.D.” Action Pack from the show’s Bring & Buy area; a boxed set I’ve previously only partly-collected and re-painted as individual models.
"Epic" Khorne Army - Just the smallest of smatterings, as the plastic container was crammed full of tiny figures 
Equally as popular a genre with me as super-heroes is currently “Doctor Who”, so there was no way I was going to resist grabbing a set of the Fourth Doctor And Companions from “Warlord Games”. Featuring “medical officer” Harry Sullivan, “the noble savage” Leela, both incarnations of Romanadvoratrelundar and K-9, as well as Tom Baker’s instantly recognisable scarf-wearing time traveller, I’ve already popped all the models onto bases and given them a quick undercoat.

Perhaps somewhat bizarrely, I also succumbed to temptation at “Lesley’s Bits Box” by purchasing a plastic container full of “Epic” scale Khorne miniatures by “Games Workshop” for a tenner. It’s recently occurred to me that I’ve been firmly focusing upon 28mm sized figures for a considerably long time, much to the detriment of all the other scales I’ve collected, so thought a momentary future flurry with 6mm science fiction might make a pleasant change of pace.
"Blotz" Sci-Fi Style Wall Sections WIPs - The MDF pieces come in numerous pieces to add to their detail
Lastly, and by far my most enthusiastic ‘grab’, was from the excellent people at “Blotz”. I’ve been considering going all in for some “Necromunda” scenery ever since I latched on to the idea of blending it with Frank Herbert’s “Dune” universe and painting some Goliaths up as if they were from House Harkonnen. Many of the gangs arguably lend themselves to such an idea with the Escher (Bene Geserets), Delaque (Guild) and Van Saar (Fremen), as well as the Cadian Astra Militarum (Atreides), all appearing reasonably similar in looks to their ‘silver screen’ counterparts.

Impressively, the marvellous “selection of 28mm scale sci-fi style wall sections” “Blotz” produce in MDF was the final piece to my jigsaw, and should quite quickly help me progress a campaign set upon a nice three-dimensional Arrakis spice refinery using the “Necromunda” floor plans as a base. Somewhat foolishly, I only picked up a few of their pillars and walls at “Colours”, but have since ordered more along with some of their “terrain suitable for use with 6mm games such as Epic…”

26 comments:

  1. cool load of stuff, do like a good rummage

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. "Rummage" definitely the order of the day, Martin. Loads to see and 'pick through' imho :-)

      Delete
  2. Replies
    1. Thanks Fran. Definitely one of the better "Colours" for some time, imho.

      Delete
  3. Definitely a worthwhile trip then Simon with those lootz :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Indeed, Tamsin, there seemed to be lots of these little gems hidden about I thought. Plus it was nice to say hello, albeit briefly :-)

      Delete
  4. Sounds like a great day out - awesome find on the Epic bits!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks Paul. I was absolutely delighted with the "Epic" stuff, as I was rather disappointed in the new version tbh, and have no intention of forking out for that. A trip down memory lane with "Epic" sounds very good to me.

      Delete
  5. Lots of good finds there, Simon, apart from the Chaos stuff - bleurgh!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you, Bryan, I think... You really should look away if you're not a fan of Chaos as they'll be lots and lots coming over the next few months.

      Delete
  6. Nice haul and a good days out. I don't think you beat having a good browse at what's out there. Internet shopping is fun but seeing it in the flesh is another story.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Cheers Simon. I certainly don’t think EBay offers the sort of bargains you can find on a bring & buy stall, or a shop’s discount bin. As I say, the “Heroclix” and “Epic” stuff was a real bargain imho :-)

      Delete
  7. hmmmm I do like Blotz stuff. And I am thinking about Necromunda terrain as well, need to ponder some more though before splashing the cash.

    I have never played "Epic" BUT if the price was right I could be tempted. I shall have to pay attention to Lesley's Bit Box from now on

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. “Blotz” was excellent at this show, Clint, with some great customer service, imho. The “Epic” stuff was a real surprise, and not something I was planning on buying, but I couldn’t;t turn down the tub of minis for just a tenner.

      Delete
  8. Always good to hear that a visit was successful.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Indeed Phil. Definitely one of the better shows I’ve been to in a while.

      Delete
  9. What an interesting and varied haul you have there Simon, If your thinking of doing Epic I would suggest the Epic Armageddon ruleset, this was the best of the three in my opinion ( not because I'm mentioned in the credits or my space marine chapter is in the description for one of the speeder types) had the best balance for titans and infantry and vehicles

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks Dave. I’m pretty sure I own “Epic Armageddon” somewhere so I’ll dig those out once I have enough forces. I do though plan to base my stuff on round lipped bases, having seen someone else do that elsewhere - and thought they looked excellent. As a result I might just use either a homemade set or possibly adapt another “Warhammer 40K” rule-set like “Shadow Wars: Armageddon”. I don’t have any mechs yet, just troops, albeit I’ve a hunting trip in the loft planned for soon ;-)

      Delete
  10. An eclectic bunch of purchases. Epic is a blast from the past and the Necromunda scenery looks good, can't wait to see that painted.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Cheers Undercoat. The “Epic” minis are great, imho, and I’ve already heard the rest of my “Necromunda” MDF scenery is in the post :-)

      Delete
  11. I'm not that surprised with your loot, but I am surprised that you were able to get such old classics and at a good price!
    Colours looked good and tamsin did an excellent job with her photographs.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks Joe. Tamsin did an excellent job with her photos, hence no need for me to replicate any here :-) I thought the prices at “Colours” were very reasonable tbh, though I was surprised there was absolutely no “Lord Of The Rings” stuff from “Games Workshop” on show. I’d have thought with “GW” re-releasing it they’d have been a load there second-hand.

      Delete
  12. Nice haul mate!

    That new Doctor set had me pausing cos even though I have no intention of playing the game, painting up Tom Baker and that lovely scarf... But nah. LOL one less thing to add to my already insurmountable unpainted pile.

    I loved Epic - Squats, Orks and Imperial Guard were my armies. So fun. Did the Chaos stuff have any fun vehicles too?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Cheers Dai. I believe “Colours” was the first time that Tom Baker “Doctor Who” set was available so it sold like hot cakes as you can imagine. There is another cheaper resin version if him within the range if you have a look.

      There were none of the larger Khorne vehicles in the box, but a staggering number of Bloodletters and Khorne Hounds. I have some Squat and Space Marine “Epic” stuff somewhere, so don’t be too surprised to see it on the painting table at some point ;-)

      Delete
  13. Nice haul Simon, love everything you've bought, even the epic chaos stuff! It got me thinking though, I haven't painted anything out of the 28mm scale for ages either! Might have to address that in the new year :-)

    Cheers Roger.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks Roger. Spookily, after this month's "Dungeon Saga" stuff, I'm planning on going back to my weekly challenges simply so I can start going through my backlog of different scale models. I look forward to seeing what you do in the near year :-)

      Delete