Obligatory SALUTE 2015 post; Making the Most??

Hello people,

Yes it's that time of the year when the blog-o-sphere is awash with my SALUTE posts so here's my hopeully vaguely alternative version!

As previously mentioned I rocked up with Shaun and Craig (aka the McTagues and yes it is supposd to rhyme!) as a bit of a last minute thing approaching the day as a social event first and a wargames show second. As a social event it was a blinder as I caught up with various gaming buddies and former GW colleagues and regulars (there's actually quite a decent overlap :]). BIG WIN!!

As a wargames show it was SALUTE. There were plenty of traders and games with plenty of pretty about the place. It was noticeable that industry standards continue to rise as the modern / new school continues to make up ground on the old and to be honest the old is looking OLD. CAD designed plastics and plesin is most deinitely the way forward.

For mysel I picked up the Bolt Action Order Dice that in NEEDED along with a pack of Warlord "Tank Smoke" along with some brushes and lock to replenish supplies. Searching about I located a 4 for 3 Show Deal on Infinity to take advantage of. This was allowed under the Current Project loophole on the basis that at least four of us, now five are making the investment. As such it was Aleph for Dave, Tohaa for Rob and a couple of Combined Army Starter Sets or my goodself ;) As you may have noticed they've been added to the sidebar.

On balance I had a decent day out but in honesty I went because I had the day free and Shaun was going anyway. I went with a purpose and managed all but a game of To the Strongest which wasn't too big a deal in the end. Othewise I doubt I would have made the effort and that's kind of the point. Catching up with people there was a lot of "same time next year". Quite probably but I need to be getting a bit more from the day, it's no longer a given.

Anyway, on with the pretty;

Obligatory SALUTE 2014 post

Evening people,

So another Salute has come and gone as another damn good day out. As usual we fulfilled essential shopping lists before a doing a recce circuit, having a touch of luncheon and then perusing for those additional purchases.

As with the D-Day theme it was pretty much all Bolt Action for us this year and plenty of plunder from Warlord. For myself it was another box of Commandos with a FO, 3" Mortar and the character pack I didn't really need to go along with the dice I'd pre-ordered. As the Salute 2014 figure Load Master Commander Maud would go well with any Commando troop.

After that it was a set of KR foam trays, I have a couple of spare cases, and scenery in the form of a Warlord ruined hamlet along with some generic drums and crates. The only deviation was a bonus Boromite Overseer from Warlord along with Commander Hansa, who was pure impulse, as EotE Nemisi.

As for the show itself skirmish, steampunk, sci-fi and laser cut mdf seemed to continue their eventual takeover of the wargaming world. Many of the same traders as last year and plenty of quality throughout, in total contrast with our more recent day out.

Most of all I picked up my annual dose of inspiration and spent the day chatting to some really good hobby mates and former colleagues (Evil Empire) that I only get to see at Salute :)

So, I've got plenty to get on with so roll the I-Phone shots of the day;

Obligatory post Salute post

WWII table candy

Picture heavy of course. Good day out as always, loads of great looking games / tables and plenty of punters. I had a good wander before taking a detailed look at anything.

I wasn't really looking for anything in particular, other than my usual dose of inspiration. Bumped into some old gaming buddies which is always a major bonus.

As always, the quality on offer seems to have increased yet again. I didn't make it last year but it felt like there is a continuing changing of the guard. Amongst all of the more "traditional" offerings a plethora of high end skirmish games seem to have taken root, lots of accessories, plenty of resin and laser cut mdf.

I picked up a pocketful of cards and flyers which I'll inflict on you later :)

In terms of my mild gaming crisis I didn't so much work out what I do want to paint and play as much as what I don't. Nothing old, something new, but what.......

Picked up a KR case plus some undercoat and varnish sprays I was very drawn by the Infinity figures, they're gorgeous. There was one trader with a deal for two starter sets and a free rulebook though I downloaded that in the week..... Other options were a box of Perry AWI British or some Victrix Nap flank company just 'cos.

Rolling over to Mantic we caught up with each other and Stew who sorted us out our pick-up of Season 2 plesin goodness. For me that was the rulebook and the cheerleaders (Robots and Z'Zor still to come) along with a bonus Judwan MVP. I also picked up a Reek Rolat as it would just been wrong for me to got to Salute and NOT buy at least one figure.

At which point I realised that I'm happy enough getting on with what I've got. Get Dreadball painted up and play a few more games and get on to SAGA.........happy days :)

Big Ol' table of Tanks

Perspex movement trays......interesting!

Nice breach!

ACW skirmish......

.....on a prticuarly stunning table.

Otherworld, good to see them getting on old school stylee

BIG purple worm :)

15mm Taliban

Sure you can work this one out

Soviet Bolt Action

Hammer Slammers

Flying boats.......Spelljammer?

Sexy French resin wierdness.......

.......with a rampant killer bear.....obviously!

Space Munchies?

Spaceballs :)

SHOW-time!!

Big toys, BIG boys!

No jazz hands but plenty of the usual, though Warfare was only my second show of the year and it's not fair to compare to Salute. Well attended by traders, gamers, games and the general "fraternity" it was a good day out.

Scarily all of the O&Gs bar the Giant sold, because he's a monster of colour?, putting £120 into my pocket.

The obvious question is could I therefore have got more on E-Bay? Answer; don't know and not bothered. The extra expense was well worth the day out and I picked everything up when I still had a staff discount.

Being disturbingly restrained I picked up a few bits of scenery for CURRENT projects only so Renedra's Tent Camp and Barrel packs, some wooden crates and a small flock of sheep.

Think of me what you will!


Products For Wargamers produce a range of laser cut self assembly MDF buildings, of which I have a couple, and had an excellent new part built building frame. They sold out so I'll order from the site, should be up on Tuesday

Write your own SAGA

We spent a fair bit of time early on taking in a demo game of Gripping Beast's SAGA, of which I have sent plenty blogged about. Some really nice ideas in there for what looks like a simple skirmish game with resource management and everything! We bought a set with intent to try them out Romans vs Gladiators in time for the next series of Spartacus.

LEGO Dr Who vs the Daleks

There was some nice games about but not too many that I hadn't seen before other than this one. Apparently it cost a small fortune in LEGO and Daleks. Great idea though.

Ta-Daa!!

Very, very multi-part :(

Some time later

Some more big ol' boys!

Rich picked up Soda Pop's Super Dungeon Explore and we found a spare table and cups of tea to crack on with a game only to find that the figures were very, very multi-part. 90 minutes and much "commentary" later we played the 30 minute tutorial....for about an hour. Since then we've worked out what we were doing wrong :)

Good game, good game!!