Saturday, April 25, 2015

Salute 2015




Well it was a very short visit to Salute for me this year, partly because I have another presentation to do before I leave for Istanbul on Monday and partly because my feet were killing me after only two and a half hours, despite remembering to wear trainers!  




Now I was determined not to add to the lead pile too much so how did I do on my list?  Firstly I restricted myself to only spending what I have collected in £2 coins during the year.  Every time I get one I put it in my "Mind the Gap" London Transport money box and this year I had £116, which is  a lot less than I spent last year.




This year the show was in a different (perhaps slightly larger) hall but I thought it was really busy.  I arrived at about 11.15 and went straight in, as I had ordered my ticket in advance, but whether you had to queue at all if you hadn't I couldn't tell.  Nearly every trade stand I visited had a crowd of people in front of it and in some of the lanes it was quite difficult to move around freely.  A good thing, I suppose.  I wonder if the cancellation of Colours last year had any effect?  It might have been me but I thought the lighting was a bit brighter this year.  It was hot inside, however.




I took very few pictures of games this year, mainly because other people take much better ones.  Look at Eric the Shed's blog for excellent photos. I liked the Warlord's Stingray game just because I like Terror Fish.  I am old enough to remember Stingray when it first came out in 1964 (in black and white of course although it was the very first British TV programme made in colour, for the US market, as we didn't have colour TV in Britain until 1969).  When I was small I had a plastic Stingray model with a rubber band powered propellor for my bath.




I had to go and see Big Red Bat's Cremona which was another lovely looking game.  He always manages to make his games set in Italy actually look like Italy! He was selling copies of his To the Strongest Rules which are hot of the press.  These are beautifully designed by Michael MillsCobalt Peak (who also design the layout of Wargames Bloggers Quarterly) and are illustrated with his wonderful collection of troops and scenery.  I have played them and they give a really enjoyable game.  You can buy them here




Next I had a quick look at the Black Ops game, previewing the new Osprey modern skirmish rules but there wasn't a mock up on show yet.  The board layout and (small) number of troops in play hopefully gives an idea of the sort of game it will be.  I can just imagine my Copplestone troopers in action in a game like this.  I think one of the main things that has changed about wargames in shows in the last few years are the amount of buildings on tables, with the growth in laser cut kits.  Now you have buildings manufacturers sponsoring games. I bought several laser cut buildings last year but as I haven't made any of them yet I resisted buying any more!




I did have a discussion with the lady from Sally 4th (perhaps she was Sally) about their Terra-Blocks system, which will be ideal for Black Ops games.  Unfortunately, they were too late to get a trade stand, otherwise I would have succumbed.  There were a number of people assembling some of their kits, taking advantage of a free offer to build some "live".  Interestingly, when I was there, there were more women than men doing this; gluing on wallpaper to miniature sets.  They have big plans for the range including a Casablanca style Rick's cafe.  I can see that in a Pulp game!




There was some nice scenery on games there and far fewer green baize cloth ones, although not that many show stoppers.  This one, which I think was American War of Independence, had lots of ships scaled to 28mm and a splendid fort.  It was my favourite of the show, I think.  Lovely sea effect!  




There were several Agincourt games, to match the theme of the show, but I can't say I saw any of them.  Maybe they were 15mm ones and I don't see 15mm!  The Perry twins were showing the three-ups of their next plastic Agincourt to Orleans set, of French foot soldiers.  Lovely though these are I have so many unpainted Wars of the Roses troops that I can't justify this period at all!  One medieval game I wanted to look at but couldn't find was Dalauppror's Stockholm 1392 game.  I went up and down the hall three times but never spotted it.  Such is the problem with Salute.




More medieval (sort of) fun around the corner is Frostgrave, which will be released by Osprey in July.  Having been rude about the figures in my post yesterday I was much more taken with them when I saw them today.  Here we have the 12 factions, with two characters each, released so far.  They are by different sculptors but in similar styles.  The Norse looking Copplestone ones look tremendous.






They also had painted three-ups (unusually) of the plastic warriors which will form the bulk of the forces.  These, I have to say, look tremendous and are almost historical (perhaps too historical).  The man at the stand said they were thinking of producing some alternative heads for them in the future, "Robin Hood" heads, for example.  It was not clear if the figures will have heads moulded on, which would limit variation or just will have a limited number in the box.  We shall see.




Unlike Black Ops the rules seem to be well on the way with finished looking pages on display.  There was a game going on and it looks like it might be a good time to dig out my ruins of Osgiliath!  Medieval Mordheim? More enthused about this than I was 24 hours ago!




So, what did I end up with?  Well the chaps at First Corps had received my pre-order, so I am now the owner of a unit of Mexican-American War Mexican infantry.  Considering I need to get on with my Texan War of Independence figures it is a bit crazy to start another period like it but as I am disposing of Napoleonics and Crimean figures then I can sort of justify it.  No more until I paint them, though!




Also on my list were more Lucid Eye Savage Core lost World figures.  I bought some Jaguar warriors and some Amazons.  I'm hoping to do some work on my Neanderthals tomorrow and I have already started the Amazon leader.  I could have bought a lot more from this range (well, all of them, basically) but resisted.  




What I couldn't resist but was the only thing not on my list was this Dee Zee resin mammoth.  I had no luck in finding the Footsore Franco Prussian War figures.   There were VBC and Dark Ages figures on the Warlord stand but no FPW.  Probably just as well.  I also couldn't find any Artizan North West Frontier figures but then I haven't finished the ones I have got yet.  


Frostgrave badge.  Is this an omen?


I got one free figure with my copy of Wargames Illustrated but he will go on eBay (eventually) but I did buy one pack of Iron Duke's new Indian Mutiny range at the Empress stand.  The good news is that they will work perfectly with my existing Mutineer Miniatyres figures.  Se my comparison here on my Sub-Continent blog

Finally, I managed to get to the bloggers meet up and there seemed to be a fair few people there.  First up I met Markus from Germany who had travelled overnight by bus to get to  Salute, which is dedication!  Tamsin, kindly came up and introduced herself as did Ray.  There was a slight etiquette issue in that you didn't know whether to introduce yourself by your real name (meaningless to most people) or your blog identity (more familiar but...odd).  Eric the Shed solved the introduction problem by wearing an Eric the Shed, Shed Wars tee shirt.  He is very famous anyway!  I also had a chat with Big Red Bat, taking a break from his Cremona game.  It was good to see Alastair, from Guildford Wargames club there too.  It was also really nice to meet The Wilde Goose from Orinoco Miniatures for the first time, who had come across from Prague.  He has more of his Latin American wars of Liberation figures out soon.  Excellent!

So a brief but worthwhile visit this year and only £70 spent but 44 figures added to the lead pile.  I need to get more on to eBay this weekend.  Now if I can just get an hour or two's painting done tomorrow before my trip to Turkey!

37 comments:

  1. It was good to meet you at lunchtime. I'm sorry we didn't get to chat much, but there were so many people to speak to that it was rather chaotic.

    That's a nice selection of loot :)

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  2. Legatus Hedlius, Ave!

    Your report was stellar. It was interesting to hear your description of this rather gala affair and I am pleased to hear that you enjoyed yourself. It looks like the gold coins used by the locals came in handy but they shall certainly benefit from a steady supply of Roman silver!

    Have a safe and enjoyable trip to Turkey.

    Salve,
    Gerardus Magnus

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    1. Thanks! A military museum next door to my hotel it seems!

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  3. Ahh sorry we didn't speak at the meet-up. The etiquette can be a bit odd but I always look forward to putting a few names to faces. There was quite a crowd this time!

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    1. Yes we do need some way of identifying each other! My daughetr says she will make me a badge next year!

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  4. Good haul there - and the obligatory impulse mammoth buy. If you get the chance to do a blog on the Turkish military museum that would be great.

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    1. Depends whether they let you take pictures. The Turkish military can be...assertive.

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  5. Hello Legatus,
    Having been a follower of your blog for ages, and a fellow enthusiast of soundtracks-for-painting-to, I was miffed to realise you were stood about 8 feet away from me for the Bloggers Meet pics and I didn't get to meet you! Maybe next year!

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    1. Annoying! Maybe we do need badges or something! We could have a big red blob with our names on!

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  6. Thanks for the report - looks like an impressive show

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  7. Hi, nice to catch up...we must arrange a game at some point. I think you're right about badges for the blogger gathering...its' the only way we'll work out who we all are!!

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  8. Never mind house prices and employment figures, the sheer number of people crammed into Salute today (and spending a fortune) shows the economy must have improved. Never seen it that full at Excel - almost back to the crush levels of the good old days at Kensington Town Hall. Quite a few nice looking games but the AWI one (based on Bernard Cornwell's "The Fort" ) was outstanding.
    PS Was that the wind-up Stingray with periscope that kept slipping back down its hole and rattling around inside?

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    1. Ah! It was based on The Fort! Haven't read that one yet!

      My Stingray was the softer polyurethene plastic and just blue and silver (no yellow on it) Never seen a picture of one online!

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    2. My favourite game of the show without a doubt - Cornwell's book is a fictionalised account of the actual siege of Fort George and is actually quite good (certainly a nice change from the increasingly familiar/similar Dark Age stuff he's churning out almost as fast as George Martin does "Game of Thrones")... I was chatting to one of the blokes running the game and he was telling me they'd bought some of the ships from an internet trader in Singapore, some of them had come from a French flea market.. either way it was a lovely looking game, and they had played it to completion - so not a static display....

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  9. I really like that mammoth. Wish I had spotted it!

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  10. Still not convinced about the Frostgrave Wizards but the henchmen look fab. And thanks for posting up pics of the Lucid Eye Amazons...looking forward to getting my hands on them!

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    1. I was hoping the second set of Amazons would be ready but I didn't see them...

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  11. Very nice salute AAR!

    Sorry you didn't find our stockholm 1392 game, would have been really nice to say hi!

    Best regards Michael

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  12. Nice loot and great pics. First time I have seen the Doctor who game? I shall have to check out Erics blog shortly. I really like the Lucid Eye figures I'm resisting temptation at the moment but the Apes and amazons the keep releasing are giving my resolve a battering.

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  13. Blast! MIssed you. I'm terrible at that sort of thing and tend to hang back, which of course rather defeats the object I suppose. Love the Mammoth, very nearly bagged one of those along with the Lucid Eye apes, managed to resist this time!

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    1. I'm the same. I suppose lots of practice at Embassy receptions helps. That's probably why I felt most comfortable speaking to a German first!

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  14. Great report, LH. I thought I saw you from afar at one point, but that happened with various people and as soon as you move towards them they vanish in the scrum! (I missed Mark from Orinoco as well.) If you picked up the Toussant WI freebie then I know someone in Australian who'd be very interested. The large AWI game you liked was based on "The Fort" by Bernard Cornwell, itself a dramatisation of the Penobscot Expedition of 1779.

    Best wishes

    Giles

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    1. Mark and I had a discussion about your green-jacketed Irish Brigade. They look very splendid!

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  15. Hi Legatus, was great to meet you. thanks very much for the kind words and for posting the linky! Next year I shall try to put on a proper-sized game. ;-) I also want to build some umbrella pines, which would top off the Italian look. Best, Simon

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  16. Hopefully there will be a rogues gallery shot somewhere that names all the bloggers! Sorry to have missed an introductory opportunity . I recognised some of the things you said in the post .. I certainly managed to not find a number of things I was going to look at.

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  17. That's quite a haul you got there, it was great to meet you and have a chat!

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  18. Very cool sights; those Osprey Medieval characters do look very nice.

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  19. Likewise Legatus, it was a pleasure to finally meet you as well. You'll be glad to know that all the shiny new generic figure codes for the Orinoco range have arrived (peasants militia, and Regulars in fatigue caps). All the best.

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