Salute Swag

When it came to my Salute 2024 purchases, it split into three sections; stuff I wanted to buy, stuff I bought on the spur of the moment, and stuff I wanted to get that was not there.

Stuff I wanted
One of the first things I wanted to pick up were some Black Scorpion models for The Silver Bayonet. I wanted some Spanish musket armed models for a new unit and a couple of other soldier types for the British unit.

For Turnip28, rather than scratch build a wicker man type model, it was much easier to just buy one from Crooked Dice. This chap stands at about 80mm tall and will be perfect as The Tall Man in a Turnip28 cult.

Die Hard Miniatures have some nice Madalorian models that I wanted for the “new” Laser Bayonet. There is a nice mix of models in herethat will fit a few roles.

Having a few extra models available that are just armed with pistols is usually a good idea in most skirmish games.

Seemed like a good idea at the time
Anvil Industries kept popping out pre-build models that could be bought for a very resaonable price, so I decided to pick up a bike and a model that can be used as the dismounted rider. And then then I just liked the Captain America style model in WWII garb.

A large Ogre with a blunderbuss was in on a 3D print stand that will go nicely into Silver Bayonet.

…and there was a nice Occultist type chap with some nice gubbins for my church.

These Shriekers from Crooked Dice seemed like a good idea for sci-fi games when some pop up creatures are needed.

Finally, yet another project for Turnip28 was to buy a base scuttlers model for The Feast of Charybdis.

I plan to build some sort of platform on top of it for three infantry models with long spears. It will also need covering in mud, flock and tufts and generally roughing up a lot.

Stuff that was not there
There were a number of retailers that were not at Salute that are usually present. Ground Zero Games, Ainsty Castings, Hasslefree to name a few. Even some of the retailers that were present did not have all of their ranges so there were a few items on my shopping list that I could not get.

Salute 2024

Saturday was Salute 51 at the Excel in London, the biggest wargames show in the UK of the year. As usual, it was painful on the feet, I do hate the concrete floor, but an excellent opportunity to buy loads of stuff for loads of games.

There were loads of amazing demonstration and display games to look at. The effort put in by all of the games clubs is exceptional, I usually end up with getting a few ideas for my own table.

There were several ship based games on some pretty big tables with some lovely ship models on display.

One of the biggest tables was a massive walled town. It did look great, but I did wonder how it could be used in a game as it would be impossible to reach anywhere near the middle of the table.

This chaos themed floating rock table was rather nice, a setting for a game of Chronopia.

I assume the most expensive display game was the combined masses of Warhammer 40K Titans fighting it out.

As a table is simply not big enough, the floor is required for a game of this magnitude. It makes my Imperial Knights look a bit tiny really.

There were several medieval tables with a nice mix of buildings, castles and harbours, something I like to incorporate into my own games.

There was a very nice trench setup on display, the earth looked like real dirt, but I did resist the temptation to poke it to find out for sure.

The use of resin water was included in quite a few displays, which makes me want to try again on some small terrain pieces to see if I can make it work for a change.

I have a pile of swag that came back with me and I will my purchases in another post here this week.

Bedford Tabletop Expo

Over this last weekend, I paid a visit to the Bedford Tabletop Expo, a small show, but as it turned out, well worth the trip.

I had arranged to have a chat with a few 3D printing outfits as I have a number of models that I want to get printed this year. The quality of the 3D printed models on show was amazing and I will be getting some stuff done soon.

There were a few nice displays, such as a rather nice Lord Of The Rings battle for Osgiliath landing diorama.

There was also a very large Aliens inspired spaceship, scratch built by Paul Copeland from foamcard and plastic, it must have been 10 feet long!

This was the first time I have been to this show, it does appear to have grown over the last couple of years. With a bit of luck, even more traders and games will start to attend in the future. I would not mind having a show close to where I live!

Salute 50

It was Salute last Saturday, a chance to head off to sunny London and buy loads of models to add to the backlog. As it turned out, this year I bought ZERO figures, just a few bits of terrain and a game mat. This is the first time I have ever come back from any show with NO FIGURES AT ALL. What is going on?

However, the game mat was not an insignificant purchase, I went for a Deep Cut Muddy Field, something for Turnip28 and any game that ends up being fought in muddy open fields, so perfect for just about any genre…

…and at the show…

…as usual there were plenty of nice looking games to have a look at.

Even though lots of the games are in a scale I do not play or set in an historical period I do not play, I always admire the attention to detail in the terrain and the effort it takes to put an exhibition game on.

I do like a good sea/land game.

…or a bit of desert.

…or a good old fashioned siege.

This last picture is a great example of real ruins!

But was this the last ever Salute?

SELWG 2022

Mr Steinberg and I went down to SELWG recently for a look around and attempt to resist the temptation to buy into anything new. On that front we succeeded, but we both managed to buy stuff we did’nt know we needed. On the spur of the moment, I bought some very cheap Warmachine boxes for use in my steampunk and fantasy games, at £7 a box I could not resist.

Mr Steinberg on the other hand bought a few things including a 3D printed 28mm scale toilet, because…well just because.

Bad News, Good News, Bad News

The bad news is that I am not going to Salute this year.

The good news is that I am going to Valencia for the weekend to watch the last MotoGP round of the year.

The bad news is that it is Valentino Rossi’s last ever MotoGP race. I have been following the old GOATS career for a couple of decades and it just won’t be the same without him next year.

Colours 2019

This weekend is the Colours Wargames show at Newbury Racecourse, one of the two shows I try to get to every year.

This year I have been trying not to get into anything new but have been comprehensively failing. Apart from buying the new Ragnarok book from Osprey, I have also bought the new Warcry starter box and can feel myself being drawn into CMON’s Game of Thrones A Song of This and That.

Anyway, at Colours, young Jim at Products For Wargamers will have some new shipping containers on sale that I finished designing recently. I am quite please with the design and they stack really well. I think ten or so of these would look pretty good on a table.

I wonder what I will come back from Colours with?

Salute 2019

Yesterday was the annual pilgrimage to Salute at the Excel in London, the biggest UK wargames show and one that tests the durability of ones feet. The solid concrete floor gets a bit tiring, especially as I seem to do several laps of the huge hall, but I do like the trip and the chance to see all the latest new shiny toys.

As usual, I had a list of the stuff that I was interested in, no new games, but some paints, models and game mats.

My trip to Hasslefree and Black Scorpion was successful and I picked up all models on my list. Hasslefree do a great Stargate squad that I have fancied painting for some time. I am also determined to get some pirate games in this year, so I bought a few more pirates from Black Scorpion along with some other character models.

Simple Miniatures usually have some bargains and this year was no different, I bought some Warmachine Perforator robots and a few boxes of Malifaux Robo-Arachnids.

I also got a really nice 6×4 green field game mat from Gaming Books, one of the mouse mat style mats.

So I now need to put a few figures together and get them undecorated and set up a game or two on my new mat.

Although there were no standout demo games this year, a couple did catch my eye, especially the 28mm scale Dystopian Wars Frigate in a really nice steampunk harbour.

Perhaps not the best Salute in recent years, it was a nice day out with friends, a spot of lunch, and buying more stuff for the Loft Full Of Lead.

ROBIN This Weekend

Mr Steinberg and I are going to the ROBIN wargames show on Sunday 17th February in Nottingham. We will be setting up a table and putting on some demonstration games of Kill Team and Rogue Stars, or more likely, just hanging out.

Most of the stuff, except for some of the newer prototype models are available on the Products For Wargamers, so we hope to have a table that is not too far away from the trade stand.

I just need to finish some of the new prototype models off before Sunday. We are apparently not getting a very big table, so there will only be space for the industrial terrain.

Colours 2018

Yesterday was Colours at Newbury, usually an event I look forward to, Salute and Colours are my two essential shows each year as they are nicely about six months apart. I guess I was not in the right frame of mind to go to Colours anyway, I did not have anything in particular to pick up, in fact for the first time in years, I did not even take a shopping list.

Overall, I found the show a bit disappointing, several retailers I like to pay a visit to were absent and there was not much else to grab my attention. The crowd seemed less and I found myself wandering around aimlessly…

The highlight for me was to see my various MDF towers on display and on sale at Products For Wargamers.

Also there was a new spiral staircase, looks good, but tricky to build.

So all I bought were some paints, some big brushes for terrain, a couple of resin machines for scenery and ONE miniature, ONE I tell you! That was just some random historical bloke on a horse that I will use as a statue…

All was not lost, on the way home, I went by Wargames Workshop in Milton Keynes and bought Kill Team Rogue Trader and a Galvanic Servohaulers box.

At least now have some new goodies to build and paint, because I was running out of new stuff. Not.