The Way Ahead...

Introduction

I've noticed that recently a lot of other gamers have put up a blog article that is part retrospective and part future plans.  I suppose that the turn of the year is indeed a good time to examine your gaming activities.  I've never done that before, but this year I'm feeling more than a little introspective, so here goes...

2014

I have a very poor memory for events that are more than 1 week old, but I'll try to remember some of the major hobby-related events of the year.

• The major event of 2014 for me was the folding of the Helensburgh Games Club in the first quarter of the year.  The club had been struggling with numbers for some time; it was basically a couple of parents (me and another dad) and a bunch of young boys.  There had been some adult gamers as well, but they tended not to mix with the juveniles and eventually their numbers fell below the critical limit.
  There is another nearby wargames club that has become quite successful in recent years, in Dumbarton, some 10 miles/16Km from me.  They're close enough to be plausible for me to visit, but the Dumbarton club meets on a Sunday evening.  Sadly, that's a deal-breaker for me as my Sunday is inviolable family time.
  The upshot of all this is that my main source of battle reports for this blog has dried up completely.
• On a brighter note, I took my 2 boys to London in April and (amongst other things) visited Salute 2014.  While we did enjoy the event, it was perhaps a bit too big and somewhat soulless in the huge, echoing hall at the Excel centre.  I might go back again some day, but I don't think that this will be a regular visit for me.
• Continuing with shows, I made my annual visit to the much closer Claymore, in Edinburgh.  This time I took only 1 son, but we had a really good time.
• There was no Wappinshaw wargames show in Glasgow in 2014 (something to do with the Commonwealth Games).  I would certainly have attended had it been on, as this is a really easy event for me to visit.
• On to games.  I spent much of 2014 not playing All Things Zombie because my model hospital isn't ready (and I need that for the next outing of the B-team!).  However, I was recently persuaded to carry on playing, using minor characters and side-quests instead of following this blocked main story arc.
• I did manage to play some other games during the year.  These were mostly Black Powder, SAGA, Full Thrust and Song of Blades and Heroes (both my Robin Hood and Witch Hunter settings).
• Once again, I put up relevant zombie & survivor blog posts during Zomtober.  These seem to have been received well, which is always very gratifying!
• In terms of model-making, I completed the usual mixture of pieces for all sorts of different games.  However, if any themes stand out at all then I would say that this was the year of Dreadball and Jason and the Argonauts.  I completed a number of teams or groups for both of these settings.

Looking Forward

I don't really know what 2015 will bring me, but here are some ideas that I hope to implement.  In 12 months or so I expect to review this list and discover that I've gone off in a completely different direction, of course!

• For ATZ, I'd like to make progress on my large model hospital.  That's a big enough model that I'll need to use my conservatory and/or garage to build it, so I'll wait until the weather is a bit better first!  I might manage something in the springtime - by Easter, perhaps?
  Even without the hospital, I intend to play rather more ATZ in 2015 than I have in the last 9 months!
• Full Thrust is always near the top of my list of games to play.  I'm not expecting to make any major new models for this, but I should be able to play some games.
• I'm still very taken with Song of Blades and Heroes.  I'd be very surprised if I cannot manage a few games of this in 2015.
• Black Powder (in 6mm) is another of my "go to" games; I'd like to play more of this during the next 12 months.
• I've now got plenty of figures and some terrain for 7th Voyage, using my Jason and the Argonauts setting.  All that remains is to get some 7th Voyage event cards (which I've ordered recently from Crooked Dice) and then play some games.  I'm looking forward to this!
• 5150 Fighter Command has been on the back burner for a long time now.  I need a space mat marked with large hexagons before I can play the game.  Quite a while ago, I purchased a template for marking hexes from Litko, so all that remains is to find a suitable piece of material and mark it out; then I can play the game.  Sounds simple, right?
• My 4th force for SAGA (the Strathclyde Welsh) and my village of stone huts are both languishing, unfinished.  I need to make some progress on these models.
• Similarly, I've got 2 armies for Hordes of the Things at least partly completed.  These are my Barbarians and my Wicked Witch of the West forces; I'd like to make progress on both of these collections.
• Dreadball continues to attract much of my attention: I'm currently working on my 4th and 5th teams, along with star players for several of the others.  The trouble with this game is that neither of my sons are interested in playing it, so it might just end up gathering dust after all!
• Ever since I got my copies of Hasslefree's versions of Mystery Inc (i.e. Scooby Doo and friends), I've wanted to play a game based on that show.  Fortunately for me, Ganesha Games publish a set of rules designed for this genre: Fear and Faith and (particularly) the Kooky Teenage Monster Hunters supplement.
  The only thing that's holding me back is the scenarios, since the Scooby Doo show wasn't really about fighting but rather about finding enough clues to unmask the villain before everyone had run away screaming!  It should be possible to do something here, but it'll take a little work to come up with suitable victory conditions and special rules.
  I'd also like to complete my graveyard model, since this would be a good setting for such a game.

Conclusion

I think that this is the first time I've made my plans public in such detail, so I really don't know what to expect (both in terms of reactions from readers and my own reactions on re-reading this in 6 or 12 months time).
It may also be the first post I've ever published that has no pictures in it!  Don't worry - normal service will be resumed next week.

The Workbench: December 2014

Introduction

It's been about 8 months since I last posted any pictures of my workbench (here) and I thought it would be worth while to see how that compares with today's reality.  I'm expecting that it's much less tidy today; I'm having real problems in trying to keep on top of the mess and my ever-expanding range of interests.

OK, it's a mess...

As you can see from the picture above, I can barely sit at my desk, let alone do any work.  This is partly why I've not been doing much recently; I just don't feel much sense of satisfaction at making models in such an untidy environment.

In Detail

To the right of the desk (on the pull-out leaf) are a couple of part-built Old West buildings - an undertakers and a construction site.  In front of them are smaller outhouses (a garden cold frame and a hen house); the box on the right has a 28mm quad bike.

On the left hand leaf is a tray of models that aren't yet opened and started.  I'm being very conscientious about this: they mustn't be built until space has been made on the table by completing something else first.  The tray contains some barbarian heroes (well, heroines, I suppose) from Hasslefree as well as the "Daredevil sisters" (aka Angels from Captain Scarlet).  I wish to get some helmeted heads for the latter before assembly.

At the back are some ruined buildings from the Stoelzel's Structures car sales yard.  They are ruined in the sense that my builds of the models are warped and twisted, not that they portray derelict buildings.  I haven't yet decided what to do with these, so they stay there as reminders to go back to that project some time...

 On the desk itself, the extreme left has my collection of paints.  On top of these (due to lack of space, even though it is very awkward to use the paints) are a couple more trays.  The front one holds completed models that haven't yet been put into storage.  You may well recognise some of my recent works such as the undead dragon and the 2 Viridian skimmers.

Behind the completed models, another tray holds elements of my partly-finished Barbarian army for Hordes of the Things.  I think that 3 elements are painted and varnished; all the rest are only partly painted.

 The working part of the bench, in the centre of the desk, is very cluttered at the moment.  Some items come onto this space and move off it again very quickly, but many of the models have been here for months or even years!

 In a little more detail, the bench contains a few more 28mm Ancient Greeks.  These are nearly finished.  They will join (or maybe oppose?) Jason and the Argonauts when I finally get this project ready for the gaming table.  You can see here 3 archers, 1 new hoplite, a slinger and an old man.

Also note that my 3rd Viridian skimmer is just behind the Greeks.

 Next on the bench are 4 bases of Barbarians for Hordes of the Things.  Although I'm itching to build some of the heroes for this army, I've set myself the goal of completing at least some of the rank-and-file first.  It's not going very well; these figures haven't progressed much for months.

 Moving further to the left, I have a few modern survivors, with some cowboys behind them (as well as a lone zombie child).

 At the right hand end of the workspace are the horses for the first figures in my SAGA Strathclyde army.  This faction are notorious for the high proportion of cavalry in their warbands, though it is really the riders that are holding me back from completing the models rather than the mounts.  Anyway, if/when I complete the few that are here, I've got another 20 or so to build!

Mixed in with them are a few pulp villains and heroes.

 At the back of the workstation, partly hidden under the shelf, are my 28mm bikers.  They've probably been there longer than pretty much any other model on the bench.

 Here are the 4 Strathclyde riders.  As you can see, I've not managed to paint much of them yet, despite having these models since Claymore 2014 (i.e. August).

To the other side of the workstation, there are some new additions.  The guys in metallic green armour are my middle son's elves.  He hasn't done anything on these for many weeks and I suspect strongly that I'll need to nag him horribly to get them finished and moved out of my space.

Conclusion

It's nearly Christmas, when I know for certain that I will receive even more models.  If I cannot find a better way of managing this area (and if I cannot find more storage space!) then I'm in danger of drowning in figures.  Metaphorically, of course (I hope)!

I'm pretty much at my wits end here; I've no desire to cut down on the number of my projects, but equally I don't see how I can manage all the current ones either.  What to do?

The Mantic Crazy Box, 2014

Introduction

Every December, at least for the past few years, Mantic have put a "crazy box" into their online shop.  This is, according to their own description, "a massive box of goodies for next to nothing".  Well, £25 plus postage isn't really my definition of next to nothing, but you do tend to get quite a lot of stuff in these boxes.

This year, I was curious to see what I might get in this lucky dip, so I ordered a box.  I was hopeful that I might get some Dreadball models or some of their new sci-fi zombies.  Even some more fantasy elves would be welcome, since my middle son has decided that he wants to build such an army for Hordes of the Things (though to be honest, I don't think that he wants to put any real effort into painting them himself).

I'm full of cold this weekend and feeling pretty rubbish, really.  However, my crazy box arrived on Friday and I've had a day to look at it now.  So, what did I get - and did it cheer me up?

The Contents

Firstly, there was a Kings of War poster in the box.  However that doesn't even appear in any of these pictures because one of my sons snaffled it immediately.  I haven't seen it since.  However, here's the rest of the stuff:

A sprue of 10 elf archers

A packet of 10 (?) Basilean cavalry.  Think "nuns riding giant panthers" and you won't be too far wrong.

One Dreadball figure.  I believe that this is a Keeper from the female Corporation team (the Void Sirens) and therefore this model will be immediately useful.  It does have a considerable amount of flash, sadly.

An introductory, pocket-sized version of the rules for Kings of War.  Seems nice and simple, but I don't think I'll be playing this game - I've already got too many other sets of rules.

2 terrain accessory sprues.  I've got a couple of these already; they have a good collection of sci-fi barrels and crates on them, as well as a lamp-post and a ladder.

2 strange creatures, a bit like giant wolves with mechanical heads and chainsaws instead of tongues.  I believe that these are Deadzone "mawbeasts" and I really don't like them at all.  Too silly...

A pack with 3 figures: 2 sci-fi humans and a small, crouching alien (something like a chimpanzee).

Another alien.  This time it's a giant, floating squid/jellyfish thing.  Interesting.  I wonder how I could use such a creature in one of my games?  Perhaps as a space monster in Full Thrust? 

A sci-fi Orc with a cloak and a peaked cap.

3 single-piece, 28mm modern humans.  I think that these must be from the newish Mars Attacks range.

Conclusion

There are some interesting models here, though not as much as I'd hoped that will be immediately useful.  The really big item is the panther cavalry (the Mantic website gives them an rrp of £19.99); I'm wondering whether I can re-purpose these either as beasts for my embryonic Hordes of the Things Barbarian army (by adding a figure or two as handlers/beastmasters), or use them as exotic cavalry for my son's elf army.  The supplied mounted figures really aren't right for the latter, though and I don't think that I have any suitable spares.

I've no use for the Orc or the mawbeasts.  Of the rest, I can use the Dreadball keeper straight away, the Mars Attacks people can be used as survivors of the zombie apocalypse and most of the other models have possibilities for the future.

So, was it worth it?  There are some models here that I can use, most certainly!  If I ever get round to selling the bits I don't need then the answer is probably yes, it was worth it.  On the other hand, if they just end up taking storage space forever more then perhaps it wasn't?

Zomtober 2014 - Week 2

<-- Week 1 is this way

Zomtober Week 2

It's week 2 of Zomtober 2014 and therefore time for another of my 28mm duels between a zombie and a survivor.  This time it's the turn of Kurt and Basketball Fan Zombie (hereafter known as BFZ, for short).

BFZ is a straightforward plastic zombie from Studio Miniatures.  Obviously he was a sports fan when alive and no, I didn't suddenly develop an extremely steady hand with a paintbrush in order to add those markings!  Instead, I've been experimenting with using home-made decals for tee shirts; he is the first result of such labours.  More on that another time.

Kurt, on the other hand, is a minor conversion of a Wargames Factory male survivor.  His body and head are straight out of that kit, as is the left arm - but the right arm has been altered somewhat.  His weapon of choice (or perhaps necessity rather than choice?) is a fire extinguisher.  It's a metal component that came, I think, from a VOID vehicle accessory sprue - though I could be mistaken about that.

Both of these figures are mounted on some of the Escenorama urban bases that I mentioned in my last post.  I think they paint up quite nicely, myself...

So, who will win this duel?  I don't think I fancy Kurt's chances much, though I suppose it depends how the zombie reacts to the fire extinguisher.  Perhaps the man is hoping to distract or blind BFZ for a few moments so that he can turn and flee?  Alternatively, it's quite a big extinguisher and therefore should have some clout if it could be swung effectively.  But my money's still on the zombie...

Forward to week 3's entry -->

My day at Claymore, 2014

Introduction

Last year, I was still on holiday with my family when the annual Claymore wargames show was held in Edinburgh and so I couldn't go to it.  This year I made sure that we took our vacation a little earlier and therefore I'd be able to attend on Saturday 2nd August.

As before (see here), my younger son (A.) was very keen to come with me.  On the Friday evening, I warned him that we'd need to leave quite early (it's a long drive from Helensburgh to Edinburgh) and that he'd need to be ready in plenty of time.  The boy is not normally known for getting out of bed early, but on the Saturday morning he was up and about hours before I awoke.

The journey to Edinburgh College was long and dull.  A. slept for most of it - not really surprising under the circumstances!

The rest of this article describes our experiences on the day.  It's not a full show report, but rather a personal account.

The Venue

Part of the main hall, early afternoon

Edinburgh College, Granton campus was formerly the separate Telford college.  It's in the north-west fringes of Edinburgh, with ample parking and (I believe) a good bus service to the city centre.  Claymore uses the main hall/cafeteria and a large sports hall, both on the ground floor but somewhat separated from each other by a long, narrow corridor.  Either hall would be a good-sized event if this was a regional show, but together they make it a very comprehensive exhibition.

The only negative comment I'd have about the venue is that the catering is awful.  The only choices seem to be fried and yellow or brown in colour; I couldn't even see any pre-prepared sandwiches!  Added to that, there's very little seating, presumably because the show has taken over the tables and chairs for games and trades.  Last time I went to Claymore, I promised myself that I'd take a packed lunch on future visits - but I forgot.

Games: Old West

Almost as soon as we entered the show, we were offered the chance to play in a cowboy shoot-out game.  I forgot to record the name of the group hosting this game, but they had a large table and 6 or so gangs ready to go.  I took the "drunkards" whilst A. took the "cattlemen".  2 other lads joined in as the "Mexicans" and the "outlaws".

My "drunkards" (black) take on the "Mexicans" (orange/red), whilst the "cattlemen" (brown) approach from the rear

The rules for this game were extremely simple, to the point where there didn't seem to be any tactical finesse possible.  My gang made a beeline for the Mexicans, whilst A's cattlemen approached more cautiously.  Meanwhile the outlaws ran the other way and had pretty much reached the further outskirts of the town before an umpire suggested that they turn around!

In a blaze of gunfire, A. and I reduced the Mexicans to a single survivor.  Unfortunately the Mexicans concentrated their return fire on me and (with some luck on their side) wiped out the "drunkards" completely.  Since he'd wiped out another gang, the lad who was playing the Mexicans was rewarded with a Wagon Wheel biscuit (cookie to readers in U.S.A.).

Now that he realised what was at stake, A. then spent the next several turns chasing down the lone remaining Mexican with his untouched cattlemen, before finally cornering the poor fellow and gunning him down to earn himself a Wagon Wheel too.  Shortly after this, A's gang ran out of ammunition and he surrendered to the newly-returned outlaws.

The Dambusters

3 players in the "cockpit" of the Lancaster.  No, that's not me or A; just some random strangers.

The club from Leuchars always put on a good participation game and this year was no exception.  A team of 3 players had to fly a "dambuster" bomber to attack one of the dams on the Ruhr.  In order to do this, the team had to enter a mock-up Lancaster cockpit, wear a rubber "flying helmet" and guide the aircraft towards the target.

View from the "cockpit" as we approached the dam

When we played this game, we flew in plane "L"/Leather.  I was the pilot, A. took the front gun turret and some other lad was co-opted as bombardier.  For some strange reason, the aircraft kept drifting to port, A's suppressive fire wasn't enough to keep the enthusiastic flak from hitting us and...well we didn't do too good:

This was a quick game (perhaps 10 minutes), but had a great atmosphere and was fun.  Just how it should be, so many congratulations to the enthusiasm and inventiveness of the Leuchars club!

Dreadball

A while ago - maybe a year - I bought a reduced Dreadball starter set.  Soon after, A. saw the half completed figures sitting on my painting desk and has since indicated a lot of interest in playing the game.  At Claymore this year, we had the opportunity to play a Dreadball match, with a rather tired-looking but very helpful referee (to whom, many thanks indeed!).

A. took the Orks (in red), whilst I fielded the human "Corporation" team in the green uniforms.  Within 4 turns, most of my players had been flattened and were temporarily out of the game - I was down to 3 models at one point.  A's goblin even got the ball as far as one of my strike zones, but didn't get a chance to shoot for goal before my desperate substitutes rushed onto the field, snatched the ball from him (with some difficulty!) and ran in a score of my own!

We didn't play out the rest of the game, since it would have taken quite a bit longer and we'd have been holding up the demonstration slot.  Still, I think that we both came away happy: me because I managed to score a single point and A. because he crippled half my team!  I'll have to push my own Dreadball figures up the painting priority queue, I think...

Firestorm Spec Ops

In our final game of the show, A. got a chance to try out the not-yet-released Spec Ops rules from Spartan Games.  This covers man to man combat in their Firestorm science fiction universe, which is otherwise best known for the "Firestorm Armada" space combat game.

A. took a Dindrezi commando squad against a somewhat harassed-looking demonstrator's human forces in a mission to take over and destroy a command centre for a missile bunker.  From what I saw, it appears that fire power is weak relative to armour: 2 squads blazing away at each other from point blank range and without cover would tend to cause a single "wound" result rather than mutual annihilation.  Also there didn't seem to be much in the way of command and control subtlety and morale results were perfunctory.  However perhaps we saw an introductory subset of the rules rather than a rounded whole?

Either way, A's aliens obliterated the defenders and blew up the command centre without even breaking a sweat (if that's something which Dindrezi do anyway?).  The big guys on his side - there were some troopers that were considerably larger than the others - seemed especially effective, to the point of being almost invincible.  A. came away from this with an urgent desire to get the game and play it some more!  I'm not so certain...

Shopping

OK, now for the obligatory loot picture.  I got some cheap sci-fi books from the Bring-and-Buy (something of a guilty pleasure of mine), as well as some boardgames.  Mantic sprues were being handed out quite liberally, so I ended up with a couple of free terrain sprues for their new "Deadfall" game.

I pre-ordered a SAGA Strathclyde started army, so I'll have lots of Dark Age ponies to paint up at some point.  For now, however, that package has been taken from me by my wife, to be handed back on my birthday.  In the meantime, I have a pyre with bound victim that will be made up as a witch being burnt at the stake.  Also a large pack of Dark Age casualties from Old Glory; these will be used as decoration on the bases of SAGA warlord models or as separate fatigue markers or something like that.

A. also got some loot: a sprue of Mantic elves, a blister of Perry knights and a few figures he found in a "rummage" box.  I suppose he'll be asking for help to build all these some time soon...

Return Journey

At the end of the day, the trip home was just as long and dreary as the journey out had been.  This time, though, there was torrential rain for much of the time, which didn't help.  Once again, A. slept for quite a bit.  I'd have liked a nap myself, but since I was driving I couldn't really do this.  Still, Sunday will be a very quiet day, I think!

Arran: Prehistory to Vikings

Introduction

Once again it's the summertime and my family and I have been on our holidays.  This time we decided to go to the Isle of Arran in the Firth of Clyde.  Although this island is quite close to my home (30 miles/50 Km, as the crow flies?) and to the city of Glasgow, it is a very different place.  Culturally and physically it's much closer to the Hebridean islands than it is to the big city or to the rolling farmlands of Ayrshire on the mainland just to the east.  Instead, Arran has rugged hills, woodlands and deer-infested moors.

This geographical distinctiveness, together with its strategic location in the middle of the Firth of Clyde, has made Arran important over many millennia.  As tourists, we spent a lot of time hillwalking (though we did have time to visit the distillery as well :-) ) and everywhere we went there were traces of past generations.  So, in the hopes that some of these will be of interest to my (mostly wargamer) readership, here are a few moments from history.

Neolithic

It's hard to step out of doors in Arran without treading on a hut circle, chambered cairn or standing stone!  Before our visit I didn't know much about the island and it was a big surprise to discover just how important it is as a location for prehistoric monuments.  Actually I suspect that the hut circles are the traces of Iron Age dwellings rather than Neolithic, but all of these were pretty much invisible to an amateur like me anyway, so let's just ignore them.

The "Giant's Grave" chambered cairn

Here's the remains of one of the chambered cairns; this probably dates from around 4,000BC .  That's over 6,000 years old, or perhaps 1,500 years older than the oldest of the famous Egyptian pyramids at Giza.  I don't know about you, but I find that very impressive!

The stones that remain form the walls of one of the chambers in the tomb.  Originally the whole structure would have been covered with a huge mound of soil.  It's not obvious from the picture, but this is a "Clyde pattern" cairn: it would have had a large courtyard with entrances to a number of chambers that were built into the mound.

Above are a couple stone circles that can be found on Machrie moor. While they may not be individually as large as Stonehenge, they're part of a group of ancient remains that includes at least 5 circles within a few hundred metres of each other.  And you can get right up to the stones to study or play with them, or just gawp in wonder.  Eat your heart out, Salisbury Plain!

A very rough date for the stone circles would be 2,000BC - so maybe 2,000 years later than the burial cairns.

Dark Ages

Pictish snake carvings inside King's Cave.  Move your mouse over this to see the outlines more clearly

On the west coast of Arran there are many small caves.  The largest of these is known as "King's Cave", after a (Victorian?) association with Robert the Bruce.  Apparently it was known as "Fingal's Cave" before that.

Inside King's Cave there are a number of carvings from (loosely) around 1,000 years ago.  I saw a line of Irish Ogham writing as well as what looked like early Christian crosses.  I don't know how to read Ogham, but I suspect that it would have read "Máedóc was here" or something like that!

There are a number of Pictish animals in the cave as well; the picture above is of an area where someone had been practising his snakes.

Medieval

Lamlash Bay from the north.  Note the steep-sided Holy Isle at the mouth of the bay.  The building on Holy Isle is a Tibetan Buddist retreat, I kid you not!

This is Lamlash bay, on the east coast of Arran.  It is particularly associated in my mind with the Vikings.  In 1263, the elderly King Hakon IV of Norway led a fleet to enforce his claim to large parts of western Scotland.  Lamlash was used as a harbour by the Norsemen whilst they stripped Arran of food and supplies, so at that time this harbour would have been full of Viking ships.

Eventually, an autumn gale drove part of the Norwegian fleet onto the shore of the mainland at Largs.  When the Scots army of King Alexander III tried to capture or destroy the stranded ships, this precipitated the Battle of Largs.  I was brought up to believe that this was a very significant Scottish victory that sent the Vikings packing, but it seems that the modern opinion regards it as an inconclusive skirmish.  Instead, it was the death of Hakon later in the year that caused the Norwegians to retreat; his successor wasn't as interested in the Scottish isles and basically sold them to Alexander III in the Treaty of Perth (1266).

Lamlash bay was also used by the Royal Navy during World War II.  Amongst other things, it was the location for the "Lily" experimental floating airfield.  I haven't been able to find out anything much about this, though it sounds interesting!

Lochranza castle

At the far north-west tip of Arran is the small town of Lochranza.  As well as being home to the island's only whisky distillery, it also has the remains of Lochranza castle.  Like many such ruins, what you see today is the last phase of development (in the late middle ages, so maybe 1500 to 1600 AD).  However there are still traces of the earlier versions, if you know how to interpret the evidence.  I was particularly struck by how many times the main entrance to the castle had been moved and the earlier doorways blocked up.  From memory, the first entrance was on the north side and in an upper level that would have required a (wooden?) stair or ladder.  The current door is on the south side and at ground level.  I think there was also an intermediate entrance in the east wall?

Wildlife

I'm not going to say much about the wildlife we saw on Arran, but this beauty caught my eye.  He's a large dragonfly, perhaps 4" (10cm) long.  One of these flew into the car whilst we were driving - the windows were all down because of the heat - and caused consternation for 5 seconds or so until it found its way out.  Final thought, for pulp or fantasy gaming: imagine if this insect was 4 feet long instead of 4 inches...

I'll be back to more directly-relevant gaming articles soon, but I hope you've enjoyed this interlude as much as I have.

Back from Salute...

Introduction

By now, everyone else who was there seems to have put up their blog posts about Salute 2014.  I'm slightly later because it took us most of Sunday to get home (what with the distance being a bit further than for many) and then I had to go to work as usual today (Monday).  So, now that I'm back from work and the younger kids are in bed, I've just got time to put together a short report.

This isn't a general show report and I don't have any pictures.  Instead it's simply a quick record of what myself and my 2 boys did on the show day.

The Day

We arrived about 20 minutes early and had to wait in what seemed like an enormously long queue.  Younger son (A.) was getting a bit bored with this until some Star Wars re-enactors walked along the line.  For some reason they all seemed to be bad guys: we saw an Imperial naval officer, Boba Fett, one of the pig-like guards from Jabba's palace (Gamoreans?) and several stormtroopers.  Mind you, A. informed me that one of them was a sandtrooper, not a stormtrooper.  Hmm, they looked much the same to me...

The queue moved very quickly once 10:00 arrived, so that wasn't a problem.  We then spent the next hours looking at the many tables, playing some games and making a few targeted purchases.  General observations on the show:

• Many of the stalls (but not all) were mobbed and it was very difficult to approach them with 2 children in tow.  I don't know what the traders could have done about this and maybe things quietened down later (I'm not sure), but it did mean that I saved a little money.
• All the games I remember looked good and some were really stunning.  There were huge differences in the approach of the people running them, though.  The best clubs reached out to people who looked interested, drew them in and involved them in the game.  The worst participation games are the ones where we would hang around, maybe ask a few questions and yet the people running them would all but ignore you.  Come on guys; if you're going to go to the trouble of putting on a public game then make sure that the public get to play it!

Here's a list of the games that we did play (at least, the ones that I remember).  The show theme for this year was "D-Day", so a number of the games were oriented towards that:

• Crossed Lances: I've been hankering for a decent jousting game for a while and am hoping that this might be it.  I won't be really sure until I've read the rules and maybe played a few games of my own, but the guys who are promoting it were very enthusiastic and knowledgeable.  We ran a few courses; firstly A. knocked J. (older son) off his horse.  Then I knocked A. to the ground.  Still got it...
• D-1 Paratroops: I'm not sure of the proper name for this game, but A. and J. took small squads of US paratroops who were lost after the drop during the night before D-Day.  They were trying to make their way across the table to a rendezvous point, but kept bumping into cows, owls, German sentries, wounded colleagues and the like in the thick terrain.  An excellent game which both the boys enjoyed thoroughly (and it was a draw: J. got further across the table and scored more points for this, but he was penalised for leaving one of his wounded men behind).
• Hobart's Funnies: This was a rather silly game in which goofy Sci-fi tanks from different arms suppliers tried to demonstrate their superiority to potential purchasers by making a beach landing.  Each player was dealt a hand of 4 cards every round; different cards could be used to move your own vehicle, destroy obstacles or place hazards near the other players' tanks.  Both boys enjoyed this enormously; at one point it looked as if the 2 of them were well out in front and close to winning.  Then the other 3 players started to block their route with minefields, hedgehogs and the like.  Eventually they came in 4th and 5th (of 5)!
• [Edit R/C Tanks: There were some radio-controlled tanks in a roped-off area of the hall, with upturned cardboard boxes for buildings.  All three of us had a go, though we found controlling the vehicles much harder than we had hoped.  J.'s King Tiger and my T-34 ended up ramming and shooting each other to bits, so A.'s Sherman was the winner]
• Firefight Normandy: A very detailed man-to-man skirmish game in thick hedgerows, using larger models.  The people running this were friendly and enthusiastic, but it seemed that much of the game was spent in calculating percentages and tracking injuries ("10% damage to the left arm", for example).  After a while we had to bow out, else we wouldn't have seen much else of the show.
• Ronin: I've had these rules for a while and am somewhat tempted to build some warbands for Samurai skirmishes, so I was keen to see how this would work.  A. took a small group of warrior monks whilst J. opposed him with a slightly larger force of bandits.  Highlight was definitely one of A.'s initiates taking on 5 bandits at once.  I think he killed 3 or 4 of them before he was himself pulled down.  Lowlight: A's archer was hopeless; we figured that he didn't know which way round to put the arrows.  J. won in the end, but enough blood had been spilt to satisfy both of them.

Loot

Finally, here's the obligatory loot picture.  Bear in mind that it's probably 14 years since I last attended Salute:

I'm not going to enumerate everything in it, but here are some keywords: Vikings, harpies, rules, prospector, Daredevil pilots, Amera.  2 of the books and the Airfix kit are for A.; J. has already snaffled his book (so it doesn't appear in this picture).

It was a very full, but very tiring day.  We left Salute about 45 minutes before the doors closed, having been there for many hours.  Even so, I don't think we saw everything...