Salute 2013 Swag

With Salute 2013 now behind me and the aches and pains reminding me that I'm getting older, I thought I'd do a quick overview of my experience at the show and the loot I brought back from it.

With no engineering works on the DLR this year, Lenin and I got to the show at a reasonable time and joined the advance ticket queue.  As we waited the queue got longer and longer and started looping back on itself - so it was clear there were plenty of people there.  We have the obligatory walk past of the Star Wars cosplayers and people pressing leaflets into our hands but we didn't start to move into the show until 10am (although still in advance of the pay on the day folks).

Once in I went around and picked up all the things from my list which I thought there might be a danger of the traders running out of and then we took a more leisurely walk around the show.  It felt pretty busy and there seemed to be quite a bit of interest at most of the trader's stands.  There were quite a few things which, whilst I wasn't sure I'd be buying, I wanted to have a look at.  First up was the new Whitechapel to Baker Street range from 4Ground:

Whilst the larger buildings are, as I expected, quite a bit more expensive than their normal ranges, the buildings do look rather nice and I may well be "investing" in some of these later in the year.  I did, of course, pick up a couple more 15mm buildings to add to my collection and one for my new Muskets & Tomahawks project.

I moseyed on over to the Great Escape Games' stand to take a look at their new Wild West rules release, Dead Man's Hand.  Which was interesting enough for me to pick up a copy (expect a first look post on that shortly) - I also picked up on of their new MDF building range which they are having 4Ground produce to accompany the game.  They had some full assembled ones near their demo game and they looked rather nice but I wanted to see how they'd scale with my existing buildings.

At lunchtime I joined up with a whole bevy of bloggers at the Rejects' meet up and got to put faces to names for some of the wargaming bloggerati. Here's a photo of some of the crew (courtesy of Big Lee - who always has a superlative range of photos for the shows as well as a really interesting blog) see if you can spot me lurking towards the back:

Image by Lee Hadley at BigLee's Miniature Adventures

As usual I managed to catch up with a whole legion of old friends and have a decent natter.

So what did I buy in the end - well here a look:

Salute Shopping List

With Salute 2013 rapidly approaching I have been thinking about what toys I want to get at the show.  Given the rather hefty ticket price I usually justify it by buying enough to cover it in saved postage.

My first thought has been to pick up some more units for my 28mm Indian Mutiny project - which should effectively bring the figure buying for that to a close (there are some more terrain items I have been considering).  So some more Mutineers, native horse and Gentlemen Volunteer horse are likely to be on the list.

Moving on to 28mm World War II, I am thinking of picking up some figures for Waffen SS to allow me to do some of the Final Combat scenarios I have picked up recently.  At the moment it's a toss up between Artizan and Warlord but we'll have to see.  I would also like to get another squad of US Airborne from Warlord to complete my platoon.

I'm in the process of putting together a couple of 15mm World War II games for I Ain't Been Shot Mum and it's highlighted that I haven't got quite the right mix of tanks for early war - so I have a couple of additional Panzers on the list.  In addition I am planning to extend the life of my early war Brits and so want to pick up some PIATs and some stens too.  I would also like to pick up a box of Plastic Soldier Company tanks to try out as I've heard good things about them.

Crooked Dice have released 7th Voyage, their mythic rules, which amongst other things covers Greek Myth so I shall be giving that a look given I have some suitable figures.

I was also going to pick up some terrain items from 4Ground and Products for Wargamers as well as having a look around for anything else of interest.

That was going to be about it but I have recently been distracted by a couple of other things - first was Sudan and the idea of moving up Phase 2 (Khartoum), which would involve buying some Bazingers and some more Nile Arabs but I'm still pondering that one.  Then I saw The Kings Depart blog which is focussed on one of my favourite eras - interwar - and it has got me thinking about my stalled Russian Civil war project and my ideas for the German Revolution - so I may be paying Scheltrum a visit to look at their Shattered Empires range (in particular the vehicles), Empress to look at the Tsuba Freikorps Werdenfels and Musketeer to look at some of their WW1 Russians.

Then there's the new SAGA supplement which is going to be released...

Front Rank - They Know How Service Works

I put in a large pre-order to Front Rank for collection at Salute. Given the size I couldn't check it at the show so it had to wait until I got home. Much to my disappointment there were 6 figures missing.

I emailed them straight away and got a response the same day and got the figures in the post on the following day.

My test for customer service is how they deal with things when they go wrong (after all everyone makes a mistake now and then) and Front Rank passed with flying colours!

Salute 09 - Photos

Here are the few photos I took at Salute:

Salute 2009

Salute 09 Round Up

Just back from the show and pretty tired but I thought I'd post my thoughts.

The show was pretty well attended but it seemed a little quieter than last year and it also seemed there were a few less traders. These are just my impressions, of course.

Fortunately the DLR was working this year but the Jubilee line was partially closed so I'm sure some people had a less than ideal journey.

The queuing arrangements were reasonably well organised as usual (certainly better than that year we all had to go up the first floor in Olympia 12 at a time in the lift before getting to the Q-Buster entrance). The Q-Buster queue got in a little earlier than the main line as usual and it was pretty lucky for me as (and apologies those who have already heard this more than once!) I went straight to one stand and bought their entire stock of WW1 barbed wire (they only had 10 - and had an offer of a discount if you bought 10). Lenin also found a number of traders who hadn't bought stuff he wanted to buy at all. This sort of thing always puzzles me and in the end can only help discourage people from going to the show.

I managed to pick up all my pre-orders, a few other bits a pieces and then had plenty of time to catch up with lots of old friends from around the country. The general consensus was that the show was pretty much as usual but there wasn't anything that was particularly inspiring.

I watched the TooFatLardies Through the Mud and the Blood game (it was a participation game but I really wanted to see how it was run and would have been pretty distracted if I'd actually been playing) and I'm now very keen to get it to the table.

I had a good chat with Dave from Grand Manner and Nigel from Anglian and took the chance to thank both of them for their excellent products and service.

There were a few nice looking games (I'll post some pictures once I've had a chance to upload them to Picasa) and fur seems to be the in thing for grass, crops etc. I did notice a couple I had seen before (which considering how few shows I attend was a little disappointing).

It was certainly worth me going but I can understand those who would have had to shell out a lot more (parking alone was £12!) not attending.

Salute - More Preparation

I've got my queue buster ticker and pre-orders are in ready for the big day on Saturday. I've also taken a look at the trader list and made a note of those I really must take a look at. I'm hoping to meet up with quite a few friends at the show too.

I'll probably be posting a few updated during the day to my twitter account at http://twitter.com/whisperin_al. Unfortunately I don't have a camera on my phone so no twitterpics I'm afraid but I do hope to get a few shots which I can post to the blog after the event.

Salute Preparation

With the cost of entry to Salute getting ever higher I have put my various pre-orders in to ensure that I am saving more in postage than it costs me to get in.

Unfortunately some of the traders who have been at the show in previous years are absent but there still seems to be just enough to make it worth going.

The other key factor is that it is one of the few shows where I will be able to catch up with a decent number of people I wouldn't get to see otherwise. I am hoping that there will be some games there which may provide the inspiration which has been missing from other shows but who knows.

I am keen to see the TooFatLardies game using their new WW1 rules (which I hope to see on Monday) as we are hoping these will fill the niche for the next game size up from Nuts!

The Assault on Innsmouth game should also provide some interest as I have been a long time Lovecraft fan and still have plans of putting such a game together myself (although on a somewhat more modest scale I suspect!).

There are a few other games which, from the very brief descriptions on the Salute site, do sound interesting so combined with the social side it should be a worthwhile trip. Plus the DLR is working this year which should make it all a lot easier!

Back from Salute

The show is a bit of a trek but I managed to get there at a reasonable time (the DLR was suspended but the rail replacement bus service was pretty quick) and wasn't too far down the Q-Buster queue (isn't that an oxymoron?). The venue is still very much like an aircraft hanger and finding stands can still be difficult (particularly when it's full of people) but I managed to have a good look around.

Lenin had a less fun time initially as not only did he drive but the parking was expensive and the machines weren't taking cards to he had to queue to pay (not wishing to waste his precious cash!). He kindly brought along some WW2 Russians for me - I hope to post some pictures tomorrow - and my Solomon Kane figure. All excellent as you'll see once I have time to take and post the photos.

Back to the show. My first stop was at Musketeer Miniatures, who I had noticed only yesterday have an Irish War of Independence range sculpted by Paul Hicks (who also does the Anglian Miniatures SCW range and some of Bolt Action's figures). I realise that this period isn't to everyone's taste but it is something I'm very interested in and the figures will prompt me to do the detailed background reading. The figures themselves are lovely but how quickly they see the table is anyone's guess!

My next stop was Anglian Miniatures to pick up my pre-order of Carlists, International Brigade and a T26 (which I can also use for the Winter War). As I mentioned these are also Paul Hicks sculpts and again great figures. I added a couple of vehicles from Force of Arms later in the day, a truck and an Italian IZ armoured car. I also picked up a suitable painted building from TableScape (it must be relatively new as it isn't listed on their site yet).

I picked up my pre-ordered Finns from Bolt Action and despite a little initial confusion, which was quickly sorted out now just need the other figures from Brigade I ordered to have a decent force. I also picked up the Frozen Hell supplement for GURPS from Leisure Games. OK, so it is an RPG supplement but it has some nice summaries of the information for the Winter, Continuation and Lapland Wars along with weapons and other information.

Having saved enough in postage to justify the trip I wandered around with Lenin having a look at the traders and games and bumping into old friends and acquaintances. I must admit that the various radio controlled vehicles running around the show looked fun and the re-enactors were somewhat less controversial than last year. Attendance looked like it was similar to last year but that's just my impression.

It was a long day but having had a look at my figures now I've got home I think it was worth it for those and to catch up with old friends.

Salute Prep

With Salute rapidly approaching I decided to do my usual - make a huge wishlist of all the stuff I'm interested in at the moment, price it up and then, having scared myself, pare it down to a more manageable level. The Winter War was a bit of a given so I decided to add to my Baker Company Finns with some Bolt Action and Brigade figures (obviously the latter are mail ordered). I emailed a pre-order to BAM and they responded in a matter of minutes - excellent.

I've been debating whether to take the plunge and go for Spanish Civil War. Having yet another look at Anglian Miniatures site has finally persuaded me and I've pre-ordered some Carlists and International Brigade with a plan to follow that with more orders in phases. I emailed Anglian and got a pretty prompt email back from them (I would have said quick if it hadn't been for BAM's performance) letting me know that they're offering 10% off for pre-orders - result!

Whilst I was sorting my figures out I pulled out the Eureka German rocket troops and decided that I needed to work out a way to use them. I've come up with a slightly left field alternative WW1 background and decided that I needed some more conventional opposition. Having liked the Renegade range I thought I might pick them up at Salute but no luck - they're not there. But I did spot that they're running a promotion (£6/pack inc postage) at the moment so I put an order in on line on Sunday and the figures arrived in the post today - jolly good show Renegade!

Not sure what else I may pick up at the show, I have my eye on some resources for both the Winter War and SCW along with some trees for my winter terrain but who knows maybe I'll spot something that really floats my boat. I'm going to give the new Ironclad figures the once over and, if they are scaled appropriately for my Parroom figures, I might take the plunge with them too (always assuming they've got any left!)