Salute 2016

It's Salute on Saturday.

And I'm not going.
The last few years I've been lucky enough to be invited to go along and hinder James and/or Steve with their display games.
Dux Bellorum in 2013
Keren in 2014
Guilford Courthouse in 2015
All of them splendid days out with great company and stunning looking games.

This year James and Scrivs were planning to take their Verdun game along but were not able to get a table.
I was somewhat surprised by this as James has consistently delivered great tables and is well known for the high standards of his display games - one might have thought the Warlords would be keen to showcase what's bound to be a great table, particularly as it's the centenary of the battle.
Doubly disappointing that Scrivs didn't get the chance to show all is marvelous toys off too before his departure to the US.
Some other big-hitters guaranteed to put on a show with high quality games have also not got tables this year, such as Simon Miller and Too Fat Lardies (who were intending to debut Sharp practice 2 at the show).
Now I know organising Salute is a massive operation and logistical nightmare, but I also know James got his application in before the final deadline, so I'm (still) fairly puzzled by this.
A "rum" decision by the Warlords in my view. I do hope there aren't lots of no-shows or poor quality tables this year...

Anyway we briefly toyed with the idea of going along as punters this year, but I've done that before and I'm afraid I decided it wasn't worth it.
I've found Salute to be a largely joyless and soulless affair since it's move to ExCel. I understand the need for a venue this size and I understand that the revenues of wargames companies don't allow the halls to be decked out to the highest standards that a venue like ExCel usually expects but for me it's crossed a cost/value threshold. In effect it's a glorified shopping trip into an aircraft hangar filled with too many people with body hygiene and personal space issues. I seldom buy anything not already on my shopping list and the argument for "saved postage" is more than countered by admission costs and transport to and around Big London.
And the floors are hard and make your feet hurt.

(BTW lest anyone think my beef is with the entry price and I've just got used to "getting in free" with a game I've generally paid at least some money toward additional tickets that James or Steve has bought to ensure sufficient "crew" on the game).

Henry Hyde challenged my description of Salute as soulless (on Twitter), and I understand what he means, but I was referring really to the venue rather than the (non-smelly) wargamers and blogizens you get to meet up with. Yes, I'll miss catching up with some familiar faces, but chances are I'll see most of them at Partizan or Derby later in the year, and it won't cost us £6 a pint each when we do.

On the other hand I think it's great that our hobby can support an event this size and attract hobbyists in large numbers to the capital. And I do also appreciate the efforts of the Warlords team to put the show on. So I hope it continues to be a success and if you are going do enjoy it (and take plenty of pictures).

Actually what I'll miss is the chatting with people about the game that I'm standing next to - that's been the highlight of the last few years.

Hopefully next year James or Steve will be back, and if I'm a good boy they might invite me to give them a hinder. In which case I'll be delighted to go back. But as a customer? - No thanks.

Guilford Courthouse at Salute 2015

Clearly I have done something good in a previous life as very nice chaps keep inviting me to go with them to Salute to "help" them put on a game.
This year the nice chap in question was the talented Steve Jones who was putting on an American War of Independence game using his marvelous collection. Along with the rest of the helpers I asked if there was anything I could do to assist, but all offers were met with polite refusal from Steve.

In the event I had a fairly murderous week at work and had to travel to the appointed meeting place by (inevitably delayed) train from Swindon, so wasn't even able to bake a cake (I had planned to try and make the courthouse in sponge form).

Another splendid fellow in the shape of Scrivs picked me up from the station in his Tangerine Dream mini and we met up with the rest of the crew - James, John, Steve and another Steve in a pub next to the hotel.
There we fell upon the brown beer (poor) and food (better) and shared conversation and jokes (best of all) before retiring to bed for a fitful night of brown beer side-effect interrupted sleep.

The morning saw us arise at half-past stupid and be on the road by seven.
Fortified by the fruit of the Golden Arches (I partook of a Bacon Bagel, putting aside my fears of committing an act of antisemitism) we made our way swiftly to ExCel and unloaded past the lycra clad Marathon runners and the Deerstalker clad Sherlock fans - with the latter of whom we exchanged mutual glances of pity and confusion at choice of hobby.

Once inside Steve again refused all offers of help and set up everything himself.

And it looked ruddy (pardon my French) brilliant. From trees, to tents, to civilians, to barrels of produce it was all immaculately painted and presented. And that's without looking at all the rows and rows of fantastically painted soldiers.

I think Steve was so enjoying putting all his toys on the table he was a little startled when I pointed out it was cowboy time (ten-ta-ten. Ten to Ten. Geddit? I'll get me coat).
A brief explanation of the rules then followed. I didn't pay much attention as I'm not very good at remembering rules. Steve could have sent them to me several weeks before and I'd still not have grasped them. In point of fact he had sent them to me several weeks earlier and, well, you get the idea.
In any case, Scrivs was there, so I just trusted that he'd have it all sorted and I could just roll dice and shout "Huzzah!"

At these demos I generally try to make sure I talk to everyone who I can see looking at the game and let some of the others get on with the playing. It's a personal bugbear when you're ignored at shows by the folk doing a demo (*long hard look at Lance and Longbow society, Triples, a few years ago*). So John and I got on with that aspect of things while Steve, Steve and Scrivs did the heavy lifting around playing the game. James acted as a kind of "Wargames Personality Magnet" talking to well known faces from the hobby.

Anyway, enough of that, here's the eye candy.

The game seemed to play very well. Steve's rules were easy to understand and historically plausible.

The British (and Germans)  were met with a hail of fire by the Militia and made slow going of the first wave.
The good luck of the American terrorists freedom fighters continued as the Redcoats met the second rank and despite solid progress on the left, the right wing became rather bogged down.
In the end the day drew to a close with Cornwallis just short of his goal and the Continental forces held the field.

Just before the close we were all delighted when Steve was awarded the Best Painted prize.
Well deserved reward for a truly heroic effort on a great game.

It was a really great day out. I didn't see much of the rest of the show, though I did catch up with a few old faces and a few new ones too, including folk I'd only ever known on Twitter (Hi Jim, nice to meet you).

James and Scrivs are already planning next years trip, so I'll just have to carry on being nice and hoping for another invite.

You should now go over to Steve's blog and read his version of events (and look back through all his posts that have built up to this.

Scrivs has a version that explains the battle in rather more detail than I've gone in to.