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...

Clearing the Decks!

Introduction

We're going to Salute this year!  My boys and I will be visiting London for a few nights to do a little sight-seeing and to visit the biggest single-day wargaming event in the world.  It'll be quite the adventure for them, I think!

It's not the first time that I've ever been to Salute, but it will be the first time since I moved back to Scotland in 2001.  When I lived in Bristol, London was just a 2 hour train ride away and I would occasionally go there.  The last time I went to Salute, the show give-away was a Warlords "Demon Dice".  A few moments on Google suggests that this must have been the year 2000, so quite a few years ago...

Clearing the Decks

Now, here's a problem.  My workbench is already full of clutter and I think it's just possible that I might want to buy some fresh toys at the show next week.  There won't be anywhere to put new purchases!

I've tried to spend much of this last week in knuckling down and painting some of my existing models.  If I'm successful then that would free up some space.  I don't think it'll be enough, mind you, but I've got to try...

So, here are the results of my recent labours so far:

Actually, these figures aren't recently painted.  Rather, they're samples of previous work; I've got them out whilst painting more figures for the same forces so that I can match the styles and colours.  At least they don't need any finishing off before they can be put back into storage.

This quartet are almost done.  I need to add some grass to the bases and then varnish the models.  Neither of those tasks is very onerous, though it will probably take a day or two for the glue and sealant to dry.

This pair are a little further off from complete, as both lack some minor detailing.  The armed zombie needs the base to be finished, whilst the cavalier will get work on the hair and hat.  I should be able to complete both models without too much difficulty, I think.

Slightly more effort will go into the next trio.  Although large parts of these models are finished, they have a substantial number of details still to do.  Bases, shirt & tie, shields, swords, helmets, hair...

This group are even further behind.  They have most of their block colours done, but not all the big areas are textured, washed or shaded.  Obviously, details that sit on top of the block costume colours (belts, mostly) haven't been started either.

Finally, I might struggle to finish this set before Salute.  They have some of their base colours, but there are still large patches of undercoat, or perhaps colours that I'm thinking of changing.  Still, they are a long way from "just under-coated" and there is at least a slim chance that I'll paint them in the next 3 days.

Maybe I should just get on with the job, rather than sitting here writing about it?!