Sunday 26 April 2015

Salute 2015 - the loot!


Phew!  What a day and as predicted I am somewhat behind the curve with this post due to the exhaustive debrief following a extremely tiring journey home.*  

*We had to stand for two hours on the train, not quite what we had planned!

So 'Salute 2015' has come and gone, my fifth apparently and perhaps the most enjoyable yet.  I had no real plans for purchases and so just pootled from stand to stand, game to game and looking at the photographs of the day on other blogs clearly missed a great deal!  Still myself and the 'Provost Marshal' seemed to amass a fair about of swag between us. Although mine was restraint, by comparison to previous years, I did treat myself to some shiny new Batman toys.  These are proving a welcome distraction and I'm looking forward to painting them regardless of whether or not they actually get on the table.

It seemed to me that this year was all about laser cut MDF; the future of wargaming terrain?  I was genuinely impressed by the display models on the 'Sarissa Precision' stand and a couple of packs along with some from '4Ground' managed to find their way home with me.   Some always useful packs from 'Ainsty Castings', yet another set of skirmish rules from 'Crooked Dice' and a shepherd set from 'Redoubt Enterprises' completed the purchases . 

I did manage to track down Kawe from 'Westfalia Miniatures' and bag my free promotional Halfling along with the final elements from the 'Steampunk Menagerie' kickstarter - every chap needs a Clocktopus!  I need to add at this point that Kawe was also incredibly generous and added a few other surprises to my pledge - thank you so very much!  

Speaking of gifts thank you also to 'Clint' who passed on a zombie hunter from the new 'East Street Games' Brains & Bullets game - this will be promoted to the front of the queue and I need to have a closer look at their new rules when released; thank you also for the fudge, the 'Saintly Mrs. Awdry' was deeply impressed!  I was also passed a miniature from Andrew 'Loki' Saunders, which is apparently connected to the 'Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge', but I need to clarify that a little more.

Of course the highlight for me was the Bloggers' meet at lunchtime and it was great to see so many now familiar faces and some new ones too - MikeC and Simon 'Blaxkleric' it was great to finally meet you both.

Finally then, the photographs, well the few that I took!  As usual I am armed with a camera, but failed to really do the event justice.  As my hands were busy squirrelling away my purchases the camera was consigned to the bottom of the bag.  Before that happened there were a couple of things that caught my eye.  The first, a hugely entertaining game from 'Bexley Reapers Wargaming Club' saw a troop of G.I.s running the gauntlet of marauding zombies to escape to the shore and the boats waiting for them there.  All the stops had been pulled out with regards to the terrain, including lights, sounds and even dry ice!


The latest pre-release model from 4Ground was an awesome looking Parish Church, not cheap, but my word it looked good!


More MDF on show again with the Micro Art Studio's Wolsung game, this sort of thing just seems to capture my imagination.


So that was that for another year, well done 'South London Warlords' a great show, obviously well attended by traders and clubs alike and yet comfortably so - looking forward to next year already! 



55 comments:

  1. The haul looks splendid. Not until I got home did I realise that I should have given you the human and zombie versions of the same figure. So apologise for that and with luck |I will be able to get it to you before next years Salute!
    Kindest regards to you and the saintly as well as Provost. As for the fudge do not eat it all in one go or feed it to women folk after midnight! (Opps too late )

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    1. Thank you again Clint for everything, it was lovely to see you again and I look forward to reuniting the survivor with his zombie self. Indecently, what scale are they? I only ask as he looks a little small against some of the others on the paint table at present.

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  2. Splendid to meet you as well Michael - the bloggers reunion being one of the highlights for me for sure. Great haul too... I think you'll rather enjoy the new rules in Vlad's Army, and as you say the Batman miniatures are very nice indeed.

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    1. It was an absolute pleasure to catch up with you too Simon. After a brief flick through the rules are currently on the bookshelf, but the Batman miniatures are getting closer to the paint table!

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  3. You did well sir. I also thought it was the best Salute so far. As I wandered around I kept finding 'interesting and characterful' miniatures and thinking about you would put them to good use in some Victorian adventure. I even bought a few cowgirls, in your honour. It will be my first model to paint without having a plan to play it in some game or other.

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    1. I absolutely agree, lots to see and ponder, but then that is always my weakness - too much time dreaming and not enough time playing games.

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  4. It was great to meet you - sorry I didn't have much time for a proper chat!
    ooking forward to see some painted Clocktopus :--)

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    1. Thank you so much again! Great to finally meet up and I'm really excited about starting the new miniatures.

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  5. Great photos and tables, thanks for sharing!

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  6. Cracking pics and a nice bag of goodies to take home.
    Glad you had a good day out!

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    1. Absolutely splendid day, such a lot to see though!

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  7. Great pics Sir Michael!

    Nice loot haul too :)

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    1. Thank you Tamsin and always a pleasure to meet you.

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  8. Fabulous looking games, Michael. Nice haul of tiny treasures too - the "Vlad's Army" is intriguing.

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    1. There was a lot more to see too, but these certainly caught my eye. For Vlad's army think WW2 V's Vampires!

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  9. I had to ditch all the blisters from my purchases on the train waste bins so the Old Bat didn't see them!

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    1. Genius idea! Sorry not to have caught up this year, but I'm sure we will one day.

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  10. You've always an interesting mix of things Michael. Looking forward to seeing the Batman figures!

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    1. That is half my problem Anne, not enough focus! ;)

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  11. Nice collection of loot you've got there :) Very impressive MDF terrain on show. It's still got it's limitations, but the companies making MDF buildings are certainly pushing the limits constantly

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    1. I know what you mean about the limitations with some pieces seeming a bit box like, but I'm starting to see more and more people put there on mark on pre-painted design with great effect.

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  12. Hola amigo
    Buenas mesas se ven en estas fotos
    y buenas compras
    un saludo

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    1. There was a lot more to see, but I stupidly put the camera away so I could buy more things!

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  13. Great to see you again Michael - that's a reasonable haul there. Kawe truly is a gent with quite excellent minis- I should ensure I furnish him with some of my hobby budget in future.

    And what's this illicit lead trade going on at the meet? Can't hp be having that! ;-)

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    1. Great to see you too, but we certainly needed longer to chat, I wanted to hear about your future plans. As for the illicit trade, I certainly seemed to be rather well at one point although I still don't know what and why Loki was giving out pieces of lead - very grateful nonetheless!

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  14. Splendid Haul none the less. I hope to go next year all being well. As for the Penguing Thug you damaged just drill out and pin in some rod to replace the club or if you would like I could send you a baseball bat from the WGF survivor set which you could use instead :)

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    1. It would certainly be great to finally meet you Simon and thank you for the kind offer. I shall, at some point, return to it and drill out the broken baton and add a new one - once the blood pressure has eased off a bit! They are very nice, but perhaps just a bit too fiddly.

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  15. Great to meet up again Michael, and to meet the Provost Marshall too. I was tempted by the Bat Man stuff too... But resisted

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    1. So pleased to have caught up again Dave and it was a great show. I thought I was doing quite well until I saw the discount and then suddenly all resolve crumbled!

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    2. Nice to chat with you too Dave. My haul was somewhat smaller than Michael's, but as it included Mamelukes, was far more colourful!!!!! Now to learn the mysteries of making MDF look good.

      Pip pip

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  16. Thanks for the game pictures that G.I.s verses zombie game looked fantastic. I notice that the doctor's tardis was lurking in the corner. Its a wonderful haul Sir and I now eagerly await a clocktopus!

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    1. The zombie game was great fun, the special effects were real crowd pleasers, especially the dry ice.

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  17. Looks like another fine day you had Michael. That Wolsung terrain is indeed suited to delving deep into one's pockets. I can just image a zeppelin moored outside one of the hangar buildings.
    That Zombie game looked grand as well...now using dry ice during a scenario...hmm

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    1. I'm cross that I didn't take more, but I was too busy spending my pocket money! Oh a zeppelin, now I'm sure I saw one of those!

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  18. Sounds like a grand day out. I'm insanely jealous!

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  19. Great loot.
    Hope you hade a great time at salute.

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    1. A great day out, but very tired when we got home.

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  20. The loot looks cracking and the reports sounds like you had a great day in London.

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    1. It really was a great day out, just what was need Stefan.

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  21. Great pics Sir M and a very nice haul to boot!

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    1. Great to see you again Ray; thank you for organising the meet up, wonderful to see so many there.

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  22. The little boy trapped inside an adult's body, when at a gaming convention, is soon parted from his money. Nice score!

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    1. Never a truer word spoke Jay. Still once in a while it is good just to forget about everything and enjoy the day.

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  23. Very cool, loved the dry ice effect :)

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  24. Great stuff! and thanks for sharing.

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  25. Glad you had a great day out. Sorry we didn't get to chat at the bloggers meet up.

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    1. It really was a great day out and I'm sorry to that we didn't get a chance to say hello - there were a lot more people there than I had realised, perhaps next year.

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  26. Not a bad haul there. It was great to finally put a face to your screen name even if we didn't get a proper chance to chat. Next time!

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  27. A nicely restrained haul Michael! Sorry, Sir Michael.
    How the other half live eh! Life in the fast lane, hanging out with the blogger-arti, free mini's. Soak it all in dude, your living the dream.

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  28. A good time was had by all. I managed to pick up a few things, including a wonderful book on French relics from 1812 from my old friend Richard at Ken Trotman. It was also great to be able to put a few more names to faces at the lunchtime meet - and to be invited into the group photos. Needless to say, I led Michael astray in the late afternoon, before we met up with the Saintly Mrs Awdry for more ale, followed by that most wholesome of foods, a kebab!

    Pip pip

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