Salute 2015

Apologies for the lack of output recently - illness, Windows 8 and a few other things conspired against me. So without further ado here are a bunch of photos from Salute yesterday. I walked around with Giles of Tarleton's Quarter and we agreed that seemed to be fewer stand-out games this year (or perhaps we're just getting more curmudgeonly as we get older.  I'll try and put comments where I can to give credit to those responsible. But if I've mis-attributed something - or someone wants to chime in with a credit feel free to do so in the comments and I'll update this post.

First up a pretty wonderful 28mm AWI battle, Guildford Courthouse by the Newark Iregulars. This was being fought at 1:10 scale using the Black Powder supplement, Rebellion. Giles, reckoned they had this "just right"- and I agreed it looked lovely.

Next up is a small 15mm battle, Boxtel, from Caseshot Publishing (it just goes to show how ABs alter your perception of scale - I was convinced this was a 6mm - maybe 10mm game when I saw it in the flesh but the show guide says 15mm). Again using Black Powder.

I'm unsure who these 28mm Samurai belonged to but they were much nicer in the flesh than my little camera could capture.

Real Time Wargames had a 10mm game of early WWI using Pendraken figures - Giles and I were quite impressed with this one.

 

And this is another 10mm early WWI game using Kallistra hex terrain (every time I see this stuff I think how good it looks in the right hands).  

Nottingham Games Club with a 28mm Pegasus Bridge game - everyone seemed to be having a good time. There seemed to be a lot more games for youngsters at Salute this year.

I think this is the Warlord Games Club 28mm Marston Moor (but then again it might be the Wargames Illustrated 28mm Battle of Evesham). Either way, jolly nice. 

 This was the charge of the Australian Light Horse in 28mm - irritatingly only one of my pics of this came out very well. it was a super table and figures combo.

WI also presented "Cold War Gone Hot in 20mm - lots of spectacular eye candy I'm sure you'll agree. 

"Zzapp the Zepp" a 1/72 Zeppelin killing game by CTK Wargaming using their new WWI "Kaiser's Aces" wargame rules. A pretty substantial model - there is an arms fair at Excel later in the year and I'm pretty sure they could get double duty out of this as a torpedo mock-up. 

Next up only two pictures of one of the best terrain work at the show. This was the Wyre Forest Gamers 6mm Fraustadt on snowy fields (this was the Great Northern War after all) that look just wonderful (it almost made me want to put my coat on again - I say "almost" because Excel was as fetidly warm as usual). 

Next up impressive figures and terrain in 20mm from the "Battlefield Blitzkrieg" team and depicted Dunkirk (or at least part of it). 

Please note the traditional "Top of Giles' head shot" - those of you who wish to refer back to last year's top of Giles' head picture are welcome to estimate the degree to which his hair has receded in the last 12 months... 

Next up a delightful little game from the RAF Wargames Association in 28mm portraying "Sharpe's Waterloo" including camera crews, director, Sean Bean's caravan and a lot of other small details. It looked like they were having a lot of fun. 

I haven't a clue what this game was except it was very nice. I got the impression the Prussians were fighting a rearguard action to hold off a rather mixed bag of French troops. 

This was one of the Agincourt games - 28mm mostly using the Perry figures. They had used brown flock to represent the ploughed fields and there was reploughing after each turn with those combs people use for Afro hairstyles.

Capitan Games demo of their rules for small 10mm naval actions (which link into their rules for small 10mm land battles hence the "combined ops"). The model ships looked absolutely ace and fairly simple to put together. I resisted but only with difficulty. 

Loughton Strike Force 28mm "Last Attack of the Imperial Guard at Waterloo" - lots of 28mm loveliness from Essex.

 

Next up is "Op Broadsword - The Cold War Went Wet" by MDK - I've no idea who MDK are but the model of a Krival class frigate being attacked by the SBS was outstanding. A bit big to play with in your bath (unless you are Ron Ringrose I imagine) with superb interiors. Very inspiring. 

Next up a few pictures from the Saga demo tables - first up are the new Revenants (apparently these are Dark Age zombies of some sort - while I find modern 28mm zombies quite an appealing subject to paint I think Dark Age Zombies are a step too far out there for me. But then I feel the same way about Saga). 

And these are Spanish v Arabs - including the new houses that GB are selling. I took a look at the GB plastic cavalry and they look better in real life than in the photos I've seen (where the photos look like the figures have been assembled by a chimp). I'm not sure how much compatibility there is with the other GB plastic sets but I resolved to wait until Dark Sphere in Vauxhall get them into stock before making a final decision. 

I think this was the Old Guard using Age of Eagles rules in 6mm scale. Visually impressive but still with the sort of scrum you get when too many units are trying to share one piece of table (at the Waterloo end). Very nice terrain and figures though.

I think the next few pictures are of the Uxbridge Wargamers 28mm ACW battle using "Longstreet" - lovely figures and terrain. Lots of stuff to photograph on this one. 

ACW and Longstreet rules again - but this time in 15mm using mostly OG figures (and theirs turned out much better then mine did when I was painting them many years ago) by GLC Gamers. this is the kind of thing I love. 

And whereas the GLC Gamers were doing exactly the sort of thing I want to celebrate here is the opposite. Hawk Wargames Dropzone Commander in 10mm. This immense assembly was sat on it's own being pretty much ignored by everybody. A huge amount of figures sitting on a very dramatic table - but they weren't doing anything, there was nobody to explain what was happening and it was all rather static and uninspiring. I couldn't see why they'd built it if they weren't going to make some constructive use of it. 

Another 6mm game of Ligny and Quatre Bras by (I think) the Wigmore Warriors. 

The Essex Gamesters - aka Ron Ringrose and friends brought "The Fort" a 28mm AWI diorama based upon the Bernard Cornwall novel of the same name - this game was supposed to have been one of the stars of the show last year but didn't turn up for some reason. Lots of beautifully painted figures in a number of vignettes, the 1/56th scale ships and some nice terrain work - but nobody actually playing with it that I could see. 

I think this may be a shot of the cellars of Castle Frotherstein, or on the other hand it could be another fantasy game entirely! I thought it was impressively built (possibly by the guys who make Carlsberg as they appeared to be sponsoring the game). 

And finally a few shots of Simon Chick's Agincourt game with the Lance & Longbow Society - absolutely wonderful stuff  all round. Having seen it coming together on Simon's wonderful blog i was excited to see it in the flesh. 

Of course it wasn't until we had regrouped in the Fox after the show that I realised I had missed so many games I was keen to see. Salute is like that - you spend four hours wandering around it until you are dog tired and then realised you've managed to miss a lot great stuff.