SALUTE 2018

Hello MoD’ers,

It is three days now since SALUTE 2018 finally took place and as always it was an excellent show. I arrived early as usual and nabbed a ‘decent’ place in the queue. From here I planned my day, the first stop was to be the ‘Badsquiddo Games’ stand then the ‘Northumbrian Tin Soldier’ and ‘Warploque Miniature: Arcworlde’ stalls to make some early purchases. I eagerly eyed up the speed painting tables at the front of the hall, but quickly struck that idea from my list, as I was wearing my new ‘Dr Who’ T-shirt and it is white, I don’t want any paint flecks on that quite yet.

When the doors officially opened our horde of game obsessed hobbyists swept into the arena ready to spend our hard earned pennies on small plastic figurines and any available accoutrements. I made it to Annie Norman’s ‘Badsquiddo Games’ where they were still setting up and yet mobbed by eager enthusiasts. Eager both to chase up a mail order for her delightful mounted shield maidens, and to purchase some more that I had not noticed when I had made my initial purchase on their website, I was greeted by a friendly lady that was assisting Annie. They allowed me to take my mail order away with me and gave a great show price for the amazing mounted hearth guard models I had found, they are really lovely models, and my current photo does not do them justice.

Whilst speaking with the helpers at Annie’s stall I learned of a game that they are developing, one that I know my little girl will absolutely love: ‘Gunnypeegs’ a rather intriguing Bunny Vs Guinea pig war game. I believe there is going to be a kickstarter for this, I will keep you posted. I bought a pack of the pigs and bunnies that are currently available.

After this I went on the hunt for the ‘Northumbrian Tin Soldier’ and promptly, somewhat fortuitously got lost, finding instead the ‘Macrocsom’ stand. These guys recently completed a kickstarter for a wargame that involved skeletal Dwarves Vs skeletal Goblins, finances stopped me getting involved but I could not help but notice some fully fleshed dwarves, in WW1 Russian uniforms riding upon sturdy looking ponies. My eyes then drifted from this shelf to one just below which was populated again my troops from WW1, the were Goblins resplendent in German uniforms and Halflings representing the British ‘Tommy’. I just had to have a pack of the furry foots Brits. These minis come from their Weird War range, when I spoke with the stall holder (I apologise as I have forgotten his name) he told me that they hope to have a kickstarter for this range, it will be called ‘Mud Fields’ along the line of their previous campaign. He also said that he hoped to include a fourth race, possibly Turkish Orcs. This is definitely worth keeping an eye out for.

SALUTE is a very popular convention, I go whenever I can, work has a habit of getting in the way, but I am glad I made it this year. However this makes it a very busy tiring day, and the temptation to spend is everywhere, within the first hour and half I had spent £116.00 on various stalls, including ‘Barwell Bodyworks’ and ‘Coritani’ for basing and scenery goods. By midday I felt ready to leave, but with still so much to see and do, I stuck it out and I glad I did, as I watched an interested demo game of ‘Drowned Earth’ as dystopian future skirmish game, and spoke with the developers of ‘Death Match’ and gladiatorial game which entails fighters from several races fighting each other (naturally) but also working together to take on large monsters that are released into the arena, such as the wonderfully sculpted ‘Sky shark’.

I meandered through the central aisle looking at the wares at various merchant stands, when I noticed the ‘Crooked Dice’ 7TV stall and gaming tables. This is a games system that is based upon cult TV series. I played this a couple of years ago at Salute when the game on show was a variation on ‘Robin Hood’, this time the game based upon ‘Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles’ and I just had to get involved. The last time I played this system I bought it straight afterwards, but sadly failed to play it again which is a shame as it is a really fun system with some innovative game mechanisms that can really turn events upon their head. During this game I had control of Raphael, Leonardo and Michelangelo, I managed a difficult jump with Raphael placing him in a crowd of ‘Foot’ warriors with ‘The Shredder’ but Raph had a disguise kit and could not be attacked. When the Foot warriors left the vicinity Raph removed his disguise and charged Shredder, using his character skills of ‘Temper’ and ‘Ninjitsu’ he stunned the and put shredder out of the game. It was a bold and unusual move which took an otherwise dangerous opponent off the board. This is the 2^nd edition of 7TV it runs more smoothly than the previous version and needless to say, I bought the new version then and there.

By the end of the day I was really exhausted, the soles of my feet felt bruised and battered, as did my wallet, now I face the long wait until SELWG in the autumn, which may be the next time I can get my hobby on.