14th April, London Docklands

 

London's SALUTE 2018 at Excel exhibition centre in Docklands was a bit of a flying visit for me.  Having exhibited or manned a stand for most (all?) of the last 30+ years since the days back in Chelsea and Kensington, this year I was at a Battlefields Trust meeting in the morning - so only able to give the big show a couple of hours. 

Amazing to think it is 12 months since we did the 'Nick the Tsar' redux game!

Click that picture for a link to what may have been the AdHoc Games Group's farewell Salute appearance ...

Anyway, this year seemed very well attended (and I missed the busy morning session don't forget) - I walked in past a National Wedding show or some such ... seemed very quiet: everyone was heading for or crammed in the wargames event!  Good choice I reckon.

 

(Salute 2018 ... visitors chill out.  Still busy round the trade stands though)

I made sure I visited all the Society stands and wished them the best.  It's a big effort for clubs and society volunteers to do this show but it is the one all their members and enthusiasts go to so pretty much mandatory.

 

So good on you, 

Society of Ancients

Pike and Shot Society

Lance & Longbow Society

Continental Wars Society

(click the links and go join something ...) 

... without you Salute and wargaming would be much the poorer.

 

Northampton Battlefields Society couldn't be there but it was good to see the 1460 game on sale and (I'm told) doing very well.

 

And there's a wave from our own stand ... Phil and David with the BattleDay reprise - Paraitakene.

At the BattleDay I was busy with the DBA game so here are a couple of better pictures than I got the week before.

 

(Paraitakene 317 BC - a Lost Battle at Salute 2018 from the Society of Ancients)

 

(Paraitakene 317: some pike sperai from the Eumenid army)

Here are some other games I liked the look of -

 

 

Good to see naval and coastal games well represented - this year's trend?

Plus WWII ...

 

Crusades ...

 

 

... and much more ...

 

Here's a closer look at some of those 10mm figures in the ECW version of To the Strongest -

Very nice, Andrew ;) 

All in all, a nice afternoon.  I'll be back next year I'm sure.  Maybe promoting The Great Game.  Watch this space.

22nd April ... London ExCel

SALUTE 2017

Another Salute came and went at the massive and constantly busy ExCel exhibtion centre in Docklands.

I was fully engaged this year with Ad Hoc's 'Nick the Tsar II', but spent my (extended) lunch break with the Society of Ancients stand as always.

The Society's big game was a Lost Battles interpretation of Kadesh ...

(the Society of Ancients at Salute 2017)

You will just about see a Rameses style Nile monument in the background ... just to say that this is a control marker, not a terrain piece ... and Lost Battles recovers the battle from the mists of time as a grand chariot engagement beside the Orontes.

For the full campaign, you can do no better than refer to Call it Qids from the Society games collection (easily the best published account documenting the battle).

Elsewhere there was a massive interpretation of the battle of Raphia using 'To The Strongest'

Here's a close up ...

(Raphia at Salute 2017)

For more shots of the game, go to Simon's blog)

Indeed almost everyone ends up at Salute

Another Ancient/Medieval battle I saw was a Mortem et Gloriam 'Hastings' (keeping the anniversary going) ...

(Hastings 1066)

And a few battles in other periods caught my eye as I briefly toured the show ...

(Salute 2017)

Including some wintry ones ...

(the Battle of the Snowshoes)

But of course most of my day was spent with this one ...

(Nick the Tsar II at Salute 2017)

There's a full set of pictures on Phil's 20th Century Wargames Blog ...

Next event is Campaign 

And watch out for us at Partizan.

16th April, London, ExCel

SALUTE 2016

Salute 2016 was its usual grand day out: though slim pickings for the Ancient and Medieval enthusiast - the theme was Steam Punk although you wouldn't know it from all the Science Fiction which seemed the dominant genre.

Although I know they turned some others away, the only big ancients game I could see was our own 28mm Magnesia played as a Lost Battle.  That's quite an amazing degree of under-representation given how many enthusiasts tick 'ancients' on surveys and how big the ExCell hall is.

(Salute 2016: the Society of Ancients stand and - behind - Magnesia game)

So this won't be the same as the other Salute reports from this year - and half a dozen different views of the Star Trek bridge ... I'll showcase the few historical games from before 1500AD ...

Without the Society of Ancients and Lance & Longbow there would have been fewer.  Always worth remembering if you were under the impression that the Society's mission in championing the historical wargame was done already.

(Championing the historical wargame ... without these volunteers, what next?)

The Society of Ancients presented the great Roman triumph of Magnesia ...

(Salute 2016: the Lost Battle of Magnesia)

Presented by Prof. Phil Sabin and the shows team.

(Salute 2016: Magnesia 190BC by The Society of Ancients - detail)

This was an live game played 3 time with visitors to the show joining in.

The Lance & Longbow Society had Rob Broom presenting an anniversary refight of Hastings using his popular War and Conquest rules ... again played with show goers throughout the day ...

(Salute 2016: details from the battle of Hastings by The Lance & Longbow Society)

Not quite historical ... the Skirmish Wargames folk put on this attractive myth game in 54mm ..

... and reprising last year's theme, there was an impressive battle of Agincourt ...

I also liked this 28mm medieval encounter in Eastern Europe ...

Snow just works so well for games at shows ...

More Dark Age/Medieval from Dalauppror ...

... and some Saga ...

So, actually not too bad if you are at the Dark Age/Medieval part of the spectrum but just the one historical ancient battle.  Hmmm ...

Very little also for the naval enthusiast - and this year was the 100th anniversary of the battle of Jutland.   A surprising absence, perhaps?

Elsewhere ...

... there was lots of everything else ...

Especially, I liked ...

... the train ... and I liked ...

... the ships in the docks ... This was a huge decorative side table to the historical 'what if' ECW Bristol scenario - actually a rather splendid game ...

(Redoubt (sconce) in the ECW game 'What if Essex had gone to Bristol')

And I always like the Continental Wars Society and their mix of wargaming presentations prints and flats ...

(Salute 2016: the Continental Wars Society display)

(more Salute 2016)

... and there was some splendid miniature architecture on show ...

(overlooking the battle of Moncontour, 1569)

(Wilhelmstadt, beside the battle by Bill Gaskin and friends) 

Of course these, like the port at Bristol, are not really part of the battle, just decorative add-ons.  Now, as a modeller, I love to see them and they help make my Salute - but I do understand why some question their relevance (especially when the organisers are turning away core subject historical wargames) ...

So ... I really enjoyed Salute 2016 - I always do: a special blend of wargame magic with shopping, meeting old friends and enjoying the spectacle.  This year, the dearth of historical games was a disappointment, especially to the ancients enthusiast.

It was a grand day out but a missed opportunity.  I hope next year's show has a better balance of wargame types and interests.

Come see us at Campaign, by the way ...