Mid April saw me head up to London and Salute, probably the biggest wargames show in Europe. As a one day show it's more of a shopping and networking thing than the chance to play, and with my hearing aid I find the general level of background 'white noise" such that it would be fairly uncomfortable to play games. This year things were made even harder by my bad back from the week previously. Fortunately my nice chum Andy took one look at me on the Friday and decided that he would drive to Salute on Saturday rather than use public transport, which meant no German beer for him in the evening...
I had an OK show - saw and chatted with a couple of friends. The demo/participation games failed to make much of an impression on me for the most part, possibly because the best ones seemed to be repeats. Notable exception must go the VBCW boys from the Gentleman wargames parlour.
For photo blog reports then Joe Dever does it much better than me.
http://ilovewargameing.21.forumer.com/viewtopic.php?t=4000
And what did I come home with from Salute:
From the nice man at the relaunched Ainsty Castings the temple dogs and some cemetary gates (essentially pillars with brass gates). Scots dice for SAGA from Gripping Beast along with Harold Godwinson, and some Jomsvikings. Measuring sticks (for SAGA essentially) from Products for wargamers although having used them on the Sunday I'm now thinking if i should have bought the slightly more expensive "patterned" finish ones, rather than the smooth ones as they might provide a better grip.
Next up is a MDF Viking wooden tent from Warbases and a MDF Roman Ox Cart from 4Ground. Lots of MDF scenery on show from various people, and I've seen some other stuff later in Exeter. Samurai Bunnies from Eureka miniatures and some plastic Ashigaru spearmen from Wargames Factory although I think mine were bought off the Gripping Beast stand.
Last item was a copy of Flashing Steel from Ganesha Games although mine came from the Ainsty Stand. I'm a long time 3 Musketeers fan so this was not a hard sell, and I'd been meaning to investigate Ganesha games because of their Arthurian Song of blades and heroes. I've read through it a couple of times now and it seems a reasonably solid Skirmish with RPG elements (e.g. skills) type game, even if I was disappointed that the stats within the book are for Pirates rather than the Musketeers. A post on the forum is to the effect that this is to avoid stifling creativity but I still feel that some benchmarks and ideas would be nice, especially given the title.
On the Sunday I got out to Berkhamsted castle - again without camera but with stick. Textbook motte and bailey castle that history seems to pass by after the the 14th century, although it lingers on into the 15th as a bit of sideshow. English heritage also have a site.
Chris
