Salute 2010

So, today was Salute 2010 down in the London Docklands. And as always, Chris and I headed down to check out what was on show...

In general, the show seemed a little less hectic than previous years; Obviously i don't know the exact figures, but there seemed to be fewer visitors and stands - possibly because of the Volcano that has been affecting UK airspace in recent weeks? However, it was still a great show, with lots on display and some excellent participation games being played! So without further ado, I'll run you through my "highlights" of the show!

First up we have Studio McVey - This was Mike and Ali's first show, and it was great to finally meet them. On display they had all of the Studio McVey range, as painted by Ali and Mike as well as couple of new models. The quality of this range of models stuns me every-time I see them, seemingly getting better with each new release. If you haven't looked at their models yet, I highly advise you to head over to their website and take a look; There are no finer models out there IMHO. (Tell them Paul sent you ;))

Next up was SmartMax. Unfortunately I only found SmartMax right before leaving the show, cunningly concealed right by the entrance - but once again I was floored by the quality of their models. I didn't spot anything new, but their models are great quality and i would recommend them to all. The had on display their model ranges (painted and unpainted) as well as some very cool 3-up versions of their range - I'd love to paint one of those!

A model range which i hadn't come across before and which was a lovely surprise to discover was Black Scorpion Miniatures. They had miniatures covering an interesting cross section of Pirates / Wild West and Fantasy Football! All the models appear beautifully sculpted in true 28mm and would be useful for both dioramas and gaming. Prices were very reasonable.

Games Workshop was out in force with 2 stands as well as a Forge World stand. Nothing much on display of note in GW's stand (Just the stuff you can get in any store), and Forge World seemed surprisingly lacklustre, having none of the big display cases with Titans that they usually have (infact, oddly i was able to walk straight up and take pictures, rather than having to fight through a scrum!). They did have one case with some Ork heads and a couple of pre-release items, but other than that it was very bare... GW did have a big Space Marine tho ;)

For the rest, a quick round up:

Heresey Miniatures seemed to have finished the Dragon that has long been discussed. Lovely model, didn't see a price anywhere tho...

Hasslefree had their usual great range on display. I highly recommend this range to anyone who like great sculpted models!

So, the rest of the show. Well the painting competition was being judged when i got a chance to see the models, so most of the cases were empty - but one model that did catch my eye as a fan of Manga was this little beauty:

What a genius use of an ork, and very well executed too!

As mentioned, there were also a lot of participation games being run - I've included a selection of photos of the games to give people an idea of the scale and effort put in by the organisers.

In summary, it was another great show, congrats to the South London Wargamers. If you haven't attended a Salute yet, I encourage you to make the effort next year, its a very enjoyable day out

Salute 2009

So, yesterday was Salute 2009, down at the ExCel center in London. Here is my "after the fact" photo blog (and apologies in advance for some slightly blurry photos!):

The atmosphere as always was great fun - this years theme was "Zulu"...

GW was out in force this year, with a large black library section as well as previews of the new guard models - the bottom photo is the sprue from the new Valkyre plastic kit...

Forge world also had a large and busy stand, with new resin models - chaos themed mostly, including a new brass scorpion, chaos lord and plague demon...

Offensive miniatures had some interesting new modern riot police as well as WW2 figures

Dark realm miniatures were showing their 6mm models - they look like excellent and very reasonably priced models (definately usable as cheaper replacements for Epic 40K). Sorry about the really bad photos here - the display cases and white base made it incredibly hard to get good images....

A new company that has been started up recently is Smart Max - they do some excellent Steam punk models, which although a little pricey have some of the most dynamic poses and excellent casting ive seen...

Perry miniatures had their usual collection of exquisitly sculpted napolionics

Several demo games were in operation as usual. The most impresssive (to my eyes at least) was the "Storming Of the Reichstag" display...

Other interesting games on display were an unnamed ice field WW2 battle, and an unnamed medieval battle

Finally in the demo games there was "Assault on Innsmouth" - which had some impressive lighting effects

The painting contest had some excellent entries as usual, If any of the artists recognise their work, please let me know and i will add a credit (no credits were placed with the models in the cabinets, so i have no idea who they were painted by).

So all in all it was another great event put on by the South London Warlords. If you havent been to Salute before i really recommend checking it out next year...