Salute after action report.

I am back in the hotel room crashed out on the bed after a long day at Salute. We had a lovely dinner then retired so we could watch Britain's Got Talent. Actually, I diverted to the bar for a bit and thankfully missed most of it. I know I overdid it a bit today, but on balance its been an excellent day. I managed to resist too many impulse buys, apart from a couple of books and a few Perry Egyptian campaign 90th Foot figures to use as an Emigre battalion in Europe, and a Foundry Guillotine set (every French Revolutionary War army needs one!) that is, oh and some Gringo 40s personalities that I can use for the FRW. I also got some Flag Dude flags for my Lombard Legion and some nice freebies off Duncan at Trent and of course my big box of swag from Eureka, thankfully not all mine (David).

I have to say that the games were a bit meh! compared to last year, i.e. there were no real standout displays unlike the 7YW, 40mm Peninsular and ECW games at Salute 2016. Some of the games were of a standard no better than one might expect to see at a typical 'club night'. There were loads of 'nice looking' non-historical games demonstrating some particularly good modelling and painting skills, but many were tied in to specific manufacturers. Why not? Now, I applaud every attempt to bring new blood into the hobby but the 'games' being promoted are just not my thing.  I used to do a fair bit of 'Darkest Africa'  and even have Bolsheviks, White Russians and Chinese somewhere under the table so I can't dismiss this type of game but I'm a big battle 28mm bloke and unrepentant. Then again when I was in my late teens and 20's I couldn't afford much more than one sees with the likes of Frostgrave and Congo so I can empathise with the young 'uns. I'm just very fortunate that I'm in a position to go completely OTT with various 28mm projects.

The best bit about today's show was the many friends and acquaintances I caught up with. Some guys i don't see from one show to he next, some I only ever correspond with via forums (fora?) and email, some I've known for 40 years or so, but it always feels like we've just caught up after a week or sorter than several months or years when it comes to picking upon conversations, interests, new projects and how best to spend our pensions. I feel very fortunate that I know so many traders well enough to have a good old natter about stuff, and being a member of the A Military Gentleman forum has meant a whole new world of new like-minded wargamers has opened up to me. It was great for instance to meet up with fellow forum members from every point of the compass in the UK including the far north of Scotland as well as even further afield, e.g. Melbourne and Sydney in Australia.

I took a few pics of the games that took my fancy and here they are.

First up a 17th game set in the Americas featuring I think, Swedes, Dutch and Native Americans. I liked it. Its obscure and it had ships.

 A SYW game that might have been the battle Prague but I'm not sure. The figures were nicely painted.

 An ACW game using the new 'Picket's Charge rules. I bought a copy and they look interesting and worth a go.

 Sharp Practice 2 in Spain by the TFW. Pretty.

 This was an unusual game put on by Mark of Reiver Castings and friends featuring a real battle fought between Japanese and Nationalist Chinese in 1937 or thereabouts, set on the 18th hole of the local golf course. I'm not a big fan of golf so digging slit trenches in the fairway and on the green seems ok to me..........why not :-)  It looked fun.

 Nick the Tsar, a 54mm Russian Civil War game. Looked really good. Lots of fun features, including a nice train and terrain features and lots of dressing up by the players.

 I think this was a game set during the 1859 Italian/French/Austrian war. I didn't see anything that actually said what it was about but I did like it.

So there you go. I had a good day out. I spent more than I planned to. (A given really). I had a great time chatting with what seemed like zillions of friends etc. What's not to like? So for everyone I had a conversation with, good to see you today and I hope everyone got back home safely. Cant wait to get home to start painting today's swag!