Salute 2011

I attended Salute yesterday and managed to get the few items on my list that I need to complete a few armies for the future; well, they'll probably wind up on the lead/plastic mountains for a while before I get round to doing anything with them, but at least I have them.

It seemed to be quite busy at the show and the two queues outside prior to kick-off were quite long. Miniature Wargames magazine hired on some pretty young ladies to sell their magazine to the punters in the queue outside the venue, and the juxtaposition between these glamorous young ladies and the majority overweight, middle-aged geeks/chaps (myself included) in the queue was quite funny to behold and I found myself chuckling a little at the thought.

I didn't actually get to take part in any games but did chat to a few manufacturers about future releases etc. Dark Age/Medieval rule books seem to have come out in abundance with Warlord Games's Hail Caesar, another set called Clash of Armies and a soon to be released skirmish game from Gripping Beast which was showcased with a lovely display battle.

This was great for me as I caught up on my Dark Age/Medieval purchases in the form of a couple each of the new Gripping Beast plastic sets (Saxon Thegns and Viking Hirdmen) and a blister of 8 Arthurian archers for Brytenwalda. I will have to read up on the reviews of the above rules to see which set will suit me best and if I'll buy any as a result. I must admit, I do like to buy rules just for the sake of a good read and having something to put up on my bookshelf to look pretty.

I also managed to pick up a set of polyhedral dice in plain black to match in with my GW d6 dice set, so I can start to run AD&D again - I'll probably get a few more sets at the next show as they were only a few quid per set. Whilst at the show I got a reminder call from the wife who said not to forget to get the girls a set of dice each after they had lost all of my old dice enjoying playing games with them. I managed to get them a couple of sets of polyhedrals in pink and in purple - the lady behind the counter empathising with the needs of daughters. When I got home I asked my daughters what their favourite colour was and luckily they chose the colours I had bought them - result!

Finally I picked up all the usual magazines; Wargames Illustrated, Miniature Wargames (albeit not from the girls outside), and the re-released Wargames, Soldiers and Strategy. I am looking forward to reading all of these, especially WSS as the sister publication Medieval Warfare comes out soon.

I am pleased with my purchases and enjoyed the day. I forgot to mention that Alex was with me and he enjoyed the daily equally as much. He had a good look round but his pocket money only went on a set of metal Knights Hospitallers from Perry. We also grabbed a few packs of round slotta-bases in readiness for any new project we have in mind in the next year or so.