Two Steps Forward...

I picked up the new Miniature Wargames magazine on Friday. I'm a sporadic reader of most wargame magazines, but I usually pick up Miniature Wargames at this time of year because it includes the Salute show guide. This is a probably unnecessary as they hand them out on the day, but I like the chance to look at it in advance and work out which stalls and games to look out for.

The guide includes details of the free show miniature, which, in keeping with the show theme of the Russian Revolution, is a Bolshevik Woman soldier. This is the second year in a row that the miniature is of a woman but, in contrast to last year's Steampunk Victorian lady, this year's miniature is more historically plausible. The guide includes a three page article on painting the miniature with three suggested colour schemes.

This is the headline for the article.

Oh dear.

The soldier's age is not easy to determine, fairly common for a 28mm model, but I suppose she could plausibly be in her late teens or early twenties. On the other hand, she could be older, in her thirties, forties or even fifties, depending on how she was painted. So why "girl." I don't think the 2015 miniature was referred to as "Archer boy" nor was the semi-mythical Greek soldier from 2014 called "Argonaut boy."

You could argue that I am being unnecessarily fussy about a fairly trivial thing, but, in a way, that's the point. This miniature does so many things right; it's historical plausible, sensibly dressed, no hint of a chain mail bikini or a skin-tight cat suit here, in a strong and commanding pose with no hint of being submissive or needing to be rescued. Given how male dominated the hobby is and how often miniatures of women are sculpted entirely to appeal to men, this exactly the kind of inclusive miniature that's needed. So why balls it up with a stupid headline in the accompanying magazine? And remember that this is the official show guide, it will be handed out in the same goody bag as the miniature, this is, in effect, the model's official name.

They managed to come so close and yet are still so far.

Conventions, spending money and having too many models

No further updates on the siege campaign this week. I am still painting stuff for the final assault, but progress has been a bit slow and I am on holiday soon for a week and a half, which will slow things down even more.

So this post won't be about that and will probably be something of a ramble across a few areas I have touched on before.

I was at Salute, the UK's biggest independent war games show, a few weeks back. I'm not going to write a review, there are plenty all over the Internet better than I would have written.

I have been going to Salute for ten years now; my first was in 2006. I have been to a lot of conventions during that time and spent a lot of money at them. But Salute was always the big event and I always took the most money. Even after deciding to significantly reduce my spending at conventions, I have still taken more money to Salute than to any of the others.

What was a little unusual about this Salute was that I had no plan about what I was going to buy. AT every Salute I went with at least a short shopping list, even if I took more money than I needed for a few impulse buys. This year, no list. Consequently, I ended up buying a fairly random selection of models that I may use at some point for future projects.

Inevitably, once the show was over, I questioned why I had bought what I bought. It's not that I regret spending the money, exactly, but why those things at that time? I already have plenty of projects to complete. Here is a list of potential projects I could work on when the Siege campaign is done:

- Three different Warhammer armies
- One army for Warhammer 40,000
- At least four factions for Otherworld Fantasy skirmish
- An historical Samurai campaign for Ronin
- A Lord of the Rings campaign
- A campaign for Lion Rampant involving 11th century Normans

These are all projects for which I have all the models I need. And it isn't even an exhaustive list.

Putting it simply, I could never buy another model again and I would still have more than enough to keep me going for years.

So why buy more stuff at Salute?

Part of the problem, is that I am not naturally suited to the social aspects of conventions. I am naturally introverted and feel uncomfortable with people I don't know. I also have to psych myself up before playing games and don't enjoy playing lots of games in a day. This is not very compatible with playing pick up and demo games at conventions. I tried entering a tournament at the last UK Games Expo and, while everyone involved was perfectly pleasant, friendly and good sports, it just wasn't for me. Eight hours of one game in a day is beyond my stamina level.

So, naturally, at conventions I gravitate towards the dealers.

This isn't the only problem. I have written before about how our hobby offers few opportunities for instant gratification. Buying new models is one of them. Sometimes buying a new model can be a substitute for assembling, painting and gaming with the ones I already have.

Lastly, the is the problem of staying up to date. A couple of years ago, when I decided to spend less money on new models, I stopped visiting a lot of the wargaming news websites and blogs. The idea was to avoid temptation. But it is impossible to stay involved in the hobby, reading the forums and the magazines, without learning about new models and games. Despite having made a conscious commitment to avoid new games, a small number have slipped through the net. Part of the problem is that, as I get older, I don't want to be one of those people who ignores everything that was invented after they turned 35. But to keep up with new games and models you have to buy them.

So what have I learned from all of this? I am serious about wanting to reduce my spending on new models. Not because of the money spent, but because I don't want to keep using up space on models that never get used. I want to finish the projects I start, or at least start the projects I planned. But if I am going to do that this may mean I have to accept a couple of things.

1. I need to go to fewer conventions, or at least find other reasons to go than to spend money.
2. If I'm not buying new things, then I am increasingly going to be playing with older games and models. And if that means this starts to look like a retro blog, I'll have to accept that.

Salute Number Ten

Another Salute, the UK's biggest wargaming show, has been and gone and it only occurred to me on the day that this would be my tenth. My first was in 2006 and I have been to every one since.

Cloudships of Mars Salute 2006

In last year's post, I described Salute as "a pop-up wargaming superstore that trades for only one day each year." I still think that's an accurate description, but I don't think it's a negative thing. Salute is essentially a trade show, but one that gives small producers and traders representing what is, still, a very niche hobby the chance to reach the largest possible audience. At the same time, it gives hobbyists a chance to buy products they would struggle to find anywhere else.

But ten shows has left me wondering if their have been any major trends or developments? My Salute 2006 experience was dominated by Privateer Press who had just launched Hordes and had a huge stand set up at the front of the show to reflect that. Also present was Wizkids games, producers of Heroclix and other pre-painted miniatures with dials in their bases. Despite their medium-sized stand, their foot print was greatly increased by row upon row of demo games.

 SF30 Salute 2009

Both were largely absent from Salute 2015. Privateer press long ago gave up running a personal stand, although their miniatures are still represented by a number of traders. Since being sold by their parent company Topps, Wizkids has become smaller and more US focused, and their presence at Salute has dwindled.

Games Workshop too has given up running their own stand. They are clearly comfortably represented by independent traders and it is unlikely they ever did much business given the amount of discounted Games Workshop products available elsewhere. Forge World was left to fly the Games Workshop flag, and was still doing well this year, although they had eliminated their usual disorganised mob in favour of an orderly, if extremely long, queue.

Lego Star Wars Salute 2010

In contrast, independent trader Wayland games have seen their presence expand year on year to the point where they are essentially running a their own wall-less games shop from the centre of the Excel centre, offering proper checkouts, carry bags and the chance to pay with plastic, a dangerous temptation for many wargamers.

This year, however, they were challenged by the Troll Trader who were offering a similar open-plan shopping experience, combined with even sharper discounts and an extensive range of bargain bins.

Trebuchet Salute 2013

If there is a trend here, it is the character of the show has shifted from being dominated by big producers to the larger independent traders. That is not to say that producers do not have a presence. A great number including, but not limited to, Perry Miniatures, Heresy Miniature, Hasslefree Miniatures, West Wind productions, GCT Studios, Crooked Dice and Warlord games, have been attending Salute for years meeting enthusiasts and diligently plugging their latest games.

But the biggest players, by which I mean those with the largest footprint and the most visible presence have shifted. With Games Workshop and the largest US companies gone, the place has been taken by traders, but they can only offer what the producers supply. Wayland and the Troll trader may get the bulk of the business, but the shopping experience is likely to be brief. If this gives the small producers more time to actively engage with their customers this may be no bad thing.

Stingray Salute 2015

One significant shift made only this year was the change to the Salute grand prize. Previously this had been a raffle held at the end of the day in which a random ticket would be drawn and the winner given a large prize of Salute vouchers. This had the effect of keeping a lot of attendees at the show until they end and ensured that a large crowd gathered for the shows gaming and painting awards.

This year, the prize draw was replaced with golden tickets hidden in three of the shows goody bags. The winners, and the much larger number of losers, knew where they stood much earlier in the day,  but it removed one incentive to stay to the end. Whether this lead to a tailing off as they day progressed I don't know, because for the first time in ten years, I didn't stay until the end.

A gesture or other action used to display respect

So Salute, probably the UK's biggest wargaming convention not run by Games Workshop, has been and gone a few weeks now, which gives me enough time to reflect on it (or alternatively I've been too lazy and disorganised to write this until now). It's a strange beast of a convention, larger than almost any other and yet oddly specialised and lacking elements of the others.

Let us take a look at the venue since 2006, the Excel centre in the heart of London's regeneration zone, spitting distance from Canary Wharf, where high finance feasted on the corpse of the old working class. It is essentially a huge empty space in which things happen. It has no character of its own, but imports it through the events it hosts. So while other conventions occupy schools, hotels and leisure centres and somehow take on some of the character of the locations into themselves, Salute takes place in a characterless void. Which is not to say it has no character of its own, simply that what it has it has to bring with it, giving us the purest vision of the character of a wargames event, uninfluenced by anything around it.

 The queue is now big enough that it gets its own convention space, creating a kind of pre-convention, convention. Albeit a rather dull one.

Excel is also staggeringly vast. On the day of Salute it was simultaneously playing host to registration for the London Marathon, an event for property investors,* and some kind of baking convention. Given the overwhelming male bias towards wargaming and the lesser, but still existent, female bias in baking, I like to imagine the possibility of a husband and wife combination attending the same location on the same day for different conventions, meeting up at the end of the day and possibly for lunch. That the largest wargaming show can occupy only a small part of its venue says something about the nature of wargaming as a minority pursuit.

The Excel centre also provides convention attendees with a range of refreshments through booths arranged between conventions which, this year, included a pop-up restaurant. An apt inclusion given that Salute is, in essence, a pop-up wargaming superstore that trades for only one day each year. This is why it amused me to see a Salute guide posted on the Miniature Page that suggested arriving late to avoid the queues and to go to the gaming table while everyone else is buying. As if gaming is the primary purpose of Salute.

Lord of the Rings played with large scale figures. Achievable for most gamers in a smaller scale

Which isn't to say that the gaming isn't important. It is. But it's role is similar to that of the open tables in Games Workshop stores, to make the hobby manifest. Wargaming is a hobby that offers much more than it initially supplies, relying on its enthusiasts to add much of the value to the component parts supplied. The games show us what the hobby can be. The simpler games show us what we can do, the more complex, something to aspire to. Without them, we are simply buying lumps of metal and plastic (and the odd nicely decorated rulebook). There are no tournaments at Salute, so all games are a form of demonstration, even if its a demonstration you can interact with.

 Most gamers probable couldn't or wouldn't do this

So what is the appeal of Salute if it is, essentially, a huge shop with highly restrictive opening hours and a charge to step through the door? In the Internet age there is nothing at Salute that can't be had with a few minutes web-searching and a few days or weeks wait by the letter box. What's lost in postage, is regained in not paying for tickets or train fairs. And yet, even as I cut down on the amount I spend at other shows, I still strain my budget to take us much as I can to Salute and come home with a bag bulging at the seems with new metal and plastic bits. Why is this?

 Jugula, Gripping Beast and Tomahawks new Gladiator game. Demo-games are already part advertising

Wargaming is fundamentally tactile. Its minority enthusiasts a hold out who still insist that their gaming experience must be actual and not simply digital. Given the hobby's origins, how could a virtual shopping experience satisfy? Of course we use online stores, the opportunity is too good, but at heart we will always want a physical experience of shopping, one that excites with the physical possibilities of our hobby before we have paid any money. And that is what Salute offers, for one day of the year

*There's a glorious juxtaposition here between an event for people who expend a considerable physical effort for the benefit of others and a sense of personal satisfaction and one for people who intend to make money off the back of a necessity without contributing any real value to it.

The big Salute Review 2011

After all the months of build up the big event, Salute, has been and gone. Very much the biggest event in the wargaming calendar, with so many traders and games that putting together a coherent summary is a near impossible task. While the South London Warlords always have a theme (this year the American Civil War) it is always very loosely applied. There is little sense of unity and no prevailing impression. Also, I am a long way from being a professional photographer and others will provide better photo summaries, such as Joe Dever.

Most people approach Salute with a particular focus, whether it is shopping, gaming or even trying to record the event. But focusing on one tends to be detrimental to others. You can't spend all your time shopping and get a good sense of the games. I was buying this year and so didn't spend as much time gaming as I might have liked.

With all that in mind, I won't try to describe the show as a whole, but will will try to convey a few key impressions.

2011 seems to be the year when every company is legally obliged to release a set of Ancients rules. At Salute Hail Caesar from Warlord went head to head with Great Escape Game's Clash of Empires, while Scarab miniatures were demoing War and Conquest. I had already preordered Clash of Empires. Hail Caesar intrigued, particularly due to its lack of army lists and Rick Priestly's writing, but it seems better suited to very large armies and large tables.

Both seemed to be doing well. COE was probably helped by being available from a good number of traders. I got mine from Gripping Beast as they were handing out a free diorama of a Roman Centurion fighting a Dacian soldier and they were running very short by the end of the show. For Hail Caesar you seemed to have to go the source, but Warlord apparently ran out by the end of the show.


Swayed by Conquest Game's and Gripping Beasts's plastics, I had decided to build armies of Saxons and Normans. This also had the advantage that they would be usable in Gripping Beast's and Tomahawk's forthcoming Saga rules for Dark Age skirmishes. The game was being demoed at Salute and has an intriguing set of rules involving special Saga dice that determine permissable based on a battle board that is specific to the forces being used. It also apparently designed to scale up to bigger games.



Also being demoed was Mantic Games Dwarf Kings Hold, a new dungeon crawl game that uses their existing plastic Undead and Dwarves, although the version on display was a touch different than usual, using three ups for a giant sized game. The game itself uses a counter-based activation system. Dwarves get four counters a turn, the Undead start with three but only get one new one a turn. However, the Undead counters allow up to four skeletons to be activated at once. The effect is that the Dwarves generally have more options, but the Undead are better positioned to plan ahead, and have to use superior numbers to bring down the dwarves who hit harder. I have to say I was pretty terrible as the Undead, getting comprehensively smashed by my little brother, but it was an enjoyably straight forward and quick playing experience, unlike some dungeon crawl games I have played. I could see it as a good way to end a gaming session or fill in a bit of spare time.

I always like to watch the Doctor Who games that Crooked Dice put on. The rules are unofficial and so free to download with most of the miniatures being improvised or unofficial look alikes. Crooked dice's game mixed their own models with Heresy's and Haslefree's to create what would have been the most convaluted episodes ever, with Daleks, the Master, Autons and Gas Mask children taking on the Doctor, the Time Agents and Winston Churchill.


Meanwhile, at pride of place at the front of the hall the Daleks were invading the Tomb of the Cybermen, in a large scale participation game with custom rules and figures made from, sadly out of production, die cast figures.

UPDATE I have since been informed that the models are not out of production, not sure why I got the from.


The last game I wanted to talk about was Cthuleudo, half Call of Cthulhu and half Cluedo and entirely mad. Apparently highly involved, it evidently went on for hour and a half. Even though I didn't get to play, the board was packed with detail, both ranging from Chulhu statues to hidden Daleks.

So Salute is over for another year and hopefully the miniatures acquired will last until the next one. I have stacks of new plastic Saxons and Normans to paint, not to mention Dr Who, Helldorado and Infinity all of which will have time for at a later date.

Conspicuous Consumption

My Salute tickets have arrived. For those who don't know, Salute is the South London Warlords gaming club's annual show and one of the biggest Wargaming events on the UK calendar. It might not have quite the size and attendance figures of Games Workshop's Games Day, but it more than compensates by the sheer number and range of traders. There are companies that do Salute and nothing else and miniatures that can only be bought at Salute or on the web.

I tend to schedule my miniature buying around shows. Despite my advocacy of the Internet as a means for wargaming companies to communicate and sell directly to their customers, I actually rarely buy any miniatures online. I'm not entirely sure why this is, but it may be that when confronted with a limitless range of miniatures and a credit card it is all too easy to go a bit crazy and spend far more than I can afford.

The shows are useful because they set a natural limit on what you can buy. Most traders don't accept credit cards, so it is easy to set a budget for yourself simply buy taking a limited amount of funds. Plus, you can only buy what the traders bring with them.

Consequently, I make most of my wargaming purchases at certain key points in the year and plan my collecting and gaming around them. There are four of five major events in the year when I accumulate a large volume of models.

In spite of these limits, I still seem to end up with more models than I can do anything with. Last year's Salute was all about Malifaux and the English Civil War. My Malifaux models (or at least the ones I bought last year) have been painted and used, but my ECW figures remain unpainted and unassembled. Not that I regret the purchase, I still fully intend to paint up my Royalists and get in a game. I simply have more models than I can paint of use.

This hobby supplies few opportunities for instant gratification. Unlike most Sport, our hobby requires considerable preperation and unlike other collections (such as stamps or action figures) the act of purchase is not the end of the endeavour. Once we have our miniatures we still have a great deal to do before we are ready to display or use them.

I didn't use to like painting. This was a combination of the amount of time it took and my lack of satisfaction with the results I achieved. This has changed a great deal, I now find it quite relaxing and satisfying, but it is still very time consuming and requires a good deal of effort.

This is also somewhat true of gaming. Although I enjoy the gaming experience, it takes a great deal of time to set up and put away and requires a good deal of concentration over a period of time. Sometimes the energy required to do it just isn't there.

Buying new miniatures is the closest to instant gratification we can get in this hobby. A new miniature of box of miniatures is full of possibility, detached from the requirements of time and effort needed to extract value from them. We can look a box and fool ourselves into thinking that beautifully painted display images are exactly what will come tumbling out of the box. Consequently we can easily accumulate more than we can use. I don't really need Salute, I still have plenty of projects to be getting on with and yet the acquisition is good part of the fun.

Is there a solution to this? Probably not. As much as I can tell myself that I need no new miniatures, but I still want them, I am still excited by them. There will still be a pile of unpainted and unassembled miniatures for some time to come.

Salute 2009

So, without further ado I will kick of my blog with a report on probably the biggest independent wargame event in the UK.

Salute, run by the South London Warlords gaming club is truly massive event in the gaming calendar that no self-respecting games company and few self-respecting gamers can afford to ignore. I have been attending for the past four years and during all of that time it has been held in London's massive convention centre Excel a venue so enormous that Salute used up less than a fifth of the available space and the venue could be shared with a national diving expo. The venue would be nicked a couple of days later by the G20.

I will illustrate the event as best I can with a few photos. This will be somewhat restricted because I forgot to charge my camera battery the night before and had to make do with a couple of spare AAs, which were clearly not up to the job as they died half way through. Though this may have been due to me leaving the camera on auto and making heavy use of the flash. Still, hopefully they will provide some sense of the event.

As with any special event I attempt to attend, South West trains do their level best to put the boot in and so it was today. With engineering works all around the Wimbledon area and trains severely restricted, paranoia struck and I was up and out by seven in the morning for an event not due to start until ten (though with my tickets purchased safely in advance I was confident of getting in at least fifteen minutes early). Consequently I arrived at Salute with plenty of spare time.

Of course the queue formed early, but Salute has always been spectacularly efficient in this respect. Separate queues were well labelled distinguishing between advance ticket holders and people still needing to buy. By 9.30 people were coming round to check advance tickets, hand out goody bags and stamp our hands to minimise waiting at the entrance once things got started. Salute always manages this sort of thing very well (unlike some events I could mention but won't, yet!) and we were in by 9.50.

The view from the entrance way.

Events like these are essentially variations on a theme in terms of content. Only the size and scale differ. A good mix of trade stands from all the major wargame manufacturers and quite a few minor ones with a number of participation and demo games.

In addition there are always a few extra elements. The near compulsory bring and buy stand, which is always too crowded for my taste, as well as appearances my historical reenactment groups and LARPers (Live Action Role Play, in which groups of people dress up as sci-fi and fantasy characters and room around woods or industrial estates attacking one another).

The major companies are always in attendance, even the mighty Games Workshop can't afford to ignore Salute, though most of it's products are on sale at significant discounts at other people's stands.

It can be a dangerous experience. If you don't plan your spending wisely you can find yourself out of cash by the time you get past the first stand and with about four new games worth of miniatures. It always pays, in my experience, to have a specific plan for spending in advance (in my case 6mm samurai and Secrets of the 3rd Reich of which their should be more in future posts.

To complicate matters I was accompanied by my 13 year-old younger brother, also a veteran of this sort of thing. He's used to me forcing him to look at every square inch of the show before being allowed to spend any money, though it's interesting to say how his tastes have evolved over the years. The first time we were at Salute all his money went on CCGs and collectible miniatures, now he was stocking up on Anima Tactics and Secrets of the Third Reich. Give it a few years and he'll be looking for historical models.

Speaking of collectible miniatures (I did a couple of sentences ago, honest), one company was rather conspicuous by its absence. Wizkids games, purveyor of collectible miniatures, constructable miniatures and CCGs have been a staple of Salute for years now and always took up a great deal of space. Alas, they died a death at the end of last year when their parent company, Topps, decided they weren't profitable enough and shut them down. There was a large empty space next to the bring and buy stand and I can't help thinking that this might well have been the space reserved for Wizkids before their demise.

Moving on, I want to make a few comments about some of the most interesting or striking games I saw. Not everything is covered, as I said my camera battery died, but this should give you a flavour of the event.

The siege of Okamoto-Jo

This was a display game by Oshiro Model terrain, essentially to show of their terrain, with 28mm scale Samurai from the warring states period.

Being a display game it wasn't actually played, but it looks amazing. Well painted samurai armies are always impressively brightly coloured and these were gorgeous.


It has been a plan of mine for some time to build a Samurai army. I've gotten started now at 6mm scale, essentially because their are some good rules to support it, but I fully intend to move on to 28mm scale in the future. This lot certainly provide inspiration and the castle would be a fantastic long term project.








SF3D, wargaming in Japanese model kit form

South London Warlords put together this skirmish game using Japanese models kits by graphic designer Kow Yokoyama. The story behind the kits is that they are battle suits created to survive in the environment of a radiation scarred 29th century earth that these pioneers have returned to reclaim after years in exile.

The rules had to be invented for the game and the kits were slightly repainted and rebased. Strangely, in spite of a long tradition of kit building and modelling Japan does not have much of a wargaming scene. Or at least what is there is quite niche and probably quite westernised. A pity, because these kits look great and, apparently, can be got for as little as 80p each if you buy in bulk.

Usuthu, battle pauses for lunch

Salute 2009 had a Zulu theme. The painting competition trophy was an authentic Zulu spear, the T-Shirts featured a Zulu shield and the convention exclusive model was a diorama featuring a Zulu warrior facing a British redcoat, so a Zulu themed participation game was pretty much inevitable.

This was Usuthu a quick play, large scale game for a large group of players. These sorts of games are always fun because they can be difficult to organise and manage outside of the convention setting.

Winter in White Russia

I didn't play this one, but I included the picture because the board is so utterly gorgeous. It's always good at conventions to poke around looking for ideas and inspiration for your own games. Though the scale of this is probably somewhat beyond me.

So in summary then a fun event as always. Lots to do, plenty to buy and never enough time to cover everything. I spent far more money than I probably should have and acquired lots of little metal things that will, hopefully, fill up blog postings for some time to come.

If I have any criticism, it was that the show seemed to lack a single major set piece game. There were certainly plenty of impressively large and complex games, not all of which I covered, but previous years had always had something big different and often silly. For example, last year featured a Lord of the Rings game using mini figures, at least twice the size of your average wargaming piece, while a few years back 'Sky ships of Mars' saw flying steam punk battle ships supported by metal rods and camera tripods battle over the surface of the red planet. Impressive as some of the games were, there was nothing on quite that scale.

Still, that's a quibble. Great event, great fun and a great big debt at the end. I couldn't really ask for any more.

On Patrol