Salute 2011 #2

Click for Part 1

I took the chance this year to explore more figures ranges and while I was tempted to dabble in some historical figures (I really had my eye on Napoleonic s), my wallet was constantly opened for the many Sci-fi and fantasy products on offer (and normally overshadowed) at this years.

First on my list was Taban Miniatures a French company who produce the wonderful post apocalyptic Eden skirmish game, there were some very unusual and unique cyber punk styled gangs such as the Bakama and Jokers. But what really pulled grabbed my attention were the ISC who are basically wandering Samurai robots, almost immediately images of Samurai Jack popped into my head. I already had a Grey Daimyo and so I eagerly took the chance to bulk out my collection.

To make matter worse however (for my wallet) Smart Max miniatures were right next door to Taban, these guys are responsible for the Victorian steam punk Fantasy that is Smog and Mauser Earth. They specialise in highly intricate 54mm resin figures that ooze character and detail and are part of a game system, but unfortunately the rule set had not been translated for Salute. I really wanted to jump in and buy a whole load, but common sense (and the missus) prevailed so I ended up buying one of their pre-releases: Lady Usher.

Finally, not a purchase but a rare sighting, the Heresy mega dragon does actually exist! And what a massive bulk of resin it is. I can see now why it has taken so long, the details are immense and those who have put advance orders in for this beast will not be disappointed.

I also paid a visit to the Freebooter stand (Werner Klocke) and picked up a few pieces, but sadly I forgot to take pictures of the crew who were fully decked out in Pirate regalia. Really friendly bunch, with some awesome figures, admittedly I am a little biased as I am a fan of Werner Klocke's sculpts and the free chocolate gold coins kept drawing me back again and again. I ended up buying some of his fairy sculpts and a succubus to add to my miscellaneous collection. Last but not least, I discovered the joy of JoeK Miniatures, I picked up their Limited Edition Elf Lord which is a stunning piece and a couple of resin display bases to play around with.

In a way it was a good thing that the 'major' brands had nothing to offer as it allowed me to indulge in figures I would not normally look at. It is always nice to go to event and grab something fresh, whether it is a game or miniature set, sometimes the best buys are the ones that are not required for your army list.

In my 3rd and final instalment of my Salute Report, I will unveil the my favourite purchase of the event and also share with readers details of what and where I got with Salute 2011's Painting Competition.

Thanks for reading,

DiStudios

The 14th Legion

Salute 2011 #1

Due to the amount of fun and pictures from Salute 2011, I have had to break down this report into three parts, I am aiming to get all three reports finished and up by the end of this week. 

This year's Salute looked like a busy affair right from the start and it seemed that a lot more people had opted for Advance tickets this year. I think a lot of this was down to the very generous Salute goody bag which not only had a American Civil War miniature sculpted by the Perry's but also KR Multicase's very generous give away (for the first 5000); the K-Lite. I have to admit the bag itself became very useful during the day for carrying my loot and saved on plastic carrier bags. The Imperial Legion was also well represented with around half a dozen Storm Troopers being led by Darth Vader patrolling the queues, I have to say that the presence of these guys made the queue waiting time a lot more fun.

While some companies did have limited and advance releases on the day, it seem a lot more subdued than the previous year, it was a shame to see that Privateer Press (represented by Cerebus) did not have any of the end of month releases or Khador War-engine with them despite the release date being a mere one week away, I suspect there is more to the story than I realise but compared to the Salutes of past (2003 I picked up a pair of Kodiak's before release) Privateer seemed to be holding back, the other major surprise was the lack of a Games Workshop stand. Forge World and Black Library were present but it seemed that GW pulled out of the event this year based on the number of discount sellers present. With two of the industry's big dogs having nothing to offer this year, this presented a fantastic opportunity for me to look at what the independent companies could bring to the table. 

The first port of call was McVey Studios, who were situated right by the painting competition area (more of that later). Ok truth be told, I am a big Mike McVey fan; having religiously followed his 'Eavy Metal guides and attempted to emulate his paint style as a child; and although I have had conversations with him before at previous Salutes and the many early Gamesdays, I realised that I had never had a photo with the painting master himself. 

Luckily for me, Mike is a really nice guy who loves to talk about mini's and didn't mind having a photo with some goofy looking guy with glasses aka me, now on to the miniatures. It seems that Mike's sci-fi brand "Sedition Wars" will grow into a skirmish war game (in the similar vein as Necromunda I hope) and he told me that beta rules would be available from the Sedition Wars site in the future, however despite the heavy focus on Sedition Wars I do not think this will result in the alienation of his limited resin range as the Blight Witch release proves. I ended up grabbing some Firebrand metal figures and of added two more resin figures to the collection.

Check out Studio McVey and Sedition Wars HERE

Last year I had a really bad time at the Forge World stand, I found myself in the position of being ignored by all three staff members, despite being at the front of the group and it was some 15 minutes  before a fellow gamer asked them if they were alienating me on purpose. Deciding not to risk that happening again this year I got a friend to grab me some the Forge World event figures. Later in the day however I popped over to the cabinets to get a good look at the Chaos Dwarfs, and I have to admit they are pretty nice up close.

The warriors look very similar to the old Chaos Dwarfs, literally Dwarfs in chaos armour and frankly I don't mind this, even if the rumours are true and these are in fact 'slave warriors' the mix of both the plate and big hat styles will make for a very nice and long awaited return of the evil stunties.

I am really looking forward to buying a Chaos Dwarf army in the future, I just hope the quality of casting is at least workable and consistent when casting up regiments of figures as opposed to individual miniatures.

A surprising lack of top company presence, but a successful show for the independent companies, Hasslefree, Heresy Miniatures and Crocodile games were also at the events, however I did not see Raging Heroes who make very nice Fantasy miniatures including their rendition of the Lamassu. 

Well that's it for part 1, In part 2 of my Salute report, I will cover the other stand out companies of the day and show the plethora of awesome figures that were brought to the show.

Click For Part 2

Thanks for reading,

DiStudios

The 14th Legion

Salute 2011

Good morning! I am making preparations (a big flask of coffee) for my journey to Salute 2011, the biggest wargaming event in the UK. There will be lots of shopping (yay!),  the painting competition and of course awesome gaming tables, for those who want to know more or have made the last minute decision to go (like I did last year!) details can be found Here.

I will be writing a review later this weekend covering the event, with photos of new and unusual figures and of some shots of the this years painting entrants. For those of you who are going, have a awesome day!

Thanks for reading,

DiStudios

The 14th Legion