Salute 2019 part 2 and ECW catch-up

  Hi!
I bought a few things at Salute. More impulse buys than planned. Although I knew some of the traders attending through looking at the website it was unknown traders, unknown to me, that had my interest.

First in the lucky bag at the door:-

Two fantasy figures and a Salute die. OK. One or two people may have slightly different items but nothing to complain about or set my world on fire.

My purchases:-

Oriental bridge for Ronin

A Tori gate that may not be suitable for Ronin.

Following on:-

A colourful ruin for Frostgrave

My Frostgrave is going to be a riot of colour if I can find the pices. Far too much grey around in most Frostgrave games don't you think?


Lastly, a two sided 4' x 4' mat. One side snow which, I hope, I can use for Frostgrave and the winter French and Indian Wars

The other side 'old grass'.

A couple of close ups.

 This is how the Napoleonic Austrians look on the mat:-

And the ECW cavalry and dragoons from both sides. The bases still need finishing as do the guidons/standards.

The dragoon elements. More foot required

Parliamentary horse

Royalist horse

Another shot of the Parliamentary horse

It feels like I fairly batted along with the cavalry/dragoon painting. There are plenty of foot still to do but, added together it is a much bigger army than either of the Polish or Turkish forces.  Now to breakdown the figures into units before painting.

That about sums it up.
My favourite has to be the ruin for Frostgrave and second the mat.

I hope to game the Romans v Ancient British before the Easter break is over. There must be recompense for attacking Roman soldiers in pursuance of their lawful duties!

Salute 2019, first thoughts

Hi!
I attended Salute 2019.
It was the first time in around 30 years that I have attended the show. The last time was in Kensington Town Hall.
And still Stingray was on! I think the figures for the Stingray game were smaller than the original in the 80's. I may be wrong.

The trip down was uneventful.

The first surprise was the price of entry on the door. £20. Really?
You could still buy online which would save £10. But why have such a high door price when contact less is in use? What if someone who was attending another event wanted a look around? It would certainly put them off.
The queue wasn't long and as 10 a.m came it was only a few minutes until I was inside. It wasn't what I was expecting. I was expecting a long wait and slow grind. Thankfully it wasn't.

The queue at 09:59

I took a tour of the outer trade stands, which was my main reason for attending the show. To see what I had been missing manufacturer wise. There were many familiar names on show. I bought a few things (which I'll catalogue in the another post) and began the a tour of the inner tables and trade stands.  A few which I will check out in the near future ste pictured below.

I took a couple of photo's of some games I liked the look of.

How could you not like Mammoths?

The Skirmish at Stablethorpe. An ECW game.

A few pictures of the Battle of Lutzen by the Friends of General Haig

The Black River Debacle by Gringo 40's. My choice for best looking game.

At 12:00, I met up with the Bloggers near the painting competition. Big Lee, Postie Ray, Tasmin Peter , Alistair and Miles. Some of who's blogs I have read frequently and some I hadn't. But I will now!

After a pleasant chat we went our separate ways.
I went to lunch then continued where I had left off with my tour of the hall.
Yes, it was tiring. But I wanted to be certain the see everything.

A surprise was that some merchants were cash only. They lost my sale on the day. I don't carry much money on me nowadays.

After an interesting day it was time to leave. I enjoyed meeting the Bloggers and seeing the displays and participation games. Many were well presented. Some had spoilt the display with coffee cups and other clutter as can be seen in the pictures.. I thought those days were over at big shows.

A last picture before I left the show.

It is only a few weeks until Campaign in Milton Keynes which I will attend. Hopefully, the wargames bank balance may be back in the black by then!

To come. A few pieces picked up on the day.