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Just got back from Salute.

Unfortunately my camera had run out of battery, so no pictures.

Arrived at 9:45 to find the pre-booked ticket queue about seven miles long. Fortunately while trudging to the end I was hailed by Reds8n, Legoburner and Lovepug, and was able to jump the queue. What a slag! We got into the venue quite quickly once the doors opened.

Goody bag contents
A 54pp colour catalogue
K Lite plastic cover for KR carrying cases
A super 28mm Alan Perry (of Bros) sculpted ACW cavalry commander. This is a stunning figure that forcefully proves what can be done in a single piece metal casting. Unfortunately I don’t play ACW in 28mm but maybe it can be a character figure for an IG army or something.
A lovely little 6mm scale Volkwagen Beetle model by Heroics and Ross. This would be good for a staff car in 40K Epic, or WW2 games.
Some leaflets.

Legoburner gave me some promotional DakkaDakka dice. These are extremely high quality mouldings in mixed colour plastic with nicely picked out pips and DakkaDakka logo on the 6 face. I recommend all members to buy lots of them.

On into the show space. Despite the huge number of visitors the space never got crowded though there were dense layers of people around the Forge World stand,the Black Library stand and the secondhand area. On the whole there were only one or two stands that looked short of interest.

I hadn’t intended to buy anything and for the most part resisted temptation, though I did pick up some d10s, some hex bases, a couple of Infinity figures and two sets from the new 1-48 Stalingrad game.

The basic set for this cost £26.50 and contained four character figures, the rules, and some terrain pieces. You can print the rules off the Internet. I thought £53 was rather a lot for starting a new game with only eight figures so I bought one Russian and one German “reinforcements” pack containing (as I thought) an SMG guy. It turns out there are two figures (SMG and Rifle) in each pack but no terrain piece. However it is enough to judge the quality of the models.

Although the theme of the show was ACW I didn’t get a strong feel of it. The hall was so large and aircraft hangar like that while it never got too noisy or hot, there wasn't a lot of "buzz" in the atmosphere. Maybe I am getting old.

The demo and participation games were very varied, ranging through 40K, 54mm Arnhem, 6mm Battle of Towton, and a rather super SF skirmish using the new Governance of Technology models by Antenociti’s Workshop. The table for this was very nicely done and could be used for any modern or SF game in which you don’t need the scenery too look hugely SF.

There was also a boardgames area with half a dozen titles being played.

Traders
The range of traders proved if you needed proof that wargamers have never been better served in all areas. It's not just that the Internet gives more visibility. I was there in the "good old days" and I can tell you there is just a lot more stuff on offer now than ever before.

Half dozen manufacturers of hard polystyrene figures in several scales and periods. Mantic Games were doing a roaring trade -- GW are going to be in trouble soon.

Many different terrain manufacturers, using much better materials than the old style brittle resin or plaster. Plenty of ready made items, kits, modular systems, pieces and detailing parts were on show.

One particular maker had a good sewer tunnel system, great for all sorts of WW2 and horror scenarios. I remarked, but he did not understand, that it was also useable for Space Corridors.

A wide variety of SF and fantasy games as well as historical. By "game" I mean rule sets as well as complete game systems offering models and rules.

Three different stands selling detail bases (MaxMini, etc.)

Paints, quickshades, weathering sprays, coloured primers.

Litko and other game markers in acrylic, for all kinds of rules.

Boardgames.

New Games
There were several new game systems on show.

The Warhammer Historical Normandy rules (£48, too pricey for me), some early material for Gruntz from S6 Games, and a nice looking Cult TV game called 7TV by Cooked Dice. This was £25 and I was tempted but decided I have enough work on my hands with Infinity and MERCS at the moment. There will be a series of figures for 7TV. The rules are also available as a PDF.

Most of the new rules seem to be launching as fairly expensive, A4 colour hardback books. I know the cost of printing has fallen, however I’m quite worried whether all these companies can make their money back. Still, hopefully there are more tabletop gamers than before, spending more money, so most things can be a success.

Re-enactment
Various cosplayers/re-enactors were strutting their stuff, including and David Tennant-alike Dr Who, some Darth Vaders and Stormtroopers, and a number of ACW infantry. A few of the sales staff also had dressed up in costumes appropriate for their games, like Pirates.

It was encouraging to see a wide age range of people and some girls and women (I expect a lot of these had been dragged along.)

About noon we met with ArbitorIan and Panic, who wanted to be fed soon, and they were joined by Legoburner. I stuck with the other two. After a final spin round the hall, Reds8n and Lovepug had to go because their car parking was running out, so I went in search of a decent lunch and when I had finished that was too tired to go back to the show.

So that was Salute 2011 -- another great success I am sure. It’s been many years since I last went and it seems to have grown. Long may it continue!

Sounds like a titan sized barrel of fun! I wish there were huge conventions where I'm at (or am I just blind and deaf?)

Did anyone try Cutlass?

Very thorough review that covers everything. Seemed like every single GW studio person from history was there.too (thornton, sawyer, mcvey, etc).

lord_blackfang wrote:Did anyone try Cutlass?

That's what I'd like to know, too!

Did not try it but saw some very nice 28mm pirate figures. It was a stand where the staff were dressed as pirates.

There really are too many games to play these days.

yeah,
I enjoyed Salute 2011.

Met up with ARbitorIan LegoBurner RedS8tan KillKrazy and Lovepug.
I also had a quick chat with Romeo from battlefoam in which I basically told him how much I love his product.

This is my most excellent hoard.

2x microarts pump stations the quality is less than in the photo with alot of bubble gaps in the pipes ribs... but they are cheap at £15 each
1x MicroArt GeoPosition counters
1x BattleFoam 432
1x BattleFoam C4
1x FW Eldar Wraithseer - preordered at show for the free shipping - yay
plus handfulls of various coloured dice to add to my collection!

Panic...

I enjoyed the day.....I managed to Bag a Stompa for 20% off retail. I now have a pile of sprues next to my laptop lol

As KillKrazzy said the "7TV" game looked pretty good, I was also impressed by some of the scenery on offer (Although it was pretty expensive).

I liked the pringle tower which was on sale. It was basically a conversion kit for a pringles tube. It was really well thought out but cant remember who was selling it lol.

Would like to say thanks to the guys for making it a good day, hope to see most of you at Platinum Devil.

So how big is Salute? One big room and how many visitors?

And Dakka has promotional dice??

Salute is one massive room with (by my rough estimate) 10-15,000 visitors. The first 5000 people got the goody bags, but they seemed to run out fairly quickly based on Panic/ArbitorIan's arrival time.

If you can ever make the trip over from Germany, it is certainly worth it. It is the 'look at all the stuff that is not games workshop' convention (though lots of GW stuff on sale, no official presence beyond black library and FW).

(and the dice are only available to DCM users from time to time - I just had some promotional ones to hand out at Salute)

Well, I am quite happy with the annual "Spiel" in Essen with 150.000 visitors and 9 halls (although for all kind of non-computer games and only 1.5 halls for tabletop/RPG, but I am interested in boardgames as well).

Lovepug13 wrote:I liked the pringle tower which was on sale. It was basically a conversion kit for a pringles tube. It was really well thought out but cant remember who was selling it lol.

http://brandlin.blogspot.com/p/store.html

@Kilkrazy Good thorough review fella. My mate and I arrived about 10.45, managed to get a couple of goodie bags for the price of one, although only got one KR-lite case.

Got some superb resin bases from Micro Art Studios. Was tempted but resisted the Black Scorpion Cowboy range - still have a couple of packs I bought a couple of years back that I need to paint before getting more !

Headed on to Heresy to get the new 'not' Doctor Who figures and the Paladin (to be painted up like the templar from Indy Jones 3, coming soon to my random blog), then perused Hasslefree's minis but didn't buy. Picked up some 'not' weeping angels from the Crooked Dice stand and met the Tenannt 10th Doctor 'lookalike' who was there last year as well... I was also tempted with the 7TV game but again resisted...

Spent the rest of show looking round various tables and traders without spending much more. Some really good games and tables , with a variety of period and genres. Does though seem to be less historic and more fantasy / sci-fi since SALUTE moved to the Excel, but not in a bad way. Loved the 1/35 Arnhem bridge table, fantastic scale and HUGE scenery...

Didn't find any Vallejo Air that I needed and disappointed that Wayland couldn't have stocked some - surprised they didn't offer to bring 'to order', especially as they knew I was wanting to purchase, which other traders have done for me in the past...

Had some photo opportunities with some stromtroopers, a tie fighter pilot and scout troopers from the 501st - had my 'Metaltrooper' t-shirt on and they all commented on it either being cool or offensive.

My mate took loads of photos of various tables, and if he ever gets them online I'll add a link...

In all, a good solid show, not the best ever, but served it's purpose and I'll be back next year. Just gotta decide if I'm doing any other shows in 2011??

For links to many of the traders go here

Hi Ruglud, Im really sorry we couldnt take Vallejo with us in the end.

Regarding bringing to order, there simply isnt a way for us to cope logistically with that process currently at Salute. We have to move nearly 14 tonnes of infrastructure and stock and back again.

We will look next year at having a Bring to Salute shipping option for orders and trial it for a year. Hope you liked our store in any case.

If anyone has any pictures of our store that would be great to see them.

I;ve seen and shopped in permanent stores less impressive than your set up, best there by a mile.

.. and i scored some of those funky battlefield in a box crystals too

from TTGN

http://6milphil.wordpress.com/2011/04/16/we-salute-2011-you/

Does anyone know the name of the sewer tunnel manufacturer?

Valhallan42nd - I was at salute and saw the sewer tunnel systems first hand. Its a really cool product. It can get a bit expensive if you wanted to do a full table, but the people making the pieces seem really nice and I'm sure they would work out some kind of bulk deal. Everything comes unpainted but the buildings can be taken apart into pieces so painting and playing is easy.

The name of the company is Urban Construct

Website: www.wargameterrain.co.uk

Link to the sewers section: http://www.wargameterrain.co.uk/index.php?act=viewCat&catId=9

Hope that helps

Panic, it was good to finally meet you in person. Great show overall. We'll be there next year.

Me and my Fiancee attended. Great show. Really enjoyed it. We got there about an hour early and were almost near the front of the "We didn't book in advance" line. Was surprised to find that we got in pretty quick and before 99% of the people in the pre-book line. Rushed straight over to Forge World where there was no form of queuing and instead was a "first to push to the front, first served" affair. When it was my turn I asked for some Death Riders... I was told they didn't bring them. I asked for a Mole Launcher... I was told they didn't bring them either. So instead got a squad of Grenadiers and the Chaos Dwarf show model. We then had a good look around and chatted to vendors/demo guys and got some contact details for future purchases. We flicked through the Rulebook for Malifaux and the Fiancee really wants to get into this game so this will be among my future purchases. Only thing I found lacking was Beer vendors... there were none! :(

That might be because of who owns the venue. The list of rules a display stand has to follow are a bit restrictive.

I was there, also at the front of the "not advance" line with my wife and we were in the door within about 5 minutes of them opening. We were mostly there to see a few people we knew who were running stands / games (Lazertag and the Warlord Games Roman demo game) but had a good flit round to see what was available but didn't buy too much.

Hi,
I arrived at 9:45 to a very long 'advance ticket' queue as well - but managed to jump it to within a 100 yards of the front - Phew.

The show itself was as good as ever, and i really enjoyed the wide variety of different games/products and demo's that were on offer.
I can't say how important i believe this is to the overall success of this show, as there were no two stands the same, and i don't think any one game system was used more than once in any of the demo's - though i could be wrong.
There was generally always something to see and do, and even buy when the temptation got the better of me. I managed to pick up one of the limited Alexis models from Black Scorpion.
The goody bag was okay, with the KR bag coming in very useful as the day progressed.

Of particular interest to me was the increase in the number of 15mm game systems and demo's that were there.
Gruntz, Critical Mass Games Games amongst them had great games going, and i spent a stupid amount of money at the CMG stand; so much so that the last time i visited their stand, one of the guys said "what can i sell you this time" - ouch.

The £250 raffle was fun, with around 8(?) names being called out to before someone actually put their hand up to claim it - all the other people called out presumably had gone home.

I left around 16:30 having got my "Salute fix" for another year.
Roll on next year.

Toothpick

rich1231 wrote:Hi Ruglud, Im really sorry we couldnt take Vallejo with us in the end.

Regarding bringing to order, there simply isnt a way for us to cope logistically with that process currently at Salute. We have to move nearly 14 tonnes of infrastructure and stock and back again.

We will look next year at having a Bring to Salute shipping option for orders and trial it for a year. Hope you liked our store in any case.

If anyone has any pictures of our store that would be great to see them.

No worries, and appreciate your reply, I can imagine it's a massive logistcal headache preparing for SALUTE, especially as it's only a 1 day event. I was more disappointed at not being able to spend my cash, although looked like there was plenty changing hands.

The Wayland stand was very impressive, especially when I went looking for Maelstrom, expecting something similar and couldn't find them in the guise I thought they'd be !!

I'll be on your site this week sometime to order what I need

Thanks for all the detailed reporting!

If anyone did get some time with Cutlass, I'd appreciate a rundown.