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Salute 05 - Show Report |
May 17, 2005 |
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Towards the end of the April I made my now customary pilgrimage to North London in order to take in the sights and sounds of the annual Salute convention. The show has been running for more years than I can remember and has rightly become the definitive bun-fight of the wargaming calendar. Last year they managed to squeeze almost 5,000 bodies on to 3 floors of the cavernous Olympia exhibition centre. This year the organisers were able to lay their hands on a hitherto unused 4th floor and it promised to be the busiest show yet - by far!
It was a muddy, grey Saturday morning when I arrived up at Olympia. This was a far cry from the jolly, spring sunshine of 2004. The other thing missing from view was the queue. The pavement outside the hall was almost deserted. Indeed, were I not forewarned, it would be hard to imagine there was a major event going on inside the building. Last year I was confronted by a Dalek which was mincing up and down outside the hall trying to intimidate passers-by with a steady (and rather amusing) stream of Dalek-ese! None of that this time. The whole scene looked rather glum!
Once inside the hall the day started to take on a decidedly different air. It would be tempting to say the place was packed to the rafters but it was so busy I couldn't quite see that far into the distance! Thankfully, the South London Warlords - who organise the event - have had the sense to ensure that most traders keep the same pitch year in, year out. For that reason it's almost possible to navigate the first floor of the hall with your eyes closed. The first thing you see is the Ainsty Castings stand. Judging by the merry throng around the tables, Mike Brooks' range of 28mm scenery looked as popular as ever. This year he was keen to show off his recently released Base Camp series which is made up of all manner of futuristic kit including cryogenic chambers and shower units!
Business looked equally brisk around the Urban Mammoth stall. Here I found head honcho, John Robertson, reduced to the role of checkout assistant as he laboured over a cash register like some manic two-fingered pianist! Try as he might he found it hard to stem the tide of what was possibly the longest queue in the hall.
Not far away I met up with Kev and Sally White. Over the last year the couple behind the increasingly popular Hasslefree Miniatures brand have worked tirelessly to build up a catalogue of new and interesting figures. Their impressive trade stand appears to suggest they have achieved that. It was packed with all manner of white metal miniatures and a selection of the new resin vignette bases. Whilst I was there Kev spent almost all of his time deep in conversation with a seemingly endless stream of fans keen to learn more about his work and future releases. He was just as keen to point out that the company owed much of its success to the organisational skills of his wife Sally. She, meanwhile, was busy engaging all passers-by with her cheeky chatter and an invitation to dip a hand into a large bowl of sweets - a combo which won many admirers, even me!
Salute is always a big day out for wargaming clubs and many of them use the event as a platform on which to showcase their hobby. Several clubs had brought along full size demonstration games, some of which took up more space than the larger trade stands! There seemed to be miniature battleground for every wargaming taste - from the green patchwork fields of the Ardennes to deep blue oceans to skies filled with fluffy clouds. My particular favourite looked nothing like a battlefield. It was a depiction of a London suburb - circa 1970 - complete with period architecture, vehicles and people. The game was called "Diamond Geezers" and appeared to revolve around the activities of a group of 'cons and their efforts to avoid the clutches of the local constabulary. If any readers are familiar with the hit TV series, the Sweeney, you'll know exactly where I'm coming from. The modelling and painting skills exhibited throughout this and other demonstrations was truly top class.
Whenever I visit a show I always make a point of catching up with those companies who use totalmodels.co.uk. This year there were a number of manufacturers who were new to Salute. These included Bolt Action Miniatures, Antenociti's Workshop and Aberrant Games. This time last year Bolt Action were still emerging from the proverbial egg. Their catalogue of 1:56th (28mm) WWII figures was tiny but showed a great deal of promise. What a difference 14 months can make! The range has gone from strength to strength and now features figures from German, Russian and British armies. What's more, Bolt Action are now making and distributing vehicles. This is a major step forward especially as, up until now, the 28mm WWII scene has been almost devoid of dedicated AFVs and trucks.
This time last year I'd never even heard of Antenociti's Workshop. Then, up pops Jed Norton with a whole new concept in scenery design which appears to be winning fans in all quarters. Jed is licensed to produce components from the popular Hirst Arts Fantasy Architecture range. He packages the components, together with other scenery items such as flock and talus, in kit form. The modeller simply puts the whole thing together. It's like a cross between scratch-building and kit building. At Salute Jed was promoting the latest addition to the range - a terrific little pillbox which was reviewed, here.
Simon Mackenzie had come all the way from sunny California to promote Aberrant Games. The company are in the final stages of putting together their new sci-fi game system - Rezolution: a Dark Tomorrow - but had arrived equipped with sample figures, artwork and a whole host of other goodies. Simon was kind enough to give me a set of the figures for a review - which were very impressive. Despite the fact that they were only able to show part of the range, the future looks anything but dark for Abberant Games and I recommend you to commit their name to memory for future reference.
Of all the people in the hall that I wanted to meet up with, perhaps none was more important than Steve Eserin. Two years ago he started a company called the Figure Trader. Since then he's had his nose to the grindstone, day and night, in a relentless push to establish the brand. He's commissioned figures, he's developed and manufactured his own scenery, he's even written his own game rules. It's been a truly mammoth undertaking and now - at last - it seems to be paying dividends. Steve's stand at Salute was one of the most polished in the hall. Beneath a very eye catching banner (I would say that) were cabinets and shelves stuffed with models and figures, including a massive VTOL spacecraft. Next to the pitch was a demonstration of Steve's game system "Sabotage" complete with some very tasty sci-fi scenery - most of which was covered in a blanket of fake snow! Not surprisingly The Figure Trader stand appeared to be attracting a great many interested passers-by. If you'd like to learn more about the game and the range of models I heartily recommend you pay a visit to the TFT website.
I could continue writing about the show for hours but I suspect most of you are now itching for a cup of coffee. Even so I can't sign off without first mentioning some of the other hi-lights of the day that I haven't mentioned already, such as the quality of the Rackham stand, the delightful charms of the sales lady from Crocodile Games and Pete - The Assault Group - Brown's superb wooly hat! On a slightly more serious note, perhaps it's also worth mentioning that wherever I stopped everyone was talking about "15mm". This scale certainly seems to be the flavour of the month, if not the year, and could be the one to watch in the years ahead.
My thanks go to John Treadaway for the providing TM with tickets for the day, and to the Warlords in general for putting on such a great show - again. Next year the event moves from Olympia to the Exel building down the road which promises to deliver more floor space then ever before. Even if you have only a passing interest in wargaming, Salute 06 is not to be missed!
NB: Use the thumbnail images and the links in red for more details.
Find out a whole lot more about Salute 05 - and the South London Warlords - by visiting the South London Warlord's website.
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