Sunday 14 November 2021

Salute 2020 + 1 ( and a 1/2 )

Yesterday I went to 'Salute 2020' - albeit 18 months late. The 2020 show having been cancelled with less than a month's notice, the South London Warlords ( probably wisely)  left the show program and general theme unchanged, so yesterday we were marking the 81st anniversary of the Battle of Britain. Since this involved the chance to look at impressive full-size replicas of a Spitfire and Huricane, I have no complaint on that score. 


 

 In order to enter the ExCel complex, one had to provide proof of Covid Vaccination/Negative Test etc, which I thought was reassuring - it actually made me feel a bit safer.  On arrival things were mildly surreal, as another of the halls was hosting the 'Destination Star Trek' show, with the result that literally hundreds of people in various 'Star Fleet' uniforms were wandering around the centre. Quite strange, but it did make  me smile - some of the cafes resembled what I imagine the Starship Enterprise's mess decks might look like!  I met my old buddy Dave ( aka St. Cyr on Wheels ) at the 'Salute' hall  entrance, and in we went.  

Once inside Salute, things were a little different to the usual. The space is of course huge, but it was noticeably quieter, less crowded, and sadly there was a lot of 'unplanned' empty space. Many tables in the games areas were unoccupied, and even a few trade stands were missing.  It seems quite a lot of clubs/gamers had decided not to attend - I wonder if this was due to worries about Covid safety in the large venue, or maybe even dislike of having to produce a Covid Pass?    I am hoping that the ventilation in there should be pretty top-notch - remember the place was set up as a 'Nightingale' hospital last year, and has hosting been a vaccination centre since then, too ( but of course I'll just have to wait and see what a lateral flow test shows in a few days time, I guess ).        

Dave and I have a routine of 'see the games, have lunch, then do the traders' , and we stuck to that - though of course with less games to see. Luckily there were still quite a few that I was interested in, and with somewhat less people around, it was easier to talk to game organisers, and I think they were quite keen to chat  to the punters too!  

The very first game one encountered was one I'd been keen to see - Wyre Forest Wargamers'  'Poltava 1709'  using Twilight of the Sun King rules. I'm quite keen to have a go at the ..Divine Right variant for ECW/30YW, and am planning to order them from the Pike and Shot Society  ( members' discount available !), so it was great to  talk a bit about them. The table layout was rather fine, it really showed the scope for large battles using 6mm figures, with loads of space. Look at all that forest! 

Poltava - a really big battle
 

I also liked Anchluss Wargames 'Panzer Lehr Counter-Attacks, July 1944' .game showing off their new  The War on the Ground rules, with very friendly explanation from author Peter Heath. We were invited to view the bocage terrain using genuine Sherman Tank viewing persicopes - and the resulting very limited view was pretty thought-provoking. I liked Peter's stated aim to produce a game  that requires the player to learn about the actual tactics of the  period, not just turn up and roll some dice. The rules have been well-reviewed, I think, ( though really designed for 10mm/15mm scale, not my 20mm )  and they also have some scenario books which are suitable for any rules - the book on Sicily 1943 is on my future shopping list! 

'War on the Ground' 1944 - and Dave wielding a periscope

The Continental Wars Society had a nice small game of Prussians vs. German Confederation in 1850 : 


This was played with a very simple, but interesting, set of rules - pretty much 'back of a postcard'.  See what you make of them: 

'Back of a Postcard' -  but more than 'one brain cell'
 

I've been interested in their period since reading Neil Thomas' excellent book on it, and having seen the quality of their quarterly magazine,  I am going to become a member, and an old-school cheque is in the post to chairman Ralph Weaver.  Actually gaming in the period may be a long way off ( I think 6mm scale would suit ), but one can dream..

A real highlight for me was the Warlords' tribute to the late, great  Stuart Asquith, a 'Wellington in India' game using figures from Stuart's own collection, which were beautifully painted. We had a thoroughly pleasant chat with the game organiser  [ who,  I now know, was Martin Gane ], and I felt a (slightly tenuous, admittedly) connection given my own games using troops formerly owned by Eric Knowles - it's nice to keep these veterans on the table. 

Stuart Asquith's Indian collection revived

Several other games  caught my eye sufficiently to try a photo or two, so let's spin through them (with apologies, I know absolutely nothing about Sci-Fi / Fantasy, so those games aren't here ) :

Loughton Strike Force  ( my favourite wargames club name! ) can be relied on for something quite spectacular, and did not disappoint with their hugely detailed Stalingrad - fire on the Volga  game (15mm scale,  O Group rules ) 

I liked the 'raised bed' gaming table 

  

individual bricks rubble: wow

Also on the Eastern Front were Grimsby Wargamers 'Retreat to the Dneiper' which looked great, I liked the backboard and the fires and explosions especially,  


 and I bet this doomed  Heinkel was one of the most-photographed models in the show: 


From Luton, Wigmore wargamers  kept the 1940 theme going with their 'Raid on Piddling Down'  German glider-borne assault on a radar station ( Iron Cross rules ), and were another example of cheerful friendliness: 


Wyvern Wargamers 'Imjin War' ( Japan invades Korea, 16th Century ) in 12mm scale won my prize for 'wars I had no idea about'  and it was  inspiring to see how good  a large layout of 'Hexon' terrain can look - my 9 by 9 hexes home setup would go several times into this!  And these guys were welcoming and happy to chat, too. 


The always-reliable Society of Ancients weighed in with Macedonian Successors in a game of  Paraitacene, 317 BC  using Impetus rules - I always like a good Pike Phalanx;

 

and finally, Caseshot Publishing promoting their newly-published book Wellington at Bay: Battle of Villamuriel 1812 kept the Napoleonics flag flying, in 15mm with Black Powder rules  and was another nice example of the possibilities of hexed  terrain systems. 

possibly the sole Napoleonic game?

 My pictures are a bit variable - at first the lighting in the venue seemed very dim, and I tried using the camera's  flash light,  but it's never sufficient to illuminate the whole of a decent-sized table.  Strangely when I switched the flash off,  things looked much better. A small lesson learned.. 

At 2pm the almost-legendary 'bloggers meet-up' took place, and I screwed up my courage to belatedly join them - only knowing David Crook beforehand, and he promptly disappeared.  But I was made most welcome by Ray, Tamsin and Big Lee - really nice  to meet you all!   We did catch up with Mr. Crook a couple of times later - one feature of the lower crowd density was the tendency to keep repeatedly bumping into people around the show.  

What with all the chatting and games, the vast array of traders rather got away from me, despite staying until almost 5pm!  I'm a sucker for the bookstalls, though, and a few purchases ensued from Helion, Paul Meekins and Dave Lanchester.  I also picked up a few bags of pre-cut MDF bases  for my 15mm Pike and Shot chaps, and a couple of small Hexon hills in 'Desert Transition' colours, which I hope will work for the 'D-Day Dodgers' in sunny Italy.  Dave was pleased with his acquistion of a couple of nice ready-painted bridges from Kallistra, and  took a punt on Osprey's 'big-battle' Absolute Emperor Napoloenic rules. So his nice 28mm French and Austrians may get to fight Austerlitz or Wagram yet..

And that was about it.  It was a bit of a low-wattage show, to be honest, compared to previous years, but I suppose perhaps  only to be expected, and hopefully things will perk up next time - I think Salute 2022 is back in April -  and one just hopes the Warlords' finances were not too hard-hit. In some ways, there were sliver linings, such as the lower crowd densities, but I think the absence  of so many programmed  games was quite a blow. Let's hope for better next time.  Many thanks to everyone who did turn up, and did their best to put on a good show,  and to Dave 'St Cyr'  for being good company as ever, and putting up with my marching and counter-marching across the empty wastes of the exhibition hall!  

Meanwhile, I hope I've done the show justice and you've been interested to see my report, if you weren't there yourselves. Many of the other bloggers mentioned here will have made reports of the day, too - probaby with better photos! So, don't forget to check them out.  Keep safe and well, everyone.

 

 

18 comments:

  1. Excellent show report-out, David! I enjoyed your perspective and highlights very much. Thank you.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks, Jon! It was distinctly thinner than usual, but I seemed to spend just as long looking around! And there were some decent games, as you can see.

      Delete
  2. Some great looking games. Poltava looks stunning. I half wish I’d gone there instead of going to Aldershot. At least it I’d have seen a team from Grimsby put on a good performance 😆

    I’d be interested to see how you get on with ‘Divine Right’. I see those ‘back of a postcard’ rules have taken a leaf out of the Twilight rules by testing morale not shooting/combat!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks, Nundanket! Yes there were some good games, though looking at the program it was a shame to see how many interesting-sounding games were missing. Indeed the Grimsby game was good ( is there an Aldershot wargames club? maybe they don't need one, have real tanks etc to play with...)
      Indeed I wondered if the CWS rules had borrowed from the 'Twilight' stable. Must get on the Pike & Shot soc. website and order them!

      Delete
  3. Hello there old chap,

    It was great meeting up with you once again (and repeatedly!) and having some brief chats. I had only arrived shortly before the meet up and had a few errands to attend to hence the brief encounter - I did bump into several of the attendees over the course of the afternoon though so all was well.

    You are quite right about the crowd density - it made it far more comfortable to walk around although it did make it seem rather more cavernous than usual!

    Absolute Emperor look very interesting and I have designs around them using the block armies at some point.

    All the best,

    DC

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks David, it was good to see you too! Always nice to chat. Indeed the lower attendance made things a bit less full-on, just a shame about the missing games.
      I'll be interested to see how 'Absolute Emperor' work out, I like the idea of 'big battle' games, after all that's what proper Generals do!

      Delete
  4. Thanks for your tour, l enjoyed it greatly. I’m in the CWS and they produce interesting material and games. I really like the rules you posted.
    Did you pop by the 54mm toy soldier gridded game btw?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you, Alan. I've been picking up the CWS leaflets at shows for years and not getting round to joining, about time I did. I like the general idea of the 1850s/60s with the 'big three' of France, Austria and Prussia in different combinations, plus other players like Sardinia, Denmark and German states.
      I did see the 54mm Portable Wargame, but they were not running a game at the time so I didn't take a picture. It did look good fun, though - Ray ('Don't Throw a One') put a picture of it in his report. Nice 'Britains-style' figures!

      Delete
  5. Thanks for bring us along on the tour. Good to see the games, esp Stuart's Indian armies. WWII does seem to attract the modellers doesn't it?

    Its beginning to feel like a long time since my last show/convention (May 2019!) but the US will now let us if with our proof of vaccination and there is some sign of our government relenting current rules in and letting us back in.

    Hopefully it'll be sorted before May '22.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. thanks Ross! It was a real pleasure to see Stuart Asquith's figures. I didn't get the demonstrator's name, but when I asked how he came by the figures, it turned out Charles S. Grant had given them to him. Name-dropping..? I agree about the WW2 games!
      Fingers crossed for you getting to one of your own regular shows before too long. Although there were issues with this one, it was still great to see some good games and familiar faces!

      Delete
  6. Thanks for featuring my game.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. My pleasure, and thanks for your comment, Garry! BUT which game was it?!
      Do please let me know.. were you perhaps Wyvern, 'Imjin War', or maybe Wigmore,'Piddling Down' ?

      Delete
  7. Great report David and it was a pleasure to meet you in person.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks Ray, the pleasure was all mine. Your photos of the show were really great, too!

      Delete
  8. Great report and nice photos Dave. Yeah, like you say a bit low key but nice to be going to the shows again after the long enforced break. Look forward to hopefully seeing you at Draughts one evening in the near future for some proper gaming!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. thanks Dave, I'm sure it did our 'morale ratings' some good. Here's to 'Proper gaming' indeed - but don't we need figures for that? :)

      Delete
  9. Dave thank you for your generous comments about my Wellington in India game . The figures were largely from Charles Grants collection which he built up I believe with Stuart Asquith. The game was a tribute to Stuart one of the giants of the hobby and in a small way we were trying to recognise his contribution to our wonderful hobby

    ReplyDelete
    Replies

    1. Thanks very much, Martin! It was a really nice game and a fitting tribute, and it was great to talk to you!

      Delete