About Me

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London, United Kingdom, United Kingdom
A mythical beast - a female wargamer! I got back into wargaming in the summer of 2011 after a very, very long break and haven't looked back since. I must admit that I seem to be more of a painter/collector than a gamer, but do hope to correct that at some point in the near future. My gaming interests span the ages, from the "Biblical" era all the way through to the far future. I enjoy games of all sizes, from a handful of figures up to major battles (see my megalomaniacally sized Choson Korean and Russian Seven Years War armies).

Sunday, 23 April 2023

Salute 2023 - The Loot

Yesterday saw me make my pilgrimage to the ExCel Centre in London for Salute 50. Unlike most years, I wasn't traveling from home, as I'd been down at my sister's in Sussex for a couple of nights. I had planned to catch the 0836 train and got there in plenty of time to buy my ticket, but that train was cancelled so I had to get the 0906. Oh well, at least I had time to buy a coffee at the station before boarding.

I eventually got to the venue just before 11am and aftr a few minutes negotiating my way through the crowd of runners pre0registerign for the London Marathon, I made it to the show entry hall just after 11am. There wasn't a queue by then, so I was able to walk straight in (after showing my ticket and getting the goodies-bag).

Another difference to previous years was that I didn't take my camera, so I wasn't taking photos of all the games which allowed me to just visit the ones that interested me (I'd marked up a copy of the show map from the list on the website). I did make a couple of small purchases whilst doing that, but most of my shopping came later on.

I didn't spend as much as normal, or as anticipated, as several items I had on my list weren't available at the show (note to self - pre-orders make good sense!)

At lunchtime I attended the "Bloggers, Vloggers and Podcasters" meet-up which was a good chance to chat with people I hadn't seen for ages and to meet a few people I've only ever chatted with online before. Disgracefully, Ray wasn't there - I'm told he was "under the thumb". *lol*

After that I spent about an hour doing the rest of my shopping before heading to The Fox for drinks with other CLWC members. Four pints of Guinness later, it was time to head home - I think I got in about 9pm - unpack my bags and take some photos of the loot. Apologies for any blurriness - I was slightly inebriated when I took them!


All The Loot:


TT Combat:


I bought this set thinking it would be using the same patterns as the walkways I painted last year. On opening it up for a look, I found that not to be the case.

Blotz:


SHQ:


A vehicle tray for 4l/9l Really Useful Boxes.

Oshiro Model Terrain:


Clear acrylic skirmish movement trays that will be handy for Judge Dredd mobs.

Pendraken/Minibits:


Of the five VMC paints, three were on my list as definitely needing to buy and the other two I know I'm gettign close to finishing; they didn't have the two others that I am almost out of though. I also bought a handful of the Express Color paints to try out. 

Great Escape Games & Too Fat Lardies:


OK, I succumbed to the temptation of a new ruleset...



"OK, great loot, but why haven't we seen you post anything for the last two weeks?"

Basically, I haven't really had anything to show. I did start painting the next set of Block Wars figures (all base coats done) then got busy with a couple of other things. The first of those is doing a load of test-prints for a Kickstarter someone is going to be launching this week (printing things, providing feedback, printing revised things, providing new feedback, rinse, repeat...). The secodn is that I got a bug in my brain about designing some 3D-printable terrain for Block Wars based on Peach Trees from the 2012 Dredd film - so far I've modeled the atrium walkway parapets (I think I've got them close to spot-on) and the next step will be to add the walkways to go behind them. Once those are done I can work on some modular apartments, shops, etc to complete the upper floor sets. Eventually, I will be modeling the ground floor entrance and mall, plus the Med Centre.


15 comments:

  1. Nice little haul Tamsin, must have just missed you at the entrance to the show, as I got there about the same time. Look forward to seeing how your Peach Trees set up goes.

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    1. Thanks! I missed a lot of people who it turns out were there, including a few like you who must have arrived at almost the same time as me.

      It will be a while before I get to print any of my Peach Trees stuff as I reckon I've got about another week of doing test prints for my friend's Kickstarter.

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  2. Cool loot collection Tamsin. Yes, I was under orders, boozing in London for a friend's birthday bash.

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    1. Cheers! :)

      Boozing with a friend? What sort of excuse is that? ;)

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  3. So sorry I missed you at the Blogger's Meeting, Tamsin, as I was hoping to talk to you about your thoughts on whether I could play WG's Judge Dredd with just the rulebook - as I'm told the cards which can't be bought separately bring a lot to the game. However, I was actually told you weren't at the show so ended up being lured away by some FoW bargains.

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    1. Sorry to have missed you on Saturday.

      There's no reason you couldn't play JD with your existing collection, using the stats from the rulebook. There are only a few characters not in there and lot of the BigMeg and Armoury cards missing that were released with later packs. On one of the FB groups someone did post some blank stat card files that you can print off and mark up.

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    2. Oh... I'll have a look for them. Thanks :-)

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  4. Good to have you back on the Blog! Good haul, and I have those plastic cowboys and girls and they are lovely!

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    1. It was only two weeks of not posting! ;)

      Thanks! The gunfighters should be fun to assemble and paint. :)

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  5. Nice haul Tamsin. Reading many other posts in blogs and Twitter, it looks the show was extremely well organized and the games of the highest quality

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    1. The games at Salute are generally of a high standard. The organisation seemed to be as good as in previous years.

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  6. So being a Canuck, & from reading your post, is Salute a 1 day affair? Or the entire weekend? Sure seems a lot of work if only for a day!

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    1. It is a 1-day thing (although the traders get access on the previous day to unload and start setting up their stalls). There are only a couple of 2-day events in the UK, which are associated with tournaments. If they tried to make Salute a 2-day event, the number of visitors would be about the same but venue costs would be doubled for the hosts and costs for traders and those putting on the show games would be much higher.

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