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).

Saturday 12 April 2014

Salute Loot

Well, I've made it home in one piece from the ravages of another annual trip to the Excel Centre for Salute. They'd come up with a nifty solution to the problem of exposing wargamers to fit and healthy people (registration for the London Marathon is also at the Excel) and had moved the queues into an adjacent hangar. I got in about 9.30 am and the pre-paid queue was already halfway round the back of the hall.

Finally, they started to let us in just before 10am....


....and this is the queue still forming when I'd got to about where the guy in the yellow top and shorts is in the pic above:


I'm not sure if it was the extra space they had, but it did seem less crowded than the last 2 years. Of course, this did mean that it was a bit easier to get around the place.

I did feel that the games weren't as good this year. There were still several top-notch tables where a lot of effort had clearly been put into preparing them, but not as many as before. The bulk, however, were not very appealing.

It was good to meet up with various bloggers on the way round and of course at the lunchtime meetup.

But the loot is what you really want to know about. I did quite well really and didn't spend anything like as much as I'd expected.

The loot arrayed on top of two pluck-foam trays (for my ever-expanding space fleets)

Dice, 15mm NSL starter army, Crusties starter fleet, some fighters (NAC, FSE and ESU), paints

Blue Moon gangsters - one of these might do rather well for the figure I owe Fran

Salute bits - coaster, torch/laser pointer, freebie figure and die

Some Litko flight pegs and peg toppers, plus a freebie Aetherium sample figure that I nabbed from the Dark Templar

Gruntz 15mm rulebook


Tomorrow evening I'll try to post what pics I took of games, if I'm not too tired after the Homs refight.

32 comments:

  1. Seems like a nice haul. Those gangsters look very interesting.

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  2. A pleasure as always Tamsin, totally agree about the quality of games.

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    1. Yep I'd agree about the games too, great too see you again Tamsin!

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  3. You must be the first to put up a post, too bad the games were not that good but your "stuff" looks great.

    I hope to go some to Salute someday, London seems so far away now, funny to think that I used to live just 40 minutes away by train.

    John

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  4. I agree about the games, some lovely looking ones, but none that really gave me the "wow!" factor from previous years. Seemed a bit less crowded, and I noticed quite a few empty tables, but then no scrum at the bring and buy, so more room to spread out. Parking was a bit of a pain this year as they closed off the front car park and the labyrinth underground had random sections closed off. I also didn't get a freebie bag this year, as they had run out by the time I got there at 11:30.

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  5. Glad you had a good day at Salute! - I will have to make the effort to get to a big show sometime. All I get to see are little ones these days as I live in the sticks!

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  6. Great to see your post Tamsin! I wish I could have made it over for this year's event but moving it earlier in the month scotched it for us as I want more 'bankable' weather. What was the Salute figure this year?

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    1. Freebie figure was Commander Colin Maud, RN with Winston (as portrayed by Kenneth Moore)

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  7. Great post and so quick Tamsin. Nice looking haul. Great getting to see you again. Agree a lot of games didn't look appealing and I found a lot of traders were really hiking the prices up.

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  8. Nice pile of loot! That line looks very daunting.

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  9. Looks like you did well Tamsin!

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  10. Was good to meet you, and I didn't have the chance to really check out the games. Was too busy with all the conversations and checking out all the vendors! Nice haul there though!

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  11. I did find some of the participation gamers far more friendly and approachable (as they should be) but there wasn't the jaw dropping display game either in size or in originality that I've seen in the last couple of years

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  12. Odd, I thought it was more crowded this year but maybe that's because I was earlier than usual.

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  13. I do think your the first one out the gate with a post. You've got a nice haul there-really like the Gangsters!

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  14. Nice haul Tamsin. Interested to hear your thoughts on Gruntz. I was right into it for a while but have been feeling pretty meh about it for some time now. Not quite sure why.

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  15. More stuff to do :)
    cant wait to see the gangsters painted

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  16. Nice collection of goodies you got their. I missed the whole thing unfortunately, so I'll have to live the event vicariously through other blogs!

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    1. you Were missed I heard your name mentioned in several conversations. (Not just the Rejects although they did say the traders takings would be down!)

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  17. Nice addition to the mountain.

    You seem to have had a good time

    Ian

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  18. A decent haul you have there. Interested to see how the gangsters come out.

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  19. Nice! I agree about the games, there were a lot that you'd glance over appreciatively but not really actually stop and look at this year...

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  20. Very nice loot! I also will be interested in your thoughts on "Gruntz". A pleasure to see you again. All the best

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  21. Impressed with the speed of your blog and your haul - have a look at my blog later and see a couple of similarities. I was going to by the GZG Crusties but that can wait until the next show.

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  22. Great post and nice pile of swag - I was very restrained this year; I've still git unpainted stuff from previous years- I only spent just under 60 quid! I haven't been for a couple of years and thought something was amiss this time.

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  23. Cool swag, Tasmin. That is a huge venue.

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  24. Was nice to see you and all the other bloggers again. Nice pile of treasures. Your comment about Gruntz??

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  25. Sorry for the delay replying to comments

    @ Edwin - I do remember painting up a single Citadel gangster back in my teenage years (phew! almost gave my age away by saying "the eighties"!) and thought these would be fun. I have a sneaking suspicion that a recent magazine article may have added to the impulse to buy these.

    @ Fran and Ray - always a pleasure to catch up with you guys

    @ John - the benefits of a short journey back home!

    @ Zabadak - it should keep me busy for a while

    @ GJD - I gather there were just as many people there, but the layout and extra bay helped to make it less crowded. I've heard about the parking problems on a number of blogs and fora - seems a right mess by Excel

    @ Herkybird - I guess for you attending Salute would involve at least one night in a hotel, so can understand you not doing Salute. All that money could be better spent on shinies

    @ Carl - I don't recall any price hikes, but then again I didn't look at too many traders. Good to see you again

    @ Monty L - it did look daunting, but moved very quickly once they started letting people in

    @ Rodger - I did do well. I had expected to spend a lot more than I ended up doing.

    @ M R Lee - good to meet you too :)

    @ Nigel J - I agree about the lack of jaw dropper games this year.

    @ Legatus - I think it was crowded in some areas, but overall people were more spread out.

    @ Anne - it looks as though I was (one of) the first ones to post on Saturday. the gangsters will definitely be fun to paint.

    @ Millsy - I've skimmed through Gruntz now and it looks as though games will be quite enjoyable. Once I've managed to get a couple of games in I'll do a proper rview (might be a while)

    @ Hobbyworker - there are a few things ahead of the gangsters in my painting queue, so they might be a while

    @ Lee - nothing wrong with living vicariously (except for the fact that you can't make impulse purchases of shinies!). I'll probably see you at Broadside

    @Ian - it was good fun catching up with folks, and I got plenty of shinies for the pile(s).

    @ DaveD - the gangsters will be a good excuse for me to try out some different techniques....when I find time to get around to painting them.

    @ myincubliss - yup, not as many attention grabbers this year.

    @ Clint and Markus - I humbly refer you to my reply to Millsy about Gruntz.

    @ Dannoc - we obviously both have excellent taste :)

    @ Monty (Stefan) - under £60 spends at Salute? That's illegal, immoral and suggests that you must be unwell ;)

    @ Dean - huge and not very well lit this year

    @ Markus - nice to see you again too

    @ the Kiwi - it could have been much bigger, but I left earlier than intended as I was feeling a bit drained (I blame the dim lighting)

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  26. One day... one day, I shall cross the pond for this.

    Oh, and a nice haul of loot. Good free swag, too.

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