A bit of a late Salute post

 

Oh. It's, um, June now, and I still haven't written about Salute in April. In my defence, I got distracted LARPing. It was a bit of an odd one - with money being a bit tight and a huge pile of miniatures I'm working through eBaying, it was never going to be a huge shopping trip. I also ended up being an extra pair of hands on the Friday helping Bad Squiddo set up as I'd taken the day off. Seeing the hall empty was very weird. But I wasn't working the stall Saturday - I was a punter with a ticket and everything! 

My old club, HATE (now Hobby and Tabletop Enthusiasts after it was accepted we haven't been in Hackney for years) was running a participation game "Mayhem at the Castle of Choas". The idea was that you made a character out of our club bits box, then joined in the assault on the deadly and chaotic Castle of Choas. As I'm not in London any more I hadn't committed to doing anything to help with this, but I did at one point buy a few sprues to add some extra bits to the rapidly diminishing pile.

It seemed to be popular all day, and I think it helped get the word out a bit that we do have regular club nights, and that we are looking for new members. If you can get to North London easily on week nights, please do check us out.

I stopped by Edinburgh University History and Games Lab, to see my friend Dr James Holloway, who has co-authored a Lion Rampant expansion called "Viking Blood Feud".  They were demoing the game on a part finished table that is eventually going to be displayed in a museum in Iceland. I didn't stay around for the game itself, but helped by rolling up some names and personality traits for the characters in the warbands.

The personalities and names really matter when you're playing a campaign around Viking blood feuds, because it really matters if that unit leader you cut down while he fled is actually the second cousin of the force leader and now he feels honour bound to seek revenge. Historicals are not usually my thing, but I loved the idea of such a narrative campaign.

I also spotted a table who was running a Discworld inspired broomstick racing game. I think this was a promotion for Rapier Miniatures, who have a range of witches on broomsticks. It looked like absolute chaos in the best sense as I was wandering past.

Opposite the Bad Squiddo stand, which was never quiet enough for me to get a photo of, was a table advertising SPRU Convention. This is a new convention starting up in Nottingham, in September 2026. I'm unsure if I can make it yet - it's the week of my dearly beloved's birthday and we have to make those plans before fitting wargaming conventions around them. SPRU is intended to be very indie focused, with the idea being that the small businesses won't pay for tables there - everything is covered in the cost of the tickets - so I really hope it takes off.

This gaming table really caught my eye. It's a demo table for Fractured Sphere by Ludus Vulpes. It's still in development at the moment but they're going to crowdfunding soon. The concept is a set of skirmish rules that can be used for any kind of setting. They had a very normal sci fi skirmish board, and this to prove the flexibility. It's a wild look for a table, and I love the weirdness.

 

I got very excited by these very bougie, very clever modular lights that you can use for painting and crafting. I nearly slipped and bought some but was gently brought down to earth by my dearly beloved. They're produced by GloForce and maybe once the hobby area is fully set up, I may upgrade my lighting set up.

I'm not really a bust kind of person, but Carlo's Miniatures stuff jumped out at me. Didn't get one in the end, but loved some of these.

I also dropped by Fenris Games. These Bronze Age "Great Orcs" have since had a successful Kickstarter campaign. They're not up on the Fenris Games shop just yet, so you may have to display some patience if they're your sort of thing.

Fenris has also picked up a bunch of the old Fogou Models range - particularly the stone huts and this amazing ring fort. (If you liked the corrugated iron shacks Fogou did, I think you'll need to go to Crooked Dice.) The ex-Fogou stuff is up on the Fenris site now, should that be your thing.

All in all, Salute turned out mostly to be a day of catching up with people, seeing what was going on in my hobby and a lot of walking. I keep thinking at these shows I'll take some time to play a demo game or something, and I always seem to run out of time.

Halflings and Weird Lil Guys

 

The Halfling team is finally assembled. Since this photo was taken, I've undercoated both them and the tokens and balls that come with them, but I failed to take a photo and I can't face venturing to the conservatory to take another one. 

Next up are the two Treemen who make the team actually viable to play with. I'll probably look to get something else painted first, just so I've had a bit of a break from Halflings being the main thing on my hobby table!

I got this Krakon Games Shieldkin at "Nottingham Gaming Fayre" last year. Not quite "done over Christmas", but I'm definitely feeling a bit more on the horse.

Also undercoated and ready for paint: Bad Squiddo Guinea Pig Witches. Sculpted by Kinsfolk Miniatures, I'm very excited to get some paint on these.

Finally, I've undercoated this dragon by Mammoth Miniatures. As a bit of an experiment, I gave her a blast of Midwinter Blue as a zenithal over a black undercoat to create some interesting vibes for when I start adding paint with a brush. There's no intent for her to end up blue, but it was sitting there in my box of spray cans and I wondered what would happen.

Next up on the assembly table is a big chunk of metal miniatures I've picked up at various things I've been to - the Gaming Fayre, Lead & Steel, and Salute. As my dearly beloved is allergic to nickel, I'm going to try and get a batch of these assembled and undercoated on a weekend she's away. Pictured are a couple of a "Big Mr Tong" Sample pack from Lead and Steel.

I'm also side eyeing these two critters from Dungeons and Lasers because I got them in the Kickstarter and they don't pack well into my storage boxes, which makes them very tempting as a little side project while I have the plastic glue out for the Treemen.

Game Demo Report: Buff This 2141

 

While I was at Lead and Steel, I had a demo game of "Buff This 2141". I hadn't quite gotten around to writing up the game yet, and I just realised that their Kickstarter is currently live and I should probably mention it!

The way the game works is that you have one miniature with a stat sheet, and they run around trying to grab buffs that you can apply to your different stats.

We had a three person demo game, and I was playing this cool gunslinger type.

I climbed onto a roof to grab a buff token.

... and then I discovered that you can be spartan kicked off a roof. Oops. This was the beginning of the end, and I was out when Annie from Bad Squiddo gunned my character down to finish me off.

The miniatures are available in the Kickstarter as well, and I really like the sculpts. Take a nose, as it's a fun quick game that I really enjoyed.

A little bit of hobbying

 

I've started making a little time for the miniature hobby again, and am back on sorting out the Halfling Blood Bowl team. They're the big project at the moment and I am very ready for them to be assembled! I suspect I may set them aside for a little bit once they're ready to paint as I'll want to look at something else!

I'm now up to eight Halflings done, with four left to go. There's also the Treemen and other bits and bobs, but once the core team is assembled it'll really feel like things are moving along.

I got this plinth by Fenris Games undercoated. I went black first, and it ended up really quite tacky - I suspect the weather wasn't quite undercoating weather. Once things dried out a bit, I gave it a spray of Mechanicus Grey and that seems to have gotten it back to normal. So this is now ready to paint.

While I was undercoating, I also undercoated a 3D printed dragon skull plant pot that my wife picked up at a craft fair. That's now done and in a box ready for her to paint.

Finally, I based up a few bits ready for undercoating. Miniatures here from Mammoth Miniatures, Krakon Games and Bad Squiddo. I used Krautcover for these ones as that's what I could find lying around. It's quite powdery so I want to put a light coating of glue over the top and let that dry before I undercoat them.

Salute 2026

 

Saturday was Salute at the Excel Centre in London. It was a busy day where I caught up with a lot of folk I've not seen in too long. I'm now back up in Nottingham but have a few work commitments which means I don't really have the time to write a long blog post right now - hopefully it won't be too long before I write a few more words about what I got up to.

Lead and Steel 2026 - Acquisitions

So, what did I get at Lead and Steel? A late addition to the show was Four A miniatures, and I picked up a few adventurers, some weird little critters and a cloud of faces that will make an excellent monster.

The goodie bag had a whole ton of stuff from an assortment of manufacturers. For a free show, this is a whole ton of stuff!

The organiser also gave me a couple of other free bits and pieces as we were about to finish, so I’ve also got a drunken master monk and some orcs. Despite having a criminal number of goblins I am very short on orcs for RPG purposes.

Due to the pick and mix results (below) I ended up splashing out on an old Citadel Bretonnian cannon to use as a Border Princes Bombard.

I also picked up an Advanced Fighting Fantasy book to relive my childhood and a pre-coloured ALEPH shipping container- I think by Antenocitis Workshop originally?

And finally, the results of the Pick n Mix for charity. For £10, I got the Bombard and crew, then four cool minis I can paint up to add to D&D warbands and such like.

This is a bit more than I intended to get, but it’s fine. I can just be more restrained at Salute tomorrow, right?

Lead and Steel 2026 - Painting Competition

I took a few photos of the Lead and Steel painting competition early in the day. That did mean that I didn't catch all the entries as some arrived later, and I didn't take any sensible notes about who won what, either.

This unit entry of a pirate crew is a mix of manufacturers. I can identify the Foundry fish-men, but who made the frog man and the human?

My photo doesn't do justice to this undead Blood Bowl team's colour scheme.

I love this sort of desaturated look on these ork boys, but I've never been able to work out the art of getting this sort of look.

A good pun name for a Blood Bowl team is essential.

Another great frogman, and the colours were really vibrant.

I believe this Technobarbarian was one of the previous year's show miniatures.

Another lovely desaturated paint scheme. Does anyone know who this Nurgle inspired miniature is made by?

A nod from Lord of the Rings with this Radagast.

This old goblin boss really evokes his era. Not only is it beautifully painted, but the details on the base manage to add to the whole impression without drowning out the miniature.

An excellent weird lil guy.

A classic Ghazghkull, painted up really nicely.

This is an Ontos space dwarf biker, painted in a slightly more modern scheme than the box art ones.

A really clean old school Evil Sun Ork Warbike.

An ?Alpha Legion? Rhino with all the weathering...

I think this big lad is a Warmachine sculpt?

Lead and Steel 2026 - Event Report

 

Saturday was "Lead and Steel 2026", a small Oldhammer focused convention in Sheffield. It's held in the hall of a social club, and had a good mix of vendors, participation games, demos, and people playing their own games. The event was free and came with a pretty substantial goodie bag.

I've split out the painting competition, the bits and bobs I picked up and a demo game I had for separate posts so this doesn't run too long.

As I walked through the door, I was immediately directed to the "Oldhammer Pick N Mix" - a fund-raiser for Cancer Research UK. You could pick up five models for £5. I had failed to bring any cash, but a friend who will stay anonymous so other people don't hit them up for money chipped in for the bits I was after. I've since been told this effort raised £741 for charity, which is excellent going.

I went around early on and took a few photographs of some of the games going on. This is Far Corfe, a huge participation game which uses original Necromunda rules as the basis for its rules. You could make a gang and turn up on the day. It was a big, chaotic event with loads of random things happening. It looked like everyone involved was having a blast.

The Warmachine demo table that was at Chillcon also made a return appearance. It's not quite Oldhammer, but its rules haven't changed much since it started, so it gets an honorary mention. I meant to get a demo of this and failed to manage my time properly. I really must not mess this up a third time if I see this demo table again!

One of the games where some folk were just playing each other was a game of Warhammer 40,000 3rd edition. Seeing the old models, books and cards gave me a major shot of nostalgia.

Also being played was a game of Warhammer Fantasy. I'm pretty sure it was somewhere between fourth and sixth edition, but I didn't want to interrupt to ask.

Meanwhile, on the participation side of things, someone had brought along Man O' War along with a few squadrons that people could play with. I'd absolutely intended to give this a go, as I hadn't played since my childhood, but time got away from me. I did walk past someone trying to explain the wind direction rules at one point.

Also available for participation was this game of the original Adeptus Titanicus. This is way before my time, but it looked really nice.

All in all, this was probably my favourite wargaming event I've been to in years. It was very relaxed, with a good mix of playing and shopping. There was a nice goodie bag, the charity pick n mix was amazing, the vendors were all small indie folk who are great, and there were several games I'd be up for trying next year now I know what to expect. I believe it's happening again in 2027, and its probably my top priority for planning events next year.