For the last bit of gossip, Mike McVey told me that a site redesign for Studio McVey is in progress, and it will no longer include Flash. Given that I keep on trying to show people Studio McVey stuff on the iPad and end up getting nothing, this will make me really rather happy.
The business card and flyer rundown
I did not loot as many business cards as I usually do! I already knew a lot of the companies there, so didn't think take every bit of cardboard and paper that wasn't nailed down.
First up, we have JoeK Minis, who are a part of British Indie. He has a bunch of nice models, including a range of creepy Wizard of Oz inspired stuff.
I was not as impressed with Urban Construct as I remember being. Don't get me wrong, the scale of their stuff is impressive, and they have a good range. Yet despite this, I am not a fan of their rough and ready approach, but it seems pretty affordable for what it is.
Dark World Creations are at the other end of the scale. This stuff is breath-takingly pretty, and highly detailed. They are putting together 70mm models, with a 2000AD license, the odd bust, and a lovely post apocalyptic zombie range. Their upgrade kits for cars and trucks are particularly impressive. One of the display models looked familiar, until I remembered that I'd seen it being worked on at a Platoon Britannica painting day...
My final flyer is from Battleboards, who do a few bits of terrain but really specialise in boards - and in particular, remarkably affordable custom made boards to order. If only I was swimming in money...
A few more people I like
These are a few more stalls I like where I managed to take photos. There are a ton more companies I love and adore, but didn't manage to get photos for whatever reason. Not being mentioned here doesn't mean I hate you - just that I failed utterly in taking any nice photos.
Hold on, I hear you cry - that stuff looks familiar. Yes, it is familiar because I bought a massive bag of it. These are the lovely people from Tablescape. They do a wide range of pre-painted pieces of terrain in a pretty robust foam, and its great to go straight from the box and onto the table.
While being able to buy terrain that doesn't add to my massive painting backlog is already a massive plus, what really endears them to me is the thoughtfulness of their designs. I had a rather hilarious moment in 2012 when they were saying terrible, terrible things about what 40K players were like before they found out I was one. It would have hurt less if my wife hasn't been agreeing with them so much. ;-)
The reason behind the anecdote is because all of their walls and scatter terrain are carefully designed to either be at 28mm chest height or obscure a model completely. They've been careful not to put in too many designs where it wouldn't be clear whether or not a model had line of sight - thus cutting down the arguments between those terribly competitive gamers who are often so associated with the 40K scene.
Next, we have the people who will be getting all of my money at next year's Salute: Warmill. They are another laser cut terrain manufacturer, similar to Sarissa, but they focus almost entirely on the Sci Fi end of things.
They have a nice coherent range, with much of the different pieces being part of this crazy little comedic dystopian sci fi setting they've come up with. Their fortresses and barricades are modular, compatible with other bits, and have upgrades which change in clever ways what they do.
They've also accessorised their smaller shop pieces nicely, so there are different brands of food retailer, or, should you feel brave, a cosmetic surgery booth!
This is, for example, the noodle booth. The plastic signs are the bits you can vary with your order to make different franchises.
All the buildings I saw had removable roofs so you can open them up to place models inside.
Their modular "Portable Utility Pod" had some nice demonstrations as to how you could use them differently - you'll see in the first picture a wonderful set of them in white with surrounding walkways that look very civilian, while in this picture, they dirty grimy yellow looks very much like some industrial or construction building.
They've also started a massive modular set which could be easily used for Zone Mortalis in 40K, or even Space Hulk or similar. It could be an underground lab, a space ship, or who knows what.
There's some lovely detail pieces, like these industrial waste bins. They're nestled in between some of their road terrain and one of their compound pieces.
This is an awesome elevated roadway, which can either sit close to the ground, or really raise up into a high flying piece.
This is one of the other PUP scenery pieces with the roof removed. Notice the alternatively painted PUP on the right, and the little watch tower and security fence at the bottom of the shot.
Here are the accessories - I love the communication towers and the process unit in the middle (I didn't get a good zoomed in shot of it). The barricades are all "quick deploy" fold up barricades, which is a nice touch. They also have an assortment of strange little portal things you can get.
A company that got a lot of the wife's money was Zinge Industries. They are a company with tons of awesome little ideas which are really cool.
Zinge do an amazing array of bits and bobs. Their tires and tracks are definitely useful, but nothing that gets me really excited. Unfortunately, I got no good pictures of their really clever stuff - flexible resin with an embedded wire that means you can carefully pose your chains, power cables and ammunition belts.
They've just released their first model, a tank bike. It's kind of adorable, but I don't really have much use for it.
They also had some lovely examples of what you could do with their stuff - this demon prince was a nice example of showing off what LEDs could do.
This is, of course, the money shot - showing that you can get a glowing light in behind a terminator helmet or head.
There's also scenery options, too - like this light up option for a command and control display.
Arcworlde is a new game being worked on by Warploque Miniatures. They are planning a Kickstarter (who isn't), and are currently beta testing their rules.
They have some lovely detailed models already available, and I picked up a couple of them at Salute.
There is an entire Halfling faction, which should keep people happy.
He had a whole ton of his greens on display to show people what was coming in the Kickstarter in August.
And now, the final company who impressed me, who are Model Mates. You can't buy this stuff direct from their website - they only sell direct at shows. But go and have a look at their website, as it lists the people who stock it.
They have a range of different sprays and brush on rust effects - some see through, some opaque. The metal plate is all effect - it genuinely looks like real rush in person, as well as in the pictures, but every bit of it is the stuff off the brush and out of the can.
They had quite a few examples of what you can do with it, from tanks to model railway cars to rusting to scenery.
They were also very proud of their verdigris...
Sim did get herself a few bottles of this stuff, although I am unsure if I will have any chance of getting any of it off her...
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