Salute 2013 for GBS

Posted on April 22, 2013 by Gavin Syme

The Shirt and the Badge

Well that is Salute by for another year and while others have posted their reviews of the show (very few this year compared to previous years, or perhaps I am missing them) I have just got to it as its a long trek home and the wind down afterwards always takes a day or so. So how was the show for me and for Alternative Armies?

The front of the mighty Excel Centre home of Salute 2013

Personally for me I thought that Salute 2013 was down on last year in terms of attendance and that the average spend in the trade hall was lower too. How do I know this, well I don’t for sure but I can guess at it from the following information. No que at the gents toilets at 1pm, only a minute’s wait for a coffee at 2pm and a virtually empty hall half an hour before the doors closed. The crowd was never all that dense at any trade stand. As always the Warlords were polite and helpful and the Excel staff were excellent. The weather was lovely and the traffic shuffle out of London was easier than normal too. Oh and I noticed some of the free plastic miniature sprue that was this year’s entry gift left laying once all the stands were broken down so I have a good half dozen of them!

For Alternative Armies it was a good day considering the above and while the total take was down on last year the overall month of promotion (which ends this Friday) was WAY up on the year before mainly due to a great pulse of SHM, Laserburn, Security Force Alpha and HOT orders on 15mm.co.uk. So all in all it was a super top month for the company.

I did not purchase anything this year at Salute which is odd and for once I did not get offered any freebies either (not a lot of give away for me awwww!) but it was kind of my plan as what I did want to do with my wargaming budget this month and what I got for doing Salute was to get a brand new wargaming table. So no new rulebooks, figures or terrain but I did get the table TODAY and its a beauty but more on that in another posting.

A photo for the Typhon demo game 2013

I have also decided that I will not be doing any more demo games at wargame conventions myself as I did not get to play Typhon myself at all. My attention was taken up with conversations, hand shaking and other duties. It seems my infamy is too great just to toss the dice all day anymore. Thank though to Craig Andrews of Barking Irons and Orcs in the Webbe fame for fielding the Typhon game four times in the afternoon.

Eve Hallow attended Salute for the first time this year and he did an excellent post about it too. He travelled to London with my good lady wife…but he did make her carry his dirt filled coffin all the way to Excel!

Great to catch up with Edward Jackson, Steve Young, Bob Naismith, Sam Croes, Craig Andrews, Bill Hilton, Sandy B, Rob Alderman, Elton Waters and Russ Grey on the day; you guys make the trip worthwhile alone. Thanks also to the hundred plus wargamers who spoke with me I can’t name you all but I took all your input and suggestions onboard and thanks for the kind words too.

Feel the Force in one to one scale!

So good result all in all. I will see you there next year!

GBS

Interviewed on Dropship Horizon blog!

Posted on April 15, 2013 by Gavin Syme

The SFA Interview on Dropship Horizon blog

Chris K over on Dropship Horizon blog has posted up an interview carried out with me about the recently released Security Force Alpha (SFA) miniatures from 15mm.co.uk. Its a good and honest read. I like to think that I am approachable and give answers and opinions without any ‘fluff’ or ‘padding’ which is so sadly common in the wargame industry. It was nice to be asked by DSH blog to do an interview and if they would like to speak to me again they are most welcome. So head on over and have a read.

At the point of publishing this post the SFA codes have sold out their pins on the HOF rack to be taken to Salute three times over. Thanks for your support guys!

GBS

A Week Until Salute 2013

Posted on April 12, 2013 by Gavin Syme

This Years Salute Badge

It is seven days now until the biggest wargame show in the world takes place down at Excel in London. Salute 2013 is a lot of fun for me on the day. A chance to meet and greet, chat and play a game or two as well. But it is a ruddy lot of work before hand as well. Those who work in the wargame industry will this week be spending their time making stock, filling orders, packing racks, painting miniatures, counting books and more besides. I often think that some wargamers do not realise that in our time of automation this industry needs a person to create every miniature and fill every blister pack too. The materials in the massive hall at Salute will most likely represent a million hours of effort on the part of the traders.

How will I and the company do on the day? Who knows! It is all part of the excitement for me and every year is different as the ranges and products we offer evolve and change. This will be my twelfth Salute in a row and maybe the fifteenth I have attended.

I will say it a lot on the day but I want to say it here as well to all the customers of Alternative Armies and 15mm.co.uk : “Thank you all for keeping me in the best job in the world!”

GBS

A Visit from America

Posted on April 12, 2013 by Gavin Syme

GBS, Bob, Eve Hallow and wee Bob too!

It has taken me a wee while to get to this posting here due to work commitments (I am only one Man damn it!) but I wanted to tell you all about a visit of several days that I had been looking forward to from my good friend in America Bob McAlister and his family. During a visit to Scotland last week the jolly three came by and spent a few days here in Girvan. A good time was had by all and several field trips undertaken as well. Bob had sent me a package last year which I posted about and I took the chance to repay him by a filling with beer at the Roxy Pub here in Girvan and getting him hooked on Irn-Bru.

While he was here Bob and I played out the Typhon demo scenario for Salute 2013 on a cut down sized playing area and yes I won but only just. It was a close call. Below you can see Bob and I talking shop before play commenced. Typhon is a super game for a visual experience and my Droves of Shades gave a powerful account of themselves against Tyro and her Cyclopes too.

Getting ready to Play Typhon. Bob is the handsome fellow on the right!

During our excursion to Glasgow we visited Static Games and I picked up a stack of second hand books and magazines including some very early White Dwarf issues. If time allows I will post on these later in the month.

Bob and his family were delightful company and we all missed them when they left. The world can seem a large place but really in these days of jet travel, skype, email, facebook and more its not so big after all.

GBS

Another Flintloque print run sells out.

Posted on April 3, 2013 by Gavin Syme

Last week the print run of 5025 Flintloque 3rd Edition – War in Catalucia ran out for the third time! Yes, that means a forth print run. I have organised this and hopefully it will arrive within a week or so depending on the Easter long weekend holiday here in the UK. Over the last two years Alternative Armies and I have adapted to and taken to short run printing for wargame titles so getting a couple of hundred new books is now a matter of routine.

I could go into the benefits of such business techniques but there is a lot online about POD and Short Run printing which those who are keen can look up on their own. I have other things to be getting on with just now for next week and even for tomorrow in fact for 15mm.co.uk. So at this point I will just give myself another wee pat on the back. Every time a print run sells out on something I wrote it makes me smile. Validating what I do for a living and knowing that another couple of hundred people are enjoying it too.

GBS

The 98 Campaign by M C Monkey-Dew

Posted on March 25, 2013 by Gavin Syme

I had meant to post on this subject a couple of weeks back..but..well you get the point. Being me is not always a linear experience, sometimes I feel like I am suffering something I like to call ‘timeslip’ as time passes like lightening and a day becomes a fortnight with no effort at all on my comprehension!

The Campaign Map

My good friend Bob Minadeo with whom I have worked on Firefight 2.0 and HOF Fire-Team is a skilled wargames rules writer and a long time wargamer too. He is also a big fan of Flintloque, Slaughterloo and the whole World of Valon. To that end he has brewed up and is currently playing out a whole campaign set in that world under the title of ‘The 98 Campaign’. Above you can see the campaign map.

The campaign concerns the Ferach Elf forces of the Tyrant Emperor Mordred and their Bog Orc allies in the ‘BGORA’ and their attempt to ‘liberate’ Guinalea from the yolk of King Gorge III of Greate Britorcn and make the nation part of the Empire and not the Grand Alliance. I am enjoying reading the postings on Bob’s blog and on top of the tale the images showing his terrain set up and the love that he puts into his armed forces on the table top. The vast majority of the excellent and colourful miniatures on the gaming table are pro-painted from Alternative Armies itself and as I often deal with Bob directly (perks of the job eh!) I have watch him amass this collection with interest over the last year while his mighty mind was musing on the campaign now underway.

Albion Dragoons advance!

As to which side will win the conflict…I do not know…perhaps Bob does not know either at this moment and the dice will decide. He is using a concoction of his own for the wargame rules and the campaign system too. Me, well I want the Emperor Mordred to lose as always!

Get on over to the Monkey-Dew blog and follow the campaign if you are a wargamer it is proving to be a riveting ride indeed!

GBS

SupaBases adds a String to the Bow

Posted on March 25, 2013 by Gavin Syme

This posting is a little late as it had been planned for last Friday but if you look at the post previous to this one you will see that South West Scotland, where I live, was battered by one of the worst blizzards in living memory and that I was also affected by it. Though the snows are currently gone, they may return, it has meant I am playing catch up now. So…on with the show eh!

The ‘SupaBases’ logo designed by Sam Croes

Last week Alternative Armies and 15mm.co.uk both released the ‘SupaBases’ range of MDF Wooden wargaming bases into the hobby market. This was the culmination of several months of effort on my own part and others as although there are a few other makers of these kinds of bases in 2mm and 3mm thickness’s none of them were suitable as suppliers to the company. So we decided to create our own and we were determined to source the wood and get the job done in Scotland. The bases are precision cut with a tool, not a laser, and this gives a lovely finish to what is currently fourteen different sizes of square, rectangular and circular. You can see them below in the picture.

I personally think that although the company offers white metal and plastic bases these wooden bases have a lovely feel and especially for 15mm scale miniatures as singles and elements in wargames they give an impressive finish. From this point on I will be using them for all of our own new releases and so on.

Its not always all about new miniatures and the excitement of new game systems sometimes its the tasks without the glamour which give a lot of satisfaction. Hundreds of customers had asked if we would make these bases, so we did. Not a lot more I can say except that if you want to you should give them a try especially the larger ones like the 75mm and 100mm circles as these are not practical in other materials and allow for some great set pieces or dioramas or vehicle mounts. Thanks for reading and if you want to see the SupaBases then click on your choice of link below:

15mm.co.uk Alternative Armies

GBS

Eli’s Vergan’s are my kinda Miniatures!

Posted on March 20, 2013 by Gavin Syme

SHM54-SHM57 Vergan Free Traders

SHM54-SHM55 Rear View

These are due to release this week but I wanted to give a little post about them here before that as I have to say that I just love the alien species of Vergan created by Eli Arndt for the SHM line on 15mm.co.uk. Eli has created and is creating a number of alien species and these are one of my favourites. Why do I like them so much?

Well its partly style and its partly ethos. You can use them in any game system and they are of Human height with greater bulk so they match in with ease. Their style is pure space opera of the kind that Star Wars promotes where alien races are welcomed and not automatically targeted as ‘Xenos’ to be exterminated just for the sin of existing like in some other settings. They remind me of aliens produced in 25mm scale in the 1980’s back when larger scales were as open to experimentation as the smaller 15mm scale is now. Its a shame that the seeming increased ‘need for polish for its own sake’ in the wargaming industry, sometimes without any visible increase in quality or value for money, has meant that only 15mm scale now see’s such bold and different designs in the 21st century. Ethos wise its just that. Fun and good value combined with not taking themselves too seriously. Perfect for me and for 15mm.co.uk.

Why call them ‘Free Traders’ and not ‘Soldiers’? Eli said to me when he sent me the designs that he thought of the Vergans as merchants not mercenaries. After a bit of thought I came to agree with him. Some of the other races in SHM like the Prang are blatantly militaristic but the Vergans seem to carry weapons mainly for self defence. Part of a starship crew or in a spaceport these blob shaped and many tentacled fellows might just heft an energy rifle only when the traitorous Human they are dealing with tries to double cross them. The aliens are not always the bad guys…humm…I can feel a USEME scenario brewing now.

The Vergans join the first of their kind (SHM20) as single miniatures but also as a value pack. I do hope that Eli makes more of them in the future (perhaps a Vergan child or female) but he is a busy guy with LNG and other projects so time will tell.

GBS

Lockout 2012 – Film Review

Posted on March 3, 2013 by Gavin Syme

The French release movie poster in honour of Luc Besson

“I heard you were dead Snake.” ….. “Yeah, I get that a lot”

That classic line from Escape from New York really sums up Lockout. I had a spare two hours early this morning and I had gotten Lockout a few of weeks ago so I thought I would give it a watch. Is it a bad film? No. Is it a good film. Not really. Is it fun? Well yes. Let me elaborate.

Luc Besson is a great director who has made some awesome films (I am thinking Fifth Element especially) but I was surprised when I picked this film up and saw that what I assumed was a B-Movie was directed by him. I was swayed already to give this near future movie a punt as I like Guy Pearce (Time Machine especially) and also Edward Jackson had said to me he liked it. But when I saw the directors name that sold it. I watched it without reading any reviews (something I have taken to doing to avoid being prejudice towards a film), but I will give you the plot first before moving on to my opinion on Lockout.

In 2079, CIA agent Snow (Guy Pearce) is arrested for the murder of undercover agent Frank Armstrong who had uncovered evidence of an agent selling state secrets about the space program. Secret Service director Scott Langral (Peter Stormare) threatens to have Snow incarcerated on the maximum security space penitentiary MS One where prisoners are kept in stasis for their sentence. Snow’s agent friend Harry Shaw (Lennie James) tries to locate Snow’s contact Mace who knows where Frank’s briefcase containing the secret information is hidden.

Meanwhile, Emilie Warnock, (Maggie Grace) daughter of US President Warnock, arrives at MS One to investigate claims that stasis might affect prisoners’ minds, leading to psychopathy and dementia. Hydell, a prisoner, is awakened for questioning, but manages to escape. He releases all of the prisoners and starts a riot, led by his brother Alex. Emilie and others are captured. Shaw convinces Langral to send Snow to rescue Emilie rather than risk her life in a siege. Snow is initially reluctant, but agrees after Shaw tells him that Mace is on MS One, and could help Snow prove his innocence. Snow secretly infiltrates MS One. Alex realizes Emilie is the President’s daughter and goes to secure her. Emilie manages to escape with her bodyguard Hock and hide in a secure room. A problem with the oxygen supply however causes Hock to commit suicide to give Emilie more time.

Snow breaks into the room and rescues Emilie. Snow changes Emilie’s hair to conceal her gender and appearance after the prison is alerted to her true identity, allowing them to walk through the prison population. They find Mace, but the stasis has given him dementia and made him incoherent. Snow and Emilie bring Mace with them as they attempt to reach the escape pod. Without the maintenance of the staff, the prison has begun to fall out of its orbit and crashes into the International Space Station. The collision causes a breach and Mace is killed. Snow brings Emilie to the pod but discovers it has only one seat, and that he has been sent there to die. He sends Emilie on her way, but she allows the pod to launch without her, believing that the remaining hostages will be otherwise killed. Hydell contacts Emilie and threatens the hostages unless she reveals her location. When she does so, he kills all of the hostages.

As Snow and Emilie flee, they discover evidence that the prisoners were being illegally used as test subjects. Alex finds the pair and captures Emilie after shooting Snow and leaving him for dead. When Alex learns that Hydell has killed all of the hostages, he beats Hydell and contacts the President threatening to allow Hydell and the prison population to rape Emilie if they are not released. The President refuses to allow a siege and risk Emilie, causing Langral to temporarily relieve him of his command. Langral orders the destruction of MS One. Hydell tries to rape Emilie as promised, but is stopped by Alex. Infuriated he stabs Alex to death. Emilie fights back and Hydell attempts to stab her, but he is incapacitated by Snow. Snow and Emilie flee from the prisoners and Hydell. Meanwhile Langral’s men plant a bomb on the prison. Snow and Emilie use space suits and jump from the ship as it detonates, destroying the prison. The suits allow the pair to re-enter Earth’s atmosphere and land safely in New York City.

Snow is arrested. Emilie later realizes that Mace’s seemingly incoherent rambling was the location of and password needed to access Frank’s briefcase. Armed with the briefcase, Snow meets with Shaw. Shaw immediately unlocks it to see the evidence, but finds it empty. Snow notes that he had not given the unlock code to Shaw, and Shaw is revealed as the mole and arrested. Snow is released and his possessions returned, including a lighter given to him by Frank before his death. Snow finds a memory card containing the real secret information hidden within it. Emilie meets Snow and teases him, having learned his first name is Marion. The pair walk away together.

Lockout is a total B-Movie and it shows. But its a roaring action adventure and a laugh too. Its been panned by critics and it really went straight to DVD but I liked it. Agent Snow simply WANTS to be Snake Plissken and takes on the same mantle that in the 1980’s all action heroes had. Gruff, sarcastic, violent and full of one liners while smoking (when was the last time you saw that in a new movie!) Snow tries his best to channel Snake but never manages it. Like the shade of a long dead hero he rattles along well enough dispatching the bad guys but never really clicking into place. Not a reflection of Guy Pearce, he is a fine actor, but more on the movie itself. Its brainless and lazily directed, it lacks pace and its set pieces are weak as dish water. Luc Besson either does not care or did this on purpose (why, don’t ask me!). When Pierce is not on screen the film drops several notches which tells you its a weak movie. Some of the CGI effects are appallingly bad in places as well.

But! Its well worth watching and it is free of all the crap that plagues a lot of genre films now. This movie is out of place in the 21st century, it should be in the 1980’s. If you want a popcorn film for a weekend that is alpha male to the hilt with a dash of science fiction then Lockout is for you. If you are a wargamer it also has several set pieces which would work really well in USEME or HOF Fire-Team. If you want real class go and get Escape from New York!

GBS

‘Robo Basho Arto Framo’

Posted on March 1, 2013 by Gavin Syme

Just another print on the wall…blame Pink Floyd

I actually carried out what this post is about a couple of weeks ago but work and other things have kept me from publishing this post…mainly as until this morning I thought I already had!

In a previous post I told you all about the artwork and article Sam Croes and I had created for Irregular Magazine. Sam based the artwork on my description of the giant fighting machines of the 22nd century. I thought the image was so awesome that I had it printed at a very high resolution and then framed by Green Jam here in Girvan. Green Jam do an excellent job in framing, highly recommended. Its an A2 sized print in top grade ink on a thick vellum like paper which is a little raised for a rich feel which was then fitted into a wooden frame with white border. Normally I only place frame prints of my wargame titles on the walls (you can see DarkeStorme to the right of the Robo Basho picture) but I made an exception here. Eventually wall space will run out but for now I am gold as they say.

Sam saw the print when he was here last week and he liked it a lot. I offered to send him another A2 sized print if he desired it, perhaps he shall.

Anyway call it a sin of pride but I just wanted to show you all what I got! 🙂

GBS

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The online residence of wargame creator and writer Gavin Syme

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