Driving into London is a hairy experience at the best of times.  I know, I have asked those who live and work there.  But for me and the rest of the team it is a once a year event and sometimes getting to Excel is an adventure in itself.  Luckily this time the trip inside the M25 and then through many, many streets passing such sights as the Angel Islington, the Spittalfields Market and the Moorfields Eye Hospital (plus many streets that feature on the Monopoly Board!) went well and when the doors opened the Alternative Armies / 15mm.co.uk trade stand was set up and ready.  It did not take long for the crowds to build as you can see below.

What do you mean you can't see me, I am near a white wall!

I am always awed by the sheer scale of a hall at Excel (and Salute only occupies half of the possible space!) and if you have not been you can see above what I mean.  I took this standing next to our trade stand which was no where near the opposite wall so this is not the whole length of the hall.   At this point I have no idea of the attendance but I think it topped five thousand and felt just as busy as last year.  I did manage to walk round the whole hall once and said hello to many traders whom I know and also a good number of the Warlords themselves who are customers of ours.

I did not work on the stand this year instead I went back to my 90’s roots and took on the challenge of the ‘Sharkes Gingerbread’ demo scenario for Flintloque.  You can read all about the scenario over on Barking Irons and I managed to entertain a good two dozen with it who all went away happy.  I played as the Gingerbread Men and lost and lost and lost.  The most memorable event on table was watching Sharke being killed by a Trolka armed with a Skandavian Kannonderbuss (basically a musket that is a 6lb cannon!) at short range; even his legendary status did not save him.  A big thanks to Tony Harwood for giving me the actual Gingerbread House from his article; it was photographed a good thirty times across the day and I have seen it on three other blogs so far!  Below is a picture of one of the games in progress; it was excellent fun and really entertaining.  Being my first public demo in…humm…maybe three years.

Can I play mister?...I love Flintloque!

The trade stand itself was right next to the demo game table and it was busy for the whole day.  As yet I cannot say what the highest selling codes of the day were but I am fairly certain of some.  We ran out of the packs used in the demo game (including the Gingerbread Men) and handed over a good deal of Sharke’s Chosen box sets which was the big release for April for Flintloque.  HOF Fire-Team was greeting with big grins and open hands (only being released this week no one had seen it before!) and the print edition of MOTH went down well.  But!  I only put half the number of USE ME books we brought back on the van with there being virtually none of some of the books left out of the now Twelve titles in the series.  I am told that the article in Miniature Wargames reviewing USE ME was quoted by many (I will review that current issue given to me by MW Editor Andrew Hubback himself real soon) and also the poster showing the series brought gamers over.  I took a photo of part of the ‘books table’ so you can see this.

Can I speak to Omer Golan, is he here? If I take all twelve can I get one free?

It would not be Salute without meeting my good friends both old and new.  I apologise in advance if I miss anyone out but I must have spoken to a hundred plus people and my throat still hurts!  First off the Warlords themselves including musical and sculpting talent Steve Young (he of Burrovian fame for those in the know).  Thanks Steve for the novel too…all good Joccian fodder!  And then a new talent by the name of Sam Croes (he of the Ion Age art and tiles already on the blog) who is a super guy and a real pleasure to speak to (I will not go into what we spoke of…but great things will happen later this year!).  The feature writer for Starburst magazine whose card I got.  I also got to meet Darker Horizon’s column writer Gary Mitchell and thank him for his full page review of mine and the company’s work.  I also later on got to meet the editor of MW Andrew Hubback who impressed me with a huge knowledge of the hobby and views similar to mine that diversity in wargaming is the key to its continual thriving.  I am sure I am missing people…   Edward Jackson, artist extraordinary of Valon (he draws all the art for Flintloque and other ranges too) with his good lady spent some time and made me smile…he is a really talented fellow and brimming with ideas.  Watching ‘Jacksorc’ talking with Rob Alderman (sculptor of a good number of current Flintloque miniatures) and Tony Harwood..you could almost see the lightening of ideas in the very air!  Below is a picture taken of that chat (sorry I am not in these pictures, but hey I need to press the button!).  Again there were many more people….

Feel the talent! Yes...I was lurking next to the Flintloque racks!

I got myself some swag too.  I will not reveal who make ‘swops’ with me for our stock in return for theirs (more this year than last) but it will keep me in reading for a few months.  I got a copy of the Aeronef rules by Wessex Games,  a title I had been lacking that was recommended to me.  I look forward to digging in this pile when time allows.  We also ended up with a good number of Salute promo materials that were handed in at the stand, mugs, badges, the salute miniature, magazine and bundles of business cards and flyers.

Rob Alderman asked me to do a video interview (good thing I brushed my hair!) so in return I got a snap of him holding his favourite reading material…

Don't hurt me...I will hold the books!

All in all this years 40th Anniversary Salute show was a roaring success for both me and the company too.  It never ceases to amaze me what talent exists not only in the world but also in connection with me.  Wargaming is home to some of the nicest people you will ever meet.

Thanks to all of you dear customers…I ate prime steak on Saturday night!

GBS