Salute 2019

 Salute has come round yet again and I got there early as usual to beat the massed crowds. I really like to be at the front of the queue or in at least the first 30 odd people as I could not cope being crushed and shoved up for an hour or so with the clamouring masses. Having an hour and half wait at the front is nothing really. I had plenty of space around me and loads of time to peruse the magazine and free goodies that came in the bag that everyone who attends gets on entering (the first 5000 people anyway) the free miniature is lovely and this time Salute's theme was Post Apocalyptic with the free miniature being a female wasteland character walking her mutant lizard dog pet. More freebies included the Gates of Antares dice game and a nice promo miniature for a new Sci Fi game Starcide from Prodos Games. Nice mini but its more than likely going on Ebay! a Salute dice included as always finished of the goodies (no golden ticket in my back again this year boooo!!)

The queuing hall filled up rapidly and attendance seem pretty similar to last year with tons of happy geeks, nerds, gamers and poor significant others ready to stream into the annual UK church of mass gaming hysteria!! the doors actually opened bang on time this year and we charged in, with maps of the traders and games in hand - our route picked out to maximise our enjoyment and cram in all that we could, timings and plans that would inevitably go all to pot!

Poor Ray, Lee and others from the Posties Rejects, who always seem to manage to sneak in early were standing on the other side of the entrance and nearly got trampled in the rush.

My first port of call was Goblin King Games home of the new whimsical fantasy skirmish game Moonstone. I had seen this previously and loved the Labyrinth, Dark Crystal esq look of the miniatures and the Brian Froud influenced artwork is fabulous. I picked up a cracking starter deal (suggested by yours truly on their facebook page) of a full starter set and rulebook (beautifully illustrated) and had a really nice chat with the lads on the stand. Then it was off for a nice demo. Ash Barker of Guerrilla Miniature Games has done a really good let's play video of the game but having a hands on demo really helped my enthusiasm for the game. I will be posting a more in depth review about the game soon.

Next was Crooked Dice Miniatures a firm favourite of mine and I have been friends with Karl, Helena and Morgan for a good few years. Morgan was running the new 7TV Apocalypse demo game and I sat down ready for some Post Apoc buggy racing mayhem. The game was awesome, not so much for the fact I won but for the cinematic moment that I raced my buggy towards the first gate, launching it of a ramp of scrap and hurtled through the gate, T-Boning an opponents buggy that was in front of me and crashing it out of the race. Such fun!

Warlord games next and they were showing off Black Sails, which is an Age of Sails version of their recent hit naval game Cruel Seas. Using near identical mechanics, it plays pretty similar with different touches like using wind etc.. nice looking game, they are going to be producing their own miniatures for it but I bought into Cruel Seas and am now considering moving it on for various reasons, so this one wont be for me.

It was soon midday and I wandered over to the central point of the hall to meet up again as we do every year with my fellow bloggers. A small attendance this year with most of the usual faces (Tamsin, Ray, Lee, Postie, Sydney etc) and a couple of new faces.

A good catch up and discussion about the show so far, games played and purchases done and intended. The annual photo and then off again for games and shopping.

After a bit more shopping I caught up with Andy Hobday and chatted all things Test of Honour and Mortal Gods. Mortal Gods is Warbanner (old company name) Footsore Miniature & Games (new name for the company and I wont go into the saga of this but most of you might know the story of it) Ancient Greek skirmish game, adapted and updated from the Samurai game Test of Honour.

I picked up the Starter set which is smashing and includes everything you need, Dice, Cards and lots of lovely Victrix Plastic Greek miniatures although Footsore are doing their own and I will be getting myself some very nice Athenian Marines shortly. A good demo game saw my very decent opponent, graciously allowing my to hack down his Spartan Lochos with my rampaging Anthenians!

With only a few hours left of the show, I picked up the last of my shopping list and wandered over to Warploque Miniatures to catch up with Alex Huntley - owner, sculptor, painter and now designer (version 2) of the cracking skirmish game Arcworlde.

Im a huge fan of Alex's work as all his miniatures are hand sculpted and have such an old school style. His ability to turn out such fantastic large pieces such as his Dragons and Giants are amazing.

I have been playing Arcworlde since it first hit the wargames scene and was interested to see how his vision and changes for the 2nd edition would apply to the game. I had a great demo, taking the Wild Elf faction against the Halflings (and a lone Forest Troll that randomly decided to crush Elf and Halfling alike with rocks and falling trees) The Elves were not really a popular faction in first edition (IMHO) but I was really impressed with the direction they are going now. I have a few quibbles over minor changes in the rules but overall it looks like it going to go from strength to strength.

With half hour left before the show ended I managed to get a good deal on a 4 x 4 aerial battle mat from Deep-Cut as it was the last on and took a few last photos of tables and games I had missed during the day. Looking at some other peoples pictures I still missed quite a bit (as per usual)

Some people have complained about the lighting but I found it a lot better this year. The show seem well attended with customers, maybe a bit lighter than previous years and plenty of traders were their although I have heard a few disgruntled comments from traders who couldn't get in due to lack of space (there seemed plenty of space to me) the avenues for people to walk around seemed wider - or is that die to less people?? also there were a lot of empty tables from demo/participation games that didnt show I believe.

On the games from I am disappointed I couldn't get anywhere near the TwoFatLardies Chain of Command game as it was swamped all day and really sad I didn't get to play on the amazing Lego Flash Gordon Game! overall a very high degree of games shown and put on with some fabulous work go into the majority. Again some were quite mediocre which is a shame. One game I should mention but didn't get any decent pics of was the Back to the Future game. They had 3 tables set out with terrain from the 3 films, very cleverly done and even had light tracks that lit up for the Delorean to go 88 miles per hour - Great Scott!!

Overall a very enjoyable show. Great to see and chat and meet up with all the wonderful friends and acquaintances in the hobby and I came away with some nice new shineys and had some wonderful games.

Spectre Operations

Warlords Black Sails

Wings of War

Mammoth Stanpede

Burrows & Badgers

This is not a Test

Street Wars

Batman

Two Fat Lardies Chain of Command

Space 1999 Game

Flash Gordon in Lego!!

Your happy Blogger

Light on cosplayers this year

Warlords of Erehwon & Middle Earth Strategy Battle Game

Warlord Games have recently published a new set of Fantasy Battle Rules called Warlords of Erehwon, written by the rather impressive Rick Priestly. These rules (based similarly on the Gates of Antares rules) give fantasy players a chance to game openly with any make/model/range of fantasy miniatures available.

With no direct fluff (apart from a few generic stories here and there) players are able to play their game in any setting they please using such forces as Undead, Orcs, Goblins, Elves, Dwarves, Olympians, Knights and Beastmen to name a few.

I was struggling to think of an army to use with these rules as a few members of my wargames club are looking at gaming the rules, as I don't really have any large scale fantasy armies (never really playing Warhammer Fantasy or Kings of War - and then I had a light-bulb moment!!! Lord of the Rings!

I have hundreds of old Lord of the Rings miniatures in boxes that I have not used for nearly 10 years. So off to the garage I went and after about 3 days of sorting, fixing (so many broken spears, swords etc) I have managed to put together enough forces to field.

Orcs (using Mordor/Morranon and Isengard)
Knights (using Dol Amroth and Gondor)
Barbarians (using Easterlings)
Barbarians (using Rohan)
Elves (using Rivendell and Galadhrim)

After seeing the range of miniatures I had (which include Ring Wraiths, Dol Guldor, Arnor and more) I also decided to purchase the new Middle Earth Strategy Battle Game rules and the Battle Companies rules. I am now seriously looking to immerse myself back into some Tolkien lore and gaming.

I decided I will be putting an Elven army together for Warlords of Erehwon and Lord of the Rings first. I have pretty much everything I need with a few bits on the way - which includes a Rivendell Captain, Banner Bearer and Armoured Glorfindel.

The only miniatures I am struggling to get hold of are the Rivendell Knights as they are out of production at Games Workshop and any available on Ebay and the like are going for silly money.

Also for Rivendell I also have not bothered getting Elladan and Elrohir foot and mounted in armour yet as I have the unarmoured versions which will suffice and I have no Arwen miniature but she can wait.

For the Galadhrim, all I need really is an Armoured version of Celeborn and I think I'm good. Maybe an Ent (but that is a a way off yet)

Galadhrim Elves for Middle Earth SBG

Rivendell Elves for Middle Earth SBG

Elven Host for Warlords of Erehwon

Carnevale

I played my first proper game of Carnevale against my friend Mark last Thursday and ran my Patricians vs Marks Guild in a Headhunter Scenario.

Building our Carnevale Gangs with 75 Ducats each.  The Scenario  – Headhunter had simple rules – basically you would score 3VP for kiling a leader, 2VP for a Hero and 1VP for killing a henchman. The game would last 5 turns.


My Patricians Gang:                                          

Noble – Giovanni Sliplotti Barbarigo                       

Foreign Noble – Vicomte Charles de Chartres          

Spy – Meredith Wake                                                

Barnabotti – Zilia Dandolo                                        

Butler – Niccolo Barozzi      

                                     

The Guild:

Capodecina - Leader

Baba Yaga - Bloodwitch Hero

Butcher - Hero

Male Citizen - Henchman

Female Citizen - Henchmen

"The Guild are attempting a raid on a Nobles Casa, Palazzo Barbarigo Minotto, when the Noble and his Masacarata return from a nights debauchery. Suddenly seeing themselves possibly trapped the Guild must fight to the death to escape, hopefully taking down a few of the hated Patrician Psychopaths"

Turn 1.

The Patricians advance with De Chartres and Ms Wake flanking from the east to take position on the lion bridge. To the north, Giovanni Barbarigo and his butler climb to the top of a small house, preparing to jump over to his casa. Giovanni fails first dex roll but finally gets into position with the rest of his actions. (failed dex rolls will feature a lot!!!)

The Barnabotti, Zilia Dandolo skips across the narrow bridge looking at flanking on the west side of plaza. Meanwhile the Guild all move up across the bridge to the north, moving quickly south. Making all their dex rolls, even the blood witch nimbly jumps forward. Not much action takes place as both sides try to get an advantage of position.

Turn 2. 

The Patricians claim the initiative and Meredith shoots the female citizen at long range with her rifle, quickly reloading and slyly smiling as she she's the citizen stagger backwards, bleeding.

Preparing the way for his master, Barozzi prepares to jump the gap over to a balcony on the casa. Failing the jump he hits the plaza floor heavily and screams in pain. Baba Yaga casts blood-lust on the Butcher as the Barnabotti chain jumps up to the roof of a house west of the casa.

Seeing the Barnabotti up above, the Butcher under command from the Blood Witch attacks and manages to hurl her from the roof. Clearly unable to use her billowing silk shirts as a parachute Zilia falls 5 inches to the plaza floor landing in a bleeding heap. Giovanni, seeing his favourite get cast from the rooftops leaps towards his casa ready to take the fight to the nearest enemy. 

Again the Patricians leader fails his dex and he falls but manages to tuck and roll hitting the ground and is able to stave of any damage. Recovering quickly the Noble snaps off a pistol shot at the Butcher, but at the maximum range the small pistol ball can't penetrate the Butchers thick leather apron.

Seeing the Barnabotti crumpled on the ground in the alley near him the Capodecina darts forward and quickly dispatches her before skipping back into the shadows. 

Turn 3. 

Gaining the initiative the Guild surge forward. Baba casts Abyssal Mist close to the Lions bridge blocking the Ms Wake's line of sight and then casts blood-lust on the Capo before using her unnatural abilities to drain blood from a nearby male citizen to heal herself after the strain of casting her blood magic.

Taking command from de Chartres, Meredith shoots, reloads and fires again at the Butcher. Again the thick apron of the Butcher helps in protecting him but he still staggers back bleeding as a round takes him high in the shoulder.

Both citizens move to guard the Blood Witch whilst Giovanni climbs up and around the outside of his casa using the overhanging balconies. The Capo sensing an opportunity rushes to meet him and the Patrician leader is impaled on the Capos blade making him bleed heavily.

However the Capo hadn’t noticed the trap – Giovanni had lured the Capo away from his support and now he was vulnerable. Charles de Chartres clambers up to the balcony and with deft swordplay seriously injures the Capo.

Turn 4. 

With the Patricians surge they gain the initiative and Giovanni in a frenzy of savage blows cuts down the Capo mercilessly. During this deadly exchange the Butcher had circled around the west of the casa and again under command from Baba Yaga manages to catch up to Meredith Wake and wounds her significantly.

Baba seeing both nobles recovering from the brutal fight against the Capo casts Kraken's Breath. Catching the pair of nobles with her devastating spell it causes hideous damage. 

In a rage from his wounds de Chartres leaps down onto the Butcher hoping to take him out before he succumbs to the agonising pain of the Kraken's Breaths affects.

The Butcher survives this vicious attack, just (1 life point remaining)

Turn 5. 

Still with the initiative Giovanni tries to climb down his house away from the cackling Blood Witch, however with the debilitating wounds taken from Kraken's Breath he cant hold his grip against the crumbling walls of his once opulent abode. 

Flailing like mad for any type of handhold, which he cant get he crashes to the bloodstained flagstones below and doesn’t move again.

Regaining his composure after such a viscous attack from above, the Butcher wields his huge cleaver and cuts down the French dandy de Chartres, leaving a mass of bloodstained fine silks and carved flesh on the plaza.

Recovering her wits after seeing her patron cut down Meredith aims and shoots the Butcher finally dropping the huge brute. Occupied with reloading her rifle Ms Wake doesn’t see a ragged citizen sneak up behind and never has time to register the club cracking her skull before losing consciousness.

Seeing his masters company falling the Butler Niccolo decides discretion is the better part of valour and retreats away from the remaining Guild members. A citizen suddenly dashes from the alleys and lunges at him but the wild attack only glances him and the Butler manages to get away from his opponent.

"With the coming dawn, the Watch can be heard approaching and both sides withdraw. Baba Yaga surveyed the carnage around her. Her pawn was dead, but no matter – plenty more pieces left to play. The Patrician was no longer a problem in her plans, lying broken and and smouldering on the plaza floor, barely alive. however his Butler was attempting to drag the wretched noble into the house.

The Spy, sent to investigate the rumours of a powerful Witch aiding the Guild was dead and now unable to report back to her foreign masters…whoever they were. One thing was certain though, after tonight's raid a clear message had been sent – don’t cross the Blood Witch."

Drawn game 5VPs each.

The Guild killed: Foreign Noble 2vps

                            Spy 2vps 

                            Barnabotti 1vp

                            Patrician Noble was taken out by falling and was ruled as not giving the guild vps.

Patricians killed: Butcher 2vps 

                            Capodecina 3vps.