Sunday 23 April 2017

Post Salute post

Hi all

I'm writing this post at a first aid station lining the London Marathon route (as a first aider I assure you) and it's a bit of an extra post today as I plan on posting as normal tomorrow.  As most of you will know the biggest wargames show in the UK was hosted yesterday by the South London Warlords Gaming Group - Salute! 2017.  This massive endeavour is a highlight in the Nerding year for me as I get to speak to loads of like minded people - traders, enthusiasts, demonstrators and this year to add to the fun - bloggers!!

Yes, to my utter delight I met some of the writers of some of my favourite blogs! Jez from carrion crow buffet stalked me through the gates....lol. I'm glad he did though as we had a lovely chat and he was the able to introduce me to some of the other bloggers at the 1pm meet. Michael from 28mm Victorian Warfare and Simon from Fantorical were snagged into a photo with yours truly by Jez and they put me to shame with their fancy waistcoats, although we did sport similar hairstyles........

To the obligatory pics then, first Rich "N4L" Gates stole my iPad and took a selfie....


next up the proper pic of the Nerd herd in the queue.  from L-R Rich "N4L" Gates, Alex "Lexie" Nash, Andy "da Gobbo" Nash, Connor (rear), Damon "Rulez" Carlton and Chris "Naps" Thorne.


So to the demos then, i'm not sure of them all as I was in a bit of a daze, trying to fit them all in.


not sure what this was, i think French Indian Wars?

28mm modern conflict?

The Walking Dead demo

Frostgrave

Jurassic Park, just lovely


Infinity the game - this board was imho the best of the lot!
So to my swag then!  First up I hit the GCT stand for a shopping list load of Bushido minis that are show exclusive and/or brand new to bolster my many factions as well as purchasing a whole new faction which I will be showcasing once I get started on them (in 6 months.....).  I also picked up my copy of the GCT resources board game - The Pioneer Project.  Recently released following a successful KS programme, i'm looking forward to a romp in the post apocalyptic world.  I may have blown the budget in the first ten minutes....

Next up was some Reaper Bones models to help populate my new D&D project - some Kobolds and a couple of Heroes.  Then over to Ben at Master Crafted Miniatures to patronise his growing establishment :-).  Ben is doing some astonishingly good work designing new minis for upcoming ranges, for Bushido and for his own line of terrain and other stuff!  I got some tortoises (yes that's right!) which will populate either terrain or my Temple of Ro-Kan bases, some flying birds and toads. After that I sought out Dave Stone of Wargames Terrain Workshop where I picked up some amazing pieces which you have to see (when I paint them) to believe them.  In the flesh they are brilliant, although Dave will say himself that his photos on his website don't do the models justice (this is true, his models are outstanding!).  After that I picked up a cheap copy of the Walking Dead Starter game as well as a bargain Team Yankee armoured strike force and some amazing Hasslefree minis.  the photo below shows the extent of the haul, what it doesn't show is the distressed state of my wallet, which has declared itself a disaster zone....


anyway I'll leave it there and you'll see the close ups of the swag as and when it is table ready.  A cracking day had by all, see you next year!

dGG

53 comments:

  1. Fantastic haul Andy, was great to see you and the rest of the nerd herd. Sorry for the dent in your wallet, you may need to admit it to intensive care after yesterday ! LOL

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    1. Cannot wait to put your pieces together mate. Cracking to talk to you yesterday again, I hope you did well buddy

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    2. Was a good day, and great to meet up with so many friends old and new

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  2. Nice pics (well apart from the first one! JK). I hope all goes well at the London Marathon.
    I look forward to tomorrows post and HOPE to see some snaps of the Bushido boards. The Walking Dead demo looks very good I hope you took more pics!

    All the best mate.

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    1. Only these ones mate sadly, so many good tables. Tomorrow is a look at the sewer D&D tiles

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    2. Is it Possible that you did not buy enough BUSHIDO stuff?

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    3. There were still SOME blisters left for others Clint..... ;-)

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  3. I am so envious of you, Andy. I would have loved to have attended but real life has once again prevented me. What a great haul of goodies. That lot will keep you going for a long time!

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    1. It was a great haul, costly but I'm looking forward to getting to grips with it over the next few weeks

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  4. Nice pics [well, maybe not the first two ;) ] and a great loot haul :)

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    1. Thanks Tamsin, I'm just catching up with blogs so I haven't seen how you made out. Will check :-)

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  5. Great to see you yesterday Andy, and that's a corking haul!! I look forward to seeing all of this stuff painted up :-)

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    1. Fantastic to put a face to a name Simon, nice to meet you. Put some together yesterday that I can't wait to paint

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  6. absolutely outstaning. Like Jez, you`ve made the whole thing come alive virtually, for all the unlucky bods who never made it there this year. Love the photos and I bet you`re in heaven with the cool Bushido haul (did you bring a fork lift truck?) and the cool terrain and bits of bobs as well.

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    1. I'm in Bushido heaven Tarot! Loads of goodies :-)

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  7. really lovely to see you, and the cool family and friends. You all look so happy and obviously had an amazing time. I`m so glad, and am determined to meet you all next year at Salute, Stevie insists he`s dragging me along to it with him to make it an annual event lol).

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    1. That would be amazing mate. We had a great time!

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  8. It was an absolute delight to meet you yesterday Andy and you are just as enthusiastic about the hobby in person as you are on your blog. My word you did well on the haul too. Here's to next year!

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    1. Thanks Michael, loved meeting you guys. Really good to meet the men behind the keyboards!

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  9. One year I must make it to Salute but, yeah...I'm not sure my bank balance would survive the visit!

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  10. Cracking haul you have there Andy, and another nice set of photo's. Hope to be there myself next year.

    Cheers Roger.

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    1. thanks HW, i'm looking forward to putting this lot together!

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  12. Nice haul of wargaming goodness. That Walking Dead table looks cracking!

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    1. There were some beautiful tables mate, the Infinty table was probably the best!

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  13. Now that's a swag pie and a half! Great review of the day.

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  14. That's quite a nice haul dGG. As for your wallet, just slap a band-aid on it... it'll heal.

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    1. I'm not sure it will mate, might have to put it down....

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  15. Goodness! Looks like you spent more in one day than I do in a year! :)

    So many good posts of salute this year - am jealous!

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    1. I must admit I went a bit nuts! In my defence because of where I live I don't get to many of these shows so Salute tends to be the time when I splurge...

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    2. you always buy wisely mate. I`m always impressed how you make it go round and seem to get so much for your buck.

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  16. It's a big pile of stuff! Hope you didn't have problems sneaking it into the house!

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    1. Forward thinking Lee mate, I sent missus Gobbo to a spa weekend. No witnesses to the crime......

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  17. Replies
    1. It represents the majority (all) of my gaming budget for the year really. Although I did just sneak in some Foundry animals...

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    2. Foundry animals? What all this then?

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    3. It's Jez's fault Michael, ask him!

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    4. wait, Foundry animals, what the....... is Jez making some more Dino-men?

      **grins**

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    5. Ooops misread that.... are you making some Andy?

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    6. Nah, I'm not that good at conversions! Wargames Foundry anima :-)

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