Salute – there and back again
April 24, 2013Like a good many bloggers, I too went to Salute, and this is my near-mandatory Salute post.
Of course Salute was a bit special for me, since it was my first one. We don’t have miniatures conventions as such in Finland, and I wasn’t at all expecting the sheer size and scale of the event. For the first hour or so I must’ve been walking around with my eyes wide and mouth open. Salute is HUGE. The large hall at London ExCel was filled with miniatures manufacturers’ stalls and games. Yes, games. More about those in a moment.
I spent four full days in London, and a good amount of that time was spent in the company of Frothers. Despite the FU-UK forums having a reputation for somewhat foul behaviour, all the forum members I met were amazingly hospitable and really made my stay in London something much more than it would’ve been on my own. So to all Frothers possibly reading this, thank you ever so much and see you next year!
Ok, enough of the sappy stuff. Here are some pictures, click for larger versions:
Some call it bare knuckle fighting…
…others call it a gay disco.
The action figure bare knuckle fightfest was a Frothers game, lovingly(?) dubbed the gay disco game. I got a game in, although we had to drop it halfway through, as my opponent had another game to catch. Fun while it lasted!
A zany rendition of the old Snit’s Revenge boardgame
The game deservedly won the “Most innovative game” prize
Another Frothers game, this one was a 3D remake (aren’t these all the rage these days) of a 70’s boardgame, Snit’s Revenge. I took control of a team of Snits trying to bring down a Bolotomus. Unfortunately the Bolotomus’ immune system proved to be too tough for us.
A wonderful Victorian scifi game – definitely not my genre but lovely anyway!
Fog and rooftops, very atmospheric
Salute was filled with wonderful, wonderful game boards. I’ve no idea what they were playing, but I spent a good while gawking.
The Haunted House of Slaughter – “disturbing” doesn’t do it justice
Some of the Haunted House’s cast and crew
While I never got to play the Haunted House of Slaughter, I helped pack it away. I felt like I wanted to wash my hands afterwards. With quicklime. Lovely!
My favourite of the show, Akula’s Planet of the Apes table with humans for scale
Lovely detailing
An abandoned subway train sits under the field
I got to play on the table, here’s my astronaut almost making it out through a storm drain before being captured by damn dirty apes
I had seen the Return to the Planet of the Apes table in pictures before Salute, and was expecting something approximately one third this size. It was mind-blowing. Akula is deservedly known for his mad projects! The game itself was fun too, with astronauts trying to flee to safety while pursued by apes. Good fun!
These are just a small glimpse! For a far more detailed picture coverage, see this blog.
Overall it was an amazing experience, and I can’t wait for next year!
…I’ll just leave out the bit about spending £180 on miniatures.
Dawn of the Lead 
Only £180! Lol…you got off cheaply. Hope to meet up again next year when I will stay for the drinks on Saturday!
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Well, it IS considerably more than what my flights to London cost…:D
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Im with The Dozing Dragon – you got off lightly only spending £180 😉
Although picking up a few new toys at local cons is always part of the fun, most that I have attended have revolved around playing games. Due to its size and that it is a days duration I found that Salute is more of a shopping experience, along with some “ooh”ing and “aah”ing at the various beautiful games on display. I quite like it like that, although I did try to get a demo game in here and there when I attended last year.
You seem to have got quite a number of games played. When I went I was afraid that if I was stuck sitting at one game for the whole day that I might miss something, so I only played short, quick demo games.
So, what did you buy? More stuff for Utopia or was it less sensible, more impulsive purchases?
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Well, I actually only played in three Frothers games, and all were quite quick – probably around 30 minutes each. I was thinking along the same lines as you were, so short games were a must.
I managed to stay pretty much sensible with my purchases – practically all of them are aimed at Utopia use. I’ll probably do a full post on them, but there are some Eisenkern riflemen, plenty of Pig Iron, Crooked Dice Time Lift security guards, loads of Heresy troopers and a few Statuesque ladies. Plus more 😀
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[…] the year was all in all very decent. I loved my visit to London and Salute in the spring, and will be doing that next year as well. Come by and say hi if you’re […]
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