Nerdcation Part 1 - A Yank at Salute!

So this year for vacation I decided to cross a few things off the ol' bucket list and got tickets for the Salute show in London. Salute has had this near mythical status in my head for years - the pictures online always display a lot of work and love of toy soldiers done by local clubs. I'd also get to meet some people in the industry that I've known online for years that I'd otherwise never get the chance to meet. With tickets secured, I boarded an airplane and set off half-way around the world for one of the best toy-soldier shows anywhere!

My first jet-lagged day there, I spent seeing the Tower bridge and the Tower of London itself.

I was tired by 2 in the afternoon. This trip was a mess with a 9 hour time difference and wrecked
havoc on my internal clock.

Relaxing and then doing some touristy stuff was first, but Saturday was the big dance. Salute was a massive show - not quite on the scale of GenCon - but bigger than most others I've been to. It was stacked with vendors ranging from the big boys at Forge World to the little guy casting in his garage and everyone in between. It was fun to see what they had to show, but my main interest lay in the displays and games put on by the fans and clubs. I was not disappointed. No half built, un-primed models playing on green felt here. Only 100% certified awesome was on display. Let's take a look!

This massive display of a fort on the coast of New Sweden was the first thing to greet me
when entering.

Loved the ship readying its landing parties!

Love all the little details on this board. It really brings it to life!

Indian war parties patrol the shore!

Im sure the nearby village was concerned with the thunder of guns the fort and ship
were exchanging!

A display for Wild West Exodus built by my buddy Rob Hawkins at the Rob Hawkins Hobby Blog.

It was awesome to check out this massive Dropfleet Commander dropship in person.

Check out all those ships ready to descend on a hapless planet.

Germans vs Soviets in the snow.

I really liked the winter paint on the German armor.

Life finds a way in this Jurassic Park game!

The raptor section really needed to be run by woman so that when she beat you, the
proper response would be "Clever Girl!"

I was happy to see no sign of Chris Pratt.

A game of "To The Strongest" being run by its writer, Simon Miller of The Big Read Bat Cave blog.

All those pikemen in 28mm were giving me a bit of the vapors. So sexy!

Who'd think this was played on grid? So cleverly hidden.

This board was the Fall of Saigon and packed with models!

Again, full of lovely little touches.

The Japanese column brazenly advances!

With a little air support, of course.

Great looking 1st World War trench table action.

Some ACW action ready to occur.

I think them Union boys gonna have a looooong walk over to
them fences.

I think a War of Spanish Succession battle? Anyway, that town in
the back was great!

Sweeeeet.

I think that's a LOT of robots by anyone's standards.

An evil genius' derrick lair for a game of 7TV

This fantastic game of Napoleonics was a scaled up version
of Command & Colors Napoleonics.

Even in 15mm, this was a huge board.

Giant Robits fight it out in this Wolsing display.

A lovely game of Sharpe's Practice put on by the fellas from Lard Island.

Some hot Pike and Shotte action on this table.

Some great D-Day action here!

This whole table oozed with details. One of my favs there.

I really loved the buildings.

This table for Mierce Miniatures was fantastic. I got to watch it grow on Twitter
and the end result was fabulous!

And a shot from the other end.

Some 15mm Napoleonics using the new "General de'Armee" rules, I believe.

This Infinity table was full of vibrant colors!

And probably cost a fortune!

Loved this little board for samurai skirmishes.

Battlegroup Tobruk by Ironfist Publishing. 

They do great work with materials anyone can get.

This amazing castle and town by Oshiro Models was another show highlight.

Those buildings are just wonderful!

I loved how many boards incorporated water and boats into their design, and this was
no exception.

A line of samurai and their troops make their way up to the castle!

More 15mm Naps! That town in the corner was just the best.

All hand made, from what I was told!

Some far future action from Halo Ground Command over at Spartan Games.

This Pelican model almost made me want to play this game. Almost.

Great looking Frostgrave table.

From another angle.

More Frostgrave action. I think this was a display by Sarrissa for their laser cut range.

I really dug the mountain shrine added.

I ended up making only a few purchases at the show. I was most enthused by some more Time Robbers figures from Northumbrian Tin Soldier and scooped them up as quick as I could!

Kevin completes the crew! And Og as a pig is just icing on top!

"I would have started with Micro Chips, the Laser, DAY ONE!"

I never pass up on a model that gives me the chance to use a Sean Connory voice!

Aside from a few bibs and bobs, that was my Salute. It was a fantastic show and everyone there was so kind to me. BUT! That wasn't the end of my Nerdcation - I figured while I was "close", a trip to Nottingham and Warhammer World was in order. That's part 2 later this week!

Cheers!

Keep On Trukking!

Honk! Honk!

I put the final touches on my first Ork Trukk kit and I think its ready to hit the tabletop. I really like the look of this model, but I found the build to be really odd. A lot of the model stays together through tension and it feels super fragile for a gaming piece. My army needs a second Trukk transport at least, and I'm giving thought to looking for some other kit to construct it. That'd tie nicely into the feel of the Ork's non-standard nature and solve my issues with not really looking forward to building a second one of these. Maybe a converted Taurox kit would be in order? I'll have to look around.

Sans Boyz

I love the ramshackle look- just not the engineering!

Plenty of room for the kids and groceries!

Detail of the ram plate.

Love the Car-Toons feel of the driver's head. But he was kinda a bitch to fit into the cab. Again, weird fragile build.

Look, of course the Big Shoota gunner needs a chainsword - what if he runs out of bullets?!

Cheers!

The Way Back Machine

The very first models I can ever remember painting, I picked up in the misty past of 1981. I was 8 years old and due to my older brother, I was obsessed with Dungeons & Dragons. Armed with a few dollars and an endless supply of begging, I got a set of D&D models at my local hobby shop - Air Hobbies & Crafts in Lumberton New Jersey. I picked up a set by Grenadier Models - #2004 Henchmen and Hirelings.

 

There were 9 models of varying types - torch bearers, treasure carriers, lantern bearers and more. I was super excited and totally clueless about how to paint them. I ended up using a children's plastic watercolor set on bare metal. The results were horrific. I'm sure I was very proud. 

Recently, I found the set on Ebay and decided to dip my toes back into my childhood and take another shot at painting them up. The models I got were already painted (by a 10 year old with enamels it looked like) so I threw them into a bath of Pinesol to strip them down. I've cleaned and repainted about half at this point. I still need to clean up the last four guys and get paint on them.

The first half of the set. These are some old skool sculpts. I wouldn't be surprised to learn they were made with
solder or some similar material.

Halfling torch bearer. Such a cute lil fella!

Pack bearer. He doesn't seem very happy with his
life choices.

When I was 8 I had NO IDEA what was going on with this model.
Now that I'm older I realize he's carrying his wounded buddy and I
have less questions about my sexuality.

What I love about all these sculpts is that while they might be technically wanting,
they absolutely ooze character. 

What I love the most about these models is how quintessentially they capture Gygaxian D&D to me. In Gary's version of the game, you weren't just 4-5 people delving into a dungeon. Each player had hangers-on and specialists they could hire to do jobs and take risks they might deem too dangerous to do themselves. Its why Charisma shouldn't have been your dump stat and why many of Gary's modules, like Tomb of Horrors, were so dangerous. He was banking on the idea that one of your many minions would stick their head into the Sphere of Annihilation in the gargoyle's mouth, NOT YOU! By the time you'd chewed your way to the Big Boss of the module, you should have left a trail of bodies of scrubs and favorite retainers. Its a great example of how a game designer's intent is usually not how the end users turn out playing the game. Ha!

I also managed to finish up 9 more grotz to bring my Gretchin mob up to 20 models overall. This feels much more correct to me than an 11 strong unit. 

We make holes in teeth!

Cheers!

Grots! And The Future Of Warhammer 40.000

After missing a week where I didn't get to do much hobby stuff, I got back on the horse and finished up a unit Grots for my Ork army. I need to expand the unit because 10 grots isn't a functional unit, so I've got another box on the way. In the meantime, I really loved this kit - the sculpts drip with character and most are generally 2 pieces. 

"'Ere we go! 'Ere we go! 'Ere we go!"

"Ey yoose gitz! Stay outta mah yard!"

Grots are always some of the most characterful sculpts in the Ork line.

I also might use these guys as a Gretchin Revolution squad in skirmish games.

In addition to painting these guys up, like many online, I watched with great interest Game Workshop's presentation at Adepticon detailing some of the ideas surrounding the new edition Warhammer 40,000. I adore 40k in terms of storytelling and models, but the game has become overly complex for my tastes and some of the armies have serious balance issues. I eagerly look forward to the new edition embracing the learnings from Age of Sigmar, and I hope they carry a lot of the design philosophy over to the new edition.

One of the things I hope they port over from Age of Sigmar to Warhammer 40,000 is the idea that every unit is capable of hurting every other unit in the game. By ditching the traditional "to wound" chart and eliminating fixed saves, AoS has made almost every unit viable in the game (this isn't to say equal, but there is very little in the game that is unusable), so players have a greater amount of freedom in designing armies based on what they enjoy painting and building rather than what is competitive in a local meta or what is game-breaking. This allows players to engage in match ups where they are both having fun and one player isn't dominating the game based on purchasing power. It'll be possible for you bring super heavies and not be considered a jerk, and for me to bring an army of grots and not be considered an idiot. The ability for everything to hurt everything else allows both players to bring what they like without ruining their opponent's good time.

I'm also hoping for generally a more unified game - over many years of playing 40k I've always felt like each type of model was its own separate rule system all jammed together into one game. It was fun for the rules to go radical places in the older editions, but now it just feels like too much to keep up with. The AoS core rules are simple enough to "fall away" into the background during a game, which I feel lets me focus on tactics and having fun. I really want that for Warhammer 40,000 because I feel more justified buying the absolutely outstanding models GW keeps releasing.

Cheers!