Whats Not In The Bag? Salute Traders Special Edition Lockdown Podcast

With another week of enforced isolation behind them the intrepid band of wargamers astonishingly still appear to have something new to talk about (although Andy is still painting Vikings...).

The usual melange of painting, basing and figure selection chatter is augmented this week by ruminations on the efficacy of the postal service, whether soap is a good idea for things other than combating virus transmission, whether German WW2 Paratroopers actively chose not to use multi-barelled rocket launchers because of the challenges of pronunciation, and just how far can a Chinese army be morphed before it becomes socially unacceptable to do so.

This week also sees the one-off appearance of "What's not in the Bag?" in which we all discuss what we did not buy at Salute! at the weekend due to it being postponed to 2021. This one you can play along with at home - the full trader list for Salute! 2020 is avaiable online on the Warlords website

The end result is an episode that stretches dangerously towards the 90 minute mark, but fortunately for fans of niche French urban slo-tempo techno that does mean Andy's Quiz also returns yet again.

The Podcast is online at Podbean now, or search "Madaxeman Podcast" on iTunes

What's in the Bag? The Salute 2016 Podcast !

In this latest Podcast episode I'm joined by Ian, Gavin, Jeavon, John and Stan all from Central London Wargames Club in a "straight to live" recording made in the beer garden of the Fox pub at the ExCeL Centre, London.

The Fox may not be the most salubrious of locations, but the Audacity software I used has cleaned up almost all of the pub-background noise when recording the podcast so the sound quality is surprisingly good for what was the resting place for weary and thirsty gamers escaping from the mega-show that was Salute! 2016.

In this episode I ask the question "What's in the Bag?" of all of my guests, and with some added liquid lubrication the discussion then rambles onto subjects as diverse as the pricing of 15mm figures, packaging strategies (blister pack or baggie?), how much would you pay for a boardgame if you lived on a submarine, and just how many 1/3000th scale ships are "too many"?

To get the full experience it may be best to have at least 3-4 pints yourself before tuning in !

6mm Neo-NATO and Neo -Soviet SF forces

Having done some wargamer-scale "dabbling" in 1/300th Moderns for a while now (erm... 3 whole large armies and a lot of eBay fishing...) I'd been strangely drawn to the idea of supplementing the increasingly futuristic looking tanks and rather indistinct infantry with some SF Mechs and Walkers.

This new habit started with an unusually restrained initial outing at Warfare 2014 where I picked up a handful of Mechs and Walkers from Ground Zero Games. But then... I caved in and did some online shopping...

Now, 2 years later, it's all gone SF mad!

There are now two full pages and loads of photos of this stuff being painted and fully finished for you to browse on this website.

Of course, I have no rules yet but with Salute! coming up I think I will be investing in Horizon Wars (the new Osprey set), and possibly probably FWC as well.

Review of Salute! 2015

Yes, a comprehensive review of the stuff I saw at Salute! 2015, with loads of photos and some actual analysis and commentary on industry trends and stuff as well...

Feel free to share this review on your chosen web forum  and chew over my thoughts ...

Thoughts on Salute 2013

I went along to Salute at the weekend, and was very impressed. The massive numbers of attendees alone would tend to refute any idea that the hobby is struggling or that the internet is taking away from trade shows!

Warlords do a very good job of putting on an event which has a very short set-up time and cannot really afford to put in many of the creature comforts of "proper" events held in a space like ExCeL - for example, carpet would be nice, but would probably add more than 50% to the cost of hall rental, and hence admissions, and a second day of opening would double the costs and also the costs to exhibitors of staying down at the show.

A few people on TMP have whinged about ExCeL, however it is the only place in London with space and availability to host a show of that size, and those who complain about the catering are missing the point - the range and selection of catering is far better than any other equivalent venue, as long as you are prepared to walk along the central boulevard at ExCeL to find the outlet that suits you. Salute also benefits from the presence of the Marathon alongside in this respect, as all the catering outlets are open - this might not be the case if Salute were the only event in the venue that weekend.

My impressions of the exhibitors was that;

•  Historical, and especially 28mm historical skirmish gaming seems to be having a bit of a renaissance at the moment,
• Vendors are selling, and gamers are keener to give a try to "one box" solution games where you can get everything you need (rules, figures etc) from one supplier for sub £100 - of course you end up buying more!
• The market for resin-cast buildings and scenery is shrinking rapidly as the number of laser-cut pre-painted MDF ones explodes. I felt quite sorry for some of the resin scenery exhibitors as their stands looked deserted.
• Osprey will soon publish every rulebook in the market,
• Plastics are a now given, to the point of almost a default for some new ranges, and the debats has moved onto whether pre-paint is now starting to be a serious option,  
• Figure design is really moving onwards and upwards - again like the resin/MDF split some of the companies I once considered "old stalwarts" like Essex Miniatures looked out of place and their stand wasn;t that busy - they may end up being the Hinchcliffe of 15mm without more pzazz injected into the lines and display cases,
• I have no idea what Foundry are up to right now - for all the talk of a new era of product, branding and marketing they had a rather confusing and low key presence,
• Traders take note - having a banner to advertise your stand location is a must - there is almost no other directional signage at the show other than the catalogue, and with no reference points it was sometimes hard to see where you were even with the plan in front of you,
• The Bring and Buy was such a scrum that I didn't even consider going near it. I know the B&B is a staple of wargamiong shows, and makes money, but whether a show like Salute still really benefits from having a downmarket melee in one the corner it is something I'd question - using the space for more traders might now be the sensible option,
• Turn up at 11am, not 10am - the show is still open for another 6 hours, and it avoids the queues !

I only spent around £50 all in all, but that was mostly because I didn't want to buy anything - I think the £50 went out of my wallet through a form of wargaming osmosis which seems to afflict me at many shows...