Salute To Tiny Men...

As I said yesterday, Salute is the UK's biggest wargames show and while Nick is a more regular attendee than I, I try to go whenever I can (missed out last year, sadly because of Rachel's broken wrist, but by all accounts the general buzz in the hall was that this year's was better anyway).

The highlight for me this year was Rachel's "surprise" (early) wedding anniversary present - a box set of the fantastic pig-nosed orcs from Otherworld Miniatures that I had been eyeing greedily as part of my "old school renaissance".


I was weighing up a couple of blister packs of Gary Gygax-flavoured orcs for the "relaunch" of my Tekralh roleplaying game (now under the auspices of the Labyrinth Lord ruleset) when Rachel offered to buy me the box set of the whole tribe - 25 figures - which a little while later I handed over to my painter, Neil (who also had a stall at the show).

Apparently, the three pink d6 I got Rachel from Chessex and the mood die and weather die I got her from em4miniatures aren't quite enough to count as a reciprocal anniversary gift!

For my tastes the finest display of the day was the Lovecraftian Assault On Innsmouth, staged by Gloranthan Army from France, using the Chain Reaction 2.0 rules from Two Hour Wargames.

As well as a higgledy-piggedly town, lit with spooky green illuminations from within some of the shacks, the scene was set-off from fantastically with a gigantic figure of Great Cthulhu himself rising from the sea fog on the edge of the board (fantastic use of the beautiful 16" high Horrorclix figure).

As it was explained to Rachel and I, it was being run as a rolling game that people could join at any time, with each player effectively playing "his own game".

Imagine how fantastic and evocative it would be to play a game of Call Of Cthulhu with scenery like that!

For another view of this game check out Bleaseworld.

I was pleased to see a strong zombie presence in many of the games on display as well this year, including the fantastic participation game run by Frothers Unite (pictured above), which featured stunning, "flat" scenery giving the game the impression of being some twisted version of Paddington Bear, written by Clive Barker and filmed by Tim Burton.

From the always friendly Mike at Black Hat Miniatures, as well as picking up a few more of his gorgeous wuxia Chinese figures from his Tales of the Dragon Kings line, I learnt that Ganesha Games would be producing a Chinese fantasy supplement, based on the Black Hat line, for its Song of Blades and Heroes rules system and Mike was considering producing a special figure to accompany the rules when they launched.

Overall, a good - if tiring day - with the only downside being the total lack of signage from the ExCel Centre in London's Docklands back to the M25 which made driving a nightmare for poor Rachel. Next year I think we will revert to using the train.

My full portfolio of pictures from the day can be seen here.