Post Salute 2013 and the Salute Haul

So Salute 2013 has been and gone, and another good year it was. Vast amounts of money was spent on toy soldiers, toy buildings and books about toy soldiers and toy buildings.

First of all the Salute haul. As last year, this year I took part in the Oath that I and a small group of friends started last year, of not buying any new miniatures from the 1st of January, until Salute. So that means I'd managed to save a good bit of money, and of course, had a few things on my list to buy. Needless to say, I bought them all, and then some stuff that wasn't really on the list either.

And this is what it all looks like

Infinity stuff, a good start on a new faction for Bushido, some Japanese scenery from the nice folks at Sarissa, the gorgeous new Dropzone Commander stuff, some 15mm bits and pieces from Antenociti's workshop, counters, scenery and templates for Infinity from MAS, some random figures from Ax Faction, just because, Dreadball season 2 book, the Noble Armada expansion book with a heavy cruiser, some spaceships from White Dragon Games at British indie, the Forge World limited ed Warrior Priest, oh and the Salute figure of course.

I also managed to grab a look at some new things that are particuarly exciting.

For Bushido the game by GCT Studios they had pictures of some of the new models that are coming out in Wave 12 and in the future.

The four painted figures, are the new fisherman for Temple, the Air Kami for Temple, something for Cult, and the Earth Kami for Temple.

At the back the only two you can really make out are the Giant Bat which will be for Savage Wave, and a large wheel with a face in the middle, which will be for Cult.

I also had a flick through their art book that they always bring. I didn't take pictures, as I thought they might not want those all over the place. Needless to say, some nice things coming up for the new faction, Silver Moon, including some Sumo types that are as large as an Oni, and some excellent artwork for all the other factions.

The other exciting news is that there's already artwork being produced for another faction. The faction that looked the most fleshed out so far, with a couple of pieces was the Miyamoto Clan, who are the bear clan that live in the mountains. A shugenja type woman, and a large samurai with a rather large tetsubo. There was also symbols for pirates, the Shi-o, and the Tengu, along with a piece of art for a Tengu, which looked quite cool.

Also news is that they're only a few weeks away from print for the rulebook, which will be nice to finally have in my hands when that gets released. 

Dropzone Commander was looking great as always, and I picked up the new releases for UCM. They were also giving out samples of their new cardstock buildings, with people getting one to take away. I must admit, I'm impressed, with the cardstock being thicker than I thought it would be. While I would love a set of the resin buildings, my budget just can't afford it, so these could be a second best alternative, and £30 to cover a 6 x 4 table, is pretty good really. They also had a new bit of terrain that they were showing off.

Monorai, Monorail

When asked on price, the people behind the stand said that it would be reasonable, and it would come with approximately 2m of track, supports for the track, the train itself, and a scenario booklet to go with it, to allow it to be used. I'm pretty sure I saw Dave talking to BoW about it when I was there, and he mentioned about having troops in the train, and allowing it to move around the battlefield with guys inside. Exciting.

On to gorgeous boards. The first one was the Japanese battle, that was kitted out with Oshiro Model Terrain

  

A great looking board. I love the Oshiro terrain, and I got myself some of the scatter packs, though looking at it I feel it would be sligthly too small for Bushido, so I went with the new MDF terrain from Sarissa. Still, gorgeous stuff.

Next up, the general sci-fi board from Antenociti's workshop

The guy manning the board did say that unfortunately they hadn't managed to get everything finished, but even so it was still looking great. The new modular buildings are looking nice, and they've overcome the problem that put me off buying more when I bought some of the first run of the 15mm buildings. The laser barriers at the side may make it into the store, he was saying the problem is they can't do them with the holes, so they would require to be drilled out by hand. I also told him he needed to make some of the weird aliens that they've got on the board as well.

For a stunning 15mm board, I think the organisers of Salute, the South London Warlords really did it this year.

It was a Hammer's Slammers participation game, which I must admit, I don't know a great deal about, having never read the books, nor do I know what system they were using. Really though, who cares, cause it's a gorgeous looking board. I only wish I had the space, time, and motiviation to do something like this.

And lastly it's Twilight Miniatures

  

I love the wacky world that Mike has come up with, with it's leanings towards Jim Henson Dark Crystal muppets and all that kinda thing. The figures are superbly sculpted, and he's got such an imagination. I always make time to go and talk to Mike every year, cause I enjoy catching up. And every year, even though it's a game that I hardly ever play, he always manages to sell more figures to me, as I just really love them. One of the other guys at the club has bought stuff as well now, so we might get some more games in. 

Anyways, that was my Salute. I'm sure I missed half a million things as always, but I never find the time to see every board, every figure and all the other stuff, and get in buying stuff. Still, that's the joy of reading everyone elses experiences. 

Hope you had fun if you went, and thanks for reading. 

Less than two weeks till Salute 2012

So Salute 2012 is less than 2 weeks from now. Hurrah I say, for with it comes the end of "The Oath" (which I've actually managed to keep too). So just thought I would post a quick review of what I'll be buying, and from whom, to put an end to the oath.

Definites:

1) Critical Mass rulebook from Critical Mass Games

Very interested in these rules, as I'm looking more and more to 15mm for gaming, especially when it comes to platoon level and larger games. As one of my friends described it, I'm put off by the way 40k now looks during a game, as to stay competitive you need tanks, and due to the amount some armies take like Imperial Guard, it looks like a parking lot for tanks.

They're also doing a deal at Salute of if you buy one of their new army boxes, you can get the rules at half price, or if you play a participation game you can get the rules for free with the purchase of an army box. 

2)  A couple of figures for the Prefecture of Ryu for Bushido from GCT Studios

Due to the oath I've missed out on a couple of releases for my faction for Bushido, so I'll be picking those up. Namely

Mizuchi, a rather nice looking dragon

Daisuke, a healer who could prove very useful

I think they're both great looking models, and will be keen to get them. And as GCT Studios are running a giveaway on the day, in that if you buy something from them, you get entered into a draw to win a board. The more things you buy, the more chances. Info below

GCT Studios Salute board giveaway

3) Some 15mm troops from Ground Zero Games

Looking at getting some of the 15mm UNSC troops for use in Tomorrow's war. I've worked out for £24 I can get 55 figures. 55 figures!!!, that's a whole lot of stuff for not a lot of money. They'll also double as troops in RPG games and what not. I'm also looking at getting some New Israelis to paint up as Republic Army troops for a Star Wars RPG I'm going to run at somepoint.

4) Bases and possibly some figures from Micro Art Studios

I need more bases for my Infinity figures, both the Urban set they do and the Urban War set they do (not the game, just the urban set that looks like it's been shot up). They're always difficult to come by from Maelstrom etc, so I'll grab as many as I can while down there.

Also I'm interested in their game that's coming out at somepoint Wolsung SSG, which appears to be steampunk in a fantasy world. A steampunk Shadowrun you could probably say. Looks interesting anyways, and if they have the rules I may grab a copy.

5) Spaceships from Mongoose Publishing

I play Noble Armada by Mongoose Publishing and have a Hawkwood fleet (in fact it was painted by Lead Legion, and can be seen in my first post). Still, we've been getting more games, and I feel the need to expand it a bit, so definitely a Maestekulos dreadnought and possibly some other stuff. Probably the expansion if they have it as well.

Ready to bring the thunder with that enormous meson cannon

6) More superheroes for Pulp City

I need to finish off my Heavy Metal team, and to do that there isn't a lot. I need the last three heroes, Captain Hadron (a size changer) who comes with a regular 28mm version and a small version (think it's around 10-15mm), and Lady Cyburn (a ranged attack cyborg). I also need to buy C.O.R.E., the illustrious leader of the team. I also want to buy a Giant Hadron (a large resin figure they do to represent Captain Hadron in his giant mode). As Giant Hadron is very limited stock (they simply can't afford to have it sitting around, so it's just about cast to order) and C.O.R.E. comes normally in a box with a hero I already have, I've e-mailed my order in already, and they've said they'll have it sitting aside for me on the day. What helpful people.

Giant Hadron Smash. Hope to drum up some interest in the game with models like this.

7) Some scenery from Sarissa Precision

What with the new wave in laser cut MDF scenery that's coming out, it's a good time to be a gamer, as this makes it much cheaper. I really fancy some of their system infinity scenery, for well Infinity for a start, and other sci-fi games. I think a few habitation pods etc, will make a nice little start up colony in the jungle somewhere.

8) Infinity stuff from Simple Miniature games

Probably. Simple miniatures normally do decent deals on the day for Infinity. Last year it was buy 4 blisters get a 5th free, or buy 2 boxes and get a 3rd free etc, so I'll probably get what Infinity stuff I need from them. I'm going to have a look around though.

Well this post has gone on a lot longer than I thought, so I'll post up other possible purchases that I may make, depending on money and how gullible I'm feeling on the day, along with games I'm going to be looking at/participating in.

What about you? Are you going this year? What purchases will you be making? Are there any you feel I've missed off my list I should look at? Would be great to hear your opinions.

As always thanks for looking.

Bushido the miniature game

Well, as I'm currently painting away more Critical mass stuff, and working on building I haven't managed to get pictures done of what I've been doing, and it's been a bit of a slow week (who am I kidding, it's always a slow week were I'm considered for painting).

Anyways I thought I would put up a post about one of the other games I'm currently playing, Bushido by GCT studios

Linkage

Set in a fantasy world, based on Japanese myth and lore mostly, this game is a small skirmish game released by GCT studios last year. They've brought out four factions so far, with a starter box and 3 new figures for each to date. They release a new one for each faction every 2 months, so it's hardly a strenous release schedule to keep up, and there is talk of releasing a full rulesbook, as currently there are only the quickstart rules available which you get in the starter set and can also download from the website.

Four factions currently present are The Prefecture of Ryu (samurai basically, with a few added bits. Also the faction I play), Savage Wave (Oni and Bakemono so far, with a few bits coming out), Cult of Yurei (cult of the undead, with zombies, undead oni and a few other cool bits), and the Temple of Ro-kan (mystical monks that control the elements and have animal friends).

The system is quite good. Each model has 2 actions, and can carry out a simple task (1 action) or a complex (2 actions) during it's activation. If you only use 1 action, you can go back to them later in the turn. Regarding the fighting (the important bit obviously), you have multiple combat dice, which you then need to split into attack and defence. These are decided in secret and rolled at the same time, with both attacker and defender rolling. These are then compared, with the attacker normally striking first, and the defender then gets to strike back if they are still alive. Each model also normally has one or more Ki feat, basically you accumulate Ki during the turn, then can use it in special moves etc.

Now to live on a bit of past glory, and show of the paintjobs for my Prefecture force.

Hiro Takeshi, the main man from the Prefecture starter. Note I added the banner myself.

Minuro, who's armed with an arquebus, and has a good range though takes time to reload.

Yoshio, one of the standard spearmen for Prefecture.

Jin, the other spearmen (spearwoman??) for the Prefecture. Clearly they're all about equality.

Hanso, the right hand man of Hiro, and armed with a pretty large No Dachi for cutting down enemies.

For those who think the colour scheme is familiar that's cause it possibly is. I used the colour scheme from the Dragon Clan from Clan War/Legends of the Five Rings, as I used to play them in Clan War back in the day, and also the fact that they shared a name was just too good a coincidence.

Hopefully people will give it a look, it's a great game and not expensive to get into with a starter being around £25. For those who want to give it a try before hand, the rules are available online, as are the stat cards for the starter sets and the first couple of releases for each faction. So hopefully people will give it a try.