Salute 2018 Aftermath
After having a pint or two next to ExCel at Fox, we headed to Borough Market. Imagine an urban district dedicated to food, food of all kinds, that's Borough Market.
6th Rhein Main Multiversum 2018
Last week I received the invitation by the Martin from Tabletop Club Rhein-Main to join their Rhein-Main Multiversum in Nidderau, Hessia. So I jumped in my car and drove across the Taunus towards the Wetterau, amazing weather with blue sky and bright sun to enjoy in the meantime.
The Rhein-Main Multiversum is held in the Willi-Salzmann hall and the TC Rhein Main offered two tournaments and a couple of participation rounds, with the support of neighbour wargaming clubs, among others Ad Arma and the Asgard Aschaffenburg.
Salute 2018 – Part 3
As Salute being such an important event for the wargaming community, lots of companies schedule their announcements and releases for that particular saturday in April. Some of them are just teasered, some proudly announced in the newsletter before the show and others are huge surprises.
And as a enthusiast you have your hopes, what will be released or what is coming in the near future. Before the show, I hoped to have a chat with Perry Miniatures and ask them about the chances of upcoming Agincourt cavalry in plastic. And what can I say? I got lucky, there will be a plastic kit for the mounted knights, but it still heavy work in progress and we might see it towards the end of the year. It is always good to keep an eye on their workbench (there are three, one for plastic, one for metal and one for resin). Another surprise were the announcement of US infantry in desert gear as an addition for their North Africa World War 2 range. Below you can see the 3-Ups (The masters for plastic miniatures are sculpted 3 times the size of the final product and are scaled down during the production process).
Salute 2018 – Part 2
Let us focus on the gaming tables and participation rounds at Salute in this part of the coverage.
A table, that I was really looking forward to see, was the one by Andy Singleton and Kildaire Paintworks, it is a 20mm / 1:72 World War two Setting in the mediterranean. He documented the different kits shown in the scenario on facebook, showed work in progress on models and terrain. And it was amazing to see, how it all came together at the show. Had a great talk with Andy at the show. Always fun to exchange ideas and have a chat with fellow wargamers.
Salute 2018 – Part 1
Salute began early for us, after the day-trip to Nottingham, we we're ready and waiting at 7 a.m. at Cambridge Station.
Taking the Great Northern towards London, we had some time on our hand. It takes roughly an hour and gets you to Kings Cross without a stop. Spending that time on going through our "what-to-see", "what-to-try" and "what-to-buy" lists again and playing a match of Condottiere. Perfect size for the train.
Intro to Salute
Last thursday, on April 12th, Operation Sealion 2018 started. We went to Cologne Bonn Konrad Adenauer Airport, for our four day trip to the UK for Salute and a brief day trip to the Leadbelt.
There are a couple of ways to get to London. Two years ago and before that, we did the Salute as a day trip, grabbing a flight from Cologne to Stansted or Frankfurt to Heathrow. Flying from Germany takes roughly 1 to 1,5 hrs and sets you back between 70 - 150 Euro, depending on who you fly with. Just for Salute a rental car would only make sense, if the group is bigger than two people, as the London Underground is superb and reasonably priced. Only the shuttles ex-airport are sometimes a bit expensive. As we headed north to Nottingham, that question was already solved. Rentals are quite cheap in the UK, you can get cars for around 30 Euro per day. We paid just over 90 Euro for the prolonged weekend incl. unlimited miles. For rental cars I usually go with Budget, a daughter company of Avis. They offer good and uncomplicated service at reasonable quotes. The Honda Jazz was brand new, but not that much fun to drive and had a unpleasant driver seat.
Ryanair changed a lot in the last few months, along with strict limitations on the cabin luggage and checkin in. If you book all the excluded things to get back to a regular ticket, you end up with a price around the area of a Lufthansa ticket from FRA to LHR. Our flight was delayed by almost two hours due to mist, and on arrival we met quite a different weather compared to Spain two weeks ago.
Campaign Sea Lion 2018
It is time to take another approach and try to loot the Island for pewter, plastic and resin! Thursday we head over to the UK, for a short trip to the "Leadbelt" of Nottingham as well as paying a visit to the Salute on saturday.
Salute is the largest wargaming event in the UK, hosted by the South London Warlords at ExCel London on April 14th. Crisis in Antwerp is hard competition in size to this event, as it is larger on floor terms, but Salute is more international and has the benefit of being british homeground.
More from the Balearic Island of Mallorca
On friday, March 30th, our exploring journey of the island continued. We set for the southern part and made several stops along the coast, beginning with Cala Figuera. We had great luck with the weather, it was bright and sunny, and just look at these blues of sky and sea.
The second row shows the weathered stone ground along the coast line. With the smaller puddles it looks so outlandish, I thought this could be an interesting idea for an alien planet, using lava stones and such to recreate the surface. As a basing design for sci-fi settings like Gates of Antares or maybe a Necron or Mechanicus army project.
Upcoming events for 2018
A short list of events, that I have my eye on for this year. If I missed something, or you would like me as a guest, feel free to invite me. 🙂