Salute - Part Two. (Tony Harrison tribute)

Welcome to the second instalment of my Salute report. Unusually for me, instead of just buying stuff as soon as I saw it, I was much more reserved and carried out an initial reconnaissance, before returning to traders and items if money and enthusiasm remained. However, although I didn't know it, there were two items on my wish list.

Above: 'It's an Outrage!' - Two of my favourite things collide - Infinity N3 and the Mighty Boosh.

Above: The scale of Salute allows those putting on games to go big and attempt to portray the scale of desert theatres. 

Below: In total opposites to sparse WWII desert war, we have a visually stunning Infinity board (stops typing to wipe drool from his chin).

Below: 4Ground had their ranges well represented with a number of display tables. The most interesting was a shopping mall - Bring out your zombies (note the ready supply of baseball bats in the sports equipment shop).

Above: Old school wargaming was catered for. The Wargames Holiday Centre featured their Battle of Raphia table.

Above: Off-shore wargaming.

Above: Martian robots I bet. Thousands of em!

Midday, and Dan and I popped to the concourse for food. Apparently, along with 8 million other people. Yes I am exaggerating.......but not by much. As usual the Excel Centre was also hosting the registration for the London Marathon. 

Batteries recharged and we returned to the hall. What I didn't expect to find on the day was the Infinity 'Outrage' publication (with limited addition miniature) and the Infinity special edition Fat Yuan Yuan models. However, fortune smiled on me. With so many of our club attending the event, first Alex told me where to find Outrage, and then Nic showed me the Corvus Belli Noodle boxes. Happy times.

Above: My favourite picture, so far, from Outrage.

Above: Two Fat Yuan Yuans in a noodle box.

As the afternoon proceeds, you reach the point when you go and look, with equal amounts of envy and despair, at the painting entries. And finally the fun has to end for another year. Just 52 weeks to recover until the next one.

One little story to finish. I been able to persuade Orbital Bombardment members to give Infinity N3 a go. Mid-afternoon at Salute and Joe rings me from the other side of the hall to say that he has found a really good deal on the Onyx Contact Force army box for the Combined Army. Alarm bells go off in my head as what Joe doesn't know is Ed and I have bought this box for him as a surprise 30th birthday present. I get over to Joe in about two and half seconds to tell him not to buy it. Not surprisingly he asks why? Unfortunately I had not thought as far ahead as this. Eventually, through luck more than judgement, I stumble into, 'the Onyx force is a quite specialised sectorial list. You should learn to play the game with something a little more basic first'. 

Anyway, he bought the excuse rather than the army box, and following the birthday party, I get a text from his wife saying how pleased as punch he was. Result.

As always, enjoy your wargaming exploits.

Alex.