Salute 2013 - The Haul

Hey Internet,

I made it to the Salute wargames show in London yesterday. Had a jolly good time, met up with some old wargameing friends who I’d not seen in a while, bought some stuff, stared longingly at a good lot more. Did miss my train back though (it was Dr. Steve’s falt!), but a very nice railway chap put us on the next one without charge – hurrah to him!

Anyway, here’s my haul from the show. I didn’t go with the intention of spending all that much, I spent about £60 in all. Anyway – Photos;

Everything together.

The free Salute 2013 figure – Jason. Made of plastic (I don’t like plastic!), and all my other Argonoughts are 40mm. I’ll probably sell it on to someone who couldent make it to the show.

Polish Improvised armoured plough from Scheltrum Minitures. I just love this vehicle even though I don’t game that particular conflict. I’ll probably put it into survice as part of a post-apocaliptic army of some kind or another. On a sour note however, I bought one at the start of the show, but when I got it out when eating my lunch I realised that it was a total miss-cast, but the nice chaps on the stand swapped it for a nice one without any problem. Problem is that one of the wheels is missing off this one! I’ll send them an email or something.

I spent a good quarter of an hour chatting to the alchemist at the ‘Modelmates’ stand at the show. The company sells various weathering effect things – sprays, alcoholic pigments and inks. They were showing how it worked right in front of your very eyes at the show – and it worked bloody marvellously. I picked some up and am looking forward to giving it a go this afternoon.

I went to EM4 after that. Got some plastic bases. 40 for £2. Cheap as chips. Cheaper infact.

I also got 6 D12s for a set of naval rules that I am writing at the moment. £1.20.

I wondered over to Hasslefree Miniatures. Got myself a ‘Not- Ramona Flowers’ from ‘Scott Pilgrim’. I like Ramona. Everyone loves Ramona. As with all Hasslefree Miniatures the model is superbly sculpted and cast. She will soon be hitting things in the head in the far future.

I wondered past the Exodus Wars stand and this guy caught my eye. They only sold the figures in platoons, but the nice man on the stand opened the pack up and just sold me the sarge because it was near the end of the day. Not the best figure in the world, but I liked the look of it.

Finally, my only ‘big’ purchase of the show. £30s worth of 1/2400^th scale Ironclads from Tumbling Dice. I treated myself to all of the new Royal Navy ships that he had, and got myself a French Fleet to put them up against.

"A Threefur-Mc-Deefer in the world of Fallout"

Hey Internet,

Sorry for not posting for forever. 'Real Life' has been getting in the way again. However, I've just come back from a nice relaxing holiday in rural south Wales, and whilst I was there I got a little painting done. I thought I'd take the effort to pop up some pictures on here.

Toaster-Bot

First up is a little robot. Its a model that I got around 2 years ago from Black Tree Design (Part of their Dr. Who range). Its spent at least a year of that time primed up and ready to go on my painting table.

The design is superbly retro...it looks like a toaster with legs and glass valves on its shoulders  Love its miserable facial expression.

No idea what I'll use it for in games, but I'm sure it'll find its way in somehow (if I ever fit a game in that is).

Ben the Mutant

Next up is this mutant. Its a model that a friend gave me a few weeks ago, that he found whilst he was clearing out his storage locker. Its an old model made by Spartan Games yonks ago, so I think its OOP now. 

Nice little model really. Has robotic legs, a pistol and a base-ball bat - should fit in in my post-apocalyptic setting. Painted up nice and easy. 

Post-Apocalyptic Giant

This is another model that has been sitting on my painting table forever. Like, literately, based and under-coated for ages. For as long as I've had the table! I don't know why I hadn't been able to muster the enthusiasm to get him painted up, but now he is I am rather fond of him.

The model is from Ramshakle Games and I can remember it being dirt cheap. Its a really big, imposing model and it was only a few quid. However, there is sort of a reason for that. The sculpting isn't the best, and its cast out of some of the smelliest, foulest resin that I've ever come across. The casting quality was rather bad too, with the mould being misaligned about a millimetre,  meaning that I had to chisel and re-sculpt a fair bit of the left leg. It wasn't too much work though. 

I also thought that the sword in the right hand looked a little silly, so I replaced it with a hook. Despite all that, the model is packed with character (particularly the teddy bear back-pack) and looks rather nice once you get a lick of paint on it.