Two Units for the Ducal Contingent.

Several months ago, I recorded that I had completed my Seven Years War armies, and had decided that enough was enough. Then you realise, there is never enough. That there is always one more regiment that deserves painting, either because of its exploits, good or bad, or may be because it was just too pretty to ignore. Well I have tried to at least cut back on my SYW project,but somehow it just keeps on developing. Hence these two units painted for my imaginary! ducal army. The country I feel always tended towards the east of Europe and had a Russian/ German influence. The first unit completed is a repainted Hinchliffe unit, resplendent in pink facings. The colour is a favourite one of the dukes dwarfish companion. The flag is of course a Hesse based flag, with a little bit of tinkering.

 The second unit is the dukes White Regiment of Cossack neer do wells. In an effort to keep up with their neighbours, the dukedom has recruited a frei korps made up of redundant cossacks.

 In accordance with their background, they were allowed a Russian based standard, and allowed to continue in their blasphemous greek religion. Any excuse to add to my burgeoning Seven Years War units.

RSM Figures for sale.

In an effort to down size my SYW metal mountain, I think its time to sell some of my RSM bags.
I have the following bags to sell.

 2 Russian Horse Grenadiers.
 1 Ottoman Turks Cavalry.
 2 Cossack cavalry,
  I British Heavy Cavalry.
 4 Hanoverian Cavalry.
 1  Von Kleist Cavalry.
 1 Austrian Hussars. [Colpacks.]
 1 French Hussars. [Miltron]

I also have 2 Prussian Infantry bags,
4 Hanoverian Infantry bags,
 1 Hanoverian Grenadier bag,
 1 Hanoverian jager bag,
 1 Janissary infantry bag.

 The cavalry contain 12 figures, the infantry 36 figures.
The cavalry retail at $ 26.00 and the infantry at $29.00.
This equates to £16.79p  and 18.73p respectively.That is without the air postage and the usual risk of HMRC hitting you for another fee, usually of £9.00 for opening up the box.
Ideally I would like £14.00 for the cavalry and £16.00 for the infantry, which taking into the account of air postage etc, seems a fair deal.
 Postage would be extra, but I would attempt to find the best value way to send them.

 Thats what the infantry look like. If no one is one interested by Sunday of this week, I will put them on E bay.

Enough is enough.

Now this sounds like another rant, but honestly its not.
I have reluctantly realised that I have too much stuff, and in order to get more stuff, I need to get rid of something.
 The something, starts with some of my war game magazine collections, that is Miniature War games and War games illustrated.
 So if anyone would like several years worth for the cost of the postage,please feel free to contact me.
 Additionally, I have realised that I have no need to enlarge my Seven Years War armies any further.
 As a consequence I am going to sell some of my regiments of unpainted RSM figures.
 Again if anyone is interested before I put the figures on Ebay,then drop me a line.
 There are several bags of French, Austrian, Hanoverian  and Prussian,with some cavalry as well.
 It would save the buyer having to run the gauntlet of HMRC.
 

Afterthoughts About Salute 2013, and a bit of a rant.

I've probably done this show to death now, but I've been giving a lot of thought to my impressions of Salute and in particular the painting competition, and in particular the wargames unit part of the competition.
 Firstly I was wrong in my original post about who actually won the best wargames unit. The trouble is the Warlords don't seem to post the winners straight away on their site
I now understand that it wasn't the Teutonic Knights last seen in the Fire Forge advert that won.

It was actually the Perry Wars of the Roses unit that won. The figures that one of the organisers told me would win, as they placed them in the display unit. Long before the judging was done.
  Again I may be wrong, but I also understand that the WoR entry was from Darren Linnington, who I understand paints full time for Warlord Games. So I think that means two full time painters entering the competition. Both working for large wargames companies.

I think you can see where I am going with this post. Having checked, Darren, a very talented painter has now won Salute three years in a row, 2011, 2012, 2013. Nothing wrong with that one could say, but being the awkward sod I can be, I disagree. I was very disappointed when I saw the painting competition at Salute as to how few entries there were for the wargaming section. I now think its obvious as to why that is.

I have entered many painting competitions over the years. I have actually won a fair few as well, Northern  Militaire, Claymore, Stockton, etc, etc. Before a lot of shows stopped holding this event, I thought they were pretty well attended, with quite a number of entries.

I always got the impression that Salute was the premier painting competition, almost on a par with the White Dwarf competition, but not as good. Clearly this is not the case. Lets be right there is no way, any wargamer no matter how talented is going to cart their figures down to Salute, knowing that they will be up against a full time professional painter, who has won the show three years on the trot, and paints for one of the major wargaming companies. It would perhaps make more sense to have a separate section for people who could be termed 'professional', and then whoever wins that would have at least the kudos of beating their fellow professionals, leaving us mere mortals to slug it out on our standards. The whole idea of a painting competition originally was to encourage wargamers to give it their best shot, and be inspired to improve their painting techniques. Not now I fear.

So there we have it, a total professionalisation of the hobby. [If there is such a word] 

Very professionally produced magazines, [ nothing wrong with that], 

              showing very professionally made terrain with professionally painted figures on them, which then turn up at the big shows,ie Salute, showcasing the very professional but expensive rule books. All in all a very professional hobby one would think if seeing it for the first time. Perhaps that is good, but somehow I get the nagging feeling that it sort of missed the point of the wargaming hobby, or am I just being a bit paranoid. Check out the latest Wargames Illustrated to see what I am burbling about. Anyway I will not pick over Salute again. Sorry for the rant, Robbie................  

Salute.... the conclusion.

I can only apologise for running into four! posts, giving my account of Salute.
 Salute is just so damn big, its like being given a glass of really fine wine and then having to swig it off. There is just too much to take in,  in the short time you are there.

 It was noticeable  that there was a wargamers 'drift about 1.30pm, which I found amazing, I dont think Salute is like any normal wargames show, but I suppose if you lived locally in London.............

 Well whats my overall view. Salute can only be described as like no other British show simply because of its size. Only a wargames club based in London could pull it off successfully, simply from the number of members you would need to run it. South London Warlords have been doing this show for a lot of years now and they are getting very good at it. I was very impressed with the organisation, and how they coped with the sheer number of people. They are obviously a very rich club, and there is nothing wrong with that, the club deserves to flourish.

Catering was fine, although bringing ones own sandwiches is probably better, just to save time queuing.
 The guide was good, although I struggled with the size of the text, but that's just a very minor quibble.
The bring and buy, like so many others was just mobbed, and I gave up on the morning even just trying to look. By early afternoon it was no problem. That's a problem at most big shows.

Do I have any criticisms. Well only very minor ones, and not really under the control of the SELWG group. The toilets were pretty bad, but hey ho, we are used to that.
 The personal hygiene of a lot of wargamers is really a worry, especially on a hot show day. Soap is cheap you know, get a bath.
 The sheer size of the show is clearly becoming a problem, as one attempts to take it all in.
In some ways it just shows how healthy the hobby is. There were lots of family groups which was great, and also a lot of teenagers, which is even better. I also noticed some very fine looking women circulating in the crowds giving out freebies, are you reading this Durham, and chance of Cheryl Cole?

My only real gripe was the painting competition.
Either make it a showcase event or scrap it. Make the prizes be for the first three competitors and push the importance of winning it a given.
Games Workshop have this as their big finale and winning is a prestigious thing.  Salute should go the same way.
 I would also publicise who the judges are, because I do wonder who does judge the event.
 I understand there were a few grumbles of the judging being a fix, after I had gone, but I cant really comment on that. So name the judges.
 Having now seen the standard of painting, I am glad I didnt embarrass myself by entering, plus my style of painting would now be viewed as old fashioned, but hey ho.

 The final test is, would I go again? Yes I would, but the logistics and cost would make it difficult.
 I would recommend that every wargamer goes at least once, and when they return to their groups, bring back some ideas to use at their respective shows.

Salute Part Three....

 Having now been back to Salute after God knows how many years, I realise that you cant really record all the games you see there. There are just too many. I dont understand the attraction, but this game looked really well presented, the ships? were very well painted, a Dystopian Wars game I believe.

World War Two was well represented at Salute, and there were some very fine games on show.

 These three photographs were from a D Day event, that really captured the terrain.

How good are those buildings, especially the windmill.

                                       .

 This game used 54mm figures, and was set in England. The base boards used the hanging basket liner to great effect.Again it looked fun to play. A great effort.

And now onto Stalingrad, which looked terrific, I couldn't get that many photographs as the game was surrounded most of the time. I particularly liked the train, at the edge of the board. You cant beat the appearance of a train to get men interested.

One of the few Dark age games was the one below, which was really well executed.

 I especially felt envious of the christian water mill, I think the group were using the Saga rules. A great effort.

And finally, Jim Sweeney, getting to grips with a storm trooper.
Thanks for those free figures, although 'beware Greeks bearing gifts' does spring to mind.
                                         

Salute Part Two.......

One of my earliest memories as a wargamer,were the photographs in the Military Modelling of Peter Gilder's Waterloo. Couple this with photographs of a Waterloo display staged in London in the 1960's it has always stayed with me and inspired me.

 The re enactment at Salute 2013 was no different. The game was by Ron Ringrose and his group, and it was very impressive. I loved the presentation idea, of having a 'Napoleon' talk of the battle, it was a really effective way to get people interested. Are you reading this John, we could do The Battle of Issus, and you could dress up as Alexander!

 I especially loved the battle around Palcenoit with the Young Garde.

 I think the only petty observation I had was the battlefield appeared a bit small! and because of the figures a bit cramped, but I think that would be a bit churlish of me. A really well done game.

 Below is my favourite game of the show. Again it is a subjective thing, but this was a 54mm Napoleonic game with lovely Victrix figures painted to a lovely standard.

 What I particulary liked was the number of teenagers having a go,I am sorry I never recorded who presented the game, but they really engaged with the customers. The terrain was excellent, the scenario easy to follow, and it looked FUN.

 My favourite unit on the board, Mamelukes,doing what they do best, just  sitting on their bottoms looking pretty.

 I also loved these Italians, God I sound like a child. Anyway well done.

 This game also caught my eye. I think initially it was the large information boards, but I liked the way the terrain was done. It was noticeable on a lot of games, how much flock was in evidence, linked to hanging basket liner. I had a talk to one exponent, who showed me how to use the stuff, it is very effective and also very practical.

The game below was a small AWI game, which I have photographed, as the people who put it on were a French group. They seemed very friendly, although my schoolboy french was S###e. Still it was good to see them.

 In my concluding post I will show some more photographs and try to finish with an honest summary of my impressions.