Friday, April 26

Salute 2013 - part 2 - a review...

...and so to part two....

This was one of the best Salutes in some time for good looking games (in my opinion)

In third place then was this game by Battlefront Miniatures and run by Barry Hilton - "The Battle of Little Big Top"  using his own soon to be released ACW rules "Rally to the Colours".

This won "Best Sponsored Trader Game"and given it was up against some pretty games elsewhere, this was a good result...



...that hill was quite steep..  superb terrain...



In second place...  Nantwich Gamers presented "When Chaos Reigns"  a 28mm WWII game - this won the "Salute Shield Best of Show Game" and quite deservedly!


...another game where the level of detail was simply stunning..



Look at the stowage on those Sherman's... definitely on campaign..


Puma's - one of my favourites.. 


The windmill particularly appealed..  it didn't move or light up, just solid modelling, and a good terrain to support it..


Look at that terrace...  and all in 28mm...!


...and so finally, we come to first place...  drum roll etc.

I'm a black powder gamer so for me it was a complete and utter no brainer, I saw the game and before I'd seen anything else I already knew it was the best game....  so, this is "Waterloo 1815" presented by the Essex Gamesters - this won "Salute Challenger Second Overall" losing out to the game above...

..the big view looking along the British line from right to left flank...  French grand battery to the right of the picture..
Some detail - tourists and sightseers...


Hougemont..






La Haye Saint in the distance...

British Heavy's...
French Heavy's...  no more successful this time than last time...
Close up of La Haye Saint..


....and to complete the multi format presentation that is this blog...  herewith a brief vid to show the sheer scale and size of the thing...


...and that's it....  all I can say is roll on next year!

13 comments:

  1. Thanks for placing up the images from SALUTE 13 there are some fantastic looking Demo games being played...only wish I could have been there.

    Thnks again

    Vinnie

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    1. Vinnie - I'll refrain from saying the obvious... but you're right... this Salute was a step change upwards in the quality of the display games...

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  2. Thanks for sharing the pictures!
    Rafa

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    1. Ola Rafa - I'm guessing you would have enjoyed that Waterloo game! :o)

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  3. I think I know now why we disagree on the standard of games. I don't look at the WW2 ones! Just not interested but the one in this post does, indeed have some great scenery. I think, also, Waterloo has been done to death and I didn't think it was as impressive as last year's Peninsula game. Still an amazing achievement, though.

    Excellent pictures as before.

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    1. Legatus - that'll be it... you'll have noticed that I didn't feature any of the Dux Bellorum/Saga games in my top x for the same reason you didn't look at the WWII games.. we are a broad church.... thankfully... :o)

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  4. Great pictures Steve, 3 excellent looking games. Somehow I missed the Waterloo game until my pals on our way out the door said about it, so I had to go back in to take a look.

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    1. Hi Ray... sorry I missed the blogger get together.... I did see you and Fran on the day, but only in passing... Can't believe you missed this one initially though - it was humungous! :o)

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  5. Steve- nice to see the games more than I did on the day . I note that all the games shown were "28mm" which perhaps argues narrow judging criteria or perhaps no smaller scale stuff on offer have we any idea which? . Going by the amount of 15mm stuiff I shifted the size accounts for about half of the wargaming public. I was also told there was a 40mm game or two but never got to see 'em nor indeed meet other bloggers but then its a working day .

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    1. Andy - I never thought about it until you said that, but yes, you're absolutely right... only one of my top 7 wasn't 25/28mm (the Stalingrad game was 10mm I think)..... my choice was purely down to the games on display - even the one's I avoided were larger scale...... I think the explosion in plastics is driving this - the ACW game for example looked to be Perry heavy.... 15mm represents about half of my collection - only ACW (20mm) and AWI (25mm) aren't - and if I was starting the AWI project again it would be 15mm....

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  6. I agree with much of what you say Steve but I personally was not so taken with the Waterloo.... - I was going to say game but in fact it was a diorama.

    Nothing wrong with that in itself and the display was very striking but not really a wargame

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  7. Hi Steve! I'm with a couple of the others. Like LH, I rather missed the WW2 games, but your photos show what an excellent game the Nantwitch one was. However, for me the Waterloo game was let down by some truly bizarre unit modelling decisions (my inner anal Napoleonic gamer here, I'm sure), and the fact that it wasn't being played. It was impressive, though, but I didn't feel it deserved an award. Also, I hadn't realised there was not a "trader sponsored" award - a great idea IMHO. Thanks for the great pics.

    Giles

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  8. Steve- further to the scale thing - I'm at a bit of a disadvantage not having seen a thing but bought my first copy of WI for a couple of years and while its not nearly as horrible as I feared its still very 28mm corporate gaming in THIS style. 15mm is only for WW2 and after apparently .
    I shall be ranting about this on my blog in the fullness- once I can compare all 3 mags together. but- an this is a 25mm and 40mm chap talking- it does seem that 15mm especially get the short end of the stick espercially when I consider how many I shift and of course I'm far from the only one.

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