"Last Salute at Excel?" Topic

Issue 77 of WS&S has an article on the future of Conventions which states that 2015 will see the last Salute at everyone's favourite Zeppelin hanger.

It appears that the managements ongoing attempts to get blood out of a stone, regarding the hire fee for the venue, have at last failed and the Warlords have had enough!

Here's hoping they can find an alternative for 2016, preferably one that doesn't include any previous venues, that will suitable for 5000 attendees. Could be a tall order!

Wishing them all the best in their endeavours and if this is indeed the last Excel event – Many Thanks for all their hard work!

Just for the record… it's not the last Salute at Excel.

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The Irregular opinion piece in WSS 77 was just that, an opinion piece based on speculation the author had heard.

The Warlords have since confirmed that they are staying at Excel for at least the foreseeable future.

Thanks,

Guy

Editor WSS

Thanks Guy!

Glad you were able to straighten that one out.

BTW: Obviously I was repeating speculation (as it turns out) but it certainly doesn't read like speculation in the Magazine.

That might be a point to ponder.

At fifteen quid a ticket for 2015 (plus aless than pleasant trek across the capital) the one I went to a few years back was definitely my last :)

At £15.00 GBP a ticket it could well be the last…

At least for me!

Last year was my last. The hard floor just kills my arthritis.

:-(

It's £15.00 GBP on the door, but only £10.00 GBP if you buy in advance, so cheaper than last year if you get your ticket before the day.

Good point Trajanus, there should have been a 'may' in place of a 'will' in that article at the right point.

Guy

I think last year was probably my last too (after 30 odd years of attending); Excel is such a soulless place – I don't know anyone from my crowd going this year.
I thought that the freebie figure may tempt me as it's finally from an era that I game, but no pictures & the Salute site has all on it.
I'll probably save my travelling & ticket money & spend it online.

Hi Guy

I read that article as well. If Mr Mitchell is reading this, I don't mean to offend, but I didn't see the point of it.

It felt like I was propping a bar up at any show in the UK, at any-time in the past 20 years, listening to the gossip. And like listening to gossip, so much of it was contradictory.

Odd one. I did agree with the final conclusion though, we should go to shows as they are a meeting point for the wider hobby, to see stuff, talk to people and generally feel like a community/ hobby.

On the subject of Salute and the entrance fee, I paid £15.00 GBP to go to a guitar show last Sunday. It was good, but it was a fraction of the size of Salute and nowhere near as entertaining. Point being, we should stop moaning about our hobby, there isn't a better one out there.

Depends on what you go for. Looking back over the shows I have attended over the last five years or so I think I have enjoyed the smaller shows much more than the larger. Maybe it's just me but Salute at Excel just feels soulless, certainly not as much "fun" as previous venues,and especially when compared with a friendly local show like Attack. But I do appreciate that others love the airship hangar :)

I ran games at a few shows last year including Salute, but I think it is not a patch on Crisis. Excel is just such a dimly lit noisy barn. Although, I will be back this year and am already planning next years game.

Gone for the last few years, but realisation that i have a large outstanding lead pile from last three years means i'll probably miss it. My bank manager is grateful!

It is the biggest war-games show in the world. I enjoy going and meeting other gamers. The venue would of course be improved if the ticket price increased to cover more lighting, carpets etc. Although i do not pay to go to any sports events I think they can often cost £15.00 GBP or even more. The warlords might well be grateful for any gamers willing to give up some time in order to make it even better. So let them know how it can be improved and offer to help (with your time) the hobby move forward.Without wishing to offend anyone, the quality of a show is subjective. It is more useful to tell those whom have not attended your favourite show what actually makes it the best. Close to your house, more games, cheaper snacks, your friend takes you, cheap entrance, great bring and buy,brochure etc…. Give some pointers as to what criteria you are using. Then we have discussion rather than opinion dressed as fact.

martin

martin

At £75.00 GBP train fare and about 8 hours to get there and back, Salute Is a non- starter. I can buy a lot of figures for that!
@ Martin Goddard- close to home is definitely my number one criterion, then lots of traders and games where people want to explain what they are doing, rather than just roll the dice.

Martin, of course it is subjective. My personal "measure of effectiveness" is whether I feel happy at an event and whether I can look back on a day out and think "that was a fun day, well spent"

The venue would of course be improved if the ticket price increased to cover more lighting, carpets etc.

Have you any idea how much that would actually cost? You are probably talking about at least DOUBLING the entry price!

The lighting problem with Excel is simply that the building lighting is really only intended to provide enough light for show stands to be installed/struck. The exhibitor stands at most shows and exhibitions at a venue like Excel have their own internal lighting systems. At Salute it's just a table …

I personally think the £15.00 GBP on the door price is in part to reduce the numbers and administration. Advanced ticket sales still had to queue last year.

We didn't advance buy last year and pitched up half an hour after opening time expecting to walk in. We queued for the best part of an hour.

We have bought tickets in advance this year (the saving is too great not too) but will not pitch up until afternoon.

There will come a point when too many people are there and they have to shut the halls for health & safety reasons.

Come to Legionary in Exeter one week later; no advance tickets, a few quid on the door, good food, metal and plastic figures on offer and it smells of cows. What more could you ask for?
legionaryshow.co.uk

P.s. It is Exeter's BIGGEST show ever known to Little men.

Come to Legionary in Exeter one week later; no advance tickets, a few quid on the door, good food, metal and plastic figures on offer and it smells of cows. What more could you ask for?

Nice idea, but by the time I've travelled there and back, and stayed overnight (too far to travel there and back in one day), Salute actually works out a darn sight cheaper!

Major B. Yes i do and that was the point of my comment, should have been clearer, sorry.
Eric the shed…do you believe that warlords set the ticket price to reduce attendee numbers?
Royal marine. Some gamers might want more/different trade stands?

I better stop commenting on this topic. Seems i am swimming against tide of "down with salute, shame on the warlords" . None the less I shall attend salute for the 30th time and enjoy the show put on by the warlords. thank you warlords for all your hard work. I think a lot of people will go and enjoy their day.
Once again, warlords, your show is much appreciated.
Better put my helmet on.

martin

I like Salute.

I like it because it is BIG! Every show needs something to set it apart from the others, and with Salute it is sheer size.

Yes the venue is not perfect, for reasons that are nothing to do with the Warlords. But there are not many options open to them. The ticket price is cheap compared with a day out doing almost any other activity, especially in London.

The queuing to get in has improved in the last couple of years. Last year we had advance tickets and joined what appeared to be a massive queue. But we were inside about ten minutes after the doors opened!

A great show. I do not consider 15 GPB expensive. Maybe because I´m swedish so have to fly there, stay at a hotel for at least two nights and so on. So 15 GPB for the show is nothing…

A Little more on ticketing this year
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Previously one could only buy advance tickets up to a certain date. Is that still the case with the e-ticket system? Or can you buy them on the day before going down?

Apologies if this is a very naive question.
But if one of the problems with Salute is the lighting and as I think Major B said with other events traders provide their own stand lighting then why don't traders do this at Salute ? Not necessarily anything sophisticated but surely something is better than nothing. Just wondering.
For my part I've been twice and was impressed by the sheer scale of the show and the fact that there were traders there I'd never heard of and a huge number of quality games to appreciate.

Aubrey, IIRC it is very very expensive to get electricity to one's stand, at Salute.

Personally I don't think £15.00 GBP is either here or there, compared to the cost of travel or the money people spend at a show. I always enjoy Salute, and think it is great value. Mind you I love Partizan, too, and that has a very different vibe!

I've been to every Salute since 1990. It is the premier show in the UK. It is one I would simply not miss.

Lighting is a only a slight issue IMO, certainly not as poor as some venues I've been in. I think the price for power for a stand makes bringing your own lighting not an option.

Guy

I think it costs £180.00 GBP for an electric socket at Salute.

The costs of putting on a show at Excel are ludicrous…I chatted to the treasurer a couple of years ago querying the price of producing a plastic mini for one show….he pointed out the cost of tables and chairs were around £16,000.00 GBP alone……

In terms of variety of games and traders, it can't be beat. It's the Ideal Homes Exhibition, the Motor Show at the NEC or the Boat Show of wargaming. You might well say, "ugh, The Motor Show…I can't stand the trek to the NEC give me the Goodwood Festival of Speed any day" but there's no denying that one show is "the biggie" and for us in Europe, that's Salute. As I only attend 2 shows a year, Salute is a must: An annual pilgrimage because it covers so many bases. If you attend a few shows, I can understand if it's the one you might want to skip.

The motor show hasn't taken place for many years… We are lucky to have Salute!

I would like to see the show moved to the NEC Birmingham. I should imagine that both venues are about the same to hire. A better central venue. It could even include other types of modelling railways etc. To spread the costs. I know it would be a bit far for the lads from London to organise. So back in my box

With all the bitchin' moanin' F**kwits 'not going any more' the queues will be much reduced, and I'll be able to stroll around the venue, get inspired by peoples games, see the latest releases up close, envy the painting skills of seemingly everyone! and, gasp, talk to people! oh, the horror!

Stay away, you won't be missed.

John

John – what's all this strolling around nonsense – you should be running one of your 54mm games

The idea of the South London Warlords migrating to Birmingham is… Interesting.

It's a monster, but a mighty event. I usually come away having missed perhaps a third of it somehow, but much the richer for having spent the best part of an entire day chatting with fellow enthusiasts from across the globe. I wouldn't miss it for all the tea in China.

Unless it could be converted into hard cash. I'm not daft.

Henry
MWBG

Move the show to NEC…are you crazy……It's THE SOUTH LONDON WARLORDS OPEN DAY…..the clues in the title folks…SOUTH LONDON…..well Excel isn't exactly South London….but its a heck of a lot closer than Birmingham!

With all the bitchin' moanin' F**kwits 'not going any more' the queues will be much reduced, and I'll be able to stroll around the venue, get inspired by peoples games, see the latest releases up close, envy the painting skills of seemingly everyone!

As a former professional event organiser, whose CV includes the International Motor Show, the Farnborough Air Show, and the Ideal Home Exhibition, I can only say that I always found it useful when people took the time to indicate why they weren't going to be attending an event – just as I'm sure the feedback on here will be of use to the Warlords.

Certainly more useful than someone who has nothing more constructive to contribute than childish name-calling and "in-your-face" gloating.

…and, gasp, talk to people! oh, the horror!

For them? I can only imagine……

Stay away, you won't be missed.

Ever considered a career in PR?

I for one won't be going and I take umbrage at being labelled a wit because of it. I don't like the venue, I don't like the size of the place, the huge crowds, the concrete flooring…I could go on. I went to most of the Salute's before they moved to Excel and even went there once but vowed never again for all of the reasons mentioned above and then some. I much prefer the smaller shows where you have more time and space to walk around and to my mind the whole experience is much more convivial. The only advantage I can see is that everything you could possibly want is under one roof but you could spend the whole day there and still not get what you went for.

I think we are very fortunate in the UK to have big shows (for people who like big shows), and small shows (for people who like small shows).

We also have shows all across the country, so pretty much everyone has a show of some sort reasonably near to where they live which is convenient to attend, as well as plenty of other shows that are much further away from where they live, which are less convenient to attend.

We even have access to an online forum so we can – if we so choose – take time to explain to other wargamers in the UK and around the world that we like the sorts of shows that we like, we don't like the short of shows that we don't like, and that we generally prefer going to shows near to where we live over going to shows that are a long way away from where we live. Except of course when we like a particular show so much that the fact we like the show so much outweighs the cost and time taken to travel to it.

We are even free to use that same forum to criticize other people who don't like what we like, on the basis that they don't understand why they don't like the same things as we do.

Life is good sometimes!

:-)

Nice piece of water-smoothing, madaxeman. We are indeed fortunate in the UK in that we can pick and choose shows to go to but that doesn't give other people the right to resort to puerile and abusive name-calling just because we express that right.

The way I see it you either love Salute…..or you don't…if you don't like……don't go…simple really….I'm sure the show will be as busy as last year which, IMHO give it its vibe.

Talking of interesting…just seen this on Beasts of War……makes it worth buying a advance e-ticket this year…..not only are the advance tickets cheaper @ £10.00 GBP per ticket,( cheap for a days entertainment these days!)…..but you could win one of the cash prizes to spend at the show…win win really.

link

This thread may have inadvertently set a trend. Normally the discourse on how much people like/hate, will be/will never be going again, regarding Salute is an annual event held after the show!

Well done everybody! :o)

The good thing is that the title of this thread doesn't include any reference to the year.

Hopefully that will save everyone some time and effort when this comes up again in future. All the key points have already been made, so just one new post will be required to resurrect the whole debate !

It will be interesting to see how much crossover there ends up with Salute Exhibitors and the UK Games Expo once the Expo moves its trade hall into the NEC next year.

The Expo used to have a smattering of wargaming traders but over the years they gradually left presumably because it was not worth their while to attend. Interesting when the Expo gets a significantly higher footfall than Salute.

It may be more a test of whether boardgamers and wargamers are in fact genetically separate tribes, or if some degree of interbreeding is possible..

Lots of footfall from people who buy boardgames may not really help anyone who sells figures very much at all !

The simple fact is, a significant proportion of the (UK) wargames population are the most tight-Fisted individuals I've ever encountered, they trotout all the same excuses… Too big, souless, dimly lit, too many people, etc etc etc….the truth is, they don't want to stump up more than a tenner for a days entertainment.
No, Salute isn't cheap, £15.00 GBP parking, a bit of travel, of course it all mounts up, but its once a year, try going to premiership football every two weeks, or get a golf membership and see what it costs you….or a good meal in a half decent resturant…

I'm with you christen.

One of objectives for 2016 is to attend Salute. I have never attended a show outside the US though I travel extensively to Europe. The price of admission is not my primary concern, of course. Fifteen pounds puts it right in line with Historicon and Little Wars here in the US.

But…if you buy an advanced ticket…it's only £10.00 GBP this year!