"Short Salute photo journal" Topic

Here on my blog
lurkio.co.uk/blog/archives/2470

I have to admit I was a bit overwhelmed by Salute this year and as such my photo snapping was short and random, there seemed to be hundreds of folks with camera phones so I;m sure there will be more comprehensive pictures.

Some views –

There seemed to be large (and I mean large) expenditure. If this is a barometer of recession then surely it must be over.
Very young crowd. A lot of young folks
Very diverse ethnicity of attendants
50M queue for Forgeworld within the show!!
Historical games probably a minority now. Fantasy skirmish being de jour.

I thought it was a very healthy show. But a bit much for me

I agree with what you say about the attendees. The mix of fantasy and historical games seemed about the same as usual. There did seem to be a lot of traders selling big expensive boxes of fantasy/sci-Fi stuff.

Is it just me getting old, or was there more floorspace this year? I had to go for a sit down and a cake halfway round!

First time for a while that I've been to salute for an entire day purely as a punter rather than being involved in a game.
I would echo the above comments, saw a lot of money being spent, on an ever diverse range of products, by a lot of people.
thought there were more folk there than last year, but, always hard to judge. Doubtless someone from slw will be able to confirm this in due course. Organisation seemed pretty slick, I arrived about 9.30 by which time there were numerous people sweatily queing in the holding area in the adjacent hall. I went off with a friend for a leisurely breakfast in one of the hotels and strolled straight in at 10.36…
games were….so-So..Ron Ringrose land sea extravaganza seemed as good a winner as any, though I loved the Cold war gone wet game with a scratch built 28mm Soviet warship….suitably mental. Usual crop of reasonable looking club games interspersed with some "wacky" participation games, plus a couple of "games" where nothing happened at all, all day, apart from some blatent plugging of a new ruleset.
I've never quite understood why British shows never even attempt to emulate the US approach to putting on games. Perhaps the time has come for this, salute for one probably has the space to accomodate some quality, prebooked sign up games.
less re enactor presence, just as many backpacks, fewer goth chicks than the Sherlock convention nextdoor, a few old friends, great day out.
thanks to SLW for another good show.

Thanks for posting.
Those sailing ships are amazing, but transporting them must be painstaking.

Thanks for the pics
Clif

Nice pics.

It was quite crowded up until lunchtime, then it seemed to thin out (and cool down a bit). There definitely seemed to be a lot more younger people this year.

I haven't been for a couple of years and it did seem to be much more fantasy/sci-fi focussed.

My own observations:

- it was way too hot in there.
- access was better than when I last went but the queue was slower than I thought it would be.
- not enough seating.
- queue after queue at stands made looking at products difficult until after lunch.
- shame no bring and buy.

Having said that there were some good deals to be had but I'm not sure I will go again next year as many traders I remembered being there before were absent.

great pics… Halo, looks nice , so did terminator… what was that galactica game ?

Thanks Lurkio – looks like you've spotted Warlord Games will be doing hard plastic Nap French Chasseurs a Cheval as well as Portuguese Infantry soon – good news!

A great day out.
Grossly overspent (new rules – To the Strongest – and 2 armies to go with them, Aeronef fleet plus numerous dinos and prehistoric mammals).
Certainly seemed more space than last year, but still hard to see some stand's goodies because of queues (although did get easier on the second walk around after lunch).
Amazed at how many stands/traders were selling horror/fantasy figures. Some great models & if I win the lottery I'll be be buying some.

Seldon – the BSG game was a version of Full Thrust put on by Mechworld Development Group from Germany. I was looking out for it, but somehow missed it.

cool, thanks !

Best Salute I've been to at this venue. Lots of historical games to look at( did not notice ratio of historical/fantasy/sc/fi). Loved both AWI games, early WWII game was fab, as was the Star Wars and the Dambusters game(Thanks for the DFC guys!) I would have liked to have seen more historical figure traders, but that does not mean I would have bought anything from them!!!
Que to get in was well managed, did not miss the B+B asI do not buy second hand Games Workshop. Could have done with more seating, as we struggled to find somewhere to sit at lunchtime(The concourse outside was crazy).

Well done SLW, see you next year.

OK, so it was just me who noticed how much better the lighting was!

Tip for finding empty seats…..

Some of the food places in the main concourse have seating above them on a kind of balcony affair. I can only guess that most people do not know they exist because they are always less then half full!

access was better than when I last went but the queue was slower than I thought it would be

my emphasis

Really?

OK, so it was just me who noticed how much better the lighting was!

No Trajanus, the lighting was better. I noticed! It made photogrphy much easier, for one thing.

I must admit it was warmer than last year (my wife was down to just the tea shirt – ie no hoodie or over shirt – which is very unusual for the show). I didn't think that was necessarily a bad thing per se though – if one wasn't expecting it (as no one was) it could lead to getting a bit sweatier than was desirable, I guess.

As for it being more Fantasy/SF dominated, I would suggest it goes where the market leads it and – working one's way back through the logic – the market goes where the gamers take it.

Non-historical is very popular at the average gaming club (but then I would say that, wouldn't I?!)

Heat/light/queues… the general idea, I know, amongst the organisers is to fix problems (if possible) when they are raised. Hence the placement of the door sideways into a specific room to help with the queuing this year.

John T