Salute 2014

Yesterday, me and two fellow hobbyists headed to London to attend Salute 2014, one of the largest wargames events of the year. Over 150 stands and more than 100 games to test and play. Yes, it was epic.
There was a lot of everything for everyone: Fantasy, Historical, Sci-Fi, vendors, gamers, both well-established companies and independent sellers, painters and other artists, and an array of very detailed tables for all sorts of themes, scales and games.

I spent most of my time at Salute talking to sellers and getting the latest and upcoming news on their products. I also managed to finally meet and talk in person with legends like Richard Scott, from Otherworld Miniatures and Werner Klocke, the sculptor and creator of Freebooter Miniatures. And to get to see recent or brand new companies and their cool products, like Twilight Miniatures, Warploque Miniatures or Mad Clown Minis.
Generally, everyone was extremely friendly and approachable, defeating the idea that wargamers are socially challenged creatures.
In the end, I was tired but very happy!

Below are pictures of some of the things I saw at Salute and that caught my attention. There were many more whose products I didn't get to photograph due to lack of time. Apologies for that and for the poor quality of some of pictures - this was the best I could do with limited lighting in the venue.

This year's event miniature, a D-Day Royal Navy commander and his faithful dog, sculpted by Michael Perry. Both the model and the die were offered to us at the entrance.

Manufacturers

Warploque Miniatures - in my view, one of the highlights of Salute with its range of halflings, orcs, trolls and beautiful artwork. Several pictures below, as this was definitely one of my favourite stands:

Twilight Miniatures - recent fantasy game with a set of skirmish factions containing various types of creatures:

Mad Clown Miniatures - a recent company with some very quirky models and excellent resin casting:

Joek Minis - and their sinister scarecrows and other characters:

Otherworld Miniatures - beautiful range of dungeon explorers, henchmen, monsters, accessories and many more. A must for people who love Dungeons and Dragons and similar games:

Freebooter Miniatures - fantastic range of pirates, rogues, cultists and accessories, all finely sculpted:

Black Scorpion Miniatures - speaking of pirates, here's a company that has a wide range of rogues and corsairs. Dwarves and giants included:

Brigade Models - very large range of barbarian-type models and other miniatures:

Bushido - mainly focused on Japanese fantasy. I would love to get into this range one day, as they have beautiful and characterful miniatures:

Heresy Miniatures - a festival of fantasy and sci-fi miniatures. I particularly like their undead collection:

Fenris Games - I always thought this company only produced bases and terrain, so it was pleasantly surprising when I saw that they have a huge range of miniatures too - sea monsters included:

Micro Art Studios - lots of sci-fi models and bases. The highlight, however, goes for their excellent Discworld miniatures (although the models are clearly larger than the average 28mm):

Studio McVey - finely sculpted models:

Perry Miniatures - with their superb historical ranges:

Mierce Miniatures - massive beasts and monsters. Really impressive sculpts in resin. This scary-looking creature caught my attention:

Terrain and accessories

Adrian's Walls - detailed resin terrain for historical and fantasy games:

GrandManner - some of the best terrain in the market with a wide range of historical buildings:

Oshiro: terrain for Japanese, Victorian and fantasy, among others:

Sarissa Precision: laser-cut buildings, carts and wagons. I'm usually not keen in collecting laser-cut kits, but some of these models (especially the wagons and gypsy caravans) are superb:

Tables and Dioramas

South London Warlords board 19th century board. Lovely scratch-built terrain and use of Perry Miniatures civilians:

Freebooter's Fate board:

Twilight board: that tree in particular looked amazingly realistic:

Necrons board:

Hordes/Warmachine board:

Board created by Fenris Games. Loads of interesting detail and different levels with water features. One of my favourites:

A town created by terrain company 4Ground. Definitely inspirational for my own medieval town:

Showcase

Some of the models displayed by Figure World Model Show. It was particularly inspiring to get so close to these stunningly painted miniatures:

Finally, I found the above miniature on display at Etch-Master stand. The infamous Golden Demon winner entry back in 2009: The Clockmaker, by Ben Jarvis!

And this is it! Hope to return in 2015.

João