Showing posts with label Salute. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Salute. Show all posts

Thursday, 7 May 2015

Cremona 69 AD at Salute

Since Salute I have been frantically busy and haven't had a chance to post any of the photos of the game.  What follows is a fairly random selection of pictures of the game taken by Ian Notter (long shots) and Alan Daniels (closeups). First there are some shots of the game before the doors opened:

View down the table
The Vitellian Camp
Othonian gladiators row towards the pontoon bridge
I had planned to play the whole game but we were shorthanded and somewhat overwhelmed by the level of interest from the public, and we only managed to play the first half. A highlight of the day for me was being sought out by a lovely couple of kids (10 and 12) who played at SELWG last year, and who wanted to play again.

XXI Rapax observe the big cavalry melee
A slave fleeing the fighting, with grapes!

V Alaudae advancing towards the pontoon bridge
It was great to see my newly-printed "To the Strongest!" rulebook out on the table; the ink was barely dry! Happily we sold quite a few copies on the day from Caliver and Agema. I still have plenty of copies left and they can be bought from the BigRedBatshop. If you have previously bought a digital version of the rules I'll give you a £5 refund on the purchase price.

View along the table
One of my favourite things about Salute is the opportunity to meet so many friends and people who work in the hobby - the two categories are not, of course, mutually exclusive.

V Alaudae; I love those yellow shields!

Gladiators risking all in the hope of liberty!
A huge thank you to Mark Freeth of the Wargames Holiday Centre and mate Mark for running the game and to Ian Notter and Alan Daniels for taking the photos. I felt that the Warlords did a fine job of organising the event this year, entrance, in particular, being very much improved.

Publius Marius Celsus, the Othonian cavalry commander
Legionaries trample the rich wheatfields
My next gigs are at the Wargames Holiday Centre from Friday 15th and Partizan at the end of May. If you fancy playing in a game at either, please do drop me a line!  

Best, Simon

Friday, 24 April 2015

To the Strongest has landed!


...just in the nick of time for Salute.  Phew!  The print quality looks very good, and I am rather chuffed to put it mildly. A huge thank you to all those who helped get me to this point! Now I just need to introduce Mrs. Bat to the new warehouse facility in our hallway, and schlep half a tonne of books, minis and boards to Excel.

If you'd like to pick a copy at Salute, you can still pre-order from my shop- I'll refund postage costs

http://bigredbatshop.co.uk/collections/all/wargames-rules

and collect from Agema Miniatures (TE11), or just turn up with twenty quid on the day at either the Agema miniatures stand or Caliver Books (TL11).

Orders for delivery by post will go out next Monday/Tuesday.

Saturday, 11 April 2015

Via Postumia tombs

My Bloody Cremona game at Salute is set along the line of the Via Postumia as it approaches to Cremona.

I thought it would be nice to depict some of the characteristic Roman roadside tombs and monuments, so I made these up. And when I say that I made these up, well, they aren't based on any particular Roman research.  ;-)

The figures are lovely Aventine Miniatures; they look suitably archaic and the pose of the horse is just right for an equestrian statue.



Here is another Aventine general, this time on foot.

The pedestals are made from very old (= 50 years!) Lego bricks and Games Workshop bases; I spent a little time "distressing" them with a scalpel.

They were sprayed white, stained with inks and I then "applied" lichen and moss to age and weather them.












Sometimes the Romans liked to use pyramidal shapes, echoing Egypt.

















And finally I made a simple tomb around 30mm long.









The tombs will sit under the cypress trees alongside my Via Postumia in my "Bloody Cremona, 69 AD" game at Salute on Saturday week. If you are coming to Salute, you can find my game at GM11 on the below map, marked with the dark red asterisk. It is next to the large rest area at the far end of the hall from the entrance. Please do drop by and say hello! If you want to join in the game for a half hour or so, perhaps to get an idea of how the rules work, I'm sure we will be able to fit you in. Mark Freeth of the Wargames Holiday Centre will also be there, helping out and taking bookings!

Greg at Agema Miniatures will be selling my "To the Strongest!" rules at Saltue. You will be able to collect your pre-orders made from my shop from his stand, TE11, marked on the map with a black asterisk. He will also have some great Salute deals on his miniatures...



Wednesday, 18 March 2015

Every journey starts with the first step...


...and the journey to Salute starts with these three units.  I've picked all of the painted Saleh Roman minis I can find (not many) and de-flashed and primed enough others to make three cohorts. If time permits I'll also paint another unit of Gladiators.

At Salute I'll be running the First Cremona game I ran at Partizan last year.  This will be an extended version of the below game with more terrain and a few more units.  Hopefully be worth a look!


Saturday, 26 April 2014

Do I really sound like that?

Marvel to the sibilant tones of the eponymous Bat, 40 seconds in on this Beasts of War video of Salute 2014.  And note the themed T-shirt!


I think I deserve a certain degree of kudos for introducing the W40K crowd to the obscure 1st Century AD Roman military author Frontinus.  :-)  I was like a rabbit in the headlights.

Many thanks to Craig Cartmell for sending me the link.

Tuesday, 15 April 2014

Some shots of C-Day at Salute 2014

As I mentioned in my last post, I forgot my camera but several people have kindly sent me photos of the game.  First, some wide shots from Legatus Hedlius; a shot along the length of the table.


And below, in the heat of action, with the game being run by the Brixham Berserks.


...and also of Mark Backhouse (below).


We had three transports, three galleys and 4 "landing barges" in the game, some are in the shot below.  I loved the colour of Mark's trade ship, on the right.


Alan Daniels took some closeups; here some legionaries are gambling on the deck of one of the galleys.


...whilst other (more diligent) comrades wade ashore.



Above, a lovely shot by Elaine Daniels, of Mark Backhouse's galley, and below of Caesar's "secret weapon."


Elaine Daniels also took this lovely shot of the swan on Mark's trade ship.



...and the bow of his galley.  A lovely colour, that wood.


Finally, a rare shot of my celtic chariots.

Thanks very much to Stephen, Alan and Elaine.  If anyone else has photos, I'd love to see them!

Monday, 14 April 2014

BigRedBat's Salute

Mate Ian and I set off for Salute at 7AM, and were in the hall soon after 8AM.  My new trolley-of-war, below, made getting the minis from the car park to the table, child's play; much easier than queuing to bring the car in.  It'll carry 4' boards, too.


Unfortunately, despite having it on the trolley, I failed to put the camera in the car, so the only pictures I have are of Mark's elephant, and Guy's cliffs.  If anyone has decent photos of the game (the lighting was very challenging) I'd be delighted to see some.


The game set up was very straightforward; Guy Bowers and his Brixham Berzerk mates made some great terrain (cliffs shown, below). Mark Backhouse produced some lovely ships and Frontinus' elephant, and Legatus Hedlius a splendid trireme. Jay brought his warband along, but unfortunately it (and around a third of my chariots) weren't required; I intend to put this right at the earliest opportunity, by running a big game here in the BigRedBatCave.


The game was run three times by the Berzerks, and by Mark, and was very well received by the two dozen-odd players. I believe the Romans won twice and the Britons defeated them once.  Huge thanks to all who contributed!

My favourite game was James Morris and friends' Keren, which is described on Scriv's blog. Jaw dropping. I've not heard that it won anything; if not, the judges must have been blind!

At Salute I was delighted to meet lots of people who follow the blog including fellow bloggers, old friends, manufacturers, publishers and many gaming enthusiasts. 

I have read several pieces complaining that the Salute show, in its vast hangar, is crowded, smelly, hard on the feet and somewhat characterless, and that the goods on sale could be more easily purchased by post. In my opinion all of these are true to a lesser or greater extent. For me, though,  the most important reason for attending a show is to meet people and there are better opportunities to meet more people at Salute, than at any other show I attend in the gaming year, so it remains an absolute must!

Friday, 11 April 2014

Packing for Salute!







This afternoon I shall spend busily packing up my contribution to our C-Day game, Caesar's Invasion of Britain, 55BC, at Salute tomorrow. We are at stand GE02, inside the entrance and left a bit. I do hope to see you there!  You will know me by my T-shirt.


Sunday, 21 April 2013

BigRedBat's Salute Highlights

I spent yesterday dashing madly around Salute, abut only managed to get a few snaps of games that "grabbed me", and often didn't record the groups that produced them.  I'm afraid it is a selective and incomplete list, but here goes!


The above game is Wargames Soldiers and Strategy's Wrath of Heaven, where I helped out for an hour.  The terrain was beautifully detailed, and the minis delightful, mostly painted by one of the WSS staffers (Christine?).  Mark who ran it was a natural GM, and the kids who played had a lot of fun.  Even the one whose ninja he cruelly slaughtered. ;-)   I very much enjoyed hanging out with the WSS crowd, including Guy and Jasper.


The above Siege of New Victoria game, set on Mars, was an absolute corker; half a dozen airshps battled above the fortress.  Oshiro model terrain did the terrain, and I believe Red Planet Miniatures the models.


The above "30 Seconds to Dog Green" Battlegroup Overlord, game was absolutely stunning, especially the cliffs, beach and bunkers.


This 28mm Normandy  game was called "Inland from Utah".  I was very taken with the column of obsolescent German (ex-French) armour.  I didn't recognise the Airfix Le Haye Saint until tonight!


Talking of armoured columns... the South London Warlord's Slammers game was a stunner.  The buildings were incredibly detailed, a labour of love.


The table was about a mile long!  These guys seemed to be lurking in ambush.


The other Warlords game was all Harryhausen, in 1/12 scale, such a brilliant idea.  The skeletons were scary... and I was worried what the Talos might get up to.



Above is a lovely Troy, Aeneas and family were busy escaping from it.  Run by the Tin Soldiers of Antwerp.


I spent a very happy 20 minutes discussing the Austro-Prussian war of 1866, with a chap at this table.  Very nice 10mm Pendragon miniatures, and plenty of them.


Above and below is the 54mm Victrix game.  The detail on the minis was astonishing, I was very taken with the hobnails on the boots (below).


Last but not least, the Dux Bellorum games run by Guitarhero Andy, James Morris and Steve (Jones?).  The games looked great, we had a nice chat and I gather that they deservedly won an award.

I forgot to take pictures of the huge, and stunning, Waterloo game.

I didn't manage to meet half of the people I wanted to, and have probably forgotten half of those I did meet.  However I did meet a whole "list" of gaming bloggers, including Big Lee, Postie, The Angry Lurker, Tamsin, Sebastien and Stephen of the Legatus blogs.  I also met various Lardies, my mate Nick Speller who gave me some newly painted toys (of which more anon), Simon Comitatus MacDowall, and an old friend, Craig Cartmell, who wrote "In Her Majesties Name", which last demo looked superb, but which I also failed to photograph.   Apologies if I also met you and have forgotten to mention it!

It was a very enjoyable day.  It seemed very busy, compared to last year, but not unduly crowded.  On the whole I felt that there were fewer impressive demo games, but it didn't seem to matter, as much fun was had by all!  I'm very glad that I went, after all.

Sunday, 22 April 2012

Back to the Rubble

I helped out a (very little) bit with a game run by Greg Privat and Andrew Taylor, at Salute, yesterday, set in the rubble of Pavis, the great ruined city in the plains of Prax.  That's the Pavis wall in the background, and the Zola Fel river on the right.


Below, some trollkin are fighting a Lunar on the roof of this ruined building.


A whole tribe of Uz can be seen below.


Greg produced the terrain and painted most of the miniatures, other miniatures (some of the Lunars) were provided by Andrew Taylor of Mad Knight Castings.   I was very impressed with some of the new miniatures, which have slipped under my radar until now. and there are some humorous pieces such as the trollkin (note what appears to be a suicide battering ram, below), and an elephant-headed broo.   


The Lunars, in particular, are rather fine.  Above are some Thunder Delta Slingers, and, below, an assassin and various Lunar soldiery assault an altar.


I was very impressed with Andrew's new range; great to see Gloranthan gaming underway again!  I will paint some Gloranthan toys before the year is out.  It was great, as ever, to meet Greg and his new and even-taller wargaming buddy Jean, and Andrew of Mad Knight, plus various old chums like James Ewins,  Nick Speller, Simon MacDowell, Dug, the chaps from Frothers etc (sorry if I have missed you!).  In the general confusion of the day I missed meeting Iron Mitten, the Dark Knights and Bloody Dawns crowd and Saxon Dog (where were those games?).