Salute Part 1

It's Salute time again well on saturday anyway. Over 7000 gamers descended to the Excel centre in London to pay homage to all things gaming and buy new toys!

The Sea of Gamers and this was at 9:30 am

After picking up my goodie bag with my Salute exclusive mini, free dice and this year a couple of models from Maelstrom's Edge I bumped into to a few of the guys from The Essex Legion as we were all let into the the huge hanger.

This year I went to Salute with a a plan...I wanted to get a few bits but also to get a few demos in as well.

(disclaimer there will be lots of awesome and amazing in this so be warned)

First I had a look at Siege Studios and I tell you there work is stunning the paint jobs these photos don't do any justice at all.

This fella is ready for action

I heard that River Horse was showing some of the models and test castings for the up coming labyrinth game and they did not disappoint.. This is one game I will get in the summer (dance magic dance)

 

After seeing these I popped over to the Mantic stand to have a look at the new Deadzone game and redeem some of my mantic points ( getting more hammer action for my Dwarfs) and had a go at Kings of War finally.

Of course I was the Dwarfs for this and it was only a basic set up but it was really easy to pick up I even remembered stats that the Standee forgot. It must bean an easy game to pick up for me to remember rules. Anyway it was fast and I liked the wounds stacked up on the unit and the fact its deadly if you are attacked from the sides or behind. Also the fact Dwarfs have access to angry badgers with Slayers on their backs.. How can you not love that.

I am going to see if I can sway Mr2key to have a go with the free rules online.

ttcombat and there huge new building for sale.

As you can see by the faces it was pleasing to see

perfect for frostgrave

Next stop Studio McVey and my word they had The Others 7 sins models on dis-play.  I backed this game on kickstarter due to the pictures of the models and so glad I did my jaw drooped..... So much Awesome I can't wait till I get these in my hands!

After all this excitement and trying to take in all that was going at the show I needed to take 5...

Warhammer World Part Deux (Assault Of The Essex Legion)

On Saturday I woke up stupid early and traveled with Mr2key to meet up with the Essex legion for the clubs trip to Warhammer world. For me and Mr2key this was our second visit in under 4 months.
The departure time was 7 am but we had to leave a little late due to a few late comers. Lano *cough*

We all arrived a bit cold and ready to take in the atmosphere.



Once we got our bags of toys at our gaming tables we were off to the museum and I can you the second time is just as impressive and I seemed to notice even more on the dioramas. It was great to see everyone wide eyed and gob smacked at the displays. God knows what I must have looked like when I first saw them...

Space Hulk

The Boss

This Is insane!

Who's Going To Win This?

The Wolves Have A Bug Problem

All talk on the bus was about the release of the new Deathwatch game with the new Genestealer cults and I can tell you the models look stunning.



I got a demo and it's kind of like Space Hulk mixed with Executioner force. Real easy to pick up and play. As I was playing I even was featured on the Warhammer world official Facebook page.

Lunch at Bugmans was the next port of call as you can't war game on an empty stomach now can you.

Lots of 40k games were being played in the great hall due to a campaign weekend so the Legion mixed in and played along side.

I sat with the guys and had a look at some now old school Fantasy

Phil was playing Dwarfs vs Lano's Lizards and Mr2key with his Goblins vs Lee's Britonions

 

An Example of Mr2Keys Amazing Paint Work.

This Little Fella Was Mr2Keys MVP Killing a Level 4 Wizard!!

Example of Lano's Dice Rolls (He Needed 3's)

So Amazing

I Wish These Were Still Made

                      As the Fantasy games were being played I was interested in Phil's dwarfs as I have some sitting around in a box and as I have never played fantasy (shock horror) I wanted to give it a go.
At the end of Phil and Lano's game I got a good idea of the game mechanics and decided right I am going to dust of my dwarfs and have a go when I get back.

Stop.......Hammer Time...

So after a long day of gaming and drooling over Forge World it was time to make our way back to the bus.

On the bus talk again was about the new Deathwatch game, how badly chaos needs a new codex (please!) and how great the museum was.

The one idea that was talked about on the bus which my wallets not going to like is starting 30k at the club. There seems to be a lot of interest with club members with a number of different armies being represented.
So I throw down and said right if I can save up I going Sons of Horus for the win...or may be Russ.....

We got back to the club at around 8pm. A bit tired, a little cold and excited about the battles won and lost as well as all the future games to be played..

I want to say thanks to Neil, Grant, James, Ben and Phil at the Legion for organising a great day out and look forward to the next trip.
A special thanks to Mr2key and Mr2key senior who with out there kind offers of driving me to the club I would not have been able to go..

I do have a next trip idea for the club how about this idea Warhammer Fest in May?

2015 In Review.

Happy New Year!

Another year of gaming has passed by and just at the end papa Nurgle decided to give me the lurgy. Thanks.

Before the year was out I finished these two Warmachine models. Saxon Orrik and my Christmas present from Ed Ogrun Bokur.




I tried a different undercoat this time using bone by Army Painter as I was getting tired of using black and finding it difficult to see some of the details in the models. After doing this I might have to start using this a bit more often or a lighter coat of white or grey at least as it really seemed to make things a lot easier.

Talking of Christmas presents I was a very lucky boy. Following on from my games of X wing at the Essex Legion I got a load of Star Wars X wing ships even the new starter set. So I now have lots to choose from (not as many as Ed though ;) ) After seeing the film twice I want some more T90's and look forward to what new ships Fantasy Flight bring out. (Ghost...cough....)

So on to the year that was 2015.

The year started by coming back to gaming again after a brief spell away and headed straight in at the deep end with Warmachine.



I really added to my army during these months working on what units I liked and introduced some new casters, solos and jacks to my collection.

During the months that followed I was able to get some good experience playing Ret thanks to Ed.



Sylys with his Leroy Jenkins moment... yes he did hit but only scratch the paint work..


2015 was also a year of trying out some new board games.

I had fun playing as a smuggler in Firefly.

Also on the table was AvP which I feel in love with due to the minis and had to grab a copy.

unfortunately I am known as the worst Predator player according to Riot having played them once in an Alien heavy mission.. Should not have split them up sigh.. This will change in 2016!

I also went on a few trips this year.  My first trip was in April where I went to Salute and it was packed with toys. I walked away with new terrain,  Warmachine minis even some free Terminators..





In october a group of us headed down to Warhammer World and our minds were blown. Lets just say grown men were acting like kids. We even got a kill team game in where my Nugrle marines were victorious.

 

During October I made my first visit to the Essex Legion and played a few intro games of Warmachine.

Over the last months since going along to the club I even got back into X wing playing in a league which finished up in a huge epic battle.





At the tail end of the year the last project I started was to work on my Deadzone figures.




Phew 2015 was packed full of gaming goodness. It was great to get back into some old games as well as discovering some new ones to. Most of all it was great to reconnect with some gaming mates old and new again and find a new club that is buzzing with ideas and lots of access to play different games each week. It was also great to get out the brush and work on some minis.

So on to the new year. My gaming plans for 2016 are to try and play as many games as I can and get some more Warmachine games in before the upcoming journeyman league at the Essex Legion as I have not played in months. Also I need to build my AvP models and finish my Deadzone project.

At the start of this year I have had a quick look at the Frostgrave rule book and it  looks like a fun game. I have not really delved into any fantasy games so this could be a good place to start. Another good part is it should not cost me anything to start playing as I have some Lord of the Rings figures that I am sure I can use.

So what's your plans for 2016?


To finish off I thought I would post some of the minis I have painted or things I have made this year. I hope to be able to keep chipping away at that pile of plastic and metal.