Salute 2017 Live Blog

Welcome to Salute 2017! We’re getting ready to dive into all of the action from today including talking to the vendors and exploring what awesome gaming tables are being put together by clubs and more.

Make sure to comment below to be in with the chance of winning a mega bundle of goodies and let us know who you’d like us to meet here at the event.

One of the things that we always love seeing at Salute are the awesome gaming tables that folks set up. This is one of them, the Old Guard, which has been set up since yesterday and is looking rather spiffing.

Hopefully, later in the day we'll chat about their table and what's going on with all these hexes!

We got down to Salute yesterday and wanted to show off a bit of the hustle and bustle from the folks setting up. The hall is MASSIVE and the vendors are putting together some great looking booths and tables.

How many of you will be coming to Salute for the first time?

We close in on some of the cool tabletops that we’re looking forward to checking out. There are some great set-ups from the guys at 4Ground but there’s much more too.

It will be cool to stop in and find out what’s popular here and…the doors will open soon enough letting forth the horde!

Justin makes a quick trip through the huge hall for Salute to get a brief overview of what’s to come today.

From just one aisle we can really see what today has in store for us already!

The lights are up, judges are ready, and traders are starting to fill the cabinets with their entries.

Last year was a resounding success and this year will be no exception, as entrants and winners from Golden Demon, various Slayer Sword winners, Monte San Savino, Euromillitaire, The Fang, Hussar, and other esteemed contestants will be in attendance to compete as well as with the likes of you and me the average tabletop wargamer. (ps. I haven't entered)

It’s a serious business but also a bit of fun for anyone at Salute to enter. With this in mind they have introduced a couple of new things this year to push the competition to new heights.

There is a Best of Show Trophy which will be awarded to the winner and they also get to take away with a paid for flight and transfers to enter Chicago’s CoolMiniOrNot in 2017, for the Crystal Brush competition.

Gav Thorpe is here running his game of Open Combat by Second Thunder today at Salute This is quite the awesome game packed with some cool cinematic action moments.

It would be cool to get a closer look at this game in the future since it really does work as a toy box for wargamers.

It looks like if you fancy delving into the world of Ancient Wargaming there is a tabletop for you to get stuck into.

This one plays out The Battle Of Raphia and shows off some awesomeness as the two armies clash with big elephants and masses of ranked spearmen.

Justin stops in and starts talking with some of the attendees that are waiting in the line to get into Salute. The event is about to kick off!

We also bump into one of our community members to see how they're getting on with the show right now.

Warploque Miniatures are here (we'll be catching up with them soon) and in the mean time we thought we'd dive into the little demo table that they have set up here.

These chaps have some fantastic miniatures which look like they've come from the world of Fable and brought to life on the tabletop.

And so they come to buy, game and more!

We'll be diving into the crowd and starting to get some interviews done shortly so keep an eye out for more very soon.

The rush is on, to get entries out of their carry cases and boxes, quick fixes and touch ups done before entering them into their categories.

And if all of the changes were not enough, they have also reintroducing third place awards this year, as sometimes the cut between finalist and second place is a painful judging decision and we have listened to our previous years feedback to amend this.

Judging criteria has also been reviewed and refined (and published), as always the team of 8 judges maintain an objective decision making process, and oversee the very subjective nature of an art competition across various scales and styles.

Twisting things about a bit one of the gaming clubs has bought along this version of Bolt Action to play out on the tabletop which takes you to the 18th Green in Pinhai!

The Japanese and Chinese are clashing here on the tabletop and it looks great.

We stop in to find out what Gripping Beast are bringing to Salute 2017 with some demo games for Swordpoint and SAGA.

As well as that they're stepping in to show off their new Dark Age Plastics and even give away some of them PLUS the exclusive Gripping Beast dice as part of our competition.

Just a quick update before judging starts!

Awsome Ork gang and Harlequinn...

We catch up with Alex and find out what's happening with Warploque at Salute.

This includes Halfling of Hobbles hire and their amazing range of characters

We take a look at the great new terrain from the world of 4Ground from Fabled Realms and the rest of their terrain range.

We checked in on this game full of Crusaders battling it out in this ruinous terrain.

We sit in and find out what these fellows have been doing with magnets and their MDF terrain! Find out more at madgamingterrain.com

We step in with the Bexley Reapers who have been doing some fantastic Jurassic Park inspired gaming with a T-Rex chasing a jeep around the tabletop and velociraptors hunting down folks in the long grass.

This one looks like a lot of fun and it's all homebrew which is great!

We stop in at one of the tabletops which is running the game from Studio Tomahawk, CONGO.

This game sees your explorers heading out into the dark heart of Africa and running into Tribesmen and more.

The game seems to feature some nifty mechanics so it would be cool to know whether you folks have checked this one out in the past?

We sit down to chat with Anvil Industry about what's happening with AFTERLIFE. They've got a rather cool looking vehicle set up and are selling a fair bit of their range too.

Have you been won over by the Anvil range?

The new edition of Warhammer 40,000 was announced today and here as the Salute 2017 event unfolds.

You can find out more on their landing page here: https://warhammer40000.com/the-game/

Are you interested in getting stuck into the new edition?

We stop in with Dave and the team from Hawk Wargames to find out how things are going with them when it comes to Salute 2017 and what they have new and raring to go for the tabletop.

Of course, they were generous enough to offer up some goodies too allowing you to get started in the game.

We sent Dave out to find out what else is going on around the gaming tables and it turns out that as well as all of the goodness that we've seen Historically there's also some folks playing Infinity on this nice and colourful tabletop.

We think it's neat to see this game here, in a bit of a drop-in-drop-out format on the tabletop. It certainly works for character focused gameplay.

We stop in with the folks from Steamforged Games to find out more about the world of Dark Souls on the tabletop as the board game continues to blow up with folks.

Also, Guild Ball goes from strength to strength and that means that we also have loads of epicness to give away as part of our prize bundle!

This year has been a step change on the last two, more finalists pulled out than ever, and judging is taking forever, looking for the smallest of differences in each entry to decide which deserve the ultimate accolade.

Here is a quick shot of all the category finalists, with a couple of closer looks. More to come from the winners soon...

Lance gets gooey and starts falling in love with these wonderful miniatures for the world of Twilight.

What do you make of these nice looking creations? We think Lance might be besotted...

Take a look at some of the painted miniatures from the new Fabled Realms game.

These are some fancy looking characters for 4Gound's game which will be hitting Kickstarter.

We stop in with the folks from Warcradle about what has been happening when it comes to Wild West Exodus.

As well as the news of 2nd Edition these guys are going to be bringing some great stuff to life for our competition winner.

So, here is the lowdown on the winners, with some accompanying Photo's

Historical Single Figure:
1st Fet Miller
2nd Danioel Monreal
3rd Michal Lios

Historical Unit:
1st Russel Rainford
2nd Michal Lios
3rd Kevin Ingram

Historical Other:
1st Chris Webb
2nd Russel Rainford
3rd Graham Green

Sci-fi Single Figure:
1st Steve Party
2nd Richard Gray
3rd Andy Wardle

Sci-fi Unit:
1st Sonny Hardy
2nd Ryan Allen
3rd Reece Stewart

Sci-fi Other:
1st Richard Gray
2nd Lee Hebblethwaite
3rd Reece Stewart

Fantasy Figure:
1st Andy Wardle
2nd Steve Party
3rd Lewis Collins

Fantasy Unit:
1st Chris Bair
2nd Charlie Kirkpatrick
3rd Russel Rainford

Fantasy Other:
1st Chris Clayton
2nd Reymond Ventu Sulien
3rd Lee Hebblethwaite

Large Scale:
1st Andy Wardle
2nd Ben Curry
3rd David Soper

Miscellaneous:
1st John Keys
2nd Martin Collier
3rd Richard Gray

Junior:
1st Alexander Berner
2nd Alexander Barbaro-Robins
3rd Daniel Field

2016 Salute Mini:
1st Charlie Kirkpatrick
2nd Mark Lifton
3rd Jon Miller

Best in show, with flights to CMON Crystal Brush:
Scifi Figure winner, Steve Party with St Celestine.

We stop off with the folks from Battlefront and take a look at what they have in the pipeline for the world of Flames of War and more besides.

Take a look and let us know what you're liking from Flames Of War

Come and take a look at this piratical and idyllic looking tabletop that was being played over at Salute this year where we focused in on some action on the high seas.

It's a neat looking tabletop and it's always good to see a splash of bright colours.

It's time to find out about the different mats that are coming out from Deep Cut Studio and what they've been doing here at the event this week.

We love the Deep Cut Studio mats which allow you to get a gaming table together rather quickly indeed.

We stopped in at this game of X-Wing which was being played out in the skies above the final island for Rogue One.

This battle looked rather nifty and it was nice to not have something being played out in space for once!

Delve into the mysterious world of Mythos and find out what lies ahead for their creepy models by Paranoid Miniatures.

Fantastically, the guys from Paranoid are going to be offering up a faction of your choice before the retail release!

I also stopped in to see what was up with a bit of Napoleonic skirmishing as we delved into the world of Sharpe's Practice from Too Fat Lardies.

This game had quite the following around it throughout the day.

Find out about what Privateer Press are looking to do this year at Salute and where the future is going to go when it comes to Warmachine & Hordes.

Cryx and Khador are hot at the moment but also the Grymkin are on the way!

If you like the idea of Fantastical pirates hitting the high seas then you might want to check out the world of Freebooter's Fate.

This range of miniatures always surprises us every year with their wonderful characters and on top of that the collection continues to grow with every month of new releases.

We step in and find out what Plast Craft Games has been up to with their new terrain.

Their ColorEd range is growing substantially and it's flowing over into Kensei, Torii and of course into the world of Malifaux with their new buildings.

In the midst of the chaos, we take some chill time to speculate just what makes a Wargamer at Salute.

Head into the world of World War II and check out this rather awesome looking game.

This one looked like it was quite the struggle on the tabletop and it brought things down to a much smaller scale which was neat!

Ben gets to hang out with the guys at GCT Studios to find out what's going on with the Eastern skirmish game of Bushido.

We stop off with the terrain that's being done by Dark Ops. This includes some impressive Iron Clad ships as well as some masterful galleons too.

You can even get your own name engraved on the back of this ship if you so desired. Perfect terrain and vehicles for the likes of Steampunk and American Civil War gaming.

We're catching up with Annie from Bad Squiddo Games to talk about some awesome new female Russian Soldiers and Lagertha!

Dave was able to step in and find out about this naval game where you were challenged to try and destroy their Carrier on the tabletop.

Mighty ships were gunning it out with quick play rules and some donated models. Submarines and more were battling it out to see who could take the crown.

We delve in and find out about the Doctor Who: Extermination board game/miniatures game hybrid that has been put together by Warlord Games which brings together the Cybermen and the Daleks.

Mix this in with some fantastic additional stuff when you add in the characters from past and present PLUS the Doctor and his Companions.

I stopped off to find out what was happening with Hornchurch Wargaming Club who were playing a game which featured a lot of hex based mechanics.

This one seemed a lot of fun and it was nice to see people looking back towards more traditional means of tabletop gaming. Hexes mean simple!

Oathsworn Miniatures talk us through what they're going to be bringing to us in the future and indeed where things are going when it comes to their Burrows & Badgers collection.

Role-playing books are on the way as well as a potential card game coming for UK Games Expo.

Bolt Action is going from strength to strength and we're also looking at some of what's new for Beyond The Gates Of Antares AND beyond that.

It looks like the new plastic tank might be the way forwards for John!

As things settle down at Salute and tables are being cleaned up, we take a last quick run around to see who's left packing up.

Check out the awesome new feature mini, or biggie from Heresy, the Madame.

As Salute ends *cries*

We take some time out of our busy schedule to have a little talk with Mac of South London's Warlords Gaming Club to see how everything went.

We would like to thank the entire crew that made this happen, Salute would not be possible without the Warlords and we truly had a lot of fun and many happy memories made.

Remember to keep your comments coming in, we're just as blown away by the mega bundle as you are!