Salute 2010

Well, Salute 2010 has been and gone. Another very enjoyable day out, this year with David along too. WD were not invited to run a game this year, so I did not see much of other WD members. Caught a glimpse of Bob Cordery and John Bassett across the hall, but not close enough to say hello to.

David wanted to come this year as he has decided to get back into figure painting. We had a good time wandering round the show and looking at all the games and trading stands - the biggest concentration of wargaming in one place anywhere in the UK.

I had my shopping list prepared and made sure that I went to those stands first. First off, Kallistra for two packs of their Single Hex Brook Set. I needed two packs to get enough of the curve pieces.

Then on to QRF for a whole lot of odds and ends really. Geoff had kindly taken my pre-order even though I had missed their deadline by a day, much appreciated!

So I purchased 8 packs of Highlanders (64 figures). These will serve in a dual capacity. Firstly, as Highlanders in the ECW for battles like the Montrose campaigns, secondly as Jacobites for the Jacobite Rebellions. I blame Ian Drury for the latter! His rules "Redcoats and Rebels" got me interested in the Jacobite Rebellion, then I picked up a copy of Culloden by John Prebble, at The Lee Flower Show. Fascinating stuff! With Prebble's book giving the historical background and Ian's rules and complete scenarios for all the battles, all I needed were the Highlanders - I would press my AWI British into service as the opposing forces.

Along with the Highlanders, I bought 2 packs of 3 pdr guns (6 guns) and a pack of Coehorn Mortars. These diminutive little mortars are quite unusual as battlefield artillery, so quite nice to do. The pack contained 4 mortars so I will base them as 2 batteries of 2 each. Crews will come from the AWI British again. A single pack of Jacobite Lowland Cavalry (4 figures) completed the Jacobite force.

I also purchased from QRF 3 packs (12 figures) of ECW Heavy Cavalry. These will replace some Essex figures in the Parliamentarian army. I know it's stylised and an over simplification, but I like the idea that the Parliament horse should all have helmets and breastplates while the Royalists have big floppy hats! Also, the ones being replaced are a bit big and needed 25mm bases rather than 20mm.

Finally in the bag from QRF were a pack of AWI British Light Infantry and a pack of Queen's American Rangers. While working on my updated rules for the American Revolution, I realised that the British had "unbrigaded" their light infantry in the same way as the Grenadiers. The light infantry tended to wear caps or cut down tricornes, so I needed some specific light infantry to represent them. Secondly, the Minfigs "ready made army" that I bought years ago and that forms the bulk of my AWI Brits included some loyalist figures, Butler's Rangers. While a somewhat iconic AWI unit, I discovered that they spent pretty much the whole war fighting Indians and were never involved in any of the major battles. On the other hand, the Queen's American Rangers were. Exit one unit of Butler's Rangers to be replaced by the QAR!

I'm not sure yet what I'm going to do with the figures that have been replaced. One thought is to take them to COW and see if anyone is interested in buying them...

My other purchases were some more Coat d'Arms paint from Black Hat Miniatures and a copy of "Empire", a campaign game of the Punic Wars by Philip Sabin (from the Society of Ancients).

David bought a couple of "Warmachine" models, two starter packs of Coat d'Arms paints and a paint brush.

Oh, one last thing, I bought a box of the Perry WOTR figures (along with a free mounted commander).

A good day out, a good haul (everything I planned) and before the end of the evening I had some of the QRF figures cleaned up, on the painting table, undercoated and painting started!