Sa-loot!

Yup, it's the inevitable post-Salute 2011 post, as seems to be dominating the blogosphere currently. Unfortunately, due to being perhaps the worst blogger ever, I forgot to take the camera (and must have walked past it at least three times whilst getting ready in the morning). On the other hand, if I hadn't of forgotten the camera, I wouldn't have been texting Uncle Johnny bemoaning my own foolishness whilst walking to meet him, which would have meant he'd have remained asleep at home, along with our coach tickets. So I guess there's a silver lining there, if nothing else. I did manage to take a couple of pics before we left using Uncle Johnny's spy-fi telephone though, so I'll post them up once he forwards them my way.

Getting up to Salute wasn't too bad (I can deal with the early morning start as long as I have access to coffee and chainsmoking), although as soon as we got on the Underground, the train was brought to a grinding halt by a 'trespasser' on the line. Cue much bemoaning of the foolishness of people going for a wander in tunnels and an overland trek to Westminster (only partially slowed by my terrible geography skills) and we were back on our way. What's nice was that once we reached a certain point in our journey, navigation became simply a case of 'follow the men with beards'.

The show itself was great - far too much to take in, and I'm still seeing things on other peoples' blogs that I missed! There was an awful lot of nice games on display, but special mention should go to Crooked Dice - lovely chaps, lovely minis, lovely looking games (although all the slots were filled by the time I got there - next time, Gadget, next time...) - It was cool to meet Karl (Crooked Dice South) as well, although it was a bit weird meeting someone you've previously only spoken to via the internet - and I forgive him for overcharging me 50p (there was an awful lot going on around their stand).

On the 'meeting people you've previously only spoken to via the internet' front, I may need to get myincubliss tattooed somewhere on my body, or else change my internet name to something more manly (McAwesome?) or generic, as it's a bit weird introducing yourself as your handle...

On to the purchases... There were many, many lovely shiny things there. I had a bit of a wander at first, scoping out what sort of wares were on offer before returning to dole over ever-increasing amounts of cash rather than just leaping in bothfeet first. Which is probably for the best, as several things I'd seen had sold out by the time I returned, like the Perry Ninjas I only remembered I wanted when I saw a youngster waving the last pack at his father... Still, there were many things that were purchased, the majority of which are readily available at any time on the internet. At the same time, I'm a terrible sucker for buying miniatures placed in front of me that I'd been putting off ordering online (then again, I'm a terrible sucker for buying miniatures placed in front of me full stop). By the end of the day, I'd accrued the following:

Only 33 miniatures (including the freebie for attending), which is a lot less than I thought I'd bought. I managed to avoid the temptation of the various buckets of mage knight and heroclix, but that was mostly due to not fancying crouching down on the floor for extended periods of time to sift through them. Also, it's probably for the best that I didn't have a read of Uncle Johnny's newly acquired copy of Hail Caesar until we were on the coach home, otherwise I'd have likely bought a couple of hundred Ancient Britons to pit against his Romans or Germans... (in other news, whilst googling to double check the name of the rulebook, I discovered that Warlord are running a Tale of IV gamers over on their site, which I've decided not to read yet lest my love of the 'four gamers' format encourage me to buy more miniatures...). As well as all the various minis destined for future service in Strange Aeons and dnd (including some random minis I picked out of a pot), I picked up the Foundry Oriental Flesh Triad, which I'd wanted for a while but was loathe to pay the £8 postage to get it direct. I might even paint some minis for my Three Kingdoms project now (but don't hold your breath).

With the inclusion of that little lot, the tally to date is as follows:

80 vs 235 = -155

Hopefully my refired enthusiasm for 7tv will result in some more miniatures getting finished.

What's that? Refired enthusiasm for 7tv? Look what was waiting for me when I got home from Salute (after a ridiculous amoung of food at Wagamama's, that is):

Alas, Royal Mail managed to take a chunk out of the top-right corner, but that doesn't detract from how ridiculously cool this is. I had the pdf for pre-ordering, but it's not quite the same as having the book in your hands. I won't go into any more depth than that here, otherwise this post will double in length as I heap praise after praise on the book and those lovely chaps over at Crooked Dice.

Alongside that came the limited 'Battle for Canary Wharf' booklet, which again I already had as a pdf, but is really rather nice to own. Also, I've managed to acquire most of the miniatures I'd need to play all the scenarios in the booklet, so this might even get some practical use at some point...