Salute 2018 - Enlightening darkness

Salute 2018 has been and gone, a sheer behemoth of a show that happily shows no signs of fading from the UK wargames calendar.  Money was changing heads at a steady rate at 99.9% of the stands that I visited, with Star Wars Legion, Warlord's Blood Red Skies and Forge World's 'Everything they produce', appearing to be very popular (SW Legion was pretty much sold out by the time I left.  I'm yet to buy in on it, but pretty sure my time will come - later this year...)

The Neoprene Battle Mat traders also appeared to be major winners for this year, the various stands selling the various designs were always busy with a huddle of punters desperate to part with their cash.  Another crazily busy trader was the Spanish Green Stuff World - a rugby scrum formed around them that didn't appear to abate whenever I passed by - I did brave the press of humanity and managed to hand over £10 for one of their 'XL Roll Maker Sets', saving money on the online price in the price, which was an added bonus.

Asides from that, I parted company with the princely sum of £2 on a couple of Zinge Industries 'miscast'bags and snagged me a nice bargain on their excellent APC/Taurox axles so that I can finally finish my 6 wheeled conversion of the ugly duckling.  £12.00 is quite possibly the least I've ever spent at Salute (not counting ticket, 50% of parking cost and a coffee / pastry at the start of the show).I was tempted by a few bits, but nothing grabbed me as 'must-buy', so I resisted and earned brownie points with the better half when I returned, still flushed with cash (never a bad situation...)

The 'haul'

The venue was pretty dingy unfortunately, not helped by the sheer size of the place, crappy venue lights and dark flooring).  Some of the stalls, especially Wayland, were pretty dark as a result.  Overheard a lot of comments about the subject and it's a shame that this continues to be an issue.  I noted a few more retailers had their own lights this year which was great, but given this is basically a cottage industry, I totally get that not everyone can afford the extra expense.  Not sure what the answer is really, Salute is maybe just a victim of it's own success in this aspect of the show - asides from that I enjoyed the day enourmously

I did take a lot of photos, 150+, which I'll post up once I've edited, uploaded and worked out what is what.

Ohh, did also get a chance to speak to Mel, The Terrain Tutor - had a very quick chat with him - what a nice guy he is...

Looking forward to Salute 2019 now...