Last month was Spieltage 2018 in Essen. A gang of British tabletop gamers from Dorset attended with the purpose of purchasing lots of hot new board game releases. I was there to meet with old tabletop friends from across the years and make new acquaintances. In hall 6 were Games Workshop as well as Cubicle 7 who have licensed Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay for it’s 4th edition release. They are in the process of fulfilment for pre-orders and copies of the new rulebook were onhand. I had a nice chat with their staff about upcoming plans which in addition to the director’s cut rewrite for legendary campaign The Enemy Within, will include another module for Marienburg. This was my first chance to put my fingers on the limited edition embossed version which I have prepaid for my collection.
Towards the end of the fair weekend there were a ton of incoming messages and alerts hitting me about Mordheim interest from the community in my hometown of Poole. Firstly this reminded me that I needed to post here as it’s been over 3 years since the last MiM campaign phase ended. Secondly I keep meaning to include a reference to the public Dropbox account with my shared player aids contributions for this game we all adore.
Werekin folder is found here:
*MiM campaign player aids*
There is new terrain being created by members of the hobby community in my town and various captains are conspiring to raise enough gold crowns to hire swords for a campaign.
It’s too early to tell what exactly will be happening or whether I will put up my guilders to do the same. There are so many distractions yet we do have the fantastic new Entoyment Hobby Centre that has opened in my hometown and the temptation is always there to get back on the campaign trail.
Showing posts with label Conventions. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Conventions. Show all posts
Trolls on parade
Posted by | Sunday, September 30, 2012 at 8:07 PM
Games Workshop host their grand annual event at Birmingham NEC. It's called Games Day. It is the stage where the Golden Demon Awards and Slayer Sword for best miniature painting in the United Kingdom takes place each year. For most enthusiasts it is the chance to buy cool new releases and admire cabinets loaded with finely detailed Citadel miniatures painted by some of the most talented painters in the hobby.
Once every twenty years, a playwright, street performer and suspected werecreature is unleashed upon UK Games Day...
This year I managed to attend Games Day for the first time since I was teenager. I accompanied Chris 'Frogprince' Kneller and Michelle 'Geekgirl' Steele who go along every year! Mr Flibble came with us too because there aren't enough penguins in the Warhammer universes. "Too busy killing Batman", offered one of our coach-going companions. We travelled from the GW store in Poole. The coach ride wasn't unpleasant. There were only a handful of youngbloods among the local warband of Warhammer nerds. I can tell you a lot more wild youths went in 1992! What are kids doing these days for Sigmar's sake?
Upon arrival we hunted for tickets to attend the Forge World and Black Library seminars. Attendance is restricted to 150 places on each of 2 seminars for both. Being as the slots are 11am-12pm and 2pm-3pm there isn't much scope for flexibility. There were less than half-a-dozen places left for each seminar by the time patrons from our store's coach were being admitted. Oddly a lot of folks didn't turn up for the Black Library seminar at 11am. And why that might be? *drum roll* FORGE WORLD
After we grabbed seminar tickets we wandered through the main exhibition hall and gaming hall littered with battlefields into the trade hall. There was an enormous queue of hobbyists lined up to get to the Forge World trade stand. I've seen a scrum of punters before at the Salute trade fair last year in London. That was carnage. Nothing like this! The queue was sheer madness. Snaking all over the trade hall like some giant serpent out of a mythological legend! Suffice to say we did not join this nerdcade. Depending on whose version of events you have listened to the wait was anywhere between 1-3 hours. Nobody seems to care because the miniatures are just that damn good! One far-fetched account being relayed was that a disabled woman had waited 3 hours to be served her Forge fix. The smell of freshly forged resin warriors, vehicles and monsters is intoxicating.
I had a nose around the bazaar of books and made a couple of choice literary purchases. I was hoping to get a copy of new Time of Legends novel Neferata but the rumour it was going onsale in advance was a falsehood! It took the aged clerk some ponderous amount of effort to get Bill King's new hardback release for Sword of Caledor to ring through the till. I had exact cash in my hand by that point.
At this exact moment I could spy authors across the trading post wall signing their books for Black Library but it was time to make way to the first seminar. On the way we bumped into my old buddy Anton who manages a Games Workshop hobby store in Maidenhead! As I write this today it is Anton's birthday. Many happy returns squire.
Fantasy Flight Games were demonstrating their full crop of associated cards and board games in the main hall. Nobody appeared to be playing Blood Bowl this year yet there were fantasy football computer games demonstrations aplenty. What caught our interest was a display of Warhammer Quest and Talisman apps under development for iPhone and iPad being demonstrated by Rodeo Games and Nomad Games. According to the representative these games are being produced exclusively for Apple platforms. If it can now be wielded like Ghal-Maraz then perhaps this makes my otherwise hopeless iPhone useful for something, at last... Suck on my gromril warhammer Samsung Galaxy users! The release date on the App Store for Warhammer Quest is being advertised as Spring 2013.
Observing volunteers playing the demo quest game, we recognised vintage rooms tiles being trodden. Visually the game looks great. Politely declining an offer to face the dungeon as interpreted by Rodeo Games, Chris & I queried why there was a River Troll facing off against one young fellow (beating his warrior to death as it goes!) in the game. The demonstrator explained that in keeping with the greenskins army theme they had substituted the original large monster (it was Minotaur) with the aquatic foe. While it makes perfect sense to employ a Troll we weren't in agreement with the rationale behind this particular breed of troll, even if the well-rendered graphics are based on one of the latest funky Citadel miniature releases. The developers stated that the adventures will include unfamiliar new room tiles alongside classic favourites from the original game. According to the rep we can also look forward to new artwork for Rodeo's quest-room boards becoming available next year to download, for use with original Warhammer Quest board gaming. This means tabletop games of Mordheim-Quest can be further expanded too.
Note: Next month Frogprince & Geekgirl are hosting a multi-player Mordheim-Quest battle in the sewers beneath Marienburg. 'Burrow Town Collapsing' is our new underground campaign scenario and a Halloween battle report will follow.
Another entry was a beach party...
...with stunning Ogre pirate crew and trollish new breed of fish-dog! (or dogfish?)
Competition is stiff when there's great attention to detail for so many entries. One particular detail which tickled me was the rider of a Thundertusk wearing a diving helmet! While the idea of an ogre wearing a diving bell might have come from elsewhere in the market place it was a neat touch which I mentioned in passing to the sculptor of this miniature Seb Perbet when I passed by the designers display stand later in the day.
The winning army will be announced on the GW web site at some point. We wandered the gaming hall to check out what battles were being fought. Tilean paparazzi agent Chris 'Frogprince' Kneller grabbed pictures of unusual sights to his liking. Following the coastal theme our treasure trove led us to a cliff-top stronghold populated by ratmen (from Clan Skurvey we presumed)...
And a gigantic magical construct dominating one of the many battlefields...
Plus two ships (Nurgle Man O'War & Imperial Barge) that were sighted by me from the crow's nest...
The afternoon seminar was hosted by guru Tony Cottrell who runs Forge World and lead writer Alan Bligh who conjures most of the new gaming material. Both staff were present to explain all the latest developments. This session was packed out. Tony has a dry wit to say the least, making this presentation a joy to behold. His sense of humour provided me with plenty of laughs. Alan is lead author of those perfectly profane tomes for the Warhammer Forge. Most of the fantasy battle talk was geared towards Monstrous Arcanum up until the guys started spilling beans about Blackfire Pass which is their next lavish campaign book. We saw previews on the projector screen for more new monsters, a Dwarf command group sculpted by Steve Whitehead (more on him shortly) followed by talk of new Orc and Empire army releases. The seminar is unmissable! If you ever get the chance to hang out with the Forge World team you have to take it.
Towards the end of the day I conversed with some of the hired swords who help breathe new life into modern day Warhammer. Seb Perbet from the Citadel design team was my first victim. He is the sculptor of latest editions to the Ogre Kingdoms range including the mighty Thundertusk/Stornhorn kit which I keep calling the 'Stonehoof' in error. When I explained to Seb that I purchased this kit just to use the heads of the crew in my Mordheim warband conversions his response was indescribable.
Forge World sculptors Edgar Skomorowski and Steve Whitehead were available to discuss their work. Both gentlemen have provided Chaos Dwarf fanboys with plenty of reasons to rejoice in the past 12 months. Edgar's impressive Bull Centaurs were among the recent releases on display. He'd also brought along WiP versions of one of the centauroids. Whoops I forgot to take pictures of the concept sketches Steve had on display for his new Empire sculpts. They were characterful and very much in the vein of art from the source book Blood On The Reik (A Journey Through The Old World). Steve was responsible for producing the new Fimir warriors featured in Monstrous Arcanum, freely admitting to being a big fan of the one-eyed fiends since olden days! It's uncertain whether there will be more Fimir releases in the future. Any fellow Fimir enthusiasts will be disappointed to hear it would seem unlikely based on the political response my question prompted from Tony Cotrell (yes I posed a question using the F word!) in his Q&A session. As a consolation, Tony was admiring my hat in a very vocal way! Steve himself is blissfully unaware of what quantities of which of his miniature designs are selling like hot halfling hot-pots.
The creative imaginings of Edgar Skomorowski are well known to my friends and fellow hobbyists Joao and Cianty. Make sure you check out this link to Edgar's personal web site. It contains some stunning quality sculpting. Both of the miniatures designers were friendly gentlemen.
Which leads me onto my final port of call. The Black Library authors stand. I failed miserably to greet novelist (and self-proclaimed hack!) Joshua Reynolds at the Black Library Live 2012 due to overindulgence (mine not his). The sands of time were running out but I located Josh before departing the event for a brief exchange. He is one of the few authors right now who is writing about subject material which really peeks my interest! Josh has launched a new blog on Wordpress which you can check out here.
With the day drawing to a close there was no sign of storyteller and guitar-hero Darius Hinks. I've finished reading his book Orion: The Vaults Of Winter, detailing the exploits of Athel Loren's god-king alongside elves, faeries and polecats! It's part one of an unwritten trilogy meaning I had to find something else of its equal to read last week. Warrior-Priest, also by Herr Hinks, staring at me from my bookshelf seemed like the best story to consume next. With any luck I may catch up with Josh at a future Black Library event and eventually meet Darius along with my guitar-buddy Ed 'Skarloc' Morgan. For reasons known to the likes of us we wanna bug Darius about his academic skills in rock power and elven lore! Because the two things that matter most are talismanic tattoo ink and decibels.
Coming Up Next: The next adventure sequence in Marienburg happens below the city. A team of daring Mordheimers have been hard at work playesting an underground scenario for the MiM campaign. A copy of the detailed scenario and a battle report will be published on Liber Malefic in the coming weeks.
Once every twenty years, a playwright, street performer and suspected werecreature is unleashed upon UK Games Day...
This year I managed to attend Games Day for the first time since I was teenager. I accompanied Chris 'Frogprince' Kneller and Michelle 'Geekgirl' Steele who go along every year! Mr Flibble came with us too because there aren't enough penguins in the Warhammer universes. "Too busy killing Batman", offered one of our coach-going companions. We travelled from the GW store in Poole. The coach ride wasn't unpleasant. There were only a handful of youngbloods among the local warband of Warhammer nerds. I can tell you a lot more wild youths went in 1992! What are kids doing these days for Sigmar's sake?
[Left to Right] Werekin, Mr Flibble, Geekgirl, the FrogprinceTickets are priced at £30 which covers entry and a free programme. I found the handout to be fairly pointless on the day because the excellent layout explains itself. There is way too much to look at and do in a mere 6 hours of open time. I can't stress how short the day is! The ambitious schedule is suffocating. Once you deduct rest breaks you're left with too little time to pack everything in. A couple of additional hours opening would relieve retail congestion considerably. There is a lot more going on than a single report can hope to divulge. Read on if you care to hear of random activity nobody else would think to write about!
Upon arrival we hunted for tickets to attend the Forge World and Black Library seminars. Attendance is restricted to 150 places on each of 2 seminars for both. Being as the slots are 11am-12pm and 2pm-3pm there isn't much scope for flexibility. There were less than half-a-dozen places left for each seminar by the time patrons from our store's coach were being admitted. Oddly a lot of folks didn't turn up for the Black Library seminar at 11am. And why that might be? *drum roll* FORGE WORLD
After we grabbed seminar tickets we wandered through the main exhibition hall and gaming hall littered with battlefields into the trade hall. There was an enormous queue of hobbyists lined up to get to the Forge World trade stand. I've seen a scrum of punters before at the Salute trade fair last year in London. That was carnage. Nothing like this! The queue was sheer madness. Snaking all over the trade hall like some giant serpent out of a mythological legend! Suffice to say we did not join this nerdcade. Depending on whose version of events you have listened to the wait was anywhere between 1-3 hours. Nobody seems to care because the miniatures are just that damn good! One far-fetched account being relayed was that a disabled woman had waited 3 hours to be served her Forge fix. The smell of freshly forged resin warriors, vehicles and monsters is intoxicating.
I had a nose around the bazaar of books and made a couple of choice literary purchases. I was hoping to get a copy of new Time of Legends novel Neferata but the rumour it was going onsale in advance was a falsehood! It took the aged clerk some ponderous amount of effort to get Bill King's new hardback release for Sword of Caledor to ring through the till. I had exact cash in my hand by that point.
Fantasy Flight Games were demonstrating their full crop of associated cards and board games in the main hall. Nobody appeared to be playing Blood Bowl this year yet there were fantasy football computer games demonstrations aplenty. What caught our interest was a display of Warhammer Quest and Talisman apps under development for iPhone and iPad being demonstrated by Rodeo Games and Nomad Games. According to the representative these games are being produced exclusively for Apple platforms. If it can now be wielded like Ghal-Maraz then perhaps this makes my otherwise hopeless iPhone useful for something, at last... Suck on my gromril warhammer Samsung Galaxy users! The release date on the App Store for Warhammer Quest is being advertised as Spring 2013.
Observing volunteers playing the demo quest game, we recognised vintage rooms tiles being trodden. Visually the game looks great. Politely declining an offer to face the dungeon as interpreted by Rodeo Games, Chris & I queried why there was a River Troll facing off against one young fellow (beating his warrior to death as it goes!) in the game. The demonstrator explained that in keeping with the greenskins army theme they had substituted the original large monster (it was Minotaur) with the aquatic foe. While it makes perfect sense to employ a Troll we weren't in agreement with the rationale behind this particular breed of troll, even if the well-rendered graphics are based on one of the latest funky Citadel miniature releases. The developers stated that the adventures will include unfamiliar new room tiles alongside classic favourites from the original game. According to the rep we can also look forward to new artwork for Rodeo's quest-room boards becoming available next year to download, for use with original Warhammer Quest board gaming. This means tabletop games of Mordheim-Quest can be further expanded too.
Burrow Town Collapsing: Strigany River Pirates converted and painted by Michelle Steele penetrate the Marienburg Grand Sewer Network using a Warhammer Quest junction tileArmies on Parade is a recent feature at Games Day events around the world. The competition is scored based on attendees votes. There were a couple of fantastic ogre armies entered into the contest. One was an Ogre stronghold...
Another entry was a beach party...
Competition is stiff when there's great attention to detail for so many entries. One particular detail which tickled me was the rider of a Thundertusk wearing a diving helmet! While the idea of an ogre wearing a diving bell might have come from elsewhere in the market place it was a neat touch which I mentioned in passing to the sculptor of this miniature Seb Perbet when I passed by the designers display stand later in the day.
The winning army will be announced on the GW web site at some point. We wandered the gaming hall to check out what battles were being fought. Tilean paparazzi agent Chris 'Frogprince' Kneller grabbed pictures of unusual sights to his liking. Following the coastal theme our treasure trove led us to a cliff-top stronghold populated by ratmen (from Clan Skurvey we presumed)...
And a gigantic magical construct dominating one of the many battlefields...
Plus two ships (Nurgle Man O'War & Imperial Barge) that were sighted by me from the crow's nest...
The afternoon seminar was hosted by guru Tony Cottrell who runs Forge World and lead writer Alan Bligh who conjures most of the new gaming material. Both staff were present to explain all the latest developments. This session was packed out. Tony has a dry wit to say the least, making this presentation a joy to behold. His sense of humour provided me with plenty of laughs. Alan is lead author of those perfectly profane tomes for the Warhammer Forge. Most of the fantasy battle talk was geared towards Monstrous Arcanum up until the guys started spilling beans about Blackfire Pass which is their next lavish campaign book. We saw previews on the projector screen for more new monsters, a Dwarf command group sculpted by Steve Whitehead (more on him shortly) followed by talk of new Orc and Empire army releases. The seminar is unmissable! If you ever get the chance to hang out with the Forge World team you have to take it.
Towards the end of the day I conversed with some of the hired swords who help breathe new life into modern day Warhammer. Seb Perbet from the Citadel design team was my first victim. He is the sculptor of latest editions to the Ogre Kingdoms range including the mighty Thundertusk/Stornhorn kit which I keep calling the 'Stonehoof' in error. When I explained to Seb that I purchased this kit just to use the heads of the crew in my Mordheim warband conversions his response was indescribable.
Forge World sculptors Edgar Skomorowski and Steve Whitehead were available to discuss their work. Both gentlemen have provided Chaos Dwarf fanboys with plenty of reasons to rejoice in the past 12 months. Edgar's impressive Bull Centaurs were among the recent releases on display. He'd also brought along WiP versions of one of the centauroids. Whoops I forgot to take pictures of the concept sketches Steve had on display for his new Empire sculpts. They were characterful and very much in the vein of art from the source book Blood On The Reik (A Journey Through The Old World). Steve was responsible for producing the new Fimir warriors featured in Monstrous Arcanum, freely admitting to being a big fan of the one-eyed fiends since olden days! It's uncertain whether there will be more Fimir releases in the future. Any fellow Fimir enthusiasts will be disappointed to hear it would seem unlikely based on the political response my question prompted from Tony Cotrell (yes I posed a question using the F word!) in his Q&A session. As a consolation, Tony was admiring my hat in a very vocal way! Steve himself is blissfully unaware of what quantities of which of his miniature designs are selling like hot halfling hot-pots.
The creative imaginings of Edgar Skomorowski are well known to my friends and fellow hobbyists Joao and Cianty. Make sure you check out this link to Edgar's personal web site. It contains some stunning quality sculpting. Both of the miniatures designers were friendly gentlemen.
Which leads me onto my final port of call. The Black Library authors stand. I failed miserably to greet novelist (and self-proclaimed hack!) Joshua Reynolds at the Black Library Live 2012 due to overindulgence (mine not his). The sands of time were running out but I located Josh before departing the event for a brief exchange. He is one of the few authors right now who is writing about subject material which really peeks my interest! Josh has launched a new blog on Wordpress which you can check out here.
With the day drawing to a close there was no sign of storyteller and guitar-hero Darius Hinks. I've finished reading his book Orion: The Vaults Of Winter, detailing the exploits of Athel Loren's god-king alongside elves, faeries and polecats! It's part one of an unwritten trilogy meaning I had to find something else of its equal to read last week. Warrior-Priest, also by Herr Hinks, staring at me from my bookshelf seemed like the best story to consume next. With any luck I may catch up with Josh at a future Black Library event and eventually meet Darius along with my guitar-buddy Ed 'Skarloc' Morgan. For reasons known to the likes of us we wanna bug Darius about his academic skills in rock power and elven lore! Because the two things that matter most are talismanic tattoo ink and decibels.
Coming Up Next: The next adventure sequence in Marienburg happens below the city. A team of daring Mordheimers have been hard at work playesting an underground scenario for the MiM campaign. A copy of the detailed scenario and a battle report will be published on Liber Malefic in the coming weeks.
[Left] Witch Hunter Capt. Dave play-tests 'Burrow Town' with Webby's Criminal Cartel [Right] Canada Steve's Cathayan Monks fight a turf war verses Skyre Warp-Engineers led by Frogprince
Daemon drink
Posted by | Monday, May 7, 2012 at 2:43 PM
Saluting trade exploration
Posted by | Sunday, April 17, 2011 at 3:30 PM
The annual wargaming event Salute was staged at London's ExCel exhibition centre on Saturday 16th April.
After hauling my bony butt from the comfort of my quilted coffin, I met up with Frogprince and Geekgirl before beginning our expedition to attend this prestigious trade show widely considered to be a calendar highlight for everybody in the wargaming industry.
Aside from Black Library Live last month it is the first event I've attended in a long time. It is the first trade fair event of its kind I have ever been to. I have not made it to a Games Day since the 1990's. UK Gen-Con is an event which I have participated in maybe as recently as 7 or 8 years ago, but assuredly none of these experiences has been quite like Salute. Funnily enough Black Library was present. As were a myriad of British merchants and manufacturers from around Europe.
Our product exploration was a spur of the moment decision. I have known of the event for quite some time and always fancied going. An old friend of mine and his fiancee said they fancied it too so off we went!
One of the big attractions at an event like Salute is new releases. There are a number of exclusive items available for the first time on the day. Some manufacturers go so far as selling items that have been produced exclusively for the show. I should have liked to mention something of it in advance as a few folk have since indicated they'd have liked a few exclusive show items if we had been able to pick them up. One to consider for next time.
The organisation of online sales for retailers is questionable! Some have what I consider poor web pages or site that are unfriendly to navigate. I spoke to a couple of companies who either admitted to having no web presence or they had poor web sites. There were too many flyers being handed out. One flyer was for Citadel components and the company name was Bits Box who (in their own words) don't have much stock right now. Time wasters! They don't have a webstore being as this was a different firm to Bitz Box who do have a great web site and periodically update their stock.
What was brilliant about Salute was viewing all the magnificent stuff close-up for real and wrestling with decisions over what to buy and whether to buy it or not. For instance I went to one trade-stand with the intention of making a purchase, then ended up being blown away by another tradestand ran by some very talented Polish guys. Micro Art Studio make bases that are so characterful that they stand a bloody good chance of upstaging the miniatures that you would be sticking on to them! I picked up some samples to work with for my upcoming gang projects from their Battle Bases range. Browsing through their online store I am now being tempted to order some graveyard themed bases in addition to these wood-planked ones. While at the stand I even joked to MAS staff that we could try fighting opponents using just these attractive bases with no warriors on them!
For sure there is a varying amount of (crap!) detail on a number of these Micro Art Studio bases. They are open to a lot of interpretation when being painted. For instance there is a futile amount of effort that has gone in to painting the bases which were on display at the show. It does not help buyers that there are no miniatures planted on them because that leaves zero impression of their end value. That is stupid guys, really stupid!
We didn't attend the show for any of the games being ran. A few hard-sellers were cajoling me to invest time on games demos and part with my gold crowns on their products but nothing new has peeked my interest in that sense. There are trillions of games in the market to investigate and a lot of interesting ideas. Convention marketplaces and online shopping trends have loosened the hold of the ivory tower presence Games Workshop commands from the high street. The gaming giant has to perform like never before to maintain its market share with serious contenders chomping at the bit.
There were a couple of marvelously sculpted ranges of pirate miniatures featuring tasty tricorn-hatted femme fatales and swashbuckling freebooters from Black Scorpion and Freebooter miniatures respectively. Unfortunately a lot of these high fantasy products come across as being too cheesy for my gritty tastes, and by that I mean fantasy formats where comedic license fails to balance itself. A lot of the work I saw was cute. It lacked in edge.
I did bear witness to camaraderie between artists when one miniature designer stood present 'swapping' his latest releases with the staff on another traders stand! That was a cool moment from the event.
The contrast between real and unreal factions at Salute really stretches the brain. Alongside established historical publications are a mind-boggling array of fantastical realms to keep up with. Weird looking creatures packaged in boxes or blister-packs fill the many racks of vendors. Menageries of strange imaginary beasts being referred to by differing titles, some worryingly familiar, some not at all. We failed to find any Fimir and there was a zero count on Werelions.
While there were a number of really impressive historical gaming set ups, I was not awestruck by any of them. Certainly not after reading reports from European events such as my co-conspirator Cianty's experience at Hamburger Tactica 2011. You can see read his report here.
There was a severe lack of decent terrain on sale of any kind. While disappointing this saved me a lot of money. I have already amassed a quantity of custom built scenery on top of cobbling together some of my own items for my Marienburg adventure. Maritime accessories were few and far between. Between the crest of the waves I did spot some handy looking crates and grain sacks to decorate a wharf on Luydenhoek Isle.
Ultimately, my existing back log is wicked enough that I resisted the urge to go crazy around Salute snapping up all the shiny releases I liked the look of from a few of what I considered the best quality producers. Acting on impulse I did walk away with the new Marienburg Land Ship though. Frogprince eventually bagged himself the Chaos Dwarf Hellsmith after braving the horrible queues in the mad scrum which signifies the arrival of Forgeworld.
After hauling my bony butt from the comfort of my quilted coffin, I met up with Frogprince and Geekgirl before beginning our expedition to attend this prestigious trade show widely considered to be a calendar highlight for everybody in the wargaming industry.
Aside from Black Library Live last month it is the first event I've attended in a long time. It is the first trade fair event of its kind I have ever been to. I have not made it to a Games Day since the 1990's. UK Gen-Con is an event which I have participated in maybe as recently as 7 or 8 years ago, but assuredly none of these experiences has been quite like Salute. Funnily enough Black Library was present. As were a myriad of British merchants and manufacturers from around Europe.
Our product exploration was a spur of the moment decision. I have known of the event for quite some time and always fancied going. An old friend of mine and his fiancee said they fancied it too so off we went!
One of the big attractions at an event like Salute is new releases. There are a number of exclusive items available for the first time on the day. Some manufacturers go so far as selling items that have been produced exclusively for the show. I should have liked to mention something of it in advance as a few folk have since indicated they'd have liked a few exclusive show items if we had been able to pick them up. One to consider for next time.
The organisation of online sales for retailers is questionable! Some have what I consider poor web pages or site that are unfriendly to navigate. I spoke to a couple of companies who either admitted to having no web presence or they had poor web sites. There were too many flyers being handed out. One flyer was for Citadel components and the company name was Bits Box who (in their own words) don't have much stock right now. Time wasters! They don't have a webstore being as this was a different firm to Bitz Box who do have a great web site and periodically update their stock.
What was brilliant about Salute was viewing all the magnificent stuff close-up for real and wrestling with decisions over what to buy and whether to buy it or not. For instance I went to one trade-stand with the intention of making a purchase, then ended up being blown away by another tradestand ran by some very talented Polish guys. Micro Art Studio make bases that are so characterful that they stand a bloody good chance of upstaging the miniatures that you would be sticking on to them! I picked up some samples to work with for my upcoming gang projects from their Battle Bases range. Browsing through their online store I am now being tempted to order some graveyard themed bases in addition to these wood-planked ones. While at the stand I even joked to MAS staff that we could try fighting opponents using just these attractive bases with no warriors on them!
For sure there is a varying amount of (crap!) detail on a number of these Micro Art Studio bases. They are open to a lot of interpretation when being painted. For instance there is a futile amount of effort that has gone in to painting the bases which were on display at the show. It does not help buyers that there are no miniatures planted on them because that leaves zero impression of their end value. That is stupid guys, really stupid!
We didn't attend the show for any of the games being ran. A few hard-sellers were cajoling me to invest time on games demos and part with my gold crowns on their products but nothing new has peeked my interest in that sense. There are trillions of games in the market to investigate and a lot of interesting ideas. Convention marketplaces and online shopping trends have loosened the hold of the ivory tower presence Games Workshop commands from the high street. The gaming giant has to perform like never before to maintain its market share with serious contenders chomping at the bit.
There were a couple of marvelously sculpted ranges of pirate miniatures featuring tasty tricorn-hatted femme fatales and swashbuckling freebooters from Black Scorpion and Freebooter miniatures respectively. Unfortunately a lot of these high fantasy products come across as being too cheesy for my gritty tastes, and by that I mean fantasy formats where comedic license fails to balance itself. A lot of the work I saw was cute. It lacked in edge.
I did bear witness to camaraderie between artists when one miniature designer stood present 'swapping' his latest releases with the staff on another traders stand! That was a cool moment from the event.
The contrast between real and unreal factions at Salute really stretches the brain. Alongside established historical publications are a mind-boggling array of fantastical realms to keep up with. Weird looking creatures packaged in boxes or blister-packs fill the many racks of vendors. Menageries of strange imaginary beasts being referred to by differing titles, some worryingly familiar, some not at all. We failed to find any Fimir and there was a zero count on Werelions.
While there were a number of really impressive historical gaming set ups, I was not awestruck by any of them. Certainly not after reading reports from European events such as my co-conspirator Cianty's experience at Hamburger Tactica 2011. You can see read his report here.
There was a severe lack of decent terrain on sale of any kind. While disappointing this saved me a lot of money. I have already amassed a quantity of custom built scenery on top of cobbling together some of my own items for my Marienburg adventure. Maritime accessories were few and far between. Between the crest of the waves I did spot some handy looking crates and grain sacks to decorate a wharf on Luydenhoek Isle.
Ultimately, my existing back log is wicked enough that I resisted the urge to go crazy around Salute snapping up all the shiny releases I liked the look of from a few of what I considered the best quality producers. Acting on impulse I did walk away with the new Marienburg Land Ship though. Frogprince eventually bagged himself the Chaos Dwarf Hellsmith after braving the horrible queues in the mad scrum which signifies the arrival of Forgeworld.
Unseen library
Posted by | Monday, March 7, 2011 at 12:10 AM
Every year the Black Library goes to the trouble of arranging a special event for their illuminated readers. This gathering takes place in Nottingham at Warhammer World located on the premises of the Games Workshop headquarters here in the United Kingdom.
2 of the 350 tickets sold in advance of Black Library Live 2011 found their way into the hands of Eddy Morgan and I. Seeking inspiration in the hobby, we mere minstrels rocked up on the Saturday morning. The Black Library editorial team alongside a cast of published loremasters were ably supported by crew from Games Workshop and the Black Library. We had a tremendous day out! Here we'd like to recount something about it.
Ed trained down from Newcastle while I piloted my gull-winged vessel up from Poole in time for the start. We collected a free copy of Caledor each upon entrance making the ticket price a real bargain! Seminars and author signings had been brilliantly scheduled in such a way that we could duck into each of the mutually agreeable encounters and spare enough minutes for Ed to drain Bugman's barrel and nip out for a tab.
Before the first timed session began I was able to catch up with an old friend. Rich Packer was helping to man the author signings and pre-release sales area. Rich is a friendly face from his time working in the south around the couple of local stores around our home town. Ed snapped up the latest Night Lords novel from Aaron Dembski-Bowden plus more Gav Thorpe stuff, Path of the Warrior and a special limited edition novella The Bloody Handed. Meanwhile I neglected to notice the novella, going straight for the jugular with the 2nd Ulrika novel from Nathan Long and Broken Honour by Robert Earl.
Our first experience of Black Library Live was an intimate seminar with the editors; Lindsey Priestley, Christian Dunn and a new member from their team. The enthusiasm from both quarters was evident as quick-fire questions from the crowd were managed by the editorial staff. Christian was the lead vocal on the panel. Sat amongst us, two talented quills being published in upcoming Hammer & Bolter online releases were announced. We noticed a significant presence of creative writers expressing an interest in testing their mettle. Advice was cordially distributed that might help them avoid the many pitfalls surrounding submission guidelines.
The sun not yet over the yard arm, Edward sampled Bugman XXXXXX for the first time. Dwarf ale is a little weak for the tastes of the one they call 'Rock Lord'. As a result we tipped up 5 minutes late for the Time of Legends talk in Seminar Room 1. Being tardy meant we weren't allowed to join the seminar. Two jedi Vs a tough looking security lady. One mind-trick later and we were sat in the sparsely populated crowd. ToL has been a massive success for Black Library but Mr Abnett is top of the pops and his signing session diverted quite a number of die-hard delegates. Ed has avidly followed Gav Thorpe's Sundering series and also read the Nagash books whilst I have yet to turn the first leaf of these books (crowding my shelf). The release schedule grinds on with too many super new stories to distract us from our real world duties!
We learned a lot about the series in this historical seminar. There were bulletins revealing the next season of stories. Chris Wraight and Nick Kyme joined Gav Thorpe and Graham McNeill. Chris & Nick are collaborating on the War of the Beard series whilst Gav is tackling a retelling of the Vampire Wars. To my delight CL Werner will complete the line-up next season by narraing the Black Plague. Herr Wraight surprisingly delivered me the mic to pop my 2nd fan-boy question of the day and I also took the opportunity to congratulate Graham for the Gemmell award. My friends have read and recommended the Sigmar trilogy and his achieve is a great boon for Warhammer fiction.
After the session I bumped into Chris Wraight in the book sales area. Recognising him from the last seminar gave me the chance to praise his epic contribution to the Warhammer canon. Chris wrote two infectious stories for Heroes of the Empire, Sword of Justice and Sword of Vengeance. Detailing a sequence of events surrounding the coronation of a new elector count in Averland, Chris exposed famous characters Ludwig Schwartzhelm and Kurt Helborg respectively in both books. He is a really big fan of the Empire. I've read both books. They were not at all what I expected and I was massively entertained. Sword of Vengeance was the last novel I read before coming this event. It's fired my interest in Empire politics and increased my empathy with the nation. I will be getting the Luthor Huss story from the Heroes range the second it hits the shelves.
Graham McNeill regaling his lament at forgetting to bring his award trophy Snaga the Slayer, before Gav Thorpe and Stu Cresswell, both dressed as jawas in brown hoodies.
The Horus Heresy seminar was very entertaining. An all-star panel of authors including Dan Abnett was not something Eddy wanted to miss. I don't follow the series myself. However, the experience was more than insightful to an uneducated outlander. Ed has this smug grin on his face throughout the packed session.
Edward and I had the privilege of discussing Mordheim and Warhammer RPG with Andy Hoare during their signing session. We just turned up for a chat really and to say hello rather than collect wild signatures. Mordheim was also mentioned in passing by Nick Kyme in one of the seminars proving that city might be damned but it's not entirely forgotten! The Warhammer campaign Nemesis Crown was written by Andy Hoare. Andy thought the quality and the presentation of the Mordheim supplement for Nemesis Crown was very good. He's even picked it up to game with!
Andy previously expressed his support of the Border Town Burning supplement. I thanked him for his complimentary feedback on behalf of the originator Chris Templin and the wider community. We spoke briefly about the campaign objectives pioneered in BTB and how they should be further developed in an urban setting. When I confirmed this was indeed the intention for our next campaign adventure in Marienburg, Andy requested that he be kept apprised as it develops.
Andy Hoare (right) with Stu (left) enter into a staring contest.
Sandy Mitchell was surprised and amused when a copy of the old Marienburg roleplay book 'Dying of the Light' was thrust under his nose for signature. Sandy contributed the 3rd scenario, concerning a Fimir ambush in the Wasteland. Where as he claimed to believe his copy was the only one still in his exist, Rich confirmed he still has his copy of this classic resource. After distracting Sandy from his 'real work' we remembered that blogs look better with pictures and found a volunteer to capture this line-up for our rogues gallery.
From left to right: Sandy Mitchell (holding his profane tome), Andy Hoare, Stu, Eddy, Rich Packer
The last order of the day was another seminar, with Christian and Nick joined by Darius Hinks. The trio arrived to spill the beans on previously unconfirmed publishing plans. We couldn't miss this peek into the crystal ball! My well-mannered enthusiasm inspired me to cheer 'rowdily' at the announcement of 2 or 3 releases. The open forum permitted me to fire a couple of left-field questions concerning minority characters.
Unfortunately it doesn't sound like there will be a Sam Warble casebook sanctioned any time soon (boo!) but there is an understanding that intrigue is being promoted to compliment all the warmongering. Amidst the tide of military themed publications comes news that Zavant Konniger's 'incomplete' casebook is being reissued along with some previously excluded material.
The slick organisation of the days events coupled with the availability of quality literature in advance of the products planned release will encourage us to return to Warhammer World. I would recommend the live event to more friends who enjoy the stories and urge them to participate in the future.
Before departing we holed up for a bit in Bugman's. I managed to hook up with an old friend from my days spent playing on the tournament circuit of Magic the Gathering. Co-incidentally his wife is a published author and is acquainted to Graham McNeil through a writing group she's attended. Oh and there was also a bar brawl in Bugman's instigated by one very soused Norseman who sprouted claws and sharp fangs when a sozzled Sea Elf spilled his pint of Troll's Brew!
As it turns out, the Norse couldn't hold their liquor quite as well as the Elven revellers. Werekin's warband retired (routed) while Skarloc (aka Ed) and his troupe of Elves celebrated to the soundtrack of their minstrel's Litany of Deeds played as a victory song during Last Orders!
For another perspective on the event check out this blogger's event experience: myfavouritebooks.blogspot.com
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