This is my third visit to this show, my second as an exhibitor. I’m lucky as this is fairly local to me as I too am based near Salzburg.
We got here at 08.30 on the dot and were greeted by an empty room with tables set up and neatly labelled. My thoughts were, “Oh dear!” Or something similar but more vernacular, I could have had some more sleep. But people soon turned up and very soon the room filled.
This version of Salute is slowly growing and I think that soon a bigger venue will be required. But when I spoke to Walter, the show organiser, he was keen to keep the show at this current venue, “Small is beautiful” were his words on the matter.
Grumpy Old Tin was sited right next to the entrance and it proved to be a sweet spot as people browsed as they came and went.
Here are some of the games and exhibitors at the show. If you want a more eloquent description and more photos I’ll refer you to this post from Battlebrush Sudios.
http://www.battlebrushstudios.com/2016/03/show-report-austrian-salute.html
The day starts off with Walter’s address where he greets everyone. Walter, or El Cid as he is also known, runs the local gaming club/store and is the organiser of this event.
First up was an extravagant Forgeworld Zone Mortalis board and loads of Forgeworld models. They were running a Heresy game using 40K rules.
There was a game of Commands and Colours with Ancients. They were using Hexon terrain and I wanted to look a little later at the figures and terrain, but I blinked and vooom they had disappeared.
Next to this was Templates and Widgets selling laser-cut bases and markers. I still haven’t quite forgiven him for disrupting my Wife’s skiing plans, but that is another story for another day.
In the far corner was Casual Painting. The painting was well done but quite reliant on airbrushing which would have been nice if they had demonstrated it.
There was a game of Firestorm Armada by Spartan Games and displayed on the table were some of the Halo Fleet Battles boxes which caught Number 1’s eye as he is becoming a little Halo addict.
In the middle was a table with a rather lonely man showing off his DBA/DBM rules. I’ve since learnt that he is an authority on the ruleset so it was a pity that noone was really interested. He had some cabinets of some painted 15mm figures for use in the game. He told me that he gets them painted in Sri Lanka. We are at opposite ends of the painting spectrum he has more money than time and I have more time than money.
Close to me me was a game of Infinity with a container full of the sadly no more containers from Rackham’s AT-43. They are very nice.
Directly behind me was a table playing Malifaux. There was an interesting use of carpet tiles as a playing surface which I shall bear in mind.
Flames of War modern using the Team Yankee rules. Nice looking terrain and scenery and the armour was painted well.
The painting competition. Sadly not enough light for my poor old eyes and not enough space to get a look at the figures which was a pity as there was some good painting. This year it was single figures; Historical, Fantasy, Sci Fi and Steampunk. I entered three figures, but didn’t get a mention. So I need to up my game on that front.
This was a very nice looking 6mm Napoleonic game using rules from Kugelhagel.
The figures were beautifully painted, sadly my little camera wasn’t up to capturing them in all their glory.
There was a Chain of Command game using 15mm Battlefront figures. It used a battlemat which looked quite nice but it was very thin. I’ve been thinking about battlemats but I haven’t found anything, as yet, I’ve been totally sold on.
Being 2016 there was the inevitable game of Frostgrave which it seems is “The” game of the moment. Nice buildings from Battlefield in a Box, but as with everything I like, are discontinued, The boards were very good and were made from sheets of insulation foam.
Right at the back was a display game of By Fire and Sword which was tied in nicely to an actual shop selling that and a few other bits and pieces.
After lunch up popped a game of John Carter of Mars, where the ancients game had been. They were running it using the Heroscape ruleset and were using Heroscape hex terrain.
Triumph and tragedy. Tales of Adventure, Fortune and Fate. A 28mm skirmish game.
The big game was Guns at Gettysburg a big 28mm American Civil War game using the General de Brigade rules.
They won a prize for the best table at the show.
Then finally there was Battlebrush Studios with Sigur doing painting demonstrations.
I left Number 1 Son in his capable hands.
Here is Number 1 Son with his number 1 painted soldier.
This year was more positive for me. Time didn’t drag. I sold more stuff. And I was approached to exhibit at a show in Germany.
http://www.die-gruene-horde.de/index.htm
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Not really sure what this means, hopefully it’s a positive remark.