Misc., Wargame Show, Salute, London

I went down to Salute again this year, and thoroughly enjoyed myself, despite a shockingly bad hangover, and a venue with all the charm of a zeppelin shed. The night before the show I stayed with my pal Dave Marks, and during the evcening it appears I consumed a whiole litre of gin. I thought that was impossible – but apparently not. Anyway, my haggard appearance was commented, and Charles Grant claimed I was still oozing gin. I claim that the lighting wasn’t particularly conducive to the taking of photographs. More likely it was the effects of the gin from the night before…Anyway, here are a few games that caught my eye – a spectacular 20mm WW2 game (my favourite table at the show), involving a winter landscape and an armoured train.There was also a nicely done 6mm refight of Wagram, and a very impressive 28mm refight of Khalkin Gol (1939).Other eye-catching games included a nice Napoleonic one laid on by the Perry twins, which used a large number of stunningly-painted plastic figures, and must have led to the sale of stacks of boxes of Perry plastics.A 15mm assault on the Reichstag looked particularly eye-catching. it was staged by my pal Dave Brown, as a means of launching the new edition of Battlegroup Panzergrenadier.  Dave assures me that the new version of his Second Word War rules are even better than the original set – which – if true – would be quite an achievement. As I’ve said before – a dreadful name, but a great set of rules.Next to it was an English Civil War skirmish game, using 54mm figures! Someone must have a very big loft…The show was also a good chance to see old pals, meet new ones, and generally indulge oneself in our strange hobby… but I’ll never drink gin again… until I recover.