This last Saturday saw more than 8,000 gamers and hobbyists descend upon the EXCEL centre at the heart of the London Docklands for Salute – the UK’s largest wargaming show.
We’ve been to every Salute show since our inception – and 2015 was certainly no exception – we had one of the largest stands, right at the very entrance to the hall.
As well as a veritable mountain of stock supporting all of our systems, we were joined on our stand by our friends from River Horse Games and Clockwork Goblin Miniatures… we had teams from the Pheonix Club, Abingdon Wargames Club, and two blokes called ‘Alessio’ and ‘Rick’ giving demo games of Bolt Action, Beyond the Gates of Antares, Terminator Genisys, and we had a team showing off the new Pike & Shotte ‘The Devil’s Playground’ Thirty Years War supplement… and our Studio staff were working their magic, offering tips and insight into their work…
..but enough of all that – let’s get stuck into the pictures!
Right from the off-set, the Warlord stand was heaving with customers… we hardly had a moment to catch our breath – even with an army of Warlord staff on hand!
Shows are a fantastic opportunity for us to get out and meet the community – we bumped-into a lot of friends from Facebook, the Warlord Games Forum, the GCN – and a surprising number of international visitors!
We had a lot of customer questions with regards to up-coming releases and rules, and also gratefully received a few presents (including a quickly demolished mountain of cake!).
Salute is not only about the sales stands – we had help from some of our GCN friends, who ran demo games of Bolt Action and Pike & Shotte:
We even let Rick come along – he ran demo games of the current iteration of Beyond the Gates of Antares all day!
The River Horse stand was practically overrun with eager gamers trying to get a first hands-on look at the up-coming Terminator Genisys Miniatures Game… Alessio and Matt gave demo games all day, non-stop!
Speaking of the Terminator game… Salute saw the first public showing of the ‘The War Against the Machines’ Box Set, and all of its contents – including both sprues and assembled models of both the Terminator Endoskeletons and the Human Resistance, and a sneaky peek at some future releases…
The Design Studio team were also out in force! Usually locked away behind closed doors, it was a fantastic opportunity for customers to ask questions, and see the Warlord sculptors (both physical and digital!) and painters in action…
Of course, the distinguished Mr. Sawyer was on hand, fielding questions and showing off some never-before-seen models, some work-in-progress future releases, and the early manuscripts for some up coming supplements across our ranges!
Speaking of work-in-progress models and sneaky peeks… the eager-eyed among you may have spotted a few treats among the cabinets…
We had the forthcoming Jagdtiger (now fully painted!) on show – alongside (front left) Luftwaffe Field Division models, the M7 Priest, the Katyusha Rocket Launcher, some of our Winter American range…
Below you can see the first ever sighting of the Plastic SdKfz 251/1D – both on sprues, and assembled! We also had our studio painted plastic Stug kit (both the Stug III ausf G, and the StuH 42 variant,) and our next plastic kit – the Panzer III (again – on sprue, and assembled!)
Our plastic German Grenadiers saw their first outing at Salute – we managed to put together 200 boxes for sale at the show, and they were flying off the shelves from the word ‘Go!’
We had the studio painted models on show, as well as the sprues… and – just to titillate you further, some of the three-ups for our plastic Fallschirmjager found their way into the cabinet as well!
Our unreleased plastic Napoleonic Portuguese…
Landsknechts and Crimean Russian Infantry…
We also had our recently released PIke & Shotte Ordnance Battery on show, in all its glory! In support, we have some Veteran Musketeers, ECW/TYW Command Group, Musketeers, Veteran Storming Party Musketeers, and Storming Party Musketeers:
The big news though came in the shape of the shelf full of new models for Beyond the Gates of Antares – the cabinet had to be wiped down several times throughout the day due to excessive drool (and that was just from the Warlord staff!).
At the back left, we can see the Concord Interceptor Squad – next to which are two Ghar Battle Suits (one with Disruptor Bomber, and one with Gouger and Disruptor Claw)
At the centre at the rear, we have Algoryn General ‘Tar Es Janar’ – then (rear right) a Freeborn Mag Light Support, squad of Freeborn Renegades, and Freeborn support team with X-Launcher.
Then, across the front (left to right) we have Ghar Outcast Slave Drivers leading a Ghar Outcast Squad, an Isorian Senatex Command, and Isorian Senatex Squad…
All-in-all, it was a fantastic day… the Warlord staff who attended are hugely thankful to everyone who came along, bought reinforcements, partook in the demo games, and even simply asked questions.
A few extra special ‘Thank Yous’ go out to the guys from the Pheonix Club and Abingdon Wargames Club who helped demo games for us – along with Nick Simmerson, Matt Walford, and Ben Crowe for standing guard! – and finally to those who brought us cake, cookies, sweets, and energy drinks!
We hope that everyone who paid us a visit enjoyed the day – we’ve already got plans in place for next year!
Josh Berridge