Salute- A traders View.

 From Stand TB14 to the Gents and back.....

 Arrived at Ex-cell about 14.30 on Friday afternoon for the set  up. Jump through the usual tedious- but nessercery security hoops and get in about 15.00 .  set up  all but done by 16.00. No worries. Off to our hotel which is deliberately some distance away- a 20 minute or so drive from the awful wasteland that are the nearby hotels we used to use -  bad expensive beer and poor overprice food that would disgust a sick dog.
  Get to the hotel and do the 3 S's - off to the pub next door before a walk to our usual Friday night eatery- where the kitchen is closed

BUGGER! 

Find another pub nearby where the food is reasonable and tastes  pretty good too.
 Walk back to the hotel for a relatively early night
 Saturday Dawns 
 Breakfast at 08.00- it will ber the only food we get  for almost 12 hours. As it happens its pretty good- Bacon, decent snorkers (vide The Cruel Sea) Hash browns Eggs-  Baked beans for those with a stronger stomach than I...
Drive to Ex-cel- no problem- Try to find somewhere to park the Van- Hmmmm....... So off we go leaving Jim to find a parking space.
 Get to the stand.
 Plug in the lights- nothing happens. The dammed things were fine last night. So report the fault to Harry the  head of the organising team... there is a man with a load on his mind- apparently I'm not the only one with a fault.
 It takes a while but I eventualy get power- Ex-cell send an elictrician to replace the  fuse box
 - actually they send a crew of two- this is why I'm paying a HUGE fee for a days power on top of my substantial tradestand price but then Ex-cel never miss a chance to gouge- this in nothing to do with the Warlords.
 so 6 minutes past 10 and the power is ON
 .... and the first wave of Zulu warriors  arrive at the barricades .....
 Next time I look up  its midday  and the credit card machine glows dully in its own heat- a quick gulp of cold and nasty tea and back to the fray.
 Napoleonics. Acw . Italian Wars French and Indian War WW2 Moderns- Jim is grasping some Maoris !
 Zombies - still in their boxes -fly over the counter! Prussians, Russians, Normans, Vikings Huguenots Landsknects  . The Blue moon SYW bins look as if a tornado has been through 'em - hardly an Austrian cavalryman left !
I guzzle on a bottle of water before Dehyration sets in . It's hot and just a bit sweaty ! 
More Moderns, WW2 Polish,More FIW - this time 28mm  Lunch was for wimps ....
 15.00 and the pace begins to slacken. I get to go for a wee -wee!
 All I see are bloody Saga games and Zombie bloody cowboys- how sterile and tedious - other games in the distance but no time
 Back to the battle !
 Some chap wants 10mm Zulu War "Characters"- how do you tell? Tiny Chard or Tiny Bromhead? . Still no worries we have some, though I can't vouch for who's who.
 16.15 - approx ... Pace definitely slacker now. I nip off to see Ged Cronin at Gringo40s- Fancy some Garabaldini ....
Jim has to go off and get the van in the queue..... Lynz  and I can handle the stragglers .....
17.00 - the show closes but we are  still dealing with some French  chaps- Lynz's French is better than mine so all well
17.15
 I sit down and guzzle more water......

 knackered ...

the only sounds I caqn hear  are the creaking of sundry joints and the happy rustle of pound notes coming home to Daddy .......and a goodly number of happy chaps with Old Glory carrier bags full of Goodies ..
Now all we have to do is load up and get back to the hotel. No WAY are we going back tonight. A quiet dinner and a pint or two- assuming I have strength to lift 'em . Then early - ish to bed for a few Zeds.


So Gentle reader that is MY personal view of Salute. Its fine for all you chaps just toolog about the hall looking at this and that. Some chaps were working for a living .....

Destructive and Formidable.

 A while ago I bought David Blackmores book. Destructive and Formidable- British Infantry Firepower 1642-1765. Best thing I've read in years..
It brings into focus  lots of things we should consider on the wargames table but don't - in case it hurts our brains.
 When was the last time you heard the phrase "tactical doctrine"  around the table or in a set of rules? Now I've heard it used in the modern context more than once but rarely when considering he Black powder era.
 The idea that each bloke in a tricorn hat is exactly the same as all the others seems imbedded in wargamers psyche.
 The fact that it wasn't like that on the battlefield seems-especially these days entirely beside the point.
 Blackmore makes the point quite forcibly that the Dutch, English French Prussians- all had different firing methods. I suppose the Austrians did too  and in some cases different formations- yet all you see on the table are the same  half a dozen "elements or "bases" with figures in two ranks.
. Hmmm - stuff to think about 

Tantobie Wargames and Tactical Society.

  Those of an acronymic turn of mind might want to look away now .....

We are  of course the T.W.A.T.S.  

40mm Iron Brigade advance- this shot from one of our few demo games- we do 1 each year at the Durham Wargames group Open day in June.

 

 Yes that IS  the name of our very unofficial  wargames group. Meeting at irregular intervals always on a Saturday at the Commercial Inn in Tantobie- a village across the valley from New Kyo .
 We have- based mostly on previous experience-done our level best to avoid all forms of organisation . At our inaugural meeting - in aforementioned  pub of course- we formed a Committee and our only resolution was to disband the committee.
 This is not as daft as it sounds. The group has no financial stuff to worry about or any group property so we have no need for "Officials" or "Officers"  and therefore can avoid the small- minded backbiting that all (but one) of the current membership have encountered to a greater or lesser extent at their various former clubs. The exception to this is of course Andrew the Tekkie- who until he encoutered us had never actually wargamed. We have about  half a dozen more or less regular memebrs plus several other chaps who drop in from time to time
 In theory we'd like tio have one meeting a month - always on a Satuardy usually near the end of any given month but real life often gets in the way Three of us are in the wargames biz so shows in some months stop the wargaming. Others work funny shifts. So it tends to be meetings by arrangement with me as the main conduit.

15mm Macedonians from TWATS memeber James Mains collection.. Just to show that not everything here is from Old Glory UK.

 Our considered preference is for Umpire controlled gamesas the whole concept of points systems is to us decidely un historical and deeply unmilitary and therefore Fie upon it. - Also its as boring as all hell unless you are the sort of Dude who has his  underpants numbered from the right and enjoys sorting out his sock drawer !  "List Building " is for pre-pubescants or  blokes who need to get out more!
 Aside from the very occaisional foray into Axis and Allies or Kingmaker  boardgames don't really do it for us,  Nor  really  does any kind of Fantasy or SCI- fI as I'm the only memebr who has even a small Sci- Fi collection . Games Workshop games are definitly out . Even given that some GW kits are useful  product and may fit into my own Sci-Fi collection - on MY terms . I refuse - and so do the rest of the members to buy into thier nasty illogical and really rather pathetic "universe"  wherein their  Games are set.  . Likewise Fantasy "games" . The whole commercial  Sci-fant hobby has  on the whole become-with a few honourable exceptions where clubs such as the Warlords  still use a bit of imagination - - too loud too childish and too narrow too repetitive  and too wallet catching for anyone with a thinking brain in working order.  to sully his hands with.. I actually find some of the junk out there insulting- not everyone is 14  grow up dudes ! This is NOT an attack on Fantasy per e but rather on the "games design concept"  which - becasue its easy stifles imagination- I have the same reservations about a good bit of sop called "historical" stuff too!.
"FUN" does not always mean removal of the brain or the sheeplike following of other brainless dweebs .
 Despite appearences we are an adult group. We meet in a pub with the legal restrictions that imposes.
 We play   "to period" rather than merely playing the same old same old game over and over again.
 Over the dozen years or so of our existance we've played the following periods and sizes - in no particular order- and including some where those armies have been sold on and I may have forgotten a few .....
 Napoleonic  in 15mm and 25mm., Classical Ancients 15mm- 10mm., ACW-40mm . AWI 15mm and 25mm .
 French Revolution in 25mm Marlburian 10mm. Modern 28mm and 15mm and 1/285th WW2 Western Desert and Normandy  15mm WW1 20mm and 15mm (1914 campaigns in both cases) Seven Years War 25mm and 10mm  ECW 25mm Russo- Japanese Naval- 1/600 WW1Navel 1/1200 WW2 navel 1/1200, ACW riverine 1/600th. British Colonial- NW frontier , Boxer Rising. Assorted rennaissence  campaigns- usuallu involving the Ottoman Turks ....

Some of my Janissaries

 The games playing is not particularly intense - after all this is supposed to be relaxing. Beer is not mandatory- some chaps have to drive to get to the pub! Space limitations mean only 1 multi-player game per meeting- but that the way we tend to like it. Its about  human interaction rather than self- centred points scoring " the craic " to put in Irishly  is at least as important as the gameplay- oftem more so- especially if a point comes up pertaining to the rules or indeed not pertaining to the rules..... All games are scenario driven - period , Rules scenario all being decided by the Umpire for that meeting- sometimes the players even get prior notice of period and possibly of rules and scenario. Most of the games invlve at least some "Active Umpiring" .
 The painting and modelling side is important tov some but by no means all of us but the hHistory  seems to be important to all of our current memebrship
 This is the way the T.W.A.TS. do it .
 We like it this way .....

Old Glory UK News Desk.

 My splendid Tekkie Mattie  has just added a new feature to the Old Glory UK website. It may to the Bloggersphere look just like another Blog. Well thats what it is  but its use will be  purwely as a newsdesk for Old Glory UK rather than as this one a collection of Andys ramblings
 Log on to the OGUK website  in the normal manner and go to the foot of the page then click on Old Glory UK Newsdesk.
 Only a single post there currently as the feature is less than an hour old but like Topsy it will grow.
 News of New releases , Shows, shipments from the USA- much of the Old Glry related stuff that formerly appeared here will go to the News desk .
 Right back to the parcle packing ....

Arrivals ....

So I get up this morning and check my emails . Have one from UPS telling me a shipment is due for delivery today. Yipppeee thinks I   at last .
 Then I look a  little closer- 17 boxes/crates . Man!; that is a LOT of stuff.! I knew this order would be a biggie as its the first  re-supply I've had since late January.- the US show Cold Wars got in the way .
 Now aside from some ships and Building that are special orders for customers scattered about the globe there will also be a big bundle of stock . This means that once I've broken down and sorted these 17 boxes (no weekend off this  time then)  the back -orders will start to go out.. This should cover most of the chaps who are waiting for stuff ordered during the period of Jan and Feb and early March  this year. and for some who ordered later- depending upon what thay ordered. There will be some blokes who ordered AFTER  this order was sent in and some stuff that went out of stock in the intervening time - Catch them with my next re-supply which should land before Salute 2015 . I hope ....
Of course I'm also starting to build up stock levels for that show- see the previous post for details of the ranges we will be taking to Salute2015

11.17 am. Shipment arrives- 17 boxes- Here we go . Let the mayhem begin .....

14.08 About  half way through- Soldiers everywhere not to mention the odd fleet or two  and a few odd villages. It doesn't half give the knees some gyp.

Saturday Morning 11.18.  Been at it since 8.30  no weekends off here ! . Unpacked the last boxes then started on the back orders. Carole also down here  packing up the back orders and writing the addresses.- No you cant use printed labels as by the time you've farted about in the computer you can write 3 so I don't bother- and proofs of posting have to be written anyway

Sunday Morning 11.09  I must have been a evil B' stard in a former life ! -There is no rest for the wicked. Yesterday Carole and I packed up 63 parcels- outstanding orders, back orders and new orders.  I'd estimate we are roughly half way through the backlog  or perhaps a little more
 My Salute order goes off to the USA tomorrow. Hopwe they get it to me in time.

Monday 12.36 Just back fropm the Post Office. First load of parcels now on their way - Next lot go out tomorrow plus a few heavy ones by Interlingk Express. 

Its about time you painted some soldiers!

 With the current burst of agonising over "The Hobby"  you wonder what has happend to actually doing some of it
 Work has slowed down my painting of late  but here are some 40mm Sash and Sabre Highlanders that I actually managed to finish. They will - despite thier Jacobite cockades end up in my 40mm Montrose Scots rebels force that I'm slowly building however they will also go into a nascent Jacobite force that is entirely possible in 40mm with a bit of fiddling about and ingenuity

 Highlander of "Clan Palatic" uttering their fearsome warcry "Gie us a dram Ya Basta!"

 I do like this pack
 Their are 8 body variants- with separate heads and a selection of weapons- Lochaber axe broadsword, pistol and Targe. Sash and Saber are promising Archers, Musketeers and a command pack . The idea being that with careful selection you can do highland units from the 1640s through to 1745. Chris has even muttered about some mounted Highland Gentlemen  but I've no timetable for these..

28mm Irish Gallowglass from the Old Glory wars of the Roses range. 

 Continuing the Celtic theme I found these two in a spares box and decided to slap a bit of colour on 'em . I've always fancied a Medieval Irish army simply becasue its so different from the norm and of course gets out of that samey gamey rut that the games designer dudes want you to stay in.
 Since I'm a modeller nad historian fiorst and foremost and actual "gaming" comes a long way down the list then I don't suppose by today's strange standards I'm a wargamer at all.

 IS WARGAMING STILL A VALID TERM FOR OUR "HOBBY" ? .

The miniatures gaming hobby is now so diverse and so fragmented there is no real catch all term that fits any more. This is part of the problem- assuming there is one- everyone has an axe to grind and often can't see past it..The result of the current emphasis upon games to the exclusion of all else by much of the public face has left those who also enjoy the modelling , research, and indeed all the "other stuff" feeling somewhat out in the cold perhaps. Killing demo games at show will of course only make thissituation worse. Show might then get filled with teenagers wanting to play "Kill the space marine" or "Torture the Zombie" or nay other bit of 30minute silliness but they won't spend any cash - so why should I spend a grand to go to the show
 Riddle me that dudes !

What is the point of little soldiers !

 Bearing in mind all the recent hot- air that is being expended upon "The Future of the Hobby" (and indeed is still being expended)  it comes as a bit of a surprise to realise that little of  said hot air has mentioned  what used to be - back in ye olden tymes  considered by many the most important  part. The actual toy soldiers . Few if any questions have been asked about this since the late 80s/ Early 90s - there was a pretty fierce debate in the pages of the old WI as I recall involving no less a figure than Paddy Griffith amongst others suggesting that toy soldiers were largely irrelevant.
  Now as it happens my version of this hobby has always been toy soldier  driven- or miniatures  in  the correct NEWSPEAK terminology.. So my question is how important are the toy soldiers to you.
 I know MY answer- without them this  hobby would be  even more pointless than it sometimes seems .
 The  little lead dudes give you something to look at during the tedium of the dice rolling- during those few seconds when you don't have your face in your pint!
 Jesting apart- the modelling and collecting part of this hobby has ALWAYS been as important if not more so then the mere gaming. At their best toy/model soldiers  are a minor art form and even at a lower level give a visual impression of a battle that only recently- and then not always- has been surpassed by computer games. This is especially true now when  as  general rule the "gaming" for many  means another pointless and rather futile skirmish game of one sort or another where period knowledge is not only non-existant but actually denigrated in favour of "2970 WAYS to Roll a 3 sided dice " or similar twaddle.
 The most recent issue of WSS had a couple of articles germain to my subject- though it may not have seemed so.
 Sam Mustaphas piece on Rules writing - this told me more about the dismal knowledge of a certain breed of games players than I wished to know.  Frankly I was appalled- not by Sam's article-  but by the frankly dumb- assed, dick-witted ,shyte- brained questions he claimed to have been asked by "wargamers" - "Can Cavalry form square !!!" "Can you fire through a line of troops to hit a line behind them!! " . What sort of  thick  pillocks ask such dull witted questions?
 Answer
GAMES players- i.e. those who want no knowledge of  history or period but only seek to manipulate the game to their advantage . Since Sam's article pertained to his ACW "game" Longstreet  you'd have thought that some knowledge of the ACW was a perquisite.  but no,  games players have to be reined in  or they will do all sorts of silly things to win their silly games. THAT is why many rules are written in such a turgid technical fashion . You know what , I see his point. You'd think the toy soldiers would help . The LOOK of and ACW unit should give you some infromation  but the gap between "Game designer dudes" and the actual toy soldiers is now so immense that I wonder if it can ever be closed.
 The second article looked at the death of shows- one of the authors remedies was to ban display and demo games and make all games PP- talk about short sighted- alienate hafl of your volunteers why don't you ? Since he also wanted to invite dolls houses and assorted craft stall in as well  it makes you wonder.
 Losing demos at shows would  inevitably drop the quality of  games. I've already seen this with the awful rash of boxed games at Battleground and to a lesser extent at Derby . I'm far from anti- the craft stuff coming in - always need at least some craft items- and some traders already provide such but doing away with volunteer demos will kill the historical part of the hobby.- Bear in mind that half of last years games at Salute were Fantasy types and almost ALL of those were put on by GW wanabees each carefully narrowing the once wide spectrum of our once open -ended hobby . And all of these GAMES driven rather than toy- soldier driven.
 There is an argument that says that the toy soldiers are mere counter decoration- and lots of rules follow this precept. Its not with out some merit - sometimes for certain types of game it works well but - and its a big but - the toy soldiers at least hint at the human side of what we do. Which IMHO we for get at our peril