Salute 2017, a belated missive......

Okay, my annual trip to the old smoke. This actually marked my tenth consecutive trip to the show. Or at least the ones I remember.......The trip started badly on Friday morning as my taxi didn't turn up so I had to jump in my car last minute and drive hectically around trying to find a parking place in the back streets near the station........I got to the train with time to spare though and was enjoying a cup of tea in first class (£20 upgrade and worth it) when the taxi driver rang to ask where I was.......grrrrrrrr.

The usual first pic opposite the Tower of London...less hair and a windy day meant I only sneaked a partial head shot :)

Work on the Docklands Light Railway meant I had to get off at the next stop however so far so good and it gave me a chance to walk through the whole of Excel and start to grasp how massive it actually is. Quick shot of Excel as I walked towards the hotel.......

Hotel in the distance on the left.....

Queues on the day were quite impressive. I had arranged to meet Mark Stevenson of the Asgard Miniatures Collectors group on Facebook however we were separated by the milling throng. We agreed to meet up at Simple Miniatures Games as I'd noticed they were having a clearance on Warmachine miniatures (and they did, managed to pick up a nice handful of blisters). I have to admit that this year my mojo was not with me for some reason. Can't have been a hangover or lack of sleep....possibly just one of those 'later than mid life' crisis things. I promise to do better next year. This also explain the late delivery of the post and a distinct lack of pictures.....oops.

The queue behind me.....

The scene as I walked in......

Doctor Who game in full swing......should have got some close ups of the sprues.

Some of the new Studio Miniatures releases (I get a threat warning whenever I go to their site...not sure why)  - their Hollywood Havoc and Medieval Mayhem ranges are classics.

My good mate Tony Yates getting rather too familiar with good old Steve Casey on the Warmonger stand. Top blokes both. I spent too much money with them as usual.

Some random pics.....

Mierce Miniatures. Too pricey for my budget but totally outstanding.

Afterlife promo vehicle......

The Dropship Horizon craft looks finally finished. Quite jaw dropping.....

Broken Toad have some stunning sculpts including a Star Wars tribute - Toad in Carbonite.

Previews of the Harry Potter Miniatures game minis.

Missed the name but lovely layout....

Alex over at Arcworld doing a roaring trade throughout the day. This was towards the end!

Some lovingly done scenery here....

Brilliant idea for using those broomsticked minis from Rapier.

Oshiro Model Terrain's game was simply stunning as usual. 

Much humour here and a busy table all day. The Battle of Animal Farm.

Not sure why I took this shot....towards the end of the day showing a slightly less maddening crowd.

Couple of random pics....

Pint and a burger with Mark. A brief respite from the throng.

Frostgrave has certainly taken off with a proverbial bang. Nik over at Northstar has his regular 'Nikstarters' - click here for the latest 'Ulterior Motives'. Below are some pics including the new Dwarf sprue.

Stop the press! Miniatures for Dracula's america and Ghost Archipelago due later this year!

MDF navalware......not Sarissa but have forgotten the company...

4Ground had previews of their new Fabled Realms minis. Very nice indeed.

The Freebooter man himself, Werner Klocke. 

Good old Mark gave me these 2 mugs he'd had printed. He is as fanatical about old Asgard miniatures as I am about lead in general. A trend to be encouraged methinks.

The scene as I left the hotel to try the other DLR station. I hadn't walked this way before and it is actually closer plus I discovered a large convenience store........useful for next year.

Pic of the London marathon runners doing their bit. Closest I could get as they'd closed off the better viewpoint.

The journey home was blighted by losing my return ticket which, of course, I found when unpacking at home. £120 down wasn't a good end but I bit the bullet and returned first class. Virgin trains won't refund anything which is something of a shame but that's business I suppose.

Hopefully next year I'll be a more upbeat mood for taking pics!

Dragontooth Kali - finally!!

Well, after searching high and low for a long time, I have managed to pick up this miniature. I would love to get a loose one in order to paint her as I hate to open mint packaging......yes, the geekometer is running high today.

Here is a pic of a loose one.....Goddess of Time, Creation, Destruction and Power....

And a pic of Tom Loback's own painted piece. RIP Tom.

I'm still after a copy of Thor (and some others if you care to check out the wants tab at the top of the page) so please check your lead mountains.....

Lots of Dragontooth pics etc on the Lost Minis WIKI.

As always; enquiries@deartonyblair.co.uk

Zombies sir! Thousands of them.....well, a few......

My good mate Pete Brown (he of the Mouldmaker fame) is running a short Kickstarter to produce a handful of Landsknecht Zombies....the sort that every house needs. He is to be encouraged in his madness, especially when the more that backers pledge, the more the freebies appear. I am a needy soul and love my freebies.....the link is here and below.

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/584137481/tag-28mm-landsknecht-zombie-miniatures

 Do mention that I sent you..........

enquiries@deartonyblair.co.uk

Asgard Miniatures 1979 Catalogue....

Asgard Miniatures empowered the launching of many of today's hobby sculptors and personalities such as Bryan Ansell, Jes Goodwin, Nick Bibby, Tony Ackland and Rick Priestley. Where would our hobby be without them? If you 'do' Facebook then I urge you to join the Asgard Miniatures Collectors Group created by Mark Stevenson.

https://www.facebook.com/groups/374124639635741/

Below you (should) find the Asgard 1979 catalogue as a PDF file.......I've followed instruction to embed it however even I don't trust myself. If needed, a direct link to it is here.

A friend has passed away - Pete Armstrong AKA Greblord.

I thought 2016 was bad. Life is starting to suck this year as well. I knew Pete a little back in the 80's when I worked in GW Manchester and he was a Sheffield counterpart. He was a bit of a legend as he wrote painting guides as well...the early Citadel catalogue ones were his. I didn't see him for many years barring a stint at a sheffield Triples, possibly in the early 90's, where he was getting rid of some of his collection...I got the impression he was having bad times but he didn't see me and I didn't feel comfortable interrupting. A couple of years back another friend (Mark Hides of http://reallifesabugger.blogspot.co.uk fame amongst many others) tried to get identification of an old Asgard mini which I identified and then borrowed the pic for the Lost Minis WIKI, not thinking about the source. I edited the colours as the paint job (not his) was not so good.....

Pete then posted on another forum about having seen his picture stolen and used etc. The forum defended me as it has never been for financial game and I admitted I should have asked him, he admitted he'd blown it out of proportion and from then we corresponded regularly about the hobby and life in general. He, like myself at the time, was married (happily, unlike mine) with 3 munchkins. We saw each other at last year's Salute (2016) but missed each other at the post show drinkathon as we'd set up at different ends of the pub - we had a quick 5 minutes as he was leaving to catch his train and that was the last I saw of him. We carried on corresponding until it stopped later last year. His own blog http://greblord-littlemen.blogspot.co.uk/ was last updated in November 2016. He was a great character as many other people have pointed out and leaves behind his wife and 3 little girls. I'm sad. 2017 is not starting too well. 

Lots of Pete's pics on his Google+ account https://plus.google.com/+PeterArmstrong

Live long and prosper Pete, many will be raising a toast to you.

Dragontooth GI-6 Big Meg and Her Stewpot

Mick Leach over on the Facebook Old School Miniatures Group put a challenge up to drag something out of the depths of your collection and finish it.....I chose Meg as she's been sitting there for at least 10 years. Reactions to her have been occasionally 'interesting' to say the least. One of Tom Loback's more gruesome sculpts although, for me, she is beautiful. I still need to take some decent pics but here she is along with the work in progress shots.....

Just noticed in this old pic of Tom that she is sitting there just above the gas burner to the right...

She had sat like this for some time since adding her to a large Games Workshop monster base....I'd undercoated in the red leather and started on a too-light skin tone...

Her rear has since been 'suitably dirtied' although the thought of looking on the internet for example images stopped me before I pressed search.....

The rear has been cleaned up a little since....I also decided to tone down her 'nipples and lips'

A few relevant pics from a previous post......

I believe this to be the photo used for the advertising copy above. Need to take a decent pic of it.

That's all for now...please check my Dragontooth wants tab on the top in case you can help my addiction.....

More Dragontooth giant pics on the Lost Minis WIKI and more blog related posts here.

enquiries@deartonyblair.co.uk

New Year - New Blog Minis.....

Well, there comes a time in every man's life when he says 'enough is enough'. Today is not that time. Without further ado I bring you 3 new greens from Bob Olley....awaiting a few more before production however thought I'd share.....

Gaddo

Kim Do

Sad Do

We even got a mention on the Wargames News and Terrain Blog.

So many projects under lock and key...quite exciting really, only current lack of finances keeps these in check. Probably a good thing.....

More soon.