Salute 2019 Conclusion

The day at Salute ended and was time to head back home. Packs of generals, mercenaries and outlanders drifted away into the night of post apocalyptic London. It was a good day with shared experiences, tabletop battles and replenished supplies.

This year Salute delivered on its promises in all fronts but there was a strange tension in the air. The industry is changing too.

The good bit about Salute is meeting up with people, make new friends and discover new projects to get involved with. Buy some games & minis is also quite a thing in itself since you can have some really big loot for a fraction of the price if your clever about it.
Managed to do all that and since I did not attend it last year I did miss the buzz . Its like a yearly build up to the day, my once a year fix.
There were plenty of stands that I really enjoyed, many could argue you can check all of that online but   it's not true. You need to be there to see it! 
IRL some minis look awesome online but once you hold them nah, do nothing for you while others are less attractive online but sneak into your collection just because they are awesome… not even talking about minis not present online, plenty of those too.

The games demos to experience at Salute is another thing you cannot check online, dozens of demos will spice up even the most veteran gamer. Some games are Salute exclusive too. SO much fun to be had on these tables. Brexit table rocked and I loved a space hulk table on the show. Good stuff.

Painting Competitions and the speed painting table for people just to mess around with are quite popular too. You can also have chats with the painting studios there and check the brush specialists stores for the best brush for your project. Plinths, terrain, flocks & supplies for your dioramas or tables will keep hobbyists busy.

Glad to see small projects growing bigger each year and some new companies with clever ideas and minis debut. 

The Bad this year was a clear decline of some big brands, most of the products for these were on heavy discounts bins and not moving. There is a shift from bigger companies to smaller ones which is ok as long as those big games don't perish along the way… Privateer Warmachine, Wyrd, Flames of War, Dark age are in a very bad place.
Annoying to see some companies with just leaflets and renders or prototypes and a card saying I will have a kick-starter soon… Really? I personally don't do KS so yeah with nothing to sell I will just move along elsewhere even if your product is potentially the best thing since sliced bread. Missed chance.
The industry is moving heavy into boardgames and kick-starters… nothing wrong with it but Im mostly a tabletop wargaming/collector guy and sculptor so yup not for me. Theres a reason I don't attend boardgames events…
Speaking of sculpting another trend is growing stronger… classic sculpting is fading away giving space to Zbrush renders. More into that in another blog post.

The Ugly There was a strange tension in the air this year and some EU companies did not attend like Freebooter. I think Brexit did loom over everyone and people seem less exited and prone to just enjoy. Unlike other years some stands were having an early packing in 1 hour  before the doors closed… that's just not right. The Biggest player GW did not attend not even Forgeworld. 
My camera died halfway through the event so I only managed to cover a small portion of what I usually do, that sucks!

The End Like in any post apocalyptic setting, Salute is like a pocket of resistance and bunker of hope on an Industry moving away from the classical into the "modernity".  I believe there is space for all… for medium, small and big companies and also for traditional products and trendy online virtuality, after all they are just different paths to your enjoyment. 

Salute 2019 was good but could have been great.