Salute 2013 and 2766 AUC

Hello, and welcome to (yet another) blog about all things 28mm Roman!

To start this first post I thought it would be good to cover the most recent events, and that was Salute 2013! This was the first time I had gone to salute (although I thought about last year when I was actually in London), what made the decision in the end was the 'theme' of Jason and the Argonauts, which felt close enough to ancient Romans to warrant attending.

I must say it was certainly different, the queue at the start was something to behold, although the speed at which it moved was a relief! It was interesting to see so many displays with some great terrain and many amazingly painted models on display. The traders were also in ample supply, although a good few that I had hoped to see did not have a lot of the stuff I wanted to purchase... Granted most - such as Warlord games - were focused on their newly released WW2 and Napoleonic miniatures, but I thought it was a shame that they could not fit in any decals for their Roman auxiliary cavalry. I don't know what has happened to the decals for those units, as I got some of them for a box last year. I have another box now and need to get matching decals ideally, but they seem to have vanished! Even Little Big Men Studios - who, I believe, make them for Warlord - seem to have stopped making them as well- frustration!

The best purchase of the day (there were only two!), was a Roman watchtower from 4ground. I had seen them on the net and could not make up my mind, when I saw the built versions at the show I just had to get one. I look forward to assembling it sometime soon and making a suitable enclosure for it to represent a limes watchtower.

The Watchtower

The second purchase of the day was a bunch of Foundry Gladiators so I can make some use of the Gladiator WAB rule book that I got cheap last year before they shut up shop. They were really expensive - even at reduced price - but I know they would be good quality and the ones I picked up have come out very good with no pitting in the larger pieces. I haven't bought any Foundry models since 2005 when I stopped by their HQ on the way back from Hadrian's Wall. I never finished the Romans that I bought then, but this time I hope to actually finish these gladiators. The combination of these purchases took the best part of £100, and I was embarrassed when my girlfriend asked if it was £14 or £40 that I had just handed over for those gladiators... I should have said £14.

The (expensive) gladiators and Nero (bottom of the bottom-right blister)

Anyway, I've gone on for far too long and it is now the day after Rome's birthday (according to Varro), so I guess this is a belated happy 2766th birthday Rome!

The free Jason sprue, which I'm looking forward to painting :)