The most recent battle recreated at Salute 2014 was from the Five Day War between Georgian and Russian forces in South Ossetia. Leicester Phat Cats displayed Turmoil in Tskhinvali on an impressive board with mountains, cityscape and air support.

Whitehall Warlords staged a US combined operations attack on a North Vietnamese bunker complex in the 15mm scale Iron Butterflies in the Killer Jungle.

The Battle of Dien Bien Phu was the backdrop for Brussels based Chemins de Feu wargaming club. In this scenario set in 1953, French paratroopers were leading a raid to destroy a Viet Minh weapons cache.

Hannibal’s clash with Sempronius at the Trebbia River during the Second Punic War was refought at Salute 2014 by John (featuring ‘Dave’) in 1/32 scale. I have a Carthaginian army of the same sculpts by HäT Industrie in 1/72 so this display was a special treat.

Even grander in scale was Caesar’s invasion of Britain staged by WSS Magazine. Legionnaires disembarking from their triremes lined up on the shore to face massed chariots and ferocious tribesmen.

Scarab Miniatures put on a War & Conquest battle with Greeks defending a narrow pass against the Persians and their allies.

The Battle of Cynoscephalae in 197 BC saw phalanxes clash with Roman legions and was organised by the Society of Ancients, using the Lost Battles set of rules.

In a respite from the massed battles of the era, bands of gladiators fought each other in Jugula, the new game by Studio Tomahawk.

I think I missed a couple of displays and gaming boards set in the medieval era, but the one I did find turned out to be my highlight of Salute 2014.

Studio Tomahawk are about to release the new SAGA: The Crescent and the Cross and were on hand to showcase the expansion with figures by Gripping Beast on a stunning board depicting an assault on a fortified city.

Battle displays from the 18th and 19th centuries always make for a visual spectacle with plenty of colourful uniforms, banners, cannon and cavalry. Salute 2014 had its fair share of these as would be expected.

The South London Warlords’ own Battle of Barbastro during the 1st Carlist War was arguably the most imposing and also had plenty of nice little touches.

Wargames Illustrated recreated the Battle of Arklow from the Irish Rebellion with an imposing array of forces and scenery to match.

Napoleon’s Battles were the background for a sweeping battlefield in 18mm scale by Capitan Games.

The Golden Age of Piracy provided the setting for skirmishes by Spirit of the Game using their own set of rules and pitching redcoats against bands of pirates in a Caribbean port in 40mm scale.

With the centenary of the outbreak of World War 1 this year many of the clubs at Salute 2014 had chosen it as their theme.

South East Essex Military Society brought a large gaming table and a selection of background materials for their Race for the Sea.

Ypres was the setting for the Wigmore Warriors as they recreated World War 1 – From Start to Finish on two tables showing the same location, one lush green countryside in 1914, the other a bombed out wasteland in 1918.

The Maidstone Wargames Society built a town Somewhere in Belgium for a clash at a bridge during the early part of the war.

The 10mm scale Action at Longlier by Oxford Wargames Society took the fight to brigade and division level.

Tin Soldiers of Antwerp had brought a wonderfully detailed board for A Noble Affair.

A trench raid at night was the topic for Hornchurch Wargames Club.

Apart from the classic genres there were also some weird and wonderful participation games at Salute 2014 that defied easy categorisation.

7ombieTV by Crooked Dice was played on a small but characterful board depicting the streets of London. Would the girls of St Searle’s reach the safety of Crooked Towers before the undead horde descended?

Hasslefree Miniatures created a tribute to Battlefield Bad Company 2 with Zombies roaming the streets of a bombed out desert town.

In Her Majesty’s Name was the ruleset used for Dirty Ole Town by Just About Games. I bought the rulebook published by Osprey a few months ago, just missing such nice terrain to fight over now.

Victorian sci-fi on a grand scale was presented by Red Planet Miniatures in Flight to New Victoria. Will the Martian Prince’s convoy reach safety?

The Essex Warriors played Gear Krieg. Another one of those rulesets I bought a long time ago but never got around to playing. WW2 tanks meeting flying saucers and battle mechs does have its appeal.

Grublin Games brought a prototype of Waggle Dance, a strategy game of bee-wrangling and honey-making, which will soon launch its funding run on Kickstarter.

There seems to have been less katana action at Salute 2014 than in previous years. Oshiro Model Terrain however was present once again to fly the samurai banner, and their board was a delight as usual.

A besieging force has fought its way through a castle town and is now outside the main walls. Can the defenders rally out and push them back in bitter street fighting?

The largest category and the largest boards at Salute 2014 were given over to World War 2.

The winner of Best Scenery and the Salute Shield for Best of Show went to Honnington Wargame Group for their D-Day Landing and Marville Battery Assault.

The Newark Irregulars chose an unusual setting with 1941′s Battle of Keren, in which British and Indian troops fought an uphill battle to drive Italian and askari forces from the mountain peaks of Eritrea.

The Salute Challenger award went to Loughton Strike Force and their depiction the Attack on Ponyri during the of the Battle of Kursk in 1943.

Against my best intentions I didn’t take enough notes to identify the other tables, so these photos have to speak for and by themselves.

Since I am operating as a Rogue Trader in the furthest reaches beyond the Nephilim Sector at the moment, my hobby activities are severely restricted.

Rather than painting with a limited travel palette, I decided this weekend to embark on a small conversion project that I have been meaning to realise for a while (i.e. ever since I started playing Warhammer 40k back in the Rogue Trader days) – Imperial Beastmen.

Beastmen have it tough in today’s Imperial Army/Guard/Astra Militarum, with barely a mention of abhuman citizens, never mind soldiery, other than Ogryns and Ratlings. That leaves lots of space though for improvisation, and  I have a couple of ideas for a back story to a platoon or two that I am planning on inducting into my forces.

I started off with an Ungor Herd for Warhammer Fantasy and a squad of Cadian Shock Troops, which fit together just as well as I’d hoped.

Imperial Beastmen with Sergeant

I left the majority of trinkets like bones, skulls and pouches dangling from the uniform belts for a slightly feral look. The loin clothes were a bit too shaggy though for any quartermaster to approve of, so I filed them down to an even hemline.

Imperial Beastmen with standard issue gear sans pants

There’s very little green stuff needed to fill in gaps between upper and lower bodies, and the additional of ammo, bayonets and canteens quickly hide any irregularities.

After having completed two Oldhammer Dark Elf test models nearly a year ago, I’ve started a more concerted effort to raise the allied contingent for Warhammer 3rd Edition which I had set as a target. I have lined up a 20-strong regiment of warriors and 10 crossbowmen plus a general and sorcerer. I’ll be very impressed with myself if I can get these done without any distractions.

The front rank advances

A leader, standard bearer and musician complete the front rank. The leader is just a regular trooper in the old catalogues, but I think his pose and more ornate armour mark him out as a leader, if not a hero.

The flayed skin banner is still screaming in silent agony

The standard bearer is from Mengil Manhide’s Company, but the original banner top has been lost in action over the decades. I’ll probably add something spiky eventually to replace it, but for now I feel the banner works as is.

The musician’s horn symbolises the Dark Elves’ mastership of black dragons

The musician is one of the standard command figures from the old range. I resisted the urge to veer away from my minimalist colour scheme for the ornate horn with a dragon’s head. I think I’ll need to add a black dragon to the army to establish a context for this model.

I’ve switched over to painting some of the Dark Elves’ signature troops – crossbowmen. The only Dark Elves I used to own in the days of Warhammer 3rd were ten of the plastic crossbowmen, so I don’t want to build my “new” Oldhammer Dark Elf army without them.

I don’t know yet what ratio of plastic vs metal I am going to use. Since the plastics are a bit chunky compared to the metal Dark Elves, I probably don’t want more than a third of them in each unit of crossbowmen. On the other hand, I’ve got plenty. Maybe I’ll try converting some to spearmen.

Crossbow armed Dark Elves

One of the rules I associate with Warhammer 3rd Edition is the rank bonus for units four models wide, hence that is how I am planning on structuring my armies. It also helps to keep units smaller, saving me both time and money collecting!

As my latest incremental target I finished the second rank of warriors. One more and they will start to look like a proper regiment.

A raiding party of Dark Elves

The crossbowmen might have to wait a bit longer for further reinforcements – either until I have a block of 4×4 warriors or when I run out of ideas for shield emblems, whichever comes first.

Dark Elf warriors fighting with sword and shield

Not much painting progress has been made lately, but at least my efforts stayed focussed on my Dark Elves for Warhammer 3rd Edition. Since the start of the year I’ve added a couple of warriors from Mengil Manhide’s company to my growing regiment.

The merciless soldiers of Naggaroth advance

The shield designs add some variety to the repetitive cast, and at some point I might replace a few of these guys with alternative models as I pick them up. The casts are not good quality and still have misaligned parts despite some filing and cutting, the original mould for these models was clearly run to the bitter end.

I’ve also added some additional highlighting to the skin cloaks this time and am going back over the previously finished miniatures.

Dark Elf warriors garbed in skins of their slain enemies

As a distraction from the Dark Elves I did allow myself to revive the Undead for Oldhammer as well. One regiment of unarmored Skeletons is finally finished, with the addition of these newly raised warriors of bone. The two forces can well fight skirmishes against each other now or strike an uneasy alliance against a mightier foe.

Skeletons rising under the black banner of death

I wanted a break from painting rank and file troopers and exercise some different styles and techniques for a change, so I brought two more unusual models from my Oldhammer collection to the painting desk.

Since Nihilakh Oxide was released, it has become the choice for all things ghostly, so I decided to try it on a Spectre. It turned out as simple as expected, just applied a layer over a white base and then drybrushed again with white, helped by the texture of this particular model. For additional focus on the face I painted in empty, bleeding eye sockets.

A haunted soul answers the call from the shaman of bones

The Necromancer is a figure from Ugezod’s Death Commandos, but I’ve always used him as a conjurer of the Undead in my Warhammer armies over the years. Now it was time though to give him a new coat of paint, since the original enamels just weren’t up to standard anymore. I’m very satisfied with his ragged “Gandalf having fallen on hard times” look.

Forbidden lore written on human hide and an engraved bone staff are tools of the necromantic arts

Since I painted straight over the heavily varnished surface, all contours and edges of the figure were very smooth. Not an option for drybrushing, so I applied all highlights individually over a black base coat.

I’ve been meaning to paint mummies for my Oldhammer Undead army for a while, knowing they would be a quick win. I also always liked the later metal sculpts, some of which I have photographed here.

With Toughness 5 and 4 Wounds, these guys are as hard as many a big monster in 3rd Edition, all packed onto a 20mm base. The old metal sculpts are a too scrawny to represent this, therefore I have also painted up the HeroQuest mummy (on the left). I’d like to add another metal model to flank him, making a 240 points trio. Then I just need some counter spells for all those fireballs that will be heading their way.

Powerful incantations are animating their embalmed bodies

Painting couldn’t have been easier, just a case of two washes and drybrushing over a bone base colour. To add a bit of detail and because I felt guilty for having it so easy, I added some scribbles onto the HeroQuest mummy’ bandages around the chest, symbolising an enchantment used in the funeral rites many centuries ago.

My regiment of armoured Skeletons for Oldhammer is nearing completion. This time I am not taking any shortcuts by leaving the shields plain black to be finished later – which is too indeterminate a measure of time as I discovered. I took inspiration from Warhammer Armies for shield designs and browsed the classic artwork.

Not even in death may these warriors rest

Part of this rank is also my first painted pre-slotta Skeleton. I found it to fit in well with the newer sculpts, any difference in height disguised by the solid base which I left attached and glued onto the slotta.

Striding into battle on old, leaden bones

I have long been harbouring plans to create a small force of Eldar for Warhammer 40k – ever since I started playing actually. My most recent thinking was to have an elite army of all warrior aspects, however inspired by the Oldhammer community and posts by Frank FJA and symphonic poet on the forum I opted for some Rogue Trader era Eldar warriors instead. Designed by Jes Goodwin, these are just beautiful miniatures that have only become better with age. Initially I was tempted to paint them in the colours most commonly seen in the Rogue Trader books, i.e. black or dark blue with yellow helmets, but since I am painting enough of those lately with my Undead and Dark Elves for Warhammer Fantasy, I decided to go the other way. Dark colours are commonly associated with Eldar pirates and mercenaries, so my force is a craftworld strike team, making them no less unpredictable and cold hearted in the eyes of any other race they encounter.

Eldar fighters pursuing a clandestine mission

I purposefully won’t use metals since I am assuming the Eldar will mainly be utilising all sorts of ceramics, plastics and carbon compounds for their equipment. The only metal on these two is the earring on the mohawk sporting warrior.

Equipment used by the Eldar is some of the most advanced in the galaxy

I currently have a unit of eight lined up for painting, including a commander, musician and standard bearer. The plan is to use white armour throughout and different helmet and hair colours to lend each fighter individuality. The helmet design came about more by accident, having started with aquamarine and the typical black tiger stripes seen in many old publications. The result looked somewhat bland and not exotic enough, so I tried applying a red glaze on top, which proved to be much darker than anticipated. Now left with a crimson basecoat, I used aquamarine to paint shapes roughly following the contours of the helmet on top before finishing this off with some hard white edge highlights. I’m happy with the rather exotic and alien looking finish and will try similar techniques with different colours for the remaining troopers’ helmets.

The conical helmet shape is an Eldar style icon

In order to establish the skin colour for my Eldar I picked a soldier without helmet next. The figure has sharp facial features with high cheekbones, so I applied sharp contrasts from Agrax Earthshade shading in the recesses to white highlights on the cheekbones and brow.

The mohawk is known as a warrior’s haircut not just in human civilisations

The core of my Oldhammer Undead army is finally finished with the completion of two 20-strong regiments of Skeleton Warriors.

The undead are going to war against their former realm

One regiment is equipped with light armour and shields, the other with shields only. Though there is not much difference in their fighting prowess, the heavy infantry appears to be the army’s elite cadre, also reflected by their decorated shields. I hope they’ll live up to it.

Armoured skeleton warriors ready to crush their foes

Forever onwards the dead march

The standard bearers are based on the same sculpt, one of them sporting some additional trophy heads. I have painted these in varying skin tones to show that they have been taken over the course of several battles. The most fresh looking victim still seems to be aggrieved over the loss of his body.

Trophies taken from those who dared to oppose them

The light infantry is still ferocious in death

Next to be raised are 20 Zombies, but I also have Grim Reapers, Ghouls, a Plague Cart and a Liche in progress, so it’s anybody’s guess what will be finished first.

The vampire commands his legions

Everyone who’s played Warhammer 40k in the ’90s will remember the green death world cacti with the red spikes made out of styrofoam and toothpicks. I built a few of them myself back then, but unsurprisingly they didn’t survive the dawn of the new millennium. More recently Jonas over at the Oldhammer Forum put together a whole bunch of these which are looking great.

Inspired by Cheetor’s excellent Alien Flora & Fauna series I’ve been meaning to extend my own collection of terrifying terrain for a while now but most things haven’t progressed past initial assembly.

During one of my hunts for source materials I came across an item that immediately jumped out at me as a modern version of the cacti of death though – a rubber massage ball from Tiger, available also in bright green.

Dark Angels livery makes for surprisingly effective camouflage on many jungle worlds

A dark green wash and far too many red spiky protrusions later I had a suitably alien looking plant, made for the ages. To complete the death world look, I added jungle foliage (some of which taken from a toothbrush holder also bought at Tiger) and a broken old skeleton to the base. Ironically, painting all those spikes did give me tense shoulders so I guess I’ll have to buy some more of these massage balls…

I’ve expanded my collection of early Citadel Zombies to make up a reasonably sized unit of twenty for my Oldhammer Undead army.

Since it was mostly a case of washing and drybrushing over a base colour of Citadel’s old Rotting Flesh, these were finished reasonably quickly. For the ragged clothing I stuck to earthy tones and the exposed tissue and organs are ranging from gory red to putrefying pink and bloated blue-greys.

Adding a splash of rotting flesh colour to the army

The HeroQuest Zombie has left his dungeon to join the horde

Soulless puppets of rotten flesh and guts

Their farming tools now only serve to harvest lives

These cadavers are animated by hate filled jealousy the living