Category Archives: Post-Apocalyptic

Post-Apocalyptic, Salute 2019, Sci-Fi

Salute 2019 – Sci-Fi & Post-Apocalyptic

April 9, 2019 Subedai 10 Comments

‘After the Apocalypse’ was the theme of Salute 2019 and the show miniature (which is very nice and fits in with my Ghosts of Gaia by Bad Squiddo). In terms of boards it didn’t have more of a presence than most other years however, while sci-fi was equally present as usual. Additional non-blurry photography courtesy of undeadhighelf once again.

The South London Warlords had built a moon base for their scenario ‘Dark Side of the Moon’. Set in not too distant 2039 it featured a clash between US and Chinese forces and other mysterious players.

Secret and deadly combat missions on the moon — Dark Side of the Moon by South London Warlords at Salute 2019

Fighting in low gravity — Dark Side of the Moon by South London Warlords at Salute 2019

Space fighters in moon craters — Dark Side of the Moon by South London Warlords at Salute 2019

The fantastic Flash Gordon by the Jersey Privateers Gaming Club was built entirely of Lego and featured different settings and scenarios played with custom made rules.

An old fashioned sci-fi spectacular in Lego — Flash Gordon by Jersey Privateers at Salute 2019

Flash Gordon has 20 minutes to save the Earth — Flash Gordon by Jersey Privateers at Salute 2019

Flash Gordon wargaming in Lego — Flash Gordon by Jersey Privateers at Salute 2019

Fighting through a Lego forest — Flash Gordon by Jersey Privateers at Salute 2019

A Lego landing barge for Flash Gordon — Flash Gordon by Jersey Privateers at Salute 2019

The Bexley Reapers Wargaming Club brought Back to the Future onto the table in the specially designed game ‘Flux Capacity’. As usual for their projects there were special effects as the DeLorean sped into three different eras.

Gaming Back to the Future through the ages — Flux Capacity by Bexley Reapers at Salute 2019

The DeLorean accelerates back to the future — Flux Capacity by Bexley Reapers at Salute 2019

Other sci-fi themed games included Anvil Industry’s Afterlife and Warhammer 40k.

Dystopian sci-fi-wargaming — Afterlife by Anvil Industry at Salute 2019

Gothic sci-fi skirmish — Some Worlds are Best Left Alone by Sons of Simon de Montford at Salute 2019

In ‘Project Fear’ by Frothers, Remainers were trying to escape the former United Kingdom through the port of Dover, fleeing from 17.4 million cannibalistic Brexiters.

Escaping Brexit Britain — Project Fear by Frothers Unite at Salute 2019

Remainers and cannibals — Project Fear by Frothers Unite at Salute 2019

Skirmish Wargames took the Magnificent 7 into space in a Wild West meets sci-fi encounter.

The Old West in space — Magnificent 7 Ride Again – in Space! by Skirmish Wargames at Salute 2019

Gunslinging in the far future — Magnificent 7 Ride Again – in Space! by Skirmish Wargames at Salute 2019

More post-apocalyptic mayhem was played out by Crooked Dice, Osprey Games and Reverence Games.

Racing through a desolate wasteland — Dune Bug Rally for 7TV Apocalypse by Crooked Dice at Salute 2019

Death races in the arena — Gaslands by Osprey Games at Salute 2019

Escape a complex filled with nightmarish creatures — Last Living Souls by Reverence Games at Salute 2019

Post-Apocalyptic, Salute 2018, Sci-Fi

Salute 2018 – Sci-Fi

April 15, 2018 Subedai 8 Comments

Salute 2018 wargaming convention has come and gone in a flash. The trend of fewer large independent display tables and more company run demo and participation games is continuing, and there was a noticeable increase in open floor space, presumably also due to the ongoing consolidation of gaming franchises.

4Ground’s presence is growing year on year, and they had many tables on display for the variety of settings they now support with their terrain. In this year of Star Wars Legion, the biggest was a proof of concept for a star ship hangar bay with particularly shiny floors.

Hangar bay with black floor, stormtroopers, AT-ST and TIE fighter — Star Wars Legion by 4Ground

Imperial landing craft in hangar bay — Star Wars Legion by 4Ground

There were also some lovely mechs and a gaming table for use with Fallout on show.

Battle mech standing next to a hangar building — Battle mech hangar by 4Ground

Containers and ramshackle walkways in a wasteland — Fallout by 4Ground

Wild West Exodus was also being presented on a large stand this year, and some very original and elaborate demo tables were showcasing this growing games system.

Inside of a tech facility with red growing tubes — Wild West Exodus

Rugged mountainside with arachnid blue monsters — Wild West Exodus

The South London Warlords staged the Dr Who based Invasion Earth including two life sized Daleks.

Industrial loading bay with crane and the tardis — Dr Who by South London Warlords

Anvil Industry brought some nice demo tables for Afterlife, including a backlit tech compound.

Top down view of a green illuminated floor reminiscent of computer circuits — Afterlife by Anvil Industry

Armoured fighting vehicles amongst industrial terrain — Afterlife by Anvil Industry

My local gaming store Dark Sphere had set up a gazebo to play games of Star Wars Legion and Necromunda in the dark, illuminated only by special effects on the boards themselves.

Industrial terrain illuminated by internal LED lights and in billowing smoke — Necromunda by Dark Sphere

Various other gaming companies and clubs had brought their demo gaming tables along, below a selection of my snapshots.

Compound under attack by Necrons in ice crystal landscape — Mad Gaming Terrain

Post-apocalyptic industrial scenery — Collision by Code Orange Games

Colourful multi story sci-fi terrain — Thunder Chrome printable scenery

Wasteland board and character sheets — Gunny Pets by Bad Squiddo Games

Wasteland with car wrecks and mutants — Demolition Derby for 7TV by Crooked Dice

Chinatown scenery with a stompy robot — It’s Not Easy Being Green for 7TV by Crooked Dice

Desert terrain with buildings and a fortification — Infinity with Plast Craft terrain

Fleets of space ships on a star mat — Red Alert by PSC Games

Post-Apocalyptic, Salute 2017, Sci-Fi

Salute 2017 – Sci-Fi

April 23, 2017 Subedai 3 Comments

Sci-Fi games at Salute 2017 had a strong showing, but many of the demonstration tables were run by the respective game manufacturers for consecutive years now so I skipped photographing all of them (and spent more time buying shiny new things).

Since I am now collecting and painting Infinity, I was particularly excited about the following two tables. I hope I have the credits right for the first, but unfortunately I don’t know who created the second.

Brightly colour futuristic buildings and a maglev train — Infinity: Operation Free Nippon by Red Knight Wargames

Street view with cars, planters and advertising boards — Infinity: Operation Free Nippon by Red Knight Wargames

A small news kiosk — Infinity: Operation Free Nippon by Red Knight Wargames

A nice mixture of old and new on this smaller table, something I want to try with my own fledgling terrain collection for Infinity.

Cityscape of 19th century buildings with neon advertisement boards — Infinity

The South London Warlords piled several thousand pounds worth of lovingly painted Forgeworld resin onto this large table for Warhammer 30k, depicting a battle of the civil war on Mars. I didn’t get to see this display last year, so I was glad to catch it now, after it did an extensive round through the UK wargaming show circle – and even the V&A Museum!

Tanks and fliers in a shattered city — Warhammer 40k – Horus Heresy Civil War by Brotherhood of Mars

Tanks and robots in a red desert landscape — Warhammer 40k – Horus Heresy Civil War by Brotherhood of Mars

A titanic war walker amongst smaller walkers, infantry and tanks — Warhammer 40k – Horus Heresy Civil War by Brotherhood of Mars

Star Wars has a steady presence at Salute now, and there were several participation games of X-Wing in progress.

Fighter space craft on a star background — Star Wars X-Wing by Ilford Wargames Group

Large space ships against a stellar nebula — Star Wars X-Wing by Gravesend Gamers Guild

Dark Sphere went a step further and constructed a three tiered table with glass panes to refight the attack on Scarif from Rogue One.

A tower rising up from a small island, surrounded by space fighter craft — Star Wars X-Wing by Dark Sphere

The Drowned Earth made their first showing at Salute. Their Kickstarter is already well funded and I am looking forward to seeing more of this very original looking system.

Jungle terrain with a crashed space craft and large dinosaur — The Drowned Earth

A hunter with a bow on overgrown walkways — The Drowned Earth

Fenris Descending by the Maidstone Wargames Society and Germy was another very original looking game out of left field. All terrain and models for this game were scratch built from household materials, plastic and electronics parts.

Dozens of crab like robots advancing on a shantytown — Fenris Descending by Maidstone Wargames Society

As usual there were plenty more smaller tables and participation games to look and and get stuck in with, here just a sample of those I managed to catch.

Futuristic generators in a desert with infantry and drones — Beyond the Gates of Antares

Armed stock cars racing around a circuit — Devil’s Run: Route 666 by G3 Gamers

Interior of a tech facility within an industrial compound — XCom – Rise of the Resistance by Blockbuster Games

Post-Apocalyptic, Salute 2016, Sci-Fi

Salute 2016 – Sci-Fi

April 22, 2016 Subedai 5 Comments

In the universe of Sci-Fi, space ship games were the most prominent theme at Salute 2016. Since Battlefleet Gothic I haven’t played in this genre but now I’m very tempted to pick up one or two of these new games.

Mechworld ran the Full Thrust Academy on their illuminated concept gaming tables, showcasing their new starter set.

Game sheets, a box set and a gaming table with space ship scale models — Full Thrust by Mechworld

Red and grey space ships amongst asteroids on an underlit blue gaming table — Full Thrust by Mechworld

A gaming table showing a backdrop of dark space and red nebulas lit from underneath and with a variety of spacecraft and asteroids placed on top — Full Thrust by Mechworld

White Dragon Miniatures presented their upcoming Shattered Void game of space dog fighting which will be on Kickstarter in the summer.

Two fleets of opposing spacecraft on a dark blue gaming table with stars and a green nebula — Shattered Void by White Dragon Miniatures

Dropfleet Commander already finished a very successful Kickstarter and Hawk Wargames showed off an upscaled 3D print of one of their ships.

A sleek spacecraft on a flying stand with gun batteries painted in greys and blues — Dropfleet Commander by Hawk Wargames

Halo: Fleet Battles from Spartan Games was played around a scaled up ship centrepiece.

Small space ships on a star field gaming table surrounding a much larger craft — Halo: Fleet Battles by Spartan Games

The South London Warlords had constructed a Star Trek participation game entitled Savage Dove, taking place along the corridors and bridge of the Enterprise and being broadcast through a set of webcams.