A Show Report with a Difference
…and they have.
Yes, that’s a scan of my hips, taken just after my second (left) hip replacement, revealing the marvels of modern medical science designed to help us get our lives back after often long periods of chronic and worsening pain.
In my case, I first noticed that things weren’t right in early 2022. Four years later, I’m finally enjoying my first few days without pain.
It’s hard to describe how it feels to, well… not feel anything! How does one describe the absence of something you’ve lived with for such a long time, that has dominated your waking and, all too often, sleeping hours? It may sound bizarre, but I’ve had to acknowledge a kind of grief at the passing of the ‘me’ that had come into being as a way of coping with the disability, the ‘me’ that had been forced to detach myself from the memories of my younger strength and fitness, the ‘me’ that had learned to recalibrate everything from my ability to walk any distance to how I could cope with getting out of a chair or in and out of the shower.
As the immediate post-operative pain subsided, nature sprang another test of endurance on me in the form of IT band syndrome that has persisted for more than a month and set back my rehab as a result. At times, it has been as bad as the arthritis had been and I was becoming extremely concerned that I might not be able to make it to Partizan in May, let alone Salute.
However, early last week, the pain subsided sufficiently for me to take a short stroll or two with my dear Annie, and I had a session with my physiotherapist on Thursday during which we agreed that I could at least attempt the trip to London.
And I’m extremely glad that I did.
Naturally, I embarked on the 160-mile round trip with a certain amount of trepidation – I drive a manual car, so even having to make a lot of gear changes in heavy traffic could have triggered the leg pain. Fortunately, traffic was relatively light early on Saturday morning, and I arrived at my pre-booked parking space feeling relieved that I had, at least, made it that far.
But then, of course, there is the vast, concrete expanse of the ExCel centre itself. If you’ve never been there, try to imagine a cluster of Zeppelin hangars built by a brutalist architect. It’s huge, and just the walk to reach the entrance to hall N7, the show venue, was several hundred metres!
I kept calm, maintained a steady pace with my Nordic walking poles, and made it. I was able to get in via the disabled queue, bypassing the vast throng of those with standard tickets waiting to enter and suddenly, there it was in front of me, the gateway to the extraordinary expanse of Salute 53, organised by the South London Warlords.
It’s a few years since I last attended Salute, and on previous occasions I had thrown myself into the exhausting task of trying to get around and photograph all the games, taking time to notice all the trade stands, whilst squeezing in a few moments here and there to press the flesh and exchange fleeting greetings with familiar faces. I would leave the show shattered as the crowds thinned and the traders began their end of show routines, packing up their wares and counting their takings.
No, I decided, I’m not going to do that. After all, I no longer run a magazine, and there are already quite a few well-known social media influencers who perform that function, creating photo-packed blog posts and professional-quality videos showcasing the event.
As a result, I actually enjoyed the show in a completely different way. Instead of being forced to make the social aspect incidental, I put it front and centre, deliberately seeking out friends I’ve made in the hobby over decades and spending some quality time with them.
I had to be realistic about my hips, of course, and after a couple of hours and nearly 10,000 steps, I made the decision to retreat with as much grace as I could muster as the joints started to complain. But in that time, I’d had more quality conversations with pals than I’d had in a very long time indeed.
I also need to give a special mention to Nick Skinner of TooFatLardies who managed to persuade myself and Alex ‘Storm of Steel’ Sotheran to sit down for vidcast recording, which turned into a good 20 minutes or so of intense ‘state of the hobby’ chat! I mean, you don’t seriously expect a couple of pro podcasters to give short answers, do you?
From what I could tell, the hobby in general seems to be in extremely rude health. The attendance was huge – I don’t have the numbers, but I wouldn’t be surprised to hear that it was around 8,000 on the day. Moreover, the diversity of both the games and products on show and the attendees was noticeable. After so many years hearing people bemoan the ‘greying’ of the hobby, I think it’s fair to say that I can judge that opinion to be very wide of the mark.
What I did notice, however, was that the proportion of historical games to genre games on display at Salute (which may not be the case at other shows) has shifted firmly towards the latter, and that equally, the proportion of large to small tables had also reduced. There were notable exceptions, of course, including our ‘Yarkshire Gamer’ Ken’s Renaissance feast for the eyes and the TooFatLardies Lard Zone extraordinary WWII setup, featuring some phenomenal 3d printed buildings by Paul Edwards.
There was also a bewildering range of products on offer from an equally extraordinary range of traders. Turns out that there are even more brands of paint markers than I’ve discovered in my recent experiments! As it happens, I bought absolutely nothing – not because I was feeling particularly parsimonious, but partly because of a sense of overwhelm when confronted by such a vast choice, and partly because I’ve been increasingly aware of the fact that I already have enough wargames clobber to keep me going for quite some years to come, if not through to the end of my days. The Loftwaffe has no room for expansion, so I’ve reached the point of one in, one out.
I made it back home (via a different route, because Google maps decided I needed a change of scenery!) by late afternoon, extremely tired but happy and satisfied. My thanks to those of you who came up and said hello, and my apologies to those who I would have wished to have encountered but failed miserably to do so. Salute has the strange ability to give you glimpses of people in the distance who then, like mirages in the desert, disappear into thin air when you get closer.
And finally, of course, many congratulations to the South London Warlords who, year after year and against all the odds, manage to stage the biggest wargames show in the UK covering an extraordinary number of bases. Naturally, they can’t please all the people, all of the time but, my goodness, they make a pretty darn good attempt – and, let’s not forget, they are all just volunteers, which makes it an extraordinary achievement.
Henry
Big Lee’s Miniature Adventures video of Salute 53
Alex ‘Storm of Steel’ Sotheran’s video of the show
Ray ‘Posties Rejects’ Roussell’s blog post of the show (long post!)
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