So this year Salute 2014 was two days after my birthday, so with a large wad of cash in mypocket I travelled to excel in London on Saturday the 12th of April. Normally I have a list of bits that I want, but this year not much had surfaced on the internet!
One of the things that I wanted was a basing pad from Wargames Bakery/ Zinge industries

This rather nifty pad will be used for my AvP kickstarter models it retails at £25.00 but for the show they were selling them for £20.00. I also picked up some 5 miscast bags for £1.00 each (I wish I had got some more!) these bags contain an assortment of “miscast” bits from their ranges, they may have tiny air bubbles or parts missing from the sprue but for £1 you cannot go wrong!
I did get to see (and handle but no pics) the prototypes for the AvP models form Prodos Games, and I was impressed. After all these years the Aliens, Marines, and Predators have all been done perfectly. Now i just need to sit back and wait for my models!
I also hit the Mantic games stand for my free ruin sprues, and I have to say I am less than impressed with these. In all fairness I could have made my own!

The 1st and 2nd pictures are the front and back of the same sprue and as you can see you get 3 pieces of rubble, 2 of which make a free standing pile of rubble and 1 that is designed to be placed against a wall, 3 small pieces of wall, 1 small and 1 large pieces of floor.
The other sprue is slightly better with 2 full size panels, 1 half sized panel, 2 small pieces and 1 large floor section. When I went to the stand they had no “new” stuff on display but later in the day they showed off some new models (pictures surfaced on Facebook in the evening)
I will admit that I am slightly pissed with Mantic with the fact that they are selling these and the Nexus Psi book before full filling kick starter orders!
So all in all I spent 1 hour 30 minutes at excel (20 minutes was queuing to get in and 10 minutes to get out of the dame place!) and I spent a grand total of £25 at the show, and it cost me £20 for 2 tickets and £34 to get their.
Maybe next year I will give it a miss……………