Akula Kon

Being lucky is always a good thing, no more so than when I was lucky enough to find a golden ticket to the world’s smallest gaming show: Akula Kon. Held in a secret high-security facility hidden deep within the Yorlshire Moors I gathered with a number of Frothers; project maniac Akula, renaissance man Bungle, paint maestro Duff and Hasslefree’s master sculptor Kev White. There were no traders and only one table, but what a table. Visitors to Salute 2011 should remember Akula’s Battlefield inspired Arica Bay table, and that was what we played on except with a couple of hundred zombies. What follows is a number of photo’s in no particular order taken while I strained to keep up with the conversation. It’s dificult to talk with a beer on the go…

A good time was had by all, and on behalf of all his guests a big thank you to Akula for his hospitality and the sport. The only perturbing part was the vaguely homoerotic ceremony some of them seemed to enjoy. I can’t bring myself to describe it, but you will find photographic evidence of the depravity below.

 

Red Dwarves

Here’s another example of the boy Slug’s painting which is not only a neat paintjob but also a record for the fastest painting of a Salute purchase. As many Salute devotees know it’s easy to buy some metal and still have it safely stored when the next one rolls around. These Russian dwarves made by Akula are part of the World War one fantasy genre which is rapidly gaining interest. Their quality is quite marvelous both in sculpt and cast, these were created by Bob Olley a true miniature maestro and cast by Grffin and I challenge you to find a cast line let alone any flash.

Slug really enjoyed painting these, namely because they were so easy to paint. Most have great coats and the heads come seperately. A quick google brought up a decent uniform reference, even though you could quite legitimately get away with pink, purple and gold lamé. He’d not painted a single dwarf before so enjoyed how much less there is to work on. You can see these in their bare flesh, and perhaps even buy some yourself, here.

We Salute 2011 you

Well I certainly wasn’t expecting that! Salute was it’s usual brilliant self and here’s a pile of photos to show just why. Bear in mind this isn’t an attempt to show the enitirity of the show just the bits which we either spent a lot of time at. So mainly it’s the VBCW demo game bravely managed by Red Rich, or the masterful Akula delivering a fast moving chnk of participation*. Anything else featured is just whatever really grabbed me, and it’s the mass of gamely tentacles reaching up to do exactly that which make this gigantic show a must visit, and even more so if like us you’re lucky enough to live just a couple of hours away.

*Don’t forget to download the latest version of his rules, and donate to his worthy cause if you like them.