Why I have not gone to SALUTE this year

After a great deal of thought – and not a little research – I decided this morning that I am not going to go to SALUTE this year. This might seem a little odd as the show takes place so close to where I live that I can see the venue (The ExCel Centre London) from the front drive of my house! What put me off going was both getting there and how I was going to get about once I was.

Public transport – which would have cost me nothing thanks to me Freedom Pass – was a non-starter due to my mobility problems. I have to use two walking sticks when walking around, and if I have to step up or down, I need substantial handrails ... and the distance I would have to step up or down to use the local single-decker buses is just a little too high for me to do with any degree of safety. Even if I had been able to take the bus to the local Elizabeth Line station in Woolwich – which is an accessible one – the distance I would have to walk from Customs House to the ExCel Centre along a crowded walkway would have taken me a long time and would have been very tiring.

Thanks to the Blackwall Tunnel and the newly opened Silvertown Tunnel, I could have driven to the ExCel Centre, and it was possible to reserve a Blue Badge parking spot. However, once there I would have had to walk everywhere using my walking sticks. I did look at booking a mobility scooter, but there were none left, and although there were wheelchairs available, I would have need someone to push me around. Sue did offer to do this, but I thought that she would have found it very physically draining.

I will miss meeting my many wargaming friends and fellow bloggers, but in the end I decided that the problems outweighed the benefits of going, so with a heavy heart I chose to give SALUTE a miss this year.

Today I could have gone to Cavalier ... but I haven't

Tunbridge Wells Wargames Society's annual show – Cavalier – is taking place today, and as it marks the beginning of the wargaming year for many of us who live in this corner of England, I usually go ... but this year I haven't.

The reasons are varied, but essentially they are as follows:

• My ongoing problems with mobility. Although I can drive, once at the car park near the venue I will have to walk the rest of the way, and once inside there is nowhere on the ground floor to sit, something that I must do quite regularly. (I can walk about 100m before needing to rest.) Furthermore, walking around a crowded venue with a walking stick will not be easy and I do not want to risk tripping up and falling over.
• I have agreed to stage a World War II Portable Wargame at Dice on the Hill on Wednesday and need to get the necessary figures and terrain out of storage in Dartford. As I have several appointments on Monday and Tuesday, I will have to go to the store on today as I do not want to leave it until Wednesday ... just in case.
• My wargaming mojo is not what it should be at present (Although I should have got over the 'flu bug I caught earlier this year, I am still finding difficult to concentrate on anything for more than about ten minutes), and I lack the basic motivation to go to a wargame show.
• There are several things that I really need to do and that I cannot (or should not) put off any longer. For example, I have a detailed review of Steve Parker's DOMINION OF THE SPEAR wargame rules and DOMINION OF THE SPEAR BATTLES EXPANSION half finished, and I want to get it uploaded to my blog within the next day or two.
• I have the second play test of my simple late nineteenth century battleship vs. battleship naval wargame rules to stage and write about on my blog ... and possible make a video for my YouTube channel.

I might have made the effort to go to Cavalier if there had been anything in particular that I wanted to buy, but as my current project is currently on hold, there isn’t.

Hopefully I will make it to next year’s Cavalier … and will not regret not going today.

Madasahatta, the prequel

Due to my ongoing mobility problems, I was unable to the to ‘The Other Partizan’ last weekend. Luckily for me, my old friend and fellow blogger David Crook did go … and was able to take some photographs of the League of Gentlemen Anti Alchemists’ anti-slavery game.

I understand that the driving force behind the game was Chris Hardman, who – along with Eric’s son William, David Crook, Neil Fox, and myself – took part in Eric Knowles’ Madasahatta Campaign, and it was great to see that he used it as a setting for this wargame.

Eric's original Madasahatta map. Click on the image to enlarge it.

A recently re-drawn and coloured version of the Madasahatta map. Click on the image to enlarge it.

The Royal Navy action against the slavers took place forty years before the Madasahatta Campaign took place, and featured some typical Knowlesian characters:

Royal Navy Landing Force

• Major Boote-Necke (Royal Marines)
• Sergeant Wilson (Royal Marines)
• Captain Povey (Royal Navy)
• Lieutenant Phillips (Royal Navy)
• CPO Pertwee (Royal Navy)
• Lieutenant Strange-Wayze (Royal Marine Artilery)
• Major Bloodnok (Zanzibarian Army)

Zanzibarian Slavers

• Mustafa Leikh
• Shufti Khush
• Ali Oop
• Abdul the Terrible
• Bungdit Dhin
• Randhi Bhugah
• Omar Bhang

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Please note that the photographs featured above are © David Crook and Chris Hardman.

On my way to Salute ...

By the time my regular blog readers are reading this blog post, I should be well on my way to SALUTE!

I have to drive through the Blackwall Tunnel to get to ExCel, find somewhere to park, collect my mobility scooter (again, many thanks to Martin Gane and the South London Warlords for arranging this for me!), and make my way to the show's entrance.

I am hoping to spend some time just looking around the various games that are on show as well as the trader's stands and, if possible, to listen to some of the speakers that have booked. I also want to meet up with as many of my fellow wargaming bloggers as I can. Last year we had a picture taken ...

... and it would be nice if we could repeat this again this year.

Assuming that my camera or phone work alright, I hope to be able to write a photo-heavy blog post about SALUTE early next week.

Bob Cordery, you shall go to Salute … thanks to Martin Gane and the other South London Warlords

Yesterday I received a comment from Martin Gane in reply to my recent blog post about going to SALUTE. He had read my blog post and on behalf of the South London Warlords he has booked me a mobility scooter from ExCel, thus enabling me to go.

I have now booked my ticket and I am really looking forward to going. It will only be my second time ‘driving’ a mobility scooter (I had to drive and park my father-in-law’s some years ago … and it was a terrifying experience as he had jammed the throttle wide open!) so watch out for me as I zip around the show!

My battle with the Black Dog ... and going to Salute

Back in January when I wrote in detail about my health, I finished by writing the following:

'The last three years have drained me emotionally and physically, and I seem to have very little physical stamina these days. I am – however – slowly beginning to recover, and I try to walk at least a mile each day. My ability to concentrate has begun to improve, and over recent weeks I have begun to feel far more positive.'

Unfortunately, my recovery has not progressed as well or as fast as I hoped it would, and in some ways my health has got worse. Not long after writing that January blog post I had a rather heavy fall whilst bending over to pick something up. As a result, an old injury to my left knee flared up and seems to have triggered a problem that may be linked to an after effect of my radiotherapy, lymphoedema.

Over the past few months, my left leg has become weaker and weaker and has now triggered problems with my right leg. I have spoken to my oncologist, and they have referred me to a vascular surgeon … but the earliest appointment available is at the end of November. My GP and the practice physiotherapist are also now involved, and I have an MRI scan, CT scan, and whole-body bone scan booked to take place towards the end of next month. Hopefully this will identify what is wrong and I’ll be placed on an appropriate course of treatment.

My mobility has been severely restricted by my knee and leg problems, and things have become so bad that climbing the stairs in our house unaided is almost impossible. I am frequently having to use a walking stick, and even the act of walking a hundred metres leaves me tired and with pain in my ankle and knee joints as well as my leg muscles. My feet also swell so much that I either cannot get my shoes on or if I do, the swelling starts being uncomfortable after a short time and eventually becomes very painful. In addition, I also have to be careful about what chairs I sit on as many are too low for me to get out of unaided and getting in and out of a car is sometimes very difficult.

As you can imagine, this situation tends to sap one’s ability to be positive and on several occasions I have been very conscious that my black dog is sniffing around. Luckily, Sue has been a tower of strength and has listened to my complaining, given me words of encouragement, and helped me deal with difficult situations as they arise. Without her, I would be in a slough of despond ... and firmly in the grips of the black dog's jaws.

I had hoped that I would be well enough to go to SALUTE this year, but unless I regain some of the strength in my lower limbs, I suspect that might be just too much. There is a lot of standing about, very few places to sit, and the floor surface at ExCel is somewhat unyielding and tiring to walk or stand on even if you are physically fit. That said, there are still a few weeks before it takes place and I remain hopeful that I will improve enough to go.

Salute 51 will be taking place at ExCel London on 13th of April 2024.

I'm sorry to bore my regular blog readers with my problems, but I hope that the above explains why I am not blogging as frequently as normal. Hopefully, 'Normal Service Will Be Resumed As Soon As Possible' ...

... as they used to say in the days of black and white TV!

I have been to … Cavalier 2024

The last time I attended the CAVALIER wargame show in Tonbridge was in February 2020, less than five weeks after the Chinese government announced that an outbreak of a previously unknown virus had occurred in Wuhan.

That seems a lifetime ago … and those intervening four years have seen life-changing events for all of us.

As usual, the show was held in the Angel Centre in Tonbridge …

... but one has to wonder for how much longer it will be as the Centre has been slated for demolition by the local council as the current building is no longer fit for purpose.

My main reason for going was to meet up with a number of other wargamers, including David Crook (on the right) & Roy Rousell (on the left), ...

... Postie (AKA Stu), ...

... Henry Hyde, ...

... Nick Huband, ...

... Nigel Drury (on the left) & Pete Grizzell (on the right), ...

... and Big Lee (whose photo was so blurred that I decided not to us it) and to have a look at the various wargames that were on show. The show was spread over two rooms, the main hall ...

... and the Conway Room.

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THE WARGAMES

Retired Wargamers Reloaded

Hold until relieved: German counter-attack against the Ox and Bucks at Pegasus Bridge, 6th June 1944 (15mm)

Gravesend Gamers Guild

A Song of Ice and Fire (28mm)

Society of Ancients

Battle of Ilipa 208BC: Punic War action in Spain (28mm)

Friday Night Firefight Club

Fall of the Reich: Battle round the Reichstag in the last days of WW2 (28mm)

Milton Hundred Wargame Club

"Eine Bruecke zu Weit": An armoured bridge assault including a paradrop (1/100th)

Deal Wargames Society

Death on the Savannah (Survival of the Thickest): Can the Wildebeest cross the Savannah, hunted by lions and crossing a crocodile-infested river? (1/32nd)

South East Essex Military Society (SEEMS)

Nach Paris!: Franco-Prussian War (28mm)

Tunbridge Wells Wargames Society

Blood in the Lotus Garden: Honour Satisfied! Samurai Skirmish (28mm)

South London Warlords

We Do Not Kneel – Battle of the North Wall: An epic battle between the Night Watch and Free Folk (28mm)

Real Time Wargames

The Glittering River: Riverine Actions in the Russian Civil War 1917 - 1921 on river, land and air (1/600th)

Central London Wargames Club

Tally Ho Vera: Napoleonic (15mm)

Konfederacy of Eastbourne Gamers

Battle of Villamuriel: Napoleonic Peninsular Campaign (10mm)

Tonbridge Wargames Club

LRDG – The First Rogue Heroes: LRDG Raids in the Western Desert 1942 (28mm)

Cheshunt Wargames

Hoth: Star Wars (6mm)

Maidstone Wargames Society

The Summer of '77: The Battle of Britain (1/300th)

Rainham Wargames Club

Hammerin' Iron: Riverboat Action in the American Civil War (1/600th)

Interestingly, at the majority of the wargames I stopped to photograph, someone from the group or club staging it talked to me about their game. This is a vast improvement when compared to my experience at other shows over recent years and is to be applauded.