Ten Hut! The Best Miniatures and Demo Games from Salute, Part Two

Hello and welcome to this, the second part of my top ten exhibitors at last weekend’s Salute.

As detailed in the previous instalment, this year’s Salute was the first that I as able to enjoy as a punter. Previously I had only attended the show as a member of staff for one exhibitor or another, but this year I was able to take my time to browse each stand, chat to venders and catch up with friends in the industry. It also enabled me to cast a covetous eye over the various stands and compile this list of my favourite exhibitors.

As with part one, the following are presented in alphabetical order; that order is in no way indicative of each entry’s comparative merits.

Read Part one here: Featuring #Battleground HD#Bobmack3D#Flank March#DieHardMiniatures#Goblin King Games#Ontos Games and #This Then That Games

Modular Worlds

I’d never seen this range of fantasy miniature before, but I’m pleased to have discovered them at Salute. Sculpted by the owner Kieran James and operating out of their bricks ‘n; mortar store in Newquay, Modular Worlds boasts a a dizzying array of miniatures, vehicles and terrain features.

From sci-fi to fantasy and all points in between, this is a superb range. I was particularly enamoured with the various man-eating plants and a lizardman riding a giant toad.

Also, please show some love for the those handmade, wooden shelves and their label card frames; gorgeous!

You can explore the Modular Worlds range on MyMiniFactory.

Nightfall Games / Word Forge Games

Between the likes of Mark Rapson, Dave Allsop, Jared Earle and Chris McAuley, an elite core of top quality creatives produce Word Forge / Nightfall Games’ titles; little wonder that Word Forge / Nightfall Games create top quality products.

As you’d expect, many of these games were on display at Salute, as well as some new titles; these included the new SLA industries / Mork Borg mash-up (which, I have to say, looks very swish), and the new expansion for their SAS Rogue Regimentboardgame, Operation Gain.

Both these new titles sport the Nightfall / Word Forge hallmarks of eye-catching artwork and high production values. Whilst I couldn’t ascertain how they play just by eyeballing them, I’m pretty sure they’ll be just as good as the rest of the Nightfall and Word Forge Games’ catalogue.

See the Nightfall and Wordforge Games websites for more details. Late pledges for Operation Gain are also still available on the game’s Kickstarter page.

Oathsworn Miniatures

I’ve made no secret of the fact I love Oathsworn Miniatures and their Burrows and Badgers range. This fabulous skirmish game of anthropomorphic warriors, wizards et al is not only a cracking set of rules, but it also benefits from a fabulous variety of excellent miniatures.

As a special bonus for players of the Burrows and Badger skirmish game, Oathsworn also had copies of their new rulebook available to purchase. Although not officially released until 24th April, those nice people at Osprey Games allowed them to sell copies at Salute in recognition of the show’s pre-eminent position in the wargaming calendar.

See the Oathsworn Miniatures website for more details.

Twilight Miniatures

I like grimdark miniatures and I like World War II miniatures. I also like high fantasy and sci-fi. But, every now and then, it’s nice to see something completely different.

That’s probably why I like Anyaral: the World of Twilight so much. Sculpted by Twilight Miniature’ owner, Michael Thorp, this fabulous range features a host of reptilian warriors, shaggy monsters and big beasties, all of which dwell in the unique world of Anyaral.

And the full majesty of Anyaral was on show at Salute. Not only were their oodles of miniatures available, but their was also a fabulous Anyaral diorama at which to marvel. With its riverboats, a hut, a serpentine sea monster and dozens of little Anyaral warriors on display, this cool display did a really good job of showcasing the things that make the world—and aesthetic—of Anyaral so unique.

See the full range on the Anyaral: the World of Twilight website.

WarFulcrum Games

As you’d expect from Salute, there were plenty of fabulous demo games to gawp at. One such was WarFulcrum’s incredible demo table for their new WWI ruleset, 1918. This superbly crafted table recreated the WWI battleground of Villers-Bretonneux, and the combatants from the US Marine Corps and German army who fought over it.

Sadly, my meagre photographic skills and equipment couldn’t capture the full impact of this table, but you can see a collection of much better photos on WarFulcrum’s Facebook page. Furthermore, the Kickstarter for the 1918 rulebook is now live.

That concludes my top ten of exhibitors from Salute 2025. It really was difficult to narrow the list down to only ten, and I feel bad for those who only just missed the cut. I’m fairly sure, however, that I’ll have more then enough chances to include them in future articles. After all, it’s not too long until Partizan in Newark…

Images courtesy of their respective owners