Back from WarGamesCon!

It has been a busy week since returning from my first trip to WarGamesCon! Quite a bit of work, a lot of catching up with my now-willful daughter : ), and plowing on with my Golden Demon entries and commissions (more on those in a later post).

Anyway, back to the show. Simply put, it was great. Bigred, JWolf, Bushido Red Panda, and all the crew from BoLS were great guys to hang out with, chatting about toy soldiers and conventions and the mysteries of the world.

On the Friday, I ran the first of hopefully many Hobby seminars at the Con. It was a three class day, with participants signing up for all three. You can check out my post here to see the blurbs about each class. They were well attended and well received, wish made me quite happy and helped me relax for the rest of the weekend.

One great thing that is run at WarGamesCon something they call their Narrative Track. Three different Apocalypse campaigns running at the same time : ) We had 18-20 players participating, split over the three tables. My Blood Pact made their appearance on the Siege of Vraks table.

In this shot you can see my to teammates: Patrick on the far left with his Ork Stompa list (two Stompas and what seemed like dozens of Deff Dredz and Killer Kanz) and Cargill on the far right with his Nurgle Daemon Engine list (Scabieathrax, 2 Plague Hulks, 6 Blight Drones, and I think there were 4 Dreads too).

After having a Datasheet for just over a year now, I was finally able to field my Stalk Tank. Was it effective? It certainly drew a lot of fire : )

We were looking good in the first game, but our opponent Jason's Hades Breaching Drill arrived in our backfield just in time to contest the deciding objective. Game One was a draw.

In Game Two, Patrick and I defended an airfield while Cargill's Daemon Engines raced forward to keep our opponent Dan's IG at bay. Patrick and I worked well together and held on with some great backfield defence. Even though we pushed it an extra turn, we walked away victors in Game Two.

In Game Three we had to break through the breach in the curtain wall and hold the central objective. Each side was given a Reaver Titan, nice!

Our opponents raced forward and stood tall in the breach, giving most of our firepower plenty of opportunity to target the Reaver. In the second turn Patrick managed to take it down with a shot from one of his Stompa. With a wonderful series of rolls, the Reaver went into Apocalyptic Meltdown. A Strength D hit on all models within 20"!!! Our opponent Eric took the brunt of it as his Black Templars were well and truly gutted. We figured that was the right time to start buying the beers, which flowed for the rest of the evening. Despite seeing half their army disappear, the Imperials fought back and eeked out a victory.

Anyway, it's getting late. More tales in the next post.

Take care!

Cheers

Dave

WarGamesCon is VERY nigh!

By this time tomorrow I'll be frantically pacing a small room (somewhere in Austin, TX), making sure my presentations are ready and that I have all the handouts and giveaways sorted, and generally wondering how I'll screw up my first true "hobby teaching" test. If I'm lucky, I'll have had a Texas-shaped waffle for breakfast - to calm my nerves of course.

If I get a chance I'll post a post or two from the show. I know the guys running the show are looking to grow the event to mammoth proportions, not to rival Adepticon, but to complement it as another jewel in the crown of indy events. I'm all for that.

Until next we speak I thought I'd show you a piece that I'm working on for a friend's upcoming Apocalypse extravaganza.

Three Bastions, one Shrine of the Aquilla, one Citadel hill, and three weapons from Quantum Gothic in the UK.

Cheers

Dave

Quick Question for the Background Buffs

Hi guys

I'm currently working on a Night Haunter piece and wanted to track down a tidbit of information. I have heard at some point that Night Haunter (Konrad Curze), the Primarch of the Night Lords, wears a crown of some sort. I need to know if that is the case.

If you know where that information can be found (ie. a book reference, web page etc.), please post in a comment below.

Thanks in advance.

Cheers

Dave

War Games Con is Nigh!

It is just under a week until War Games Con (formerly BoLSCon). You still have a chance to sign up for some of the events and "get your ass to Austin!"

Bigred, JWolf, and the team there have some great stuff planned for the entire weekend.

One of the things planned is the first stab at some hobby seminars. This time around they have asked me to talk about toy soldiers, and you know I love to do that : )

I think there are still a few slots left for the Friday Hobby Day, so hit up the website and register!

Session One: 10am - 12pm

Dave Taylor presents Joe Orteza's "Lose the Fear: Working with Greenstuff" class.

This class will focus on figure conversion and the use of green stuff. Students will learn different aspects of figure conversion, from basic to advanced. The class will touch on the pose of the figure, basing, and the theme of model. I’ll discuss different techniques from singular display models to large units. Students will learn to utilize green stuff for figure embellishment and sculpting.

Session Two: 1pm - 3pm

"Back to Basics: Streamling Techniques to get your Army Painted"

This class will focus on painting models efficiently and effectively, allowing you to get your armies painted that much faster. Students will learn different "tricks" to cut down on the time spent deliberating on color choices, correcting mistakes, and enhancing the "pop" of an army.

Session Three: 4pm - 6pm

"Building that Centerpiece: The Jewel in the Crown of your Army"

Each army you build really deserves to have a standout, unique model that stands in the center of the display board. This class will focus on the use of plasticard (and plasticard related materials) to enhance existing models/vehicles, or create completely new vehicle shapes and ideas. Students will learn the correct ways of handling plasticard, as well as plenty of ideas and tips for embellishing their centerpiece models.

Cheers

Dave

An Announcement!

Well, now that the dust has almost settled on the Storm Wardens project, with just the winner to be drawn (this Sunday, July 25, in a special episode of Jawaballs Live!), I've had a chance to take stock of everything going on in my life.

• Home life (taking the time to have fun with my wife and daughter)

- Fantastic!

• Work life (co-editing the premier wargaming magazine in the world, Wargames Illustrated)

- Fantastic!

• Commissions (Propping up the hobby fund with cool and exciting projects)

- My cup runneth over!

• Sleep (recharging the batteries)

- not so much.

• Hobby time (working on cool armies and having fun painting what I feel like)

- not so much.

"Wah, wah, wah, quit yer cryin' Taylor!" I hear you say.

On the whole I'm VERY happy with how things are going, but I'd like to get a little bit more time in on my own hobby, or at least some more time to do a few more altruistic things (like the Storm Wardens project). So something has to give.

I can't give up anymore sleep, and I'm not giving up my family or job, so the crunch has had to come with my commission stuff. I will be completing all the jobs I've agreed to do at the time they've been agreed, but as of today I won't be taking on anymore new jobs. I'll take stock again in January 2011, but until then I have to close the doors and get some of my hobby groove back.

I'm thinking of focusing on a Beastman army first up, the one I talked about back in February. More Minotaurs, some Centigors, finish up that Jabberslythe. I also need to paint up FOW Early War German Panzer Company soon and get rolling across the fields of Poland and France, as well as paint more of my Napoleonic British. There are also things I'd like to do for my Blood Pact and Genswick Rifles armies. And keeping up the quality of this blog would be nice too. So little time, but so much to do.

Oh, and there's Games Day coming up. I'd like to have a few quality entries for that : )

In the meantime, check out a job that has just arrived at the client's doorstep this week.

This Herald of Tzeentch is designed to fit in with his unit of Horrors made from the classic Familiars (still available from GWs collectors range, I think).

And this Herald of Khorne on Juggernaught. I added some armor plates to match the bracers he wears, added the banner instead of the sword, and then sculpted the legs emerging from tendrils of smoke/daemonic energy flowing from the belly of the Jugger.

Until next time, take care!

Cheers

Dave