Golden Demon, Chicago 2012

Well, it'd been over two weeks since Games Day in Chicago, so I figured it was time to throw up pics of the models I entered in Golden Demon. Before we get to the photos, however, I must say that I liked the new set-up used by GW at the show, and bringing the GDs back into the main hall was, in my opinion (and despite the noise) was a successful move.

Here's my Warhammer Single entry. I wasn't expecting too much from him, but I figured it was worth a shot. Result - Finalist.

I entered the front three ranks of my Red Bears of Mecklenburg Greatswords unit in the Warhammer Regiment category. After seeing all the entries on the day, I felt I had a pretty decent chance of a trophy with these guys. Halfway through the day they disappeared from the cabinet, and couldn't be found. There were a few different thoughts from my friends at the show, including a possible trophy pick, but just minutes before the presentation ceremony they were spotted in the cabinets - in the Open category. I immediately rushed to check on why and was informed they had been moved because they didn't fit the basing requirements for the Warhammer Regiment category (which requires each model is on its own, individual gaming base - a restriction I find asinine, but that's how it is). In the Open category my Red Bears had absolutely no chance. Result - Finalist.

In Warhammer Monster I entered my Ogre Thundertusk. I really love this model and was happy with how I'd painted mine. Before the show I rebased the model on a Dragon Forge resin base and added some new snow, made using the Secret Weapon Miniatures Crushed Glass. It was definitely fun to try out this new (for me) product, and I'm looking forward to using it again. As usual, there were some lovely models in this category. Result - Finalist.

And finally, I entered my Iconoclave piece in the Diorama category. This is the entry I was most hopeful for, but there were lots of great entries in this category too. In the end it didn't quite hold up to the trophy winners. Result - Finalist.

I walked away fairly disappointed, but also full of ideas for next year. Let's see how many of them I can execute.

Congratulations to all the winners. Those trophies are all well deserved, particularly Todd's FIFTH Slayer Sword!

Cheers
Dave

We have a winner! and some Armies On Parade stuff

After consulting with Falk over at The Black Crusade 2012 to confirm all donations, I counted up the number of entrants (38) and headed on over to random.org. After punching in the numbers in and hitting enter, it came up with number 25.

Congratulations to Kayle! As the 25th person to enter, he wins the army : ) Please get in touch with me Kayle so we can arrange getting the army to you.

And now, back to your regularly scheduled programming.

Here's a look at the final models I painted up for my Armies On Parade entry in Chicago. I was thinking that my army was fairly esoteric, and that I really needed to push that even more. Enter the "hobby horses" for the Procession of Morr. Based on the bodies of Ka'Daai Fireborn, and using the heads from Black Knight horses, and arms from Chaos Spawn. The feathers on their heads are from the Empire Greatswords. Oh, and plenty of greenstuff.

Not only were they interesting to create, they drew a LOT of confused looks and questions at Games Day. The most common question was "What are they in your list?" It was interesting, if people got an answer like "Ogre Ironguts" they were able to start to come to terms with their weirdness. However, if they couldn't fit them into a framework they started looking for other answers, even suggesting the army was a Vampire Counts army and they were Vargheists or something similar.

Interestingly enough, if you step back and look at the army all laid out, it could very easily be translated into a Vampire Counts army...

Here's the last shot of the whole thing (without the Wizard Lord and "hobby horses"). Scuttlebutt at the show said that I came in third. It also said that James Wappel's army came in second. You can check out his entry development here.

And, of course, first place went to the amazing surprise entry of J.J. Marino's Dark Eldar. You can see them here. Not only was J.J.'s army a real crowd pleaser, he was a nice guy to boot.

Until next time, keep painting!

Cheers
Dave

Busy, busy, busy, and lots of great blogs!

Sorry for the delay in getting back to you all, but things have been pretty crazy around here. We are mere days away from sending our 300-page mega-issue of Wargames Illustrated off to the printers, my eldest daughter has started at pre-school, and my youngest has finally cut her first teeth (so no sleep for us)!

While I'm gathering the details of the competition entrants and shipping them off to Falk, here's a list of great blogs to check out, all recommended by the competition entrants : )

Already on my blog roll are the following:

28mmvictorianwarfare.blogspot.com
agentlemansones.blogspot.com
www.akaranseth.com/blog
briancarlsonminiatures.blogspot.com 
eyeoferror.blogspot.com.au
fischers-design-shop.blogspot.com
fromthewarp.blogspot.com
legionofplastic.blogspot.co.uk
recalcitrantdaze.blogspot.com.au
taleofpainters.blogspot.com
xenite.wordpress.com

And up for consideration will be the following:

11thcompany.blogspot.com
2ndcitywarzone.blogspot.com
aychplace.blogspot.ca
damnedcrusade.blogspot.com
darkfuturegaming.blogspot.com
www.freshcoast40k.com
hakomike.blogspot.com
hephsforge.blogspot.com
indy40k.blogspot.com
www.irondogstudios.com
maelstrom-therisingsign.blogspot.com
www.matakishi.com
oppositionforce.blogspot.com
paintingagency.blogspot.com
rustandthecity.blogspot.com
www.screamingheretic.com
spielerfrau.coverblog.de
studiogiraldez.blogspot.com
synaps3.blogspot.com
tabletopteek.blogspot.com
www.tabletopwar.net
www.terrainthralls.com
theback40k.blogspot.com
thebrushandbolter.blogspot.com
theindependentcharacters.com/blog
www.theshardnetandimpaler.com
touchedbygreatness.blogspot.com
ttfix.blogspot.com
tutofig.com

I hope you enjoy checking them all out!

Cheers
Dave

It's Competition Time!

So, after three and a half years of photographing the models I've painted and tapping away at this keyboard, this humble blog has passed two pretty big milestones. For that I want to thank you all!

All 1,514 Blog Followers! I want to thank you all for your support, and over 1,000,000 page views!

To celebrate I've decided to give away my Tyranid army. I've never shown this army on my blog, as I painted it around five years ago. You may have seen it, however, in the 40K 5th Edition rulebook (photo below). There's roughly 1,500 points of Hive Fleet Kraken goodness that has never been played with, but has made a trip to the UK for photography ; )

WHAT DO I NEED TO DO TO WIN?

Well, it's pretty simple. Here are the three steps to victory:

A) Donate $5 or more to the Black Crusade 2012 by the end of August 5th. You can check out their cool charity project here. Please put your "blogger name" in the comment section of your donation.

B) Be a follower of this blog, and leave a comment at the bottom of this post that promotes your favorite toy soldier blog (not this one, but someone else's). That way we can work together to build all blog traffic : ) Again, you need to do this by the end of August 5th.

C) Sit back and relax. Once I'm back from vacation I'll be checking in with Falk (from the Black Crusade and Tabletop Fix) and cross-referencing the entries with "blogger names" and so on. Once I have all that squared away I'll put up a new post and let everyone know when the random drawing will be.

Should be fun, I hope you enjoy promoting cool blogs, and helping out the wargaming community.

Best of luck to all!

Cheers

Dave

Off to Chicago for Games Day!

Just about 12 hours until I head off to Chicago for Games Day 2012. I'm looking forward to catching up with a bunch of friends, chatting about painting toy soldiers, eating some steak, drinking a few beers, and throwing down in the Armies On Parade and Golden Demon competitions.

It has been a bit of a busy month since the AOP in-store qualifiers, but I did manage to get this guy finished. After the show, I'll go back and add a little more freehand work, but he'll do for now.

Here's the travel case, packed with most of my Procession of Morr, plus a few Golden Demon entries like my Thundertusk (on a new base).

And here's a teaser of the final unit I'll be adding to the Procession.

So, if you are going to be at Chicago Games Day, please stop by the Armies on Parade area and spend a bit of time checking out all the entries, giving the respect deserved to each army, then cast your vote for the army you think is best. Failing that, of course, you can just vote for mine ; )

I'm off on vacation immediately after Games Day, so I'll be relaxing by the pool or on the beach, and having fun teaching my daughter to swim : )

DON'T FORGET THE COMPETITION!

Keep an eye out for a blog post on Saturday about my celebratory Blog Competition. Not only did this blog pass the milestone of 1500 followers, but it also passed 1,000,000 page views too! (if only I had a dollar for each one of those!!!).

The competition will be a big one, with a relatively random chance for anyone to win the prize!

Cheers
Dave