Armies On Parade: The In-store Edition

Well, as I announced, the North American Armies On Parade in-store event was yesterday, and  attended White Marsh, my closest GW store (and the store I've competed at the last two years). 

Above you can see my army on its display board, haloed by the searing sunlight just beyond the store doors. It's a tall display, which certainly drew quite a bit of attention ; ) With the height on the store tables it also elevated the bridge deck (and therefore the army) to roughly eye level for 95% of the attendees.

As with the previous events, I had only one competitor. This time it was Roz Mario (left) and his Orks. Here I am with Roz, our "medals" tucked inside GW lanyards ; )

Roz brought along a ramshackle horde of predominantly Ork vehicles (there were a couple of Big Meks and Grotz). He had certainly put a ton of work into some pretty cool conversions. His Stompa had no less than three Deffkoptas circling it, and one poor Grot had been given spotter duty at the top of the most rickety crow's nest you've ever seen.

Roz's Bomma included an homage to Star Wars, with on Orky R2 unit poking out behind the pilot.

 
Dredds, Kans, and buggies were the order of the day, however, and they all looked very Orky. I swear that had the buggies driven too fast, their (former) Land Speeder canopies would have been torn off!

During our pack up time, Roz asked if he could snap a shot of his Stompa marching across the bridge. I was only too happy to oblige, noting that it could have passed under the arch (as long as it didn't mind losing the lookout Grot! I also couldn't help snapping a photo of Roz snapping his shot.

So, there it was. a fun day to end a busy (and at times stressful) run at the 1st prize. Thankfully I made it on to the next stage - Games Day in Memphis in four weeks time. Now I just have to work out the best way to ship the display ; )

Cheers
Dave

Getting There...

I've been working pretty hard on completing my display board for the Armies on Parade event this weekend.

I invite you all to come along to Games Workshop White Marsh this Saturday, June 29, between 4pm and 5pm. Come along and vote for the best army on display.

Cheers
Dave

Wargames Illustrated presents the HISTORICON Painting Competition!

This is to tell/remind/point out to you that Wargames Illustrated (the wonderful magazine I work for) will be running the Painting Competition at HISTORICON 2013 (and into the future, should things go well).

That's right, Heather Blush and the wonderful team of the HMGS Hobby University have welcomed us on board to put some extra weight behind this potentially great event. We'll be taking entries at the Battlefront/Flames Of War booth in the dealer hall on the Saturday of the show (July 20), judging, awards, and collection of models will all be done on the same day.

There are quite a few formats for painting competitions out there, but we decided to stick with the simple "podium" format (three prizes per category - 1st, 2nd, and 3rd). Categories have been worked out with the help of the HMGS (Historical Miniatures Gaming Society) board to cover as many aspects of wargaming as we can (with an obviously historical bias).

Details for everything can be found HERE on our Wargames Illustrated site.

For prizes we'll be handing our custom-created medals we've had specially made for the event. As soon as I have one of the medals in my hand I'll make sure I post it for all to see.

In addition to these custom medals, we'll also be providing custom plaques for three additional prizes:

• Best of Show - the best painted entry into the competition will win this prize.
• Best of Theme - Each year Historicon has a particular theme (this year it's The American Civil War - 1863: The Year of Decision), and this prize will go to the entry that best exemplifies the theme.
• The Iron Cross - sponsored by Battlefront, this will go to the best Flames Of War entry at the competition.

I know many of you aren't likely to be at the show, but those of you who are I strongly urge you to bring along your best minis to put on display.

My goal for this first year is to get 120 entries over the 10 categories. Obviously this can only happen with your help : )

Cheers
Dave

Another teaser post

Just a quick post to show you there has been more progress on the display board for my Armies On Parade project. Here are a couple of lovely golden statues to stand atop the... ahem, never mind.

Please excuse the flash from my phone.

And here are the first eight Bridge Guard painted and standing on part of their... ahem, never mind. ; )

Cheers
Dave

Bridge Guard - Now with 5% more paint!

And by 5% more, I mean that I have one out of 20 painted.

This past weekend was a very busy one, with it being Father's Day here in the US (and other countries too I hear). My two lovely daughters and my wife took me strawberry picking for the day! We managed to pick almost 20 pounds of strawberries in about an hour and spent the rest of the time running around, playing on slides, and having a leisurely lunch. When the girls were napping I had a chance to work on my display board, getting some of the details in place, but I still have a TON (or TONNE depending on where you are) of work to go on it. Photos of the board will be revealed after the in-store Armies On Parade event.

Anyway, I finished up this guy late last night. I hope you like him : )

Here are the other 19, all on their "painting bases" ready for their primer coat. The greenstuff on their gauntlets is to correct my atrocious sculpting on their hands. Next time the hands will be better, I promise!

And as a little added extra, I've put a few different pieces of kit on their backs. Some are plain, some get grenades, some canteens, others pouches etc.

Anyway, I must get back to it!

Cheers
Dave