Games Day Coverage! #2

I'll start the final Games Day coverage post with some extra pictures from the Monstrous Creature Converstion contest, simply because we all love big nasty things that go "RAAAAAWR". Right?

Squeekdor was a rat. He was a dragon-rat. Or maybe just a dragooon!

Parasite of Mortrex, I presume?

There. Now that they are out of the way.. Oh, I totally entered the Speed Demon painting competition and painted a Watermelon Space Marine. He was like.. green.. with green stripes.. and purple/red shoulder pads with black dots. But I forgot to take pictures and never picked him up. Good luck out there, Watermelon Marine. 

"orkz, orkz, Orkz, ORkz, ORKz, ORKZ, ORKZ!!!"

Another cool event that I got to participate in was the BIG GAME. You know, the one with the hundreds of Ork and Imperial Baneblades? Usually it's not my cup of tea, but me and three Games Workshop ex-employees decided to drive some of the Ork Skullhammers and unleash some dakka on da oomiez, if you know what I mean. (Huh?) Our plan was to simply focus fire on a different Baneblade each turn in order to systematically purge any Imperial presence in our sector, stating with the opponents who were an obvious nuisance and just needed to go away (okay.. not very proud of this, but war IS war..). Apparently the Orkz had one all of the previous games for the day, so the Imperials had to control every single objective in order to win. Well.. we made sure not to let them anywhere near them and despite various WAAAAAAGH-offs and tactical boons the Imperials failed and yours truly managed to snipe one of their Command Tanks. Gotta love Unlimited Range and True LoS in a game where no cover is allowed, lol.
 The highlight of the game, however, was this little kid. The lil fella was super excited and was giving orders left and right despite barely being able to reach the tanks on the table. He wanted us "big guys" to control the bigger tanks while he would take control of all of the little ones, so people would discard him as being an actual threat. Oh, he also insisted that I, as one of the taller people should have taken the tallest Skullhammer because I would have the best... wait for it... "trajectory".  Whatever that means, right? I just patted him on the head and assured him that us orkz don't need any trujekturiz.

Golden Demon
As always, Golden Demon made me jealous.. but oh well. I keep on telling myself that I'll practice my painting techniques more and just paint more in general but it never happens. Got a chance to talk to my buddy Tim Lison, who was one of the judges. Actually, I just got to say "Hi" because he was super busy.  The models this year was fantastic, but a lot of them were put behind very badly scratched plexiglass, which made pictures a pain in the butt. Here are some of the pictures I took:

Bjorn the Fe-oh, sweet, look at my sweet fingernails in the reflection!

Back as we promised, mortals!

Brother Al Gore of the Global Warming Marines..

Storm Warden Dreadknight!!!

 :P NSFW btw. 

Bill and Brian being all gentlemanly and charitable. :)

One of my favorite parts about the event was knowing that at least half of the Heroes of Armageddon table was going to be in good hands. That's right, ladies and gentlemen - Bill, a regular at the local Games Workshop Deer Grove decided to buy 2 out of 4 tables, snagging the Hive city portion, where his endless supply of Eldar vehicles can park and relax. Bill already has his own Apocalypse table with like.. over 9000 bastions, so Hive Hades is truly a nice addition to his terrain collection. Thank you for your donation, Bill, and the I think I speak for everyone from the HoA crew when I say that we all hope the tables see as many games as possible.

Conclusion.. 

Sweet Eldar titan table!

Games Day is really what you, as a gamer, make of it. As me and my friends were covering every part of the convention for the third year in a row we quickly realized that the times... they were not changing. At least not in a good way, anyway. Each year the convention space seems to be increasing as the actual event, freebies, exclusive goodies and other jibjabs are dwindling.  Notice that more than half of my Games Day coverage had to do with club events and not actually things ran by Games Workshop. Yes, there are a lot of cool things to see at Games Day. Don't get me wrong. There will always be cool fan-made conversions, initiatives and tables thanks to people like John and Mike from Santa Cruz, Brian, etc. There will always be new models and Golden Demon entries to stare in awe at. 

I guess what I'm trying to say here is we all need to realize the big part that clubs and fans of the hobby play at Games Day and try to be a part of the convention and not just idle bystanders.
Nowadays participation is so easy that we should all think about participating. It is not like you have to go out of your way to play your part - you already convert and paint miniatures on a daily basis. Just try to think ahead and think of how you could turn a local event into something bigger for Games Day.
Sure, walking the walk might be harder than just talking the talk. Yes, having to built, paint and transport armies and tables at the convention and setting up could be time-consuming and annoying... but in the end it will be worth it. You would then have played your part!
Do you HAVE to? Nope.. Just like you don't have to build your miniatures, prime them or paint them in order to play. We can all just play with empty bases. ;-D

Games Day really doesn't have any exclusive items to offer, besides a Games Day miniature, T-shirts and maybe a few early boxes to pick up. Don't spend all of your money at the convention for things that you can always buy from your local Games Workshop!!! Think of your local GW store or independent FLGS - their stores won't get credit for your purchases, especially if they are stores in the vicinity of Games Day. Local GW managers this year had to close their stores on a Saturday to help with the convention just to sell the same product to people. Their stores lost money and I bet corporate GW doesn't care and won't listen to any excuses. Don't hurt the stores that let you play on their tables..

Don't wait in line at Forge World for hours just to save a few bucks on shipping. Games Day is once a year, you can always order from their website. Some people I know spent 2 hours in line after driving to the convention from different states! Seriously..

It is sad to see so much of the flavor from Games Day gone. I keep on hearing about the glorious days.. I'm also pretty sure that Games Day 2009 in Chicago was the last Games Day to have the $5 grab OOP blisters. But hey.. now we have the Carnival of Chaos. You could win a pen with the words "WAAAAAAAAAGH!" on it....

I really didn't mean to sound negative, but it's important to call out Games Workshop on some of their bullshit from time to time.

It was fun nonetheless. See you next year!

Games Day Coverage! #1

With Games Day upon us, me and my buddy Vince quickly drove to the Donald E. Stephens Convention Center in Rosemont, IL. We got there are about 9:00 AM and were not surprised to see the waiting area filled with many, many gamers. Compared to Games Day Baltimore there were less unwashed gamers as well! Yay!

"Matt Ward Pride"

The Staff Registration went smoothly. I had to sign a piece of paper promising that I wasn't going to get drunk, etc. at the convention, which was fine by me. I also asked if the club members were supposed to get a T-Shirt and after asking around the lady at the counter gave me one of the Staff shirts which were just like the Games Day 2011 shirts, except a beige color. However as it turned out it was not meant to be. ;( As Joe also went to sign up for his badge he was told that we were not supposed to get any shirt. And I guess he then pointed at me... And then they took my shirt.
It would have been glorious..

There were also a bunch of people from the local Games Workshop store that were there an hour or so before the doors open. It's always nice to see some familiar faces in the crowd and I was pretty excited to see what they would think of the Heroes of Armageddon setup.

Unfortunately, as a Club member I had to leave them in line, for you see - I got to get in early. And for free! *evil laughter*

The Gang!

Inside, me and the HoA crew had like an hour to burn before the horde of gamers was allowed to pass. We spent that time mostly chatting with the vendors, other club members, etc. Me and Joe got to talk with one of the guys that made the Ultramarines movie and he told us that if they are looking to make a second movie and that many people want them to do one about the Space Wolves. However that would require a lot of money because of the effort required to animate so many braids and beards. The guy was really nice and gave us some free Ultramarines T-shirts as well.

And then... the gates opened.
Most of you already know what it is to be waiting for those doors to open while not being trampled by the fans who must reach the Forge World line. This year the fastest guy actually completely missed the line and sprinted past it - some GW employees were even waving their arms, signaling for the crazed fanatic to stop. Personally I didn't even bother..

Being on the other side, though.. It's different. It's refreshing.. relieving. But it also has that whole "Oh Shiiiiiit" vibe to it, maybe because gamers are just that crazy. Oh, and a feeling of pride, of course. The fact that you are contributing and somehow making Games Day a better game and a better day for everyone is exhilarating.

The only club (I assume) event that I participated in was Squighopper Races! Why? Because I had a chance to play it last year and the whole game is so much fun. It captures the spirit of goblins riding squigs and it plays like a game of Blood Bowl but with a bunch of extra cards that allow you to drop banana peels, poke people with a pointy stick, fart.. stuff like that.
Me, Joe and Fritz managed to get in the first round of Squighopper Races but failed to win one of the shiny trophy. There's always next Games Day..

The picture you see above is definitely what won the Vehicle Conversion Contest. It is simply mind-blowing when it comes to the attention to detail, all the rivets and wallets that died for this project. I really want to see this bad boy fully painted and on the tabletop. Imagine it tank-shocking a Reaver Titan.. Wowza! Orkz definitely have the upper hand when it comes to vehicle conversion contest simply because you can afford to be sloppy and very, very random.  

Speaking of random... O_o

The Predator Centipede?

The Monstrous Creature Conversion Contest also had some brilliant entries. With every new Warhammer Fantasy Battle army book we see more and more crazy big ass creatures and this is also reflected in this years conversions. There were a lot of models using Tomb King parts from the Necrosphinx. There are even more insane plastic and resin kits on the way as well, so expect to see some phantasmagorian convertions next year as people finally start to use the resin Finecast model range (Cockatrice, Black Dragon, etc.) and the myriad of other beasts (Ogre Kingdoms!) in their conversions. 


Heroes of Armageddon

WHO...IS...DEADLIEST?

People staring in awe at the Heroes of Armageddon table were definitely the highlight of the day for many of us. It was nice to see little kids commenting on the fluff and their excitement to see their favorite special characters on the table. Throughout the day I asked a lot of people which model they would like to be in the conflict for Hive Hades and many chose the Blood Angels snipers or some of the distant Heavy Weapon teams from the Steel Legion. Which was lame.
It's all about the orkz, bros. Why would you choose the Khorne-worshiping pretty boys in red or the oomies who would rather hide in their metal boxes and shoot you with flashlights rather than putting up a good fight? Pfffft. :P

It's all about Sizorfist, guys. Look at him.  

I bet there were at least a thousand pictures taken of the Heroes of Armageddon throughout the day. At one point I was explaining to this family all about the event, all about the fight and the factions involved. The family I was talking to just randomly decided to attend Games Day - without knowing anything about 40k, Games Workshop or tabletop strategy games!!! And at the same time they were ecstatic about everything - the models, the table, the charity itself. The children were asking who was going to win and the dad was having the time of his life taking pictures from every angle imaginable. It felt great. For a second I felt like a Games Workshop employee and I bet I could have sold them like 2 Assaults on Black Reach, teehee.

MiniWarGaming interviewed Dr. Jawaballs, Doctor of Love about the Heroes of Armageddon initiative and the charity aspect of the event. You can see the video below:

Here are some more pictures from HoA:

The Golgotha by Miniature Wargame Conversions

Wazzdakka Gutsmeck by John Shaffer

Ghazghkull Mag Uruk Thraka by Mathieu Fontaine

They call me...... Tim?

Another highlight of the day for me was finally meeting Tim from Miniature Tim. You guys know him. On his blog he had announced that he was going to Games Day and that he was also going to wear a white T-shirt with his blog's logo. God, it was so hard for me to locate him, but eventually I did and I definitely felt like a creep following him as he was having a phone conversation. Hey, I didn't want to miss him, it was find to find him as it was. Tim was a great guy and I guess I just knew that the blogosphere was losing an important member when he was on blogging hiatus. Glad you're still posting, man. Keep up the good work and good luck with next year's Golden Demon entry!

My only regret with the Heroes of Armageddon was that we never got to play with the models. It would have been such a bloody, fast-paced massacre! I know, I know.. They models were not ours anymore and ti would have been a clusterfuck and a half. But that's something to think of for next year. If there is a charity event in the making the models shouldn't just sit there, they should be played with. Oh, did I mention that HoA got Best Theme for Club Tables? Yarrrr...

Jawaballs also made us proud by winning the Banner Contest with his Armageddon banner. Second year in a row. Congrats, Jawaballs! I'm still determined to convince my store to gather some moneycashdollars so we can commission a banner! It's true that the competition this year was barely there. There were a ton of entries at Games Day Baltimore, but I guess people thought that bringing a painted piece of fabric to the Windy City was not the best idea, huh?
What are you going to surprise us with next year, Jawaballs?  You've set the bar so high.. Can you beat it?

Waaaaaaagh!!!!!

Mike Cho from MiCho Miniatures also got an award - A Silver Demon for his Bloodcrusher of Khorne in the 40k Large Monster category! Mike painted an Assault Squad and a Storm Raven (the one with the sweet angel wings on it!!!) for the Blood Angels army from Heroes of Armageddon. I'm certain that he could have easily gotten an award for his Storm Raven as well! Mike is a very nice guy and a skilled painter, so watch out for him, guys. Also watch out for his swords.. On the picture to the right Mike is screaming WAAAAAAAGH! as best as he can... I guess passed... for a goblin. No Lore of the Big Waaagh for you, Cho. You get the Little Waaaagh..

All of the awards together! Shiny!

Alright.. This post is gettin 'uge, so I'll have to stop writing for now!


To be Continued..

The day before Games Day: The Tale of the Tables for Heroes of Armageddon!

Phew! I survived yet another Games Day!
But before I start showing you shiny pictures of the event itself let me start with the day before Games Day in which yours truly overslept, the FOUR 3'x4' Heroes of Armageddon tables were finished and then transported to the Donald E. Stephens Convention Center in Rosemont, IL, the Heroes of Armageddon crew finally met in person and the miniatures finally got to see their enemies..

Heroes of Armageddon and Games Day!

Q: "Throne, Skarvald, where the heck have you been hiding, you thunderwolf-riding, troll-faced son of lasgun?"
A: Well, I promise you that I haven't been lazy. At all. Between me quitting my shitty job and finals just around the corner (tomorrow, actually) I still managed to keep myself busy with plastic and resin dudemen. The month of July has been.. and still is.. a whirlwind of projects. And I'm afraid that between juggling so many of 'em I still don't have anything to show you..

Games Day Chicago, 2011: This Saturday you can meet me at the convention center where I'll be pretty much the whole day. When I'm not all over the place I'll be at the Heroes of Armageddon table, so make sure you stop by and say Hi! Just ask the people at the event table (especially Brian) for "Vlad" or "Skavald the Troll-faced". You'll see a picture of me later in this article. I'm really looking forward to meeting some of you!

Heroes of Armageddon Tables: I'm proud to announce that besides donating I also managed to get involved with the building of the HoA tables by helping Brian. "Frozencore" Joe was there as well. All I can say is that Monday and Tuesday were FUN. Brian is a very creative man with great vision and not only does he have innovative and grand ideas but he also has the guts to attempt all of this AND be a father, husband and a teacher at the same time. Wow! Each day we spent under the scorching rays of the sun painting, washing, cutting, measuring.. you name it. While there are thousands of pages written on the battle for Armageddon there are not a whole lot of books detailing the construction of its hive cities and the masterminds behind them. It was Brian. Brian built Armageddon so that 12,000 points of beautifully painted models had something to fight for.... and something to grant them cover saves. With every task completed the table kept on evolving into something so much more! When we first started we thought that we would never finished this crazy project, but you'll be surprised what a bunch of dedicated hobbyists can do for the hobby when under pressure. AND it was for a good cause. There is, however, a lot of work left and Friday will be a day dedicated to perfecting the four Heroes of Armageddon tables with what little time we have left.

Left to right: "Frozencore" Joe; Skarvald the Troll-faced (me!)

Warmachine: In my last post about Warmachine I talked about the unveiling of the Khador box. Indeed, it has been an awesome adventure, ladies and gentlemen. My initial thoughts were to magnetize my plastic Warjacks but I really don't feel like drilling all the wholes in each individual arm. Besides, I think I know which Warcaster I'll be using, including my first few 'jacks.
My choice? Kommander Harkevich, the Iron Wolf. And a Black Ivan. And then a Behemoth.... Because blasting the enemies of the Motherland to smithereens before charging them with steam-powered gargantuan robots is awesome.
I know I said that I was going to stick with the Battlebox for a while.. but I lied.

"Frozencore" Joe has been teaching me how to play the game. He plays Circle Orboros and his Thunderwolf-wannabe puppies have been rending my Warjacks to death for a few games now.. But Joe is a great teacher, despite his generous use of the beat stick. So far it has been a blast and each game has been pretty close. There are a lot of things to learn and remember, but the turns are bloody and action-packed, which is my favorite part about Warmachine! I'll be covering some games and models later, though.