What a weekend it was! I have to say when I eventually got home last night at about 10pm I was a spent force. So let me give you a quick break down of the two days
So this is Brisbane’s biggest modelling event and is in its 17th year. As I mentioned in previous posts its mainly for military modellers as well as car, bike and boat scale enthusiasts too. However for the past 2 years the event has catered for wargamers as well. I entered models into three categories. 28mm single miniature, 28mm squad & 28mm vehicle/equipment.
I actually went on Friday night to drop my minis in as the option was to do it Friday night or Saturday morning from 9am til 11am. I was glad in the end that I took up the option to come in Friday night. Saturday would have been a seriously bad idea. I was amazed at how many people there were dropping miniatures in on the Friday night. It was mayhem. If you have a look at my Face Book page you’ll see dozens of photos of both events.
Seeing competent military modellers bring their A game is really inspiring to me. Their techniques and skill levels are so far ahead of most wargaming painters its always great to chat to them to learn new things. I saw some absolutely amazing models on the day. So Saturday was spent looking around at all the entries and speaking to various vendors and enthusiasts about modelling, which are my favourite things! I have even taken the plunge and brought a 1:35 scale military model to try my hand at. Its an Australian Army Bushmaster PMV. This kit has been long awaited by many Australian modellers and is Showcase Models first venture into plastic model kits and from all accounts its an amazing debut. The deal clincher for me was the two part step-by-step build featured in Australia’s only domestic modelling magazine Model Art Australia. The step-by-step build is thorough and very detailed. Enough so that I felt that I would be able to do this very detailed kit justice should I attempt it. So stay tuned for some pictures up in the near future.
So although I wasn’t able to be present for the awards giving ceremony I had my good friend and also long time miniature painter their to collect any awards I won. I ended up getting 4 awards. One Gold for my running Warhound Titan, a Silver for my Legion of the Damned Squad, Silver for my Iron Hands Librarian and lastly Best Paint Finish for my Warhound stomping on the Eldar Wraith Lord. This was the award I was most impressed with at getting. To put it into context, its a very big deal for military modellers to award such a coveted prize to a wargaming modeller. Its good in a way that perhaps the military modeller fraternity attitudes towards wargaming modellers is beginning to change somewhat.
The day ended with me showing my good friend Michael B, who has only just moved back to Brisbane after a few years overseas, some of my favourite modelling and hobby shops (again, some of my favourite things) Overall I really enjoyed attending QMHE (as always) and was glad that Michael encouraged me to enter a few models.
Next up is Games Day
Games Day
So this was the real big ticket item for me. I always like attending this event as for me seeing the Golden Daemon entries is the real reason I go. All the other ancillary activities are just bonuses. I entered models in two categories. 40k Monster (Chaos Renegade Ogryn Berserker) and my Carcharodons Armies on Parade board. I was very shocked at the calibre (and quantity) of entries for the Golden Daemon and AoP. Truly amazing and inspirational. There were even AoP boards that had been featured in White Dwarf and even the new 40k Rule Book! As you would expect both of these were stunners. However at the end of the day the I didn’t win any prizes at Games Day, which I would be lying if I said wasn’t disappointing. However the AoP winner was not only a good friend of mine’s but also a work colleague who’s “Dead Man Walking” board was sensational. Up until the event, I’d only seen photos of the board and unfortunately his photographic skills leave a lot to be desired. The board in person was really a sight to behold. The winner really was well chosen and a very deserving one at that. Congratulations again Eddie.
Another great experience I had at GD was sitting in on a Q&A session with Forge World’s Senior Designer Mark Bedford. This hour long session was very informative and gave me additional insight into the internal workings of this amazing off sprout of Games Workshop. Little detail was given about the soon to be released Horus Heresy series, but from what he did let on and judging by his body language (like a 6yr old boy on the night before XMas when he knows he’s going to be getting shit loads of presents) I could tell that HH is going to be a defining moment in 40k.
Ok, thats it for me, bit of a long post but I hope you’ve persevered with it.
I picked up the Games Day figurine (a great throw back from the 2nd Ed box cover art) which I plan on painting shortly and maybe entering in next years QMHE and an art book. The thing that really got me into 40k was the art and imagery that the talented artist that GW employ/freelance produce. So whenever I have the opportunity to get a new art book I will generally grab it.
I’m aiming to finish off the Landspeeder youtube tutorials this weekend, so expect some more posts on that shortly. I’ve had some really good feed back from that little experiment of mine, so thank you all that have watched it and offered me constructive feedback. I intend on doing some more, so if you have any ideas on topics you’d like covered flick me a message.
Thanks again
John
The Painting Bunkerc y 