Wednesday, August 12, 2009

Up next for bonkers projects...space cavalry

This past weekend I joined Dallas and Curt to roll down to the local GW store for an army show-off type competition. Conscript Dave V was also there, and we proudly showed off some of our stuff. I had my "retro" Imperial Guard, Dave had his Eldar, and Dallas pulled out the ol' Chaos Dwarfs for Fantasy!

While the competition nearly prompted me to start another rant about the proilferation of absurd army base trays and overly scenic bases that in fact detract materially from the game, gaming and the minitatures themselves (maybe we can have a seperate army base competition? Because that piece really has a lot to do with the gaming and the figures, as a temple would be dropped from orbit....deep breath...deep breath...nobody cares Greg), in fact the competition has inspired another potential bonkers project among the Fawcett Conscripts.

One of the entrants - and I regret not figuring out who it was - had put together a pretty neat Cadian army, using lots of bits, and unifying scenery on the bases that was not overpowering or absurd. And coolest of all, this person had bashed together some Cadian Rough-Rider cavalry. It was a pretty cool effort, I think. The Cav looked really neat, and has inspired some plotting by Dallas, (which is about all it takes to get me plotting). Assuming we can pull it off, watch this fall for a Space Cavalry battle!

As part of the project research, Dallas turned up this link - holy cow, that is pretty awesome. What says "40k" more than cavarly equipped with a flame thrower? I'll never manage something like that neat (consistent application of green stuff across like 20 mounted figures? Not my skill set by a long shot!!!), but I hope to come up with something cool, and I know Dallas will pull off something excellent.

As for the competition, well, somehow the Conscripts lost out on the schwag. But there was a lot of cool stuff on display - lots of great painters and creative people out there in Winnipeg for sure! One army had like 10 tanks, another had a great variety of musicians - even an organ player! And while elaborate army bases and overly detailed figure bases are not my cup of tea, the painting and modeling skill behind the winning 40k entry was tremendous.

Space Cavalry - bring it on!

7 comments:

Dallas said...

Good report, Greg!

I always like those "army show-offs" because they motivate me to finish long-abandoned projects... like the regiment of Black Orcs for my Chaos Dwarf army...

Cam said...

I can only hope that the "New Insane Project" tag gets more of a workout

MFraser said...

Someone will need to make a Future Nathan Bedford Forrest...minus the slavery of course. Should also make sure it's the confederate general version and not the grand wizard version. It would probably be in poor taste no matter what.

Greg B said...

Mike - Were you watching some special on the Civil War on the History Channel last night?

I think we are aiming more for a "WW1"-ish type spacified cavalry, with appropriate Nurgle-fication for Dallas' guys.

DaveV said...

Is it possible for me to upload photos to this thread? I have shots of most of the armies.

Mario's Ultramarines were most excellent. Lots of skillful conversions. If you look carefully many of the tactical marines were cut apart and modified to be actually aiming and firing their bolters.

BTW, my Swordwind came in second place behind his Ultramarines.

Greg B said...

Dave - you should be able to edit the post and add photos - if not, just do another post :)

MFraser said...

Forrest was a brilliant confederate cavalry commander who makes for some interesting reading. He had no formal military training, but seemed quite incapable of losing a battle. Also, he was a racist.