#ArmiesOnParade2023 - A Decade of Parade

Afternoon #warmongers and #warhammercommunity it's #ArmiesOnParade and after enjoying the 2022 Parade in store at my nearest Warhammer in Liverpool, I was desperate to get in there again this year. This time I was going to parade my 4 'new' #BloodBowl teams on a scratchbuilt Megabowl 7's pitch and I've been working on it, adding to my teams all year. I managed to secure a bronze pin for completing the first quarters' challenge but the silver and gold eluded me because the tasks are set up for 40k and AoS, rather than the Best of the Rest category. And, some of these figures had been painted in previous years, just never had a chance to parade so they weren't completed within this time frame.

 Anyway, it is all moot. After preparing everything, Parade Day in Liverpool coincides with Liam's 50th birthday! Now I love AoP, but I love my hobby crew even more and the promise of a weekend gaming with these guys is a much better proposition. And, thanks to COVID there are still entries online and although I have no chance of winning I'm still taking part virtually.

And that means this will be my 10th year of taking part - a decade of parade and although I would love to be there in person I've entered in absentia and online previously. I have my bronze pin for the year, so I'll take that as my participation badge. And, I can share on social media, so I'll still feel part of it at the very least.

Anyway, the Parade. As mentioned it's my 4 teams and these have all been shown before but never altogether and I went to great effort to get decent lighting - 3 daylight bulbs, a ring light and 2 other room lights, so at least the colours are decent on the Porkbelly Stuffers

Sadly the Rotspawn is just a little out of focus here, but the rest of Anaplastic PXA look pretty cool.

And my old skool 2nd edition team colours of the Middenheim Marauders.

The Orcs were loosely based [just with a lot more rust] on Robin Cruddace's 'Da Badland All Blacks' and as I still have zero ideas for my own novelty name I may as well acknowledge the inspiration and henceforth they will be Da Badland All Blacks.

I mean that's an unholy mess right there for a match start. Of course I've put a full team in each quarter, when in fact there should only be 7 players a-side for 7's but it was the rule of cool on showing off the entire team.

I'd still love to parade instore with this, but the Manchester Parade day is the day after Liverpool's and Liam's 50th is a weekend of gaming at Otty's. I may have another chance with Warhammer Wigan, if they have a parade it might be on the 25th [the day of the online winners stream]. We'll see...

Whether this gets held over to next year I don't know, unlikely as I think it might be my Tyranids [again] but this time featuring as much of the Leviathan additions as I can. Although I suspect the Leviathan category may be lost for 2024 it still feels like the best plan.

Thanks to the 3 Kurnoth Hunter Treemen and 2 star players the substitutes corner is pretty cramped. But they added to the team, which otherwise would have been just the basic squad, with no heavy hitters. Now, it's got the best line-up, though I still suspect they'd get squished.

I do fancy a Rumbelow Sheepskin to complete the team but I'm not that precious to drop £23, despite that being £2 cheaper than a plastic Techpriest Manipulus, which I also fancy for some reason.

I rotated the board round to see it from every angle.

The Nurgle team. I added the additional infected rotter, from a Poxwalker for the Parade. 

I do think at some point I may buy a Lord of Plagues to convert to go with the team. It's an iconic figure, so much so I think everyone should paint one and for £12, maybe as a star player - a Bilerot Vomitflesh proxy perhaps [not a huge fan of the sculpt], it's decent value [again, see the Manipulus].

But more players for teams I don't play with seems a nonsense at this point.

I've had visions of a Karla Von Kill conversion from a Necromunda Escher gang member for years.

Haven't done it, so perhaps I can resist the temptation to adding to these teams.

But the fun is in the painting, as variety from nids and Dark Angels. Of course they're all done now so it's either dig out some of my old skool 2nd edition teams, or there's that Warhammer Underworlds Vampire warband to take forward.

Da Badland All Blacks [getting used to the name]. 

These were the main thing I painted for AoP2024, the whole team and two star players.

I had looked at doing a backdrop, but I no longer have access to a large printer.

Additionally, I felt it obscured other folks boards last time, little knowing that wouldn't be an issue. 

I could have painted one from scratch, straight onto a piece of board, but I did not have something 2' wide. 

I suppose I could have bought some more MDF, but I just didn't think it was warranted. 

If I ever think to parade it in person I may go to the effort to do a single sided backdrop, but for now I'm happy with it.

Worth noting the 2 balls in the centre of the board.

And the Dwarven referee - short-sighted and deaf - the best ref!

That's mostly it, just 4 three-quarter diagonal shots to get a feel for the board, enjoy!

And, because I can, I'm gong to give myself a Bloody Great Big Bloody Stamp of Bloody Approval!