Afternoon #warmongers and #warhammercommunity it was #ArmiesOnParade last month and I was busy celebratingLiam's 50th birthday so couldn't get to Warhammer Liverpool. However, Warhamer Wigan was hosting Parade Day the following week, so it would be rude not to attend? I had my 4 #BloodBowl teams, a scratchbuilt Megabowl 7's pitch and I'd even had time to add a little crowd backdrop, thanks to some fussy AI prompts.
Here's a video of the board, although you've seen it already you can see the backdrop a bit more.
So here are some of the other entries. This great Tyranid board, which understandably I love.
If I recall correctly I think this won the 40k category.
It's so annoying to see this miniature close-up as I want one, just can't justify getting one or the silly price-tag on it.
Screamer Killers do look cool
And I love the effect on the wings of this Tyranid Prime.
I think this Word Bearer's army won the overall prize.
It was really well don with lots of little details.
The lave weaponry was most effective.
Another Tyranid army, almost Behemoth but brighter.
And not just figures from Leviathan, we have a Tyrannofex too!
This was the only entry in the Young Bloods category, but well deserved.
A small diorama, but we love it regardless.
And another Chaos Space Marine army, which next to the Word Bearers made some interesting comparisons between the same figures used in each Parade.
And my Parade. I was the only Best of the Rest so inevitably got that certificate but it was just great to be instore on the day.
Interestingly the Wigan manager had been in charge of the Southport store before it closed.
I didn't recall her, but she did remember my Tyranid Parades.
We had some really good discussion about AoP and she was very much supportive of the event, even if it was a bit quiet on the day.
As an early Christmas present if anyone wants the backdrop you can have it. It's set up for an A4 sheet. You'll need to print 2 of these on sticky labels. Add all 4 bits and it should make a 2 foot strip. Repeat and you have a corner backdrop. I stuck them on 1cm up from the bottom of the board, so the pitch-side adverts pitch-side, not buried in the ground.
Lastly, some pics from the store displays. Worth noting this means in my decade of parades, I've paraded at Warhammer/GW stores in Southport, Manchester, Liverpool and now Wigan.
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!