Do Not Miss: August 2015

August usually is a month of relaxation and little activity in the miniature world. But even so, many have dedicated time to their favourite time spender!

Miniatures

• German Waffen SS Ardennes 1944 by Antonio Peña: A ver nice bust of a German Soldier by Antonio Peña.


• Orc Bust by Antonio Peña: A few minor tweaks and this orc bust is now unique. I love conversions!


• Dwarf by Antonio Peña: Seems like Antonio updated his blog this month. This one is also remarkable! A nice Dwarf from The Hobbit movie.


• Krekkek by Roberto Chaudon: This one could be a nice ride for some cool Dark Elf or Chaos lord or something like that, don't you think?


• US paratrooper 1944 1\10 by Kirill Kanaev: Boxart by Kirill for Young Miniatures, once again, an incredible paintjob by the russian master.


• Ragnok, Norse Orc Hero version by Roman Lappat: The latest sculpture by Raffaele painted beautifully by Roman Lappat.


• Sg. Connor 2.0 by Javier González Arsies: Javi paints this miniature again, and this time he makes a very interesting modification.


• War is Over by Nelya Vitvitska: The classic photograph turned into miniature beautifully by Nelya.


• Barin by Enrique Velasco: Finished version of Barin by emuse. He is nailing the underground ambience!


• The Big Bomba by Raul Garcia Latorre painted by Marc Masclans: Finally the Black Sailors series unveils this largley awaited kit beautifully painted by Marc Masclans.


• Tears in Africa by Annie Huang: Miniatures like this are going to be more a more common in our little hobby world. Strong and artistic message of this wonderful piece.

Articles and Tutorials

• Vallejo Painting Sets review by Arbal: Review of some Vallejo painting sets by Arbal in his blog Coloured Dust.


• Pinning a bust to a plinth in Massive Voodoo: The not so obvious explanation about pinning a bust to a wooden base.


• Project Nurgle part 18 by David Soper: More on David's Gutrot Spume project. Its turning out beautifully!


• Behind the Design by Gautier Giraud: From beginning to end, see how Gautier tackles the creation of a miniature. Very instructive!

Something I don't quite get from Warhammer lately

The more I think about it, the less I get it.

You must have already read tons of stuff about this of course, but I also wanted to give you my opinion on what is happening around tabletop wargames and in particular about the death of Warhammer Fantasy Battles and the birth of Warhammer Age of Sigmar.

Basically Warhammer Fantasy as a miniature game has been selling very badly for years and years, and Games Workshop had to do something about it. Finally, instead of releasing 9th edition, they decided to make huge changes to their lore, progress the background of the game and tell the story of a classic cataclysm so that they can redo the world and create a new game quite different to what WHB was before. Well, I can't deny that it's a way of dealing with the problem. Personally, you may like it more or less, but at least Games Workshop is not resting on its laurels and decided to do something about it. Quite radical, it seems.

So up to here everything makes sense to me.

And then this happens, and I get lost completely. At the same time Games Workshop is releasing Age of Sigmar, we are all teased by the soon to be released videogame Total War: Warhammer.

In this game we can control first hand and live the visual nerdgasm that is a Warhammer battle. It's a mine for any fantasy modelling fan, especially if you like Warhammer (hey! that would be me!). But... didn't we just destroy the old Warhammer world? What's the point in releasing such a spectacular game using the Old World as background when you just destroyed it?

When I see these Total War: Warhammer videos I feel a massive urge to go buy boxes and boxes of the old Warhammer and prepare dioramas, conversions, cool ideas for Golden Demon... it's a nerd dream come true! An infinity of visual material to indulge yourself. I can't stop watching these videos!

But wait! Hold your horses! Games Workshop is no longer selling Warhammer Fantasy Battles!

I must be stupid because I don't get anything.

Golden Demon Tanks 2015

Golden Demon Tanks (Tanks!) took place on Saturday and it seemed like it was a very small event, probably the smallest 'GD' event that I remember.

Photo by Conrad Mynett

From what we were told, about 40 odd people attended the event paying for the ticket, and about 20 entries in total were competing in the few categories that this small GD was offering.

Check out photos of all tanks participating in this album, by Conrad Mynett.

Photo by Conrad Mynett

Richard Gray, winner of Slayersword UK 2014, also won the best of show, with his Deathguard Fellblade. Congratulations again Richard!

Photo by Conrad Mynett

Apparently, apart from being single themed, the event had the usual Golden Demon statues and even the overall winner of this single themed GD was also awarded a Slayersword. I am certainly not a big fan of this policy, to me this is devaluating (even more) the grand prize, the Slayersword. Obviously, you already know what I think about this idea of chopping their GD into pieces, and judging by the attendance, it seems like most traditional GD participants agree with me.

Anyway, this type of event is going to continue, as there is going to be yet another small GD at Warhammer World in October, especifically 18-19, and it is going to be themed around Warhammer 40k. I don't foresee a larger number of participants this time either. I was even advised by some participants of GD Tanks to make sure I don't attend any single themed GD like this one because it is so not worth it (traveling from Madrid just for that? No tanks! I mean, no thanks!).

Photo by Conrad Mynett

My prediction for the future is that there is going to be a classic Golden Demon event next year, probably in the Spring. I believe this situation of mini-GDs is just an experiment of GW (probably a failure) and also responds to their transition from Warhammer Fantasy to Age of Sigmar, so that next year, when everything is much more settled, we will see a new Golden Demon format arising (basically switching Fantasy for Age of Sigmar and killing any Lord of the Rings/Hobbit category when they stop selling those products).

All of those who still love Golden Demon... don't give up hope just yet!