Games Day review; Dark Eldar
Phew, what a day: yesterday was UK Games Day and the fact that so much was crammed into a single day was surely only possible by manipulation of the space-time continuum. There were dozens of participation games, a huge hobby area, stands featuring the latest Games Workshop related computer, board and roleplaying games, and of course the Studio were there showing off the High Elves and Dark Eldar (!). Black Library launched their new digital range, which included over 100 e-Books, and a monthly online magazine - 'Hammer and Bolter' that's set to be packed with short stories and interviews. There were also more Black Library authors in attendance than ever before and the welcome return of the Black Library seminars. The guys in Black Library asked if I'd give a quick shout out to the chap or chap-ess who picked up their Horus Heresy audiobook, can you please post it back or at the very least, write a review! Forge World unveiled 'Warhammer Forge', which will provide the same great support for Warhammer that Forge World does for Warhammer 40,000. The first of their pieces, a Chaos Ogre and a Nurgle Plague Toad complete with Daemonic Rider, were on show on the day but we'll have to wait until the New Year to learn more. And we were there with the first ever 'What's New Today' stand. Thanks to everyone who stopped by and chatted to us, we had a great time meeting you all and will do our best to follow up on all the great suggestions you gave us.
Perhaps the most exciting and hotly anticipated part of any Games Day is the Golden Demon painting competition. Darren Latham is a veteran Golden Demon judge and a member of the 'Eavy Metal team. Here's what he had to say about this year's event: 'The standard of painting goes up every year, and this year was no exception. The entries were amazing, world-class. And the Slayer Sword winner (the overall best entry) is the best I've ever seen. I never thought I'd be so shocked by an entry, it made me feel like a novice painter!' High praise indeed and thoroughly deserved. And here it is, Matt Parkes' Slayer Sword winning diorama.
Later this week, there will be an article focusing on the Golden Demon competition, which will have detailed pictures of all of the winning entries for all of the categories.
There were so many other cool things at Games Day there's no way I could show you them all, even as I type there are a team of photographers sorting through the thousands of pictures they took on the day. If I get a chance, I'll show you some of the images later in the week. For now, here are a couple of my favourite Games Day moments as snapped by Glen More.
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One of the most talked about attractions at this year's show were the life-sized Space Marine and Ork that THQ (the guys behind the Dawn of War computer gamer series) brought along. The Ultramarine was a sight to behold as he paced up and down brandishing his chainsword as his eyes shone red. I snuck backstage and took a shot of him out of his armour, so if you've ever wondered what a Space Marine looks like behind all that ceramite, click on the image.
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The Ork was astoundingly life-like, and had fully functional facial expressions thanks to some clever servo-motors. I reckoned the Ork was far less intimidating than the Space Marine and decided to show him just how tough us 'umies were. If you click on the image you'll see how well that particular venture of mine turned out - less 'Waaagh!' more 'Aaagh!'
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From one Waaagh! to another - this year there were more activities than ever at Games Day and thousands upon thousands of hobbyists took part in participation games, attended the hobby area and picked up the latest releases at the sales stands. The huge roar of the crowd, when the doors were first opened, was deafening and quite an event in itself!
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The Studio area was heaving all day and along with catching a glimpse of the forthcoming Dark Eldar (more on them in a bit), hobbyists could interact with the sculptors, artists and hobby masters such as Colin Grayson (on the left) and Mark Jones (on the right). Games Day is a great chance to get up close and personal with members of the Studio and learn some great hobby tips first hand.
So, the new Dark Eldar were unveiled at Games Day (you couldn't have penetrated the crowd around them with a volcano cannon!). Those of you registered for our newsletter will already have seen pictures of the models. If you're still in the dark (that's a terrible pun - Rob) about the Dark Eldar, then check out Incoming: Dark Eldar, which explains a little about their background, features images of the new miniatures and includes a teaser video.
Jes Goodwin, lead designer of the Dark Eldar, bravely manned the stand at Games Day and enjoyed talking about his latest creations so much that he's agreed to write about them, here on 'What's New Today', everyday this week. Starting today with the Kabalite Warriors; Over to Jes.
Jes: So, when you are tasked with redesigning a range from the ground up, where do you start? Warriors. The Kabalite Warriors form the core of a Dark Eldar army, and their design forms the core of the Dark Eldar look. We wanted the design to have a sleek Eldar feel, but with a crueller edge. All Eldar share a common cultural heritage but where the Craftworld Eldar have a clean, ascetic look, their dark brethren favour a more baroque version of the Eldar aesthetic.
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The initial sketch was a rough draft of the salient features of the armour design; segmented, barbed, a more 'serrated' silhouette that would contrast with the clean lines of Craftworld design, while retaining it's elegance.
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But a sketch is not a miniature. The prototypes were sculpted to see how the design elements would work on a figure that was 28mm tall. Sometimes you need to lose some details as they become too fiddly at that size, it is easy to put more detail on a drawing that is 4-5 times the size of a miniature.
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The prototype formed a basic guide for the 3:1 masters. The helmet was further refined [it had originally had a plate style crest on the front reminiscent of the Dark Elves, but that went quite early on] and variants on the torso armour and the helmet itself were planned. The Dark Eldar are much more individualistic than their Craftworld cousins, so they needed lots of variation.
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Most of the weapons share a common aesthetic with the Eldar weapons, even though the Dark Eldar would make them in a different way and with different materials. The weapon designs were first sketched, and then rendered on computer by Tom Walton and finally, rapid prototyped so they could be used on the 3:1 physical masters.
And the final frame? Well there are enough parts to make 10 Kabalite Warriors. There are 6 male and 4 female torsos, 10 helmets, 5 bare heads [male and female], all the weapon options you need, parts for a couple of different Sybarites and lots of extras. The frame is cross compatible with the Wyches, other frames in the Dark Eldar range and even some of the Eldar plastics, plenty of scope for conversion and personalisation, so that none of your squads need be the same.
Jes will be sharing more of the secrets behind the Dark Eldar every day this week. For now though, here's a look at some fully assembled and painted Kabalite Warriors.
