It’s Games Day Season!
Duck Season? Rabbit Season? No, it's Games Day Season!
For those of you new to our hobby, Games Day is easily the biggest, coolest and most exhilarating event in the Games Workshop calendar. As always we've been hard at work coming up with new attractions to each event and this year promises to be absolutely huge, with more games, more miniatures, and more hobby madness than ever before. The main reason that we're mentioning it now is that Games Day tickets are already on sale in Spain, the US, Italy, France and the UK (for White Dwarf subscribers). Simply head over to the ticket page on the website to order yours.
The first among many things to see on the day is the Golden Demon awards - the big daddy of Games Day. Every year several thousand people around the world enter the Golden Demon awards and with so many beautifully painted miniatures in one place, it is a veritable cornucopia of hobby excellence, and a great place to find inspiration for your own projects. Who knows, you might even enter the competition yourself and be deemed worthy of a Golden Demon Trophy (which can be seen below) for your hard work.
The Golden Demon stands proud, flanked by the Armies on Parade trophy and his step-brother, the Scrap Demon, who often makes an appearance at the conversion competition.
We've also got the new kid on the block turning up - Armies on Parade. Last year was the first time that every Games Day ran Armies on Parade and the level of competition was mind-blowing. If you haven't seen some of the entries from last year then make sure you check them out below. We have a feeling that Armies on Parade is going to keep growing year on year and judging by the 2011 entries, it won't be long before it rivals the Golden Demon awards in terms of scale. To find out more about Armies on Parade, check out this blog post. I'll also be starting my own project over the next few weeks, and showing off a few really inspirational displays that have been sent in to us, so make sure you stay tuned.
But Games Day isn't all about painting miniatures and entering competitions. Sure, that's a big part of it for many people, but there are so many other activities to join in with. Here are just a few of the events that we've featured at Games Day's in the past:
Participation games are a huge part of Games Day, and the opportunity for you to take part in some truly humongous battles. As you can see from the pictures above, some of them really are massive. All of these battlefields, and the miniatures on them, are built and painted by the staff in our Hobby Centres. Who knows, if you ask them nicely you might even get to help them paint some up for the event itself.
Another great reason to go to Games Day is the opportunity to meet the people that bring our hobby to life - the sculptors, painters, artists and writers. For many hobbyists, the opportunity to chat to the person that wrote your favourite Army Book, or sculpted your favourite miniature, is not to be missed.
And on the topic of chatting to people, both the Black Library and Forge World will also be at every Games Day. Not only is this a great opportunity to meet the authors, editors and designers, but it's also a fantastic chance to pick up a few of the latest releases and, if you're especially lucky, get your hands on some in advance (those cheeky chaps in Black Library often sneak a few special edition books onto their stalls just before the doors open).
There is, of course, so much more to Games Day, so make sure you check the community page to see what else you can get up to. Until then, here are the dates and locations for each country so you can put them in your diary.
Spain: Sunday 1st July in Barcelona
North America: Saturday 28th July in Chicago
Germany: Sunday 12th August in Cologne
Australia: Sunday 9th September in Sydney
UK: Sunday 23rd September in Birmingham
Italy: Sunday14th October in Modena
France: Sunday 28th October in Paris
