The Armies are on Parade
As some of you may recall I took a trip over to Amsterdam at the end of April to take pictures at their national painting competition - De Lage Landen Schilder Competitie. While I was there I also took pictures of several of the Armies on Parade entries, including Peter Zuitgeest's Ogre Kingdoms Army, which we showed on the blog the other week. The thing is, there were also several other really inspiring Armies on Parade, which I just had to get pictures of too (I was kept very busy that day). So, without further ado, here are some of the favourite entries as voted for by everyone that turned up on the day.
This superb Vampire Counts army was converted and painted by Chris Steenhuis. As you can see, pretty much every miniature in the army has been converted, from the Grave Guard based on the Greatswords kit, to the Crypt Ghouls converted from the Empire Flagellants. What really stands out on this display is the sheer amount of colour that Chris has put onto his models. Normally the Vampire Counts are quite dark and macabre, but the addition of the red and blue livery of Altdorf adds an unexpected burst of colour to the display and really draws the eye. I would give my left foot to own an army like this.
This Ultramarines display was made by Alex Dupont, who spent quite some time when he arrived at the store setting it all up (especially the Assault Marines flying above the army). The force is based around the 4th Company and their Captain, Uriel Ventris, who is the main character in the Ultramarines novels by Graham McNeill. We were especially impressed with Alex's vehicles, all of which had been painted on the inside as well as the outside. I would give my right foot to own an army like this (I'm going to run out of feet at this rate...)
Mark Romme was the man behind this Warriors of Chaos display which is, if you hadn't guessed already from the colour scheme, dedicated to the Blood God Khorne. The bulk of Mark's force is based around Warriors and Knights of Chaos marching forth to enact some form of despicable violence upon the enemy. He's also got plenty of other units to fight alongside them though, such as his brutally impressive Juggernauts of Khorne/Minotaur conversions, which Mark uses as Dragon Ogres in his battles.
And in other news:
As promised the other week, I have been working on my own Armies on Parade board in my spare time. Last year I arranged my Harad army on a Realm of Battle Gameboard tile, but because I was building a flat board inside a space-faring vessel this year, I decided to make my own base using MDF. I have quickly decided that this is much easier said than done, as bad weather (April was apparently the wettest month in the last 100 years), a temperamental jigsaw (not the 1000-piece kind, the choppy finger-ripping kind) and a blunt pencil made marking out and cutting the wood particularly difficult. Next year I will definitely return to using a Gameboard tile. However, what's done is done and my project is now underway. The board is marked, as you can see below, and the first Terminators are in the process of being painted. I even painted my commander's head, which was a nice respite from all the yellow.
Remember, if you're also working on an Armies on Parade display then why not send it in to us - we'd love to see what you're working on. Who knows, we might even show it off on the blog if it looks suitably awe-inspiring.
