Armies on Parade – the final countdown
Only 13 more models to go. Only 13 more models to go. That's the mantra I keep repeating to myself as I edge highlight the armour on another Imperial Fist Terminator in my desperate attempt to get all the models finished for my Armies on Parade entry.
As with all projects that have a deadline, I start off very keen and eager, blitz through the construction stage, paint up the first few models very swiftly and then get distracted by something new and shiny (in this case a Nemesis Dreadknight, some Mordor Orcs, a trio of Eldar tanks and a few Beastmen). I then noticed that the Hobby Centre parade day in the UK is the 8th September, which is just over two weeks away. Looking over at the 13 half-finished Terminators on my desk and the almost-complete display board in the spare room, I realised that I would have to get painting a lot faster if I was to get them finished on time. Here's my progress so far:
The display board is now almost finished, and I am proud of how it has come out. The last time I showed it off the walls were in and the corridors built. Now it is almost completely painted - only the Tyranids, gore and a little weathering to go now.
You may also notice that an extra feature has been added - the stairwell in the middle of the board. Right from the start I wanted to add a flight of stairs disappearing into the depths of the spaceship, but when it came to building the board I really didn't know how to go about making it. One large drill bit and a jigsaw later and I had a large, almost rectangular hole in the middle of the board.
The star of the show when it came to building the board was, unexpectedly, the Modular Movement Tray set, which really helped when it came to tidying up the edges of the board. Initially I was unsure as to how I would cover up the sections of the board that I didn't want to be seen, but a couple of packs of Movement Trays quickly sorted that out. It was much quicker than cutting wood, I can tell you.
A few weeks ago I posted a question on Facebook asking hobbyists how they would make chunky gore. Some of the ideas were fairly sensible, some of them downright odd and one of them involved bacon (uh, yeah, never mix bacon and models...). In the end I settled with a mixture of Liquid Green Stuff and Modelling Sand, which gave me a textured, gravelly feel. Using an old brush I smeared the Liquid Green Stuff all over the dead Genestealers, up the walls and over the floor before dunking the still gloopy brush into the sand and mixing it in. There was certainly no neatness involved and the whole affair was extremely messy. But then chunky gore distributed by high explosive shells is not known for its neatness.
After undercoating the whole board with Chaos Black Spray, I basecoated the walls with Leadbelcher, which I blasted on using the Citadel Spray Gun. I then followed this up with an extremely watered-down layer of Skrag Brown to represent the build-up of rust. I'm currently debating whether to add a little Troll Slayer Orange on top to make the rust stand out a little more, though I think that may take some of the attention away from the bright yellow Space Marines.
Talking of bright yellow Space Marines, I now have five Terminators finished (though only three are actually yellow due to a tense moment last weekend when I realised I'd run out of Averland Sunset and would have to paint something other than yellow for a couple of days until I could get to Warhammer World and buy another pot). I have now finished the Captain, who goes by the name of Vicconius, the Chaplain, the Techmarine, Veteran Sergeant Sergio and Battle-Brother Akhad.
Incidentally, the colour of Sergio's power sword was also decided after I asked for your opinions on Facebook. There were a lot of votes for purple and red, but in the end I was swayed by a particularly perceptive comment about how power weapons are still made of metal and that they only glow due to the energy coursing through them. In the end I settled on painting the sword with Runefang Steel and then highlighting it by mixing in Ceramite White to give it a glowing corona around the edge. I then added in tiny arcs of energy using Lothern Blue before giving the whole sword a layer of 'Ardcoat to make it shiny. Thanks everyone for your suggestions.
The thing is, I'm not the only person with a deadline to meet. While I still have a couple of weeks to finish my display, in Australia and New Zealand their Hobby Centre parade day is this weekend - the 25th August. Over at Games Workshop Parramatta in New South Wales, a chap that goes by the name of Joe has been hard at work on his entry for this year's competition. You can see a work in progress shot of his board above, but check out the Parramatta Facebook page to see a few more shots of his hard work.
And, whilst looking through their Facebook page, I found another beautiful Armies on Parade entry that is being worked on at Games Workshop Wollongong by a chap called Tim. Make sure you head over there and check it out.
Good luck Joe, Tim and everyone else that's entering Armies on Parade this weekend in Australia and New Zealand. We look forward to seeing the final winner from Games Day Australia in a few weeks time.
Actually, on that note, there are still tickets available for Games Day Australia, which takes place at the Australian Technology Park in Redfern on 9th September. If you haven't got a ticket already then make sure you snap one up now while you've got the chance because once they're gone, they're gone.
