Oldhammer Weekend approaches!

Very soon (Oct 25-26), Dropzone Games will travel back in time to the late 1980s.

Oldhammer was founded by a handful of old grognards, bitten by the nostalgia bug (and possibly not too happy about the direction GW's flagship games were heading), and has become an international "wargaming movement", with hundreds, if not thousands, of hobbyists collecting old school Citadel and Marauder miniatures and playing games of 3rd Edition Warhammer and 1st Edition 40K (Rogue Trader). After a successful Oldhammer day held in the gaming space of The Foundry in Nottingham (owned by Bryan Ansell, former owner of Citadel Miniatures), the Oldhammer enthusiasts in the New World decided to put on a weekend of their own. Blake Shrode and Andrew Dyer are the guys behind this event (and the painting competition, which they have invited me to judge).

You can check out all the details about the event at Blake's blog HERE.

You can read about my involvement for the weekend HERE.

UPDATED: The basic rules for the painting comp can be found HERE (scroll down about halfway through the page).

If you live in the Mid-Atlantic area and have a passion for all things Oldhammer, I hope you can make it along. Please bring along some models for the painting competition too!

Cheers
Dave

The Old Line Massacre!

It's just a few short weeks until the Old Line Massacre, a Horus Heresy event held here in Baltimore!

My friends Ty, Marc, and Dan will be running this little shindig at Dropzone Games on the weekend of May 31 - June 1. I'll be attending and as I won't have 1,850 points of Death Guard ready to rock, I'll cobble together a Mechanicum list that will hopefully put up a bit of a fight.

Check out the the details HERE. : )

Cheers
Dave

Public Service Announcement #3

Man, are May and June busy months, or what?

First up, I need to remind everyone who can make it out, that the Dropzone Games One Year Birthday party is fast approaching! On the weekend of 7-9 June, Tom, Dan, Terry and the guys will be hosting another massive shindig at the best FLGS on the East Coast! Click on the link to find out more about the fun they have planned.

I wish I could be there, but work commitments are dragging me across the country to another big wargaming event - WarGames Con! This will be my third time attending this excellent event in Austin, TX, and run by none other than Jon Wolf!

Make sure you're at one event or the other (or that you at least get to do some painting that weekend), as I know I'll be having fun photographing toy soldiers for Wargames Illustrated! : )

Cheers
Dave

More Death Company and the Dropzone Grand Opening!

Two things quickly: the first are the next five Lamenters Death Company I'm working on. You can see them above. Still yet to finish the parchments, silver, checks, and black.

Then here are a few Panthers I'm working on for a small commission. I'll show you some WIP shots as I go along. Should be interesting working on some Late War schemes after last year's Early War Germans.

If you'd like to chat a bit more about painting Flames Of War tanks, come and hang out to the Dropzone Games Grand Opening tomorrow. I'll be leading a class on FOW Tank Painting from 3pm : )

Have fun!

Cheers
Dave

Dark and Angry!

There has been some more progress this week on my Lamenters/Badab War army. Namely wrapping up the test model for the Death Company (above) and starting on the next four models (below).

Originally I was reticent to include any Death Company or Sanguinary Guard in my army as I thought their primary colors were white and gold respectively. I wanted this army to be grim, dark, and full of anger. White just didn't speak to me. When I took another look at the Imperial Armour book I noticed that the Lamenters Death Company were actually black, I changed my mind very quickly.

One change I have made, however, to the scheme is to replace the red Xs of the typical BA Death Company with the bright yellow of the Lamenters, providing a stronger link back to the regular Chapter Marines.

These four are nearing completion. Just a bit of touch up, then highlighting the black. Once I've painted the next five Death Company bodies, I'll paint up the nine backpacks I need to finish off the entire squad.

Anyways, I hope you like how they're coming along.

Someone asked, in a recent post, if I have a list ready for the army. Well, I kind of do. Here goes:

HQ: Unsure at the moment

Elites: 

• Furioso Dreadnought with Blood Talons

Troops: 

• 10 Tactical Marines - Serg w/powerfist & plasma pistol, 1 w/plasma gun, 1 w/plasma cannon

• 10 Death Company - 1 w/powerfist, 2 x melta pistols

• 5 Assault Marines - Serg w/powerfist & plasma pistol, 1 x meltagun

• 5 Assault Marines - Serg w/powerfist, 1 x meltagun

Heavy Support:

• Storm Raven - unsure of final weapon configuration.

If you have any thoughts, feel free to leave them in the comments below, or let me know next week when you visit the Grand Opening Event for Dropzone Games. I'll be hanging out Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, so make sure you drop by!

On Display! sponsored by Dropzone Games

Last week I finally got all the "bitz" together for my Procession of Morr display Board. Thanks go heavily to Dropzone Games (who supplied the Realm of Battle board section, the Skullvane Manse, War Altar, and the Garden of Morr), my friend Dave (who provided another Garden of Morr), and my friend John (who hooked me up with the big-ass bell hanging from the Manse).

Thanks go to my wife too, who gave me some free time today so I could get a lot more work done. My daughters are wonderful and I love them both dearly, but they can (as any parent knows) be a bit of a handful at times.

I hope you enjoy the shots of the board. Priming starts tonight, and painting tomorrow.

At the top of this post I mentioned Dropzone Games. Dropzone is a brand-new store in the Baltimore area (well, in the Glen Burnie area) that is owned and run by three former GW employees with a drive and determination to see everything done right. Some of you may remember this post from September of 2010, in which I decried the fashion in which GW chose to close down the Baltimore Battle Bunker. Well, in a somewhat ironic turnaround the then-manager of the Bunker, Tom Gruhala, is now the manager of Dropzone Games which is, amusingly enough, located in the same building as the old Bunker. Pretty cool, huh?

Anyway, the guys are now open for business, and stock all manner of cool miniature gaming stuff. There are the standards you'd expect (Warhammer, 40K, Warmahordes, Flames Of War), but they are also carrying strong ranges of Mantic's Warpath and Kings of War, Dust Warfare, and the Bolt Action range from Warlord Games. Add to that a good selection of resin "after-market" parts from Scibor, Micro Arts, and Kromlech and you've got some great choice. Tom has also told me that with short shipping times from almost all of their suppliers, special orders placed before 3pm can be at the store within a day or two. Nice!

If you are in the MD/VA area, head on in and check them out, and keep your ears open for details of their big "Grand Opening" event in September. Here's a quick link to their website, and you can follow/like them on Twitter/Facebook too.

Cheers

Dave