Last week on Wednesday, I was putting some finishing touches on a Crisis Battlesuit that I was going to include in my army for the Battle at Blob's Park when I realized that I had given my old display away to a friend. Throwing down with a Tau Army at a big tournament like I was you've got have reasonable expectations. I had no delusions about winning Best General or Best Overall. My only chance at winning was Best Painted. There were over 45 players in the 40k tournament and I knew that guys would be bringing some real competition to best painted as well. But I had no display board. There is no way you can win Best Painted without a display board. Thursday morning I went out and got myself a cork bulletin board. By Friday night, I had a finished display board that you can see below. (the army pictured here is not what I took to the tournament of course, just a few models I set up.
The idea behind this board originally was to create something akin to the set of District 9. I wanted a shanty town set up by the Tau to house a subjugated horde of rebel humans. I wanted shacks and graffitti. I wanted dirt and grime. I wanted atmosphere. While I wanted all that, I didn't have the time. Instead what I created was a desert outpost, overrun with Tau. It looked great even though I didn't create what I had set out to. Did it win me Best Painted?
YES!
So in celebration, here are some pictures my wife did of my army. The focus is a little weird, she got a little artistic with it I think.
"How do your weapons work?"
"Don't make me keel dat fockin' prawn!"
18 comments:
Congrats on the win :D
Your army looks fab, and that is a great idea for a dislay board. Good use of the AT-43 bits.
Congrats.
It looked awesome.
Get well soon OSH!
Nice board OSH and congrats on the win.
What happened to the Imperial graffiti we talked about though? Or the melted human standing under OSH's feet? I guess time caught up wiht you on getting this board done.
I love that movie as well. I'm so glad they didn't try to make a famous actor fake a South African accent. I still cringe at Jude Law being the 'Russian' sniper Vasieley Zietzev in Enemy at the Gates.
Awesome board and beautiful army! (am I allowed to say 'beautiful' and still keep my armies?)
What I want to know is did you have to do anything to the cork board itself before you based it, or did you go straight to town on it?
Congratulations! It's a well-earned Best Painted award.
Well earned award certainly. I just finished my display board for my tau army for a tournament this weekend. I made it more of a tau colony theme, but I like the theme you have on your's.
Congrats mate great looking display board nice capturing of the movie's atmosphere. off course we demand a full army shot now ;)
wow its amazing .. i love the scenery ! :D
and the minis are incredible i really like it ..
the fw crisis :D OH YEA!!!!!!
Bah, your army is really ugly... nah, just kidding, indeed, your blog was one of my main inspirations while painting my tau (although the color scheme isn´t nearly similar :D )
Oh, and congratulations for the well deserved prize, of course.
District 9 was so awesome, way more so than Avatar.
Congratulations on your best painted army!! The district 9 idea was a really good one.
I am curious as well, about whether you had to prep the cork before you applied the sand and granulated stone to it. I imagine not, but I'm still curious. Also, did you have to come up with any kind of structure to strengthen the board to keep it from flexing?
It looks superb for something you whipped out over night.. did that sound wrong?
Cork really works well for boards like this. It accepts wood-glue very well and doesn't warp. I've never had any trouble with that and this is my second board made from a cork bulletin board. It simply does flex. what a wonderous material.
You just go straight to town on it!
Nice job on the board! I like the repainted AT-43 terrain elements!
I'm pretty sure that calling District 9 more awesome than Avatar is a crime is 39 states...
Very nicely painted Army, it's actually encouraged me to get my Tau out of their hidey hole and play some games with them rather than my Space Puppies.
NB your wife has taken some great shots using a narrow depth of field to isolate particular mini's - she obviously knows what she's doing with a camera.
Tom
Awesome job mate. I just found your blog and just LOVE the Narn-Tau look. I have never ever thought of it. Throw some District 9 into the mix and it is just pure WIN!
Well done mate.
Your colour scheme is really nice; I've looked around on your blog but I can't find it anywhere. What colour did you use for the khaki? Thanks!
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