Happy New Year from DFG! 2012 in Review

Old School Terminator here to take a walk back through 2012 for the DFG crew, highlighting some of the things we did and where the blog has been in the past year. Of course, none of this would ever be possible without a lot of hard work and dedication from members of the team, so before we get started, I want to take a moment to thank my fellow authors here as well as non-author members of the DFG team for making this little blog what it is - Whether it is through direct contributions, advice, motivation or tournament judging, you guys have made running this blog a great time and have helped me through not only the daily grind of running it, but also have provided the motivation for a lot of projects.

I also want to thank the blogging community as a whole. You guys kick ass. We are only just getting into becoming a hub, but even before we started linking articles or building a network, there are tons of bloggers out there who have given us inspiration (HUGE AMOUNTS of it!) and have also encouraged us along the way. In the future, I will look to adding some of you to the role of authors here, if you would have it, since you have in a way been contributors here whether you know it or not.

Finally, I want to thank the FLGSs where we play as there really would be no reason for any of this without them. So a big shout out to the folks at Evolution Games, AFK, The Fortress, Dropzone Games, Games and Stuff, Titan, Game Links, Rules of Engagement, Hobby Chest and any other place where we have hung our hobby hat that I may not have named!

Before this gets too mushy, let's look at some of my favorite stuff from 2012:

 In January of 2012, I kicked things off by repainting my original Arachnirok Tervigon in the Hive Fleet Behemoth pattern (and also mentioned way too many times that it was the first Arachnarok Tervigon ever!).

I also birthed the majority of my Iron Warriors and (learned the hard way) that non-ATSKNF Marines should not CC with Space Wolves.

I also modelled up a ton of models to use as Chaos Daemons without ever using an actual Chaos Daemons model! These Bloodletter Beastmen were the first major part of that project!

CVinton wrapped up a huge portion of his 13th Company Space Wolves, including this huge wave of Grey Hunters. This army is amazing and really leaves an impression on anyone who has played against it.

Cvinto also got into casting bases. His first were these maggot bases he made for my Plague Bearers.

In February, I started my own Necron Project in earnest. starting with the destroyer lord and these tiny wraiths, which would later be replaced by the new bigger models!

... and we also learned that liquid green stuff does not work for molds!

Sammy dropped in and reminded us that winter belongs to the wolves with this kick ass las plas razorback conversion!

In March, CVinton swore his faith to the Mechanicum with blood and ink!

He also created some amazing wraith conversions with the best product of 2012, The Tentacle Maker from Green Stuff Industries!

Meanwhile, I was being very mature and making Canoptek Spyder conversions, who were ... making scarabs the old fashioned way.

and since not everyone has such productive spyders, I also dropped a guide on making press mold scarabs on the cheap using Milliput and Green Stuff! 

And finally, we rounded off March with a Pre-Depticon Tournament, featuring the Player's Choice army, Tau4Eva's awesome Blood Angels! Pre-Depticon was a lot of fun and was just one of many DFG tourneys we kicked in 2012!

In April of 2012, we took on Adepticon once again. This time, we took it on with a New logo crafted for us by the Eye of Error! This logo graced the face of all of our shirts for our annual Adepticon Drinking contest and netted over 400 drinks over the course of the con! 

Seriously, the contest could kill us this year if we do not make changes to it. Either some cactus wielding CSM like this guy above (me) will go too far or he will ingest so much cactus it will kill him!

Before Adeption, we hammered out the second annual Test of Khaine from Craftworld Lansing, which also featured one of the toughest games of 40k I have ever played!

CVinton banged out a nice light box tutorial ...

... and Adepticon granted us a dozen or so posts filled with amazing armies like this one above!

We also rounded out the end of the month with Wolfson's vengeful Avatar burning the subject of Wolfson's personal fury: power armor - in this case a poor Grey Hunter!

In May, Sammy opened up the second DFG Painting Challenege and rounded up some amazing paintjobs from our readers!

Which also forced CVinton to begin painting Pink Necrons!

and Wolfson to bust out a multitude of Dark Eldar!

and me to finish off my Death Wing army.

Mordian7th also began to be a fixture around our little corner of the blogosphere with projects like these World Eater Dreadclaws.

June was huge as it gave us 6th edition 40k! Everyone was buzzing around the tables trying to grasp it, while the internet came to life with equal measures of haters and fan boys all standing on soap boxes! It was madness and we had a lot of fun riding the current with all of you!

June also marked the opening of Dropzone Games, which is what I would call the Mecca of tabletop Wargaming! We lost our mind here and continue to frequent this place whenever we are in the area!

Lord Solar Steve began to gather a flock to his personal cult of the lascannon, a cult built upon the principle of bringing as many lascannons as possible to the fight. He is still quoted muttering "I have 26 lascannons, what say you?"

I went nuts in June, painting Tyranids ...

 ... sculpting Grotesques for Wolfson ...

 ... and beginning the journey of the Yellow Necrons with the same model that began it all when I started converting, the Destroyer Lord.

While I was just starting, CVinton had to tap into his Meth lab and conjure up a Pink Miracle in the form of an entire necron force!

and Lead Legion hit us with some amazing Storm Troopers. Yes, June was a big month!

July was pretty crazy as the Painting Challenge was running out of control and other projects were coming together and all the while 6th Edition was tearing up the tables. CVinton and I gave birth to the idea of Technicolor Crons as an Adepticon team during July and in the heat of that moment combined our forces for a little photography!

A blast from the past came back for a serious treat when the guys at Team Snake Eyes sent us some pics of the painted Command Land Raider CVinton made during his Land Raider sculpting series! This model finally got the incredible paintjob it deserved!

I continued to turn out twisted conversions for Wolfson's Dark Eldar!

The real big deal in July was the Painting Challenge which got a little "heavy" with Mordian7th's titan,

Lead Legion's incredible Guard 

and General Chaos's Looted wagon!

Finally, sixth brought with it massive changes for many of our armies. In turn, Seerk talked about changes to Eldar while Solar Steve and I chopped it up over Imperial Guard and Dark Angels!

August was a time for changes here as I moved from Michigan to North Carolina. Not only that, but the heavy hitting end of our blog (being Wolfson, Cvinton and I) all began to play DUST Warfare! Which spawned some great projects like my Mickey.

and CVinton's Zombies!

Sammy impressed us all with a sweet camo Tau suit!

And Lord Steve dropped a reminder on us to play 6th edition by the rules and to stop trying to make it into 5.5, which I wish I could run an article about once a week as I still run into Allies hate and people who won't play certain rules the way they were meant for this edition!

In September, CVinton taught us how to recover models that had been fuzzed by bad primer.

Dropzone games held an official Grand Opening with  tons of guests like Andy Chambers and Mike Lee, along with tournaments in various game systems and a painting contest judged by some of the best painters in war gaming!

Wolfson introduced us to the SSU of DUST Warfare.

 and I continued the "monolithic" task of finishing the Yellow Necrons!

In October, we  welcomed KrautScientist to DFG and his first post was a huge hit, featuring a cast of villians from the World Eaters Legion!

Mini Tim also joined the DFG ranks and covered Feast of Blades!

The big deal in October was our month long celebration on Hell O' Ween, however, where we looked at how to paint corrupted flesh,

 , build mechandrites for Warpsmiths,

built custom Nurgle Heldrakes!

You helped me win a ton of free Chaos stuff from Spiky bits with my Nurgle Vindicator!

I also started our Building a Better series, which is geared toward building better better models with third party parts and alternatives from within the GW line as well. The series hit Khorne Berzerkers, Iron Warriors and more and is still going strong!

Speaking of winning, Cvinton managed to win Craftworld Lansing's first annual Craftworld Open with barge-heavy Necrons!

... and I also managed to win a touney with barge crons. The technicolor revolution had officially began!

In November, I started making more Chaos conversions, starting with this Heldrake!

I also put the finishing touches on modelling the Helworm!

CVinton crafted a wolfy Rune Priest for the 13th Company.

Wolfson cranked out massive amounts of Dark Eldar Hull Points!

And Lord Solar Steve talked about allies for Guard, generating one of the largest discussions in DFG history.

Finally, in December,  CVinton saved us a ton of money by finding an amazing solution to having too much stuff and too few battlefoam bags.

KrautScientist gave us the gift of incredible INQ28 models!

Wolfson won a Dropzone Games painting competition that forced him to paint in the dark!

and CVinton came back to the Guard with a new twist on the old Vendetta.

Overall, this is only the tip of the Iceberg on an incredible year in DFG history. As we move forward, we have started a DFG Facebook group for our readers to talk to us and a new link hub (which I will update on the 2nd) and of course we will continue the features you love like it came from the forums, building a better and much more!

Thanks again for making this such a great year for us. We wish you the best and please be safe while partying tonight! Here is to another fantastic year!