This years best painted winner went to Marcus Baxley. His Ork army was an obvious labor of love (as most ork armies are!). The competition was thick at the GT for best painted and it was a hard choice to make but this army definitely deserves its crown. Hopefully these pictures will show you why!
First, l,ike all ork armies, it must have attitude. and this one did. Love this little bad-ass grot. He's the Mech's bouncer!
The IG component of the army was made most of what seemed like goblins. All very stylistic and very well painted.
Astropath checking out the stars, lookin' for da Astrono'dikon.
I'm pretty sure he had a quadgun with the line, but my dream was that this little bag of cute was the com's relay.
More attitude! Grot + Squig = awesome!
The defense line is just packed with little details. Everyone else just seemed to have the defense line and treat it like a burden to paint and crank it out asap. Marcus Spent seemed to have spent as much time making this part of his army as other piece their.
Every weapon team was unique. I asked him about the goblins and each one required green stuff work to make the model come out like it did. So much effort! It really pays off in the end.
Runt herder. Plus mohawk squig. (what ork army is complete without that?!)
Every single loot had cinematic on their guns. I usually don't go in for that, but on an ork army...I can dig it! I bet they never stop shooting their guys until the nob comes by and knocks them out.
Awesome hand painted objective markers.
Super sweet Fighta conversion from a storm talon. I love that he squeezed an order in there flying it.
Another fighta. Seems bashed with another model plane. These things ended up having huge wing spans. Love the work here!
The following armies were our runner ups. Very nice work on these. The tau had the love but needed work on blending with that brown. The tau skin was awesome as well and really caught the eye. Great color contrast too!
I didn't get a shot of them, but the kroot needed a little work too. They look like they might have been a last minute add. Otherwise, I have no complaints about this army. Very nice work.
This Dark Eldar army was also a tough contender. Very smooth colors that also had great contrast. The airbrush work was done well, but the brush work lacked. Most troops looked one color then wash with no blending. Over all a very eye catching army that does stand up well and made for a hard choice between these three.
The baron was a great conversion. Made from a dark elf model, he had a very sinister 'ruler of the spires' look to him.
It was unfortunate that Craig count make the second day when we did prizes. His army would have won best xeno's. It ended up going to Jeff's Tau. In my opinion, I could have flipped a coin between the two for that prize. Very tough competition.
Awesome armies! Thanks for sharing. I believe that Baron (who is awesome) is actually from a Wood Elf model.
ReplyDeleteYeah, it is from a limited edition Fantasy model and it is awesome. When that DE army is finished, it will blow minds! I love the Tau, but for the selfish reason that it is the same scheme as my Yellow Crons, only Blue and it is such a solid technique.
DeleteThe orks, however are an amazing army and I am glad you looked close enough to catch it. Often times dark armies are glazed over because at 24" they are not as impressive as bright ones, so the real details (seen at 12") are never caught by the casual observer, which also means that army-wide conversions (especially subtle ones) are also never looked at. I am glad your talented eye pickedx this army out, Chris, because the artist certainly deserves the credit.
There is so much personality on the table in that one army that I could spend all day looking at those models!
When I saw them I know they were an army paint scheme after your own heart.
DeleteYeah, I like those Dark Eldar a lot! Some great looking armies all around.
ReplyDeleteThe dark eldar were a great looking army. One of the most eye-catching I have seen in a long time. Marcus had more and better conversions no doubt about it but the dark eldar army was my player's choice by a mile. I didn't have any problems with the brush work.
ReplyDeleteTau just don't cut it for me. that Tau army was nice (as were many of the others) but there is something about the army as a whole that prevent them from really standing out IMO. I suspect it is the static nature of the models (minus the riptide). Case in point if you look at the first picture of the skyray in the back you can see a couple of eldar jetbikes, Same scheme and look much better, and we all know how much the eldar need new jetbikes. That being said I actually like the Tau models.
Those are just great looking.
ReplyDelete