Awards Ceremony

This is something I don't believe I have ever done, and it seemed like the right time to do it before I lost track of more of them!  I attempted to track down as many of the awards as possible that I have come my way over the years... Best Painted Armies, Adepticon Awards, Crystal Brushes, Golden Demons, Reapercon Awards, etc.

This is certainly not all of them, because they are probably buried or hidden somewhere behind terrain or miniatures!

As some of you probably know already, Army Painting is by far my favorite thing.  I really love coming up with color schemes, stories for the armies, making conversions and scratch builds, etc.

These plaques go back to the heyday of army painting, when I was making 40K armies, Fantasy armies, and Lord of the Rings armies.

While the most recent was the Operation Sting Fallschirmjager army on the Monte Cassino display board, it all began with the Lizardman army:  https://wappellious.blogspot.com/2015/03/an-old-favorite-returns.html

I still remember the very first Adepticon we attended back in 2007.  I taught a number of classes, and it is also where I saw wonderfully painted armies and amazing display boards for the first time.  That had a dramatic effect on me, and I set out to do so myself.  I made a 40K Demonhunters army that played many games, along with my Dark Elves and Sisters of Battle.  All of those are on the blog:

https://wappellious.blogspot.com/2014/04/the-results-are-in.html

The medallions that you see came from the old Adepticon Rogue Demon painting contest.  We participated in that every year until it was ended in favor of the Crystal Brush.  I think I have 11 Crystal Brushes, but this is all I could fit in the picture.  My Tomb Kings won a number of those awards:

https://wappellious.blogspot.com/2015/01/dare-to-enter-tomb-city-of-pseusennes.html

The large trophy that you see here is still my favorite one of all.  This was the award for the United States Armies on Parade, which was won by the Lizardmen.  Hence the "Babo's Trophy" sign.  This was where I first learned to create a display board around the army, to create unique bases, and even to scratch sculpt what I wanted!

I created a number of those scratch sculpts, like these Engines of the Gods:

https://wappellious.blogspot.com/2012/11/revving-those-engines-side-by-side-racin.html

My Lord of the Rings armies for Bilbo's Bash were a pleasure to create, and to play in that amazing tournament.  You can also see the brand new Operation Sting award, which is bookend fashion was put on by the same good folks who used to do Bilbo's bash!

Here's a peek at that army:

https://wappellious.blogspot.com/2012/11/the-battle-of-fortress-falls-minis-on.html

I also won some Best Painted at various Blood Bowl Tournaments... most notably with the Mimes of Moria!

https://wappellious.blogspot.com/2012/11/the-mimes-of-moria-what-they-didnt-show.html

While they were still held here in the U.S., Cathy and I did the Games Day routine each year.  That meant the Golden Demons, and the Art Contest.  I would enter in stuff from my armies at the start of the day in the Demons, and then head off to the art area.  That is where I created this portrait of Stikki Wikkit, and even the sketch that started off my Tomb Kings army.

Ironically, the last trophies that I won was for Mage Priest Babo, the main character in my Lizardman army!

https://wappellious.blogspot.com/2012/07/games-day-comes-to-end-but-does-story.html

I also remember getting the Gold for my 40k Grey Knights Terminator squad that first year.  Eventually they stopped holding the event.

Here's the last sketch that I did during that final Games Day:

https://wappellious.blogspot.com/2016/12/from-sketch-to-sculpt-and-beyond.html

Suckin' it on the battlefield, kickin' in the display case!

Here's a look at a few of my Crystal Brush winners.  As you can see, this year it was three silvers and a bronze.  That makes twelve overall for me.

I took bronze in the Fantasy unit. 

I ended up using my Tomb King horseman until,  since there is still a ten miniature limit. 

That does eliminate a lot of units for me.  You don't simply 'pick out' ten from a unit designed to be double or triple that. 

Now for some close ups.

You can see much more of these guys in the Tomb King section! 

One last view.

And for the silver in the monster category. 

The king's Warsphinx!

It was very satisfying to have two more units from the army win awards!  That makes four total.

I also won a silver for Dark age, and another for Rivet Wars.    Many thanks to Elizabeth,  Curtis,  Jen and Jonathan for all their hard work! 

Looking into the Crystal Brush

Ah, the question... to enter, or not to enter.  I had decided long before Adepticon that I would not be able to enter figures into the Crystal Brush with all the emphasis on the armies, terrain, and a million other things.  There was no way that I could even ponder doing something specifically for it.

I had also assumed that the days of taking figures out of your army and entering them in the competition had passed by as well.  Fortunately for me, I had so many people attempt to dissuade me from that supposition.

While the folks from CMON let me grab a Dark Age figure I recently painted for them, I chose a few items from my tournament armies.  Five categories in all.

As you can see by the picture below, there are five shiny things. 

While my Dark Age figure won a Silver in its category, one of the Dark Eldar Venoms won a Bronze in the vehicle category.

I couldn't finagle the fancier Archon venom, since it was in another box in another hotel. :-)

In the Sci-fi Squad category, I entered a handful of the Reaver jetbikes.

I tried to pick a variety of bikes with different bases, riders and numbers of wings.

They managed to win a bronze Crystal Brush.  Wow!

On the fantasy side of things, I entered the Necroshpinx, which was not included in the tournament list.  Since my rounds in the tournament were ending nice and early, there was time for me to put all these items in the competition.

I was pleasantly surprised once again to learn that it had won a Silver Brush!!!

And finally, there was one more entry.  Try as I might, I could not squeeze in my beloved Ushabti bowmen into the list.  I thought I would give them the weekend off from guarding the Temple complex of Psusenes and hang out at the Crystal Brush.

The color on the tip of the brush is gold, which rounded out the awards.

When I was told that the awards ceremony had been bumped up to a time right in the middle of the last game of the WFB tournament, I was not so concerned, as I truly assumed that there would be no need for me to be there.

Then I was called up once, and again, and again... craziness!

So to everyone who would not rest until I entered figures, my thanks go out to you.  It is really gratifying that army entries can still make a go of it!

And to all those who voted for these entries, many thanks.