Dawn of the Nova

It is 10pm on Tuesday night. In just over a day and a half, Myself, Fritz, Smurf and his nephew will be packing ourselves into the Smurf-Mobile for our trek to the Earthquake rattled DC area.  Not since Bolscon have I so anticipated a 40k event.

Maybe that is because this is the kickoff to the fall 40k GT circuit.  Maybe it is because I will be seeing so many guys I have come to call friends.  Maybe it is because over the last 6 weeks I have logged no less than 240 hours painting my army and am eager to have it finally on display.  Much to the chagrin of my occupational therapist. A few weeks ago she asked me if I could just not paint for a while... Hah.  :)

Here is my finished Sanguinor.

Well almost, I still have to add flocking to his base.

Why so much time? I guess Fritz put it best the other day.  Fame is fleeting. Memories are fickle.  If you don't represent yourself hard and often, then you fade away!  The last couple years I have been concentrating on my list building and playing. Sure I have won a lot of games, but my painting has taken a slight hit.  It is good enough to still compete for honors, or at least be noticed, but recently my armies have been flat. Good. But not good enough.  I decided to change that for this Nova.  

Updated Mephiston! New base, new highlights, new sword, fixed damage.

First, I decided on a list full of models I love.  I decided to make list strength a secondary factor to beautiful models.  

Then I painted up 32 new infantry to a very high degree.  20 assault marines, 10 scouts, 2 priests with JP, and the Sanguinor.  Then I touched up the few existing models I was going to play. My 5 termies, chaplain, meph and another priest.  

Part of the process, for EVERY model in my army, was to do a new base.  I hand built, painted and flocked each base in the army. Jawa resin bases are nice, but they are a convenient short cut.  For this army I wanted every base to tell a story, and I wanted every base to appear as if it was the actual terrain of my display board.  I explored the use of materials I have never tried before, like static grass and long field grass.  I also broke into color schemes that are new to me.  For my painting, I tried a risky new style. I don't know how it will do with the judges, but it definitely leaves an impression.

I built a new display board, and am right now prepping a new soundtrack for my embedded epic music!

All this for The Nova.  Mike Brandt has planned a truly epic event.  The man deserves credit.  I have never planned an event of my own, but I have spoken pretty closely with Ed Miller and Ultrabob from Battle For Salvation, Tony Spino of Mechanicon, Aaron from The Conflict GT, and Mike Clark from Showcase Comics and Games and The Valentines Day Massacre. After quite a few beers shared with the crew, I feel that I have at least a decent understanding of what they do.  It is nothing less than monumental. My hats off to Mike Brandt. Let me be the first (at least on my blog) to thank you Mike for doing this.  

I also want to throw out a shout to Battlefoam. I don't think Romeo got enough praise for what he provided for the Heroes of Armageddon project. He truly does give when it comes to these events and Battlefoam will be in full force at The Nova. While I love my current bag, it just wont do for all of these new and unique models. As a show of thanks for what he did for our charity project, I will be stopping in to see him and putting in an order for a new custom bag for this army!  Win or Lose this army will be staying together and as is.  Battlefoam will be it's transport.

Ok time to get to work again.  I have to add squad markings, and finish the bases, and the army is done.  Then I need to finish the display and have a scotch.  

Oh that reminds me! Tomorrow I have to make a stop at the package store for a bottle of 12 year old single malt.  It will not be the Nova without Whiskey! 

Oh I forgot to mention I will be playing Man Boy Genius, Rob Baer for the whiskey challenge!  I was supposed to get my hands on Brent, but work said no way for him.  So Rob is the next chump...er champ in line.  I owe him a couple punches in the face for the beatings he has given me in the past, but we have not matched up since the old days of the PDF, and I was still playing a Whirlwind.  Oh yes... it will be a different game MBG.  Muahaha.

Jawaballs