Warhammer Fest and Golden Demon Classic 2018

I had a brilliant day on Sunday! In fact I can safely say this has been my favorite Warhammer Fest to date. As usual the day sped by in no time at all. But I managed to catch up with, and chat to a whole ton of great folk, and see some fantastic painted minis! I spent so much time talking I had a sore throat by the end of the day and had to partake of a little gin purely for medicinal, and celebratory, purposes.

Chatting to Slayer Sword Winner Angelo Di Chello about, among other things, Horticulus Slimux.

Of course the main focus of my day was the Golden Demon Classic but I very nearly didn’t enter it this year! I like to have a bit of structure to my painting year. I can, and very often do, change my plans; but, overall, I’ve a good idea of the projects I’ll be undertaking. However, my painting schedule got away from me last summer and I never really got back on top of it. Put simply I took on too many projects that I hadn’t planned for.

I did harbour the notion of painting a single mini for Golden Demon once Salute was done. But when that time came I realized that I needed to focus my energies elsewhere. Instead of painting another competition entry I turned my attention to my, rapidly approaching, contrast workshop at Element Games. I wanted to familiarize myself with the Poxwalker miniatures as this will be the first time that I use them in one of my workshops.

As I said back in early March ‘I’m going with the flow and enjoying my painting for it's own sake!’ and the Poxwalker proved to be a thoroughly enjoyable little project. I was turning him around in a short time but without deadline pressures or competition expectations. I was able to explore a colour combination/contrast that I’ve been thinking about for the best part of a year and the yellow/purple scheme took me out of my Nurgle colour comfort zone to good effect!

My poxwalker in gloriously grusome closeup!

As Warhammer Fest drew closer I began to regret that I didn’t have an entry for the painting comp. I was looking forward to the day but I also felt like I’d be missing out on the experience by not taking part. The soloution may seem very obvious but I couldn’t realy see it myself! I’ve a habit of being very focused in my thinking and I saw the Poxwalker as a demo model for my workshop. Even though he was finished, and I was extremely pleased with how he had turned out, I didn’t think he was a suitable mini for Golden Demon!

It took my mate Lee to point out the folly in my thinking so on the Thursday before Warhammer Fest I decided to enter my Poxwalker into 40K single mini. I instantly felt better about going but within ten minutes the pre show nerves kicked in, so then it really felt like Golden Demon!

I was hopeful rather than confident that my Poxwalker might do well, but I felt I was pushing my luck with such a ‘simple’ model. The temptation with Golden Demon is to go all out with the fancy basing, conversions and paint effects. I didn’t think that was wise, or appropriate, with this model and I was relying on the quality of my painting to get me through. But when all is said and done that’s really what it’s all supposed to be about.

Posing with my trophy for GW's photographer (it's a glamorous life) while Judge Max Faleij looks on.

My hopes were not to be dashed because the Poxwalker won Silver in a tough category, and I’m more than happy about it! Though physically tired I’m feeling inspired, refreshed and re-enthused for the painting year ahead! All in all the day has served me a valuable reminder that ‘success’ in my chosen hobby isn’t only about golden trophies and Slayer Swords.

There is a lot to be said for just doing your best and taking part!