Well, in a month, day for day, GD Chicago's Slayer Sword will have been awarded to someone, most likely Chris Borer if no one burn those damn shorts of his... So it also means that I have a month to actually paint entries... and so far I've planned 2... 2 big ones...

First and foremost I know I said I would paint the new mounted Deathkorp Comissar from FW but as I said in my classes at GD Toronto, painting figurine is all about getting inspired by a mini and attacking it and right now there is 2 other minis that are talking to me... a lot!!!

So the first project is a Chaplain Dreadnought from FW.

First, like any other FW mini in my hands, I had to take it apart!


As you can see, on this picture I had already reposition the legs in order to have different heights to the feet. Quite simple to do in fact. Get rid of the middle section, drill holes in the desired angle for the pose, and replace the initial parts with brass rods and voilà! You can also see the dismembered toes... I just got back from Transformers 2 and I wanted a kind of movement in it's pose so here we go!


Once again it is quite easy. Remove the middle part, pin the two parts together by making sure to leave enough space, in fact the lenght of the middle part you just removed, and then position as desired. It's like playing with those display manequins but with the toes of a dreadnought... might squeeze your fingers though!

Once reposition you simply have to resculpt the middle part:

The little details will be added once this initial coat of putty is cured! But for now there are some power cables missing on the legs of the dread so it needs fixing!


And no these are not guitar strings. They are in fact power cables sold by Dragonforge! They are made of pewters and therefore easy to cut. Furthermore they are not bouncy as those damn guitar strings. So you can give them the shape you need prior to assembling and they keep it instead of bouncing back straight in your face!

For 7$ you get 30 of these little buggers:

And by the way all my display bases in resin are also from Dragonforge!

So here we go fully assembled and now ready to paint!!!


And I said 2 entries right...? Well here is the second one! Big, mean and red fellow:


Please don't burn my place, please don't burn my place, please don't burn my place...

Well you have until June 27 at 11:59pm eastern time to pre-register for GENCON classes. After that you'll have to buy ticket at the event and hope there is still some places left

There is only 1 place left for the airbrushing class at noon on August 14. All other classes, except those allready fully booked have still quite a few places left.

Well I promised a resume of our trip to Toronto so here it is!!! Do not expect any pictures of winning entries though. Pictures being too dark or not sharp enough I'll rather wait for the official pics of the painters themselves on coolmini or the GW ones.

So friday! We all leave from Montreal 4 hours and a half later than the initial planning... Why? Simple, one of our guest from France missed its flight... yep... no more comments. So instead of leaving him in Montreal we all decided to wait and pick him up! So here we go to Toronto!


In the usual order: Vincent Olivier Ménard (VOM), Julien Casses, Denis Bouvet (Jeackel) and Samuel Josquin (Faisho)

The pilot Lionel and yours truly, the copilot (until mid trip after which I became the pilot and was renamed Scud missile...)

Oh... and here is the Team Montreal Mobile for the weekend!!! A KIA Sedona! Surprinsingly reliable on Toronto's highways!!!


Obviously, Montreal/Toronto is not a short ride and since highways are always a huge attraction and source of fun everyone is totally excited...


or have maybe spent way too much hours painting in the last few days...

The trip itself was uneventful. No traffic jam, one of the first time it ever happened, so we were able to make it to Toronto in a record time ensuring us more time for beer and food at our usual get together place for the GD! Montana's Cookhouse! And guess what??? They were waiting for us and here is the proof:


It's just sad that they forgot the "s" for Games Day... anyhow! The attention was nice!

Anyhow! Let's play a game! Where's Julien???


And no Lionel is not that tall...

So with our liver with a clear mandate to filter our blood, it was now time to go back to the hotel in order to have a few hours of sleep... In the meantime, Samuel, which we had left at the hotel to finish his entries actually went MIA... followed by DTC and finally a never seen before version of DTC to finally reappear totally exhausted but nowhere near ethylic fun as we were.

Whenever there is a GD, well there is obviously miniatures, and if there is miniature well we all need to check the competition from each other prior to the event. And where is the place in a hotel room for such delight? The bathroom obvisouly! Well afterall it is the room with the more light!!!


And no I am not standing on a stool...

So after a short night, punctuated by the frequent: "are you asleep? ... No...!" which later became "Are you asleep?.... Arrrgghh!" and an old asian lady that understood that would you please shut the f... up so we can sleep meant quiet and a breakfast on the floor, a new yorkish trend (and there is no dash between the two words so I am not referring to the city here...) it was time to leave for the GD... zzzzZZZZZZZZZzzzzzzzzzzZZZZZZZzzzZzZzZzz...!!!

The GD itself was pretty interesting. The new North American organization was pretty effective. The judging at the Golden Demon seemed pretty good, obivously there's always a few things on which you would have made different calls but eh! At least this year they had lights to judge the entries and they had a panel of judges arguing, not only one guy making the call with someone else only agreeing and for that thank you!

There was no Team Montreal Table this year. Yes we did it for the last two years and it was a great success but since last year in Chicago, things changed! GW now has the GOLDEN LOUNGE at every north american GD and that is great! So obviously some members of Team Montreal were eager to sit down and answer questions as well as giving seminars!

Faisho and I setting up under the jealous eye of VOM!

James giving his class:

My first class on weathering:

Note that this year Slayer Sword winner is sitting right in front of me and at that point I had honestly no idea who he was...

Obviously when you say Golden Demon Lounge you also mean other painters than Team Montreal so here is Zach Lanier who spent the ENTIRE day at the lounge, non-stop! For that congrats for your dedication!


Now the sad part... Every year at Toronto I am quite disappointed by the turnout at the prize ceremony... I know that it isn't the French of UK GD but still... This year was especially bad. With a delay in the announcement, the prize ceremony was pushed back a little, by that time every staff was actually more busy to pick up their gear than actually cheer for one of the main event of the show. We were maybe what... 40 at the most... WOW... I don't know but wouldn't people entering their piece in the competition be interested in seeing the winners instead of simply leaving??? It is sad to see winners claiming their prizes in front of a few people clapping hands... no decorum either from GW... no pictures of the winners so no need to stick around, get your prize and hop you go. Anyhow... I was hoping for a little better. Personally I have won my demons and I remember the feeling of picking my first ones to the sound of people cheering... It is sad that new comers this year didn't get that...

Now! The big surprise of the event... the slayer sword winner... A kid still in high school, which at this moment is taking time to study for his final exams. Never entered a GD before, only started to paint miniatures recently and BANG! 5 demons and the sword!!! So congrats to Arnold Kovacs. Yes there is certain flaws to his diorama but honestly the level of painting on the two miniatures was bluffing and surely enough to convince the judges!!!


And the only pictures of minis I'll post... remember they were taken in the display case!



And here are a few pictures of GD itself:


And once again where is Julien?

And no he is not kneeling down...

Oh... I forgot the most essential!!! This year Team Montreal's collection of trophies!!!


So now it is time for me to take some pictures of my own entries!!!