Team Montreal at GD Toronto 2009!!!

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!!!