GD UK
- Thread starter 7ommy
- Start date
Well since this was my 10th Gamesday I want to share some of my opinions on it.
Firstly regarding the venue;
It is larger in comparison to the NIA and this was aptly demonstrated as soon as we entered the site. The Hobby and Development area was laid out with ample space.
The Golden Deamon area had more space around them but this didn\'t allow for easier viewing. This wasn\'t the fault of the arrangers, but unfortunatley due to the people pressing faces to the glass figurativley speaking, some of whom were highly inconsiderate of anyone else trying to look at the mini\'s. Especially of any kids.
So consequently I didn\'t get to see as much of them as I would have liked.
What I did get to see was an increase in the number of Youngblood entries.
In the afternoon the Brilliant sunlight (yes Sun in September in the UK) did make things difficult around that area, but hey No venue unless purpose built is going to be perfect.
The use of an area for gaming was a good idea, but in retrospect too many tables were packed into it.
GW had a one marked failure in that they didn\'t put up decent signage to where the sales & Forgeworld stands were located.
The Forgeworld stand was once again a failure by it\'s own sucess. It seems that they learned the lesson of last year, by locating the painted version displays to one site of their area but failed to take into account the demand for purchases on the sales staff. At one point there was six deep waiting to purchase and at least twelve staff trying to serve.
(War Griffon was cunning as he managed to just grab a copy of the Catalogue supplement and when someone shouted \"Who\'s next?\". Yelled pretty loudly from the back \"I\'ll have one of these!\" and pointed to the picture in catalogue in his hand. Instant service !)
However the main failure was by the NEC itself when the CMON group congregated (Someone said there was 30 of us) at Noon, sandwiches had already run out in the self service area. The Catering infrastructure for the event in general was dire, but a little cheaper than the NIA\'s high pricing for drinks.
Recommendation for next year:- Take your own food & drink!
Firstly regarding the venue;
It is larger in comparison to the NIA and this was aptly demonstrated as soon as we entered the site. The Hobby and Development area was laid out with ample space.
The Golden Deamon area had more space around them but this didn\'t allow for easier viewing. This wasn\'t the fault of the arrangers, but unfortunatley due to the people pressing faces to the glass figurativley speaking, some of whom were highly inconsiderate of anyone else trying to look at the mini\'s. Especially of any kids.
So consequently I didn\'t get to see as much of them as I would have liked.
What I did get to see was an increase in the number of Youngblood entries.
In the afternoon the Brilliant sunlight (yes Sun in September in the UK) did make things difficult around that area, but hey No venue unless purpose built is going to be perfect.
The use of an area for gaming was a good idea, but in retrospect too many tables were packed into it.
GW had a one marked failure in that they didn\'t put up decent signage to where the sales & Forgeworld stands were located.
The Forgeworld stand was once again a failure by it\'s own sucess. It seems that they learned the lesson of last year, by locating the painted version displays to one site of their area but failed to take into account the demand for purchases on the sales staff. At one point there was six deep waiting to purchase and at least twelve staff trying to serve.
(War Griffon was cunning as he managed to just grab a copy of the Catalogue supplement and when someone shouted \"Who\'s next?\". Yelled pretty loudly from the back \"I\'ll have one of these!\" and pointed to the picture in catalogue in his hand. Instant service !)
However the main failure was by the NEC itself when the CMON group congregated (Someone said there was 30 of us) at Noon, sandwiches had already run out in the self service area. The Catering infrastructure for the event in general was dire, but a little cheaper than the NIA\'s high pricing for drinks.
Recommendation for next year:- Take your own food & drink!
@Medved - I saw your Arwen on the screens too, the face was absolutely brilliant, you really made the model look like Liv Tyler
@Mike - The Forgeworld stands were marked in the programme, but the design stand was a bit too close to the sales stand, made it all rather chaotic. As for bringing in your own food and drinks, I was on a GW coach, and we were all told when we got off that the NEC had said we were not allowed to brings in bottles and cans due to security reasons
What is that all about ???
I manged to get four models into the final:
LotR Celeborn - bit of a mistake doing that model, seemed like it was an extremely popular choice.
Broodlord for 40k Monster
Dryad vs Beastman for Duel
Teutogen Guard for Warhammer Regiment
My aim for this year was to get some models into the finals that weren\'t placed right down the bottom of the finalists cabinet (I think this is the way they grade the finalists), and I managed to acheive that so I\'m happy
Can\'t wait to see some of the winner\'s pics, I gave up on trying to see the models in the cabinets, but I did see a few amazing ones on the screens
@Mike - The Forgeworld stands were marked in the programme, but the design stand was a bit too close to the sales stand, made it all rather chaotic. As for bringing in your own food and drinks, I was on a GW coach, and we were all told when we got off that the NEC had said we were not allowed to brings in bottles and cans due to security reasons
What is that all about ???I manged to get four models into the final:
LotR Celeborn - bit of a mistake doing that model, seemed like it was an extremely popular choice.
Broodlord for 40k Monster
Dryad vs Beastman for Duel
Teutogen Guard for Warhammer Regiment
My aim for this year was to get some models into the finals that weren\'t placed right down the bottom of the finalists cabinet (I think this is the way they grade the finalists), and I managed to acheive that so I\'m happy
Can\'t wait to see some of the winner\'s pics, I gave up on trying to see the models in the cabinets, but I did see a few amazing ones on the screens
I was a picker for the Golden Daemon photography team and had to spend my day browsing the entries, selecting the best, then sticking them on the spinning pedestals ready to be photographed. It’s safe to say I had a pretty good day!
It was great seeing the miniatures up close - getting a chance to see the massive range of styles and techniques going on. I was also rather happy that I didn’t drop, chip or break anything at all. The mixture of adrenaline and fear when I picked up Kirill Kanaeu’s Eldar Titan and it wobbled all over the place as I carried it cannot be described!
I thought that Duel was the toughest to call a winner for. It had 9 or so very strong entries (KingM\'s being one of them) and was a toughie. 40k Monster was by far the weakest category.
Matt Parkes’ entry was a weird one. It arrived after the closing time, stank of varnish, but was let in anyway. The real surprise was that it was rather a disappointment. After all the bigging up of it I was expecting a masterpiece, but it didn’t do that much for me.
It was great seeing the miniatures up close - getting a chance to see the massive range of styles and techniques going on. I was also rather happy that I didn’t drop, chip or break anything at all. The mixture of adrenaline and fear when I picked up Kirill Kanaeu’s Eldar Titan and it wobbled all over the place as I carried it cannot be described!
I thought that Duel was the toughest to call a winner for. It had 9 or so very strong entries (KingM\'s being one of them) and was a toughie. 40k Monster was by far the weakest category.
Matt Parkes’ entry was a weird one. It arrived after the closing time, stank of varnish, but was let in anyway. The real surprise was that it was rather a disappointment. After all the bigging up of it I was expecting a masterpiece, but it didn’t do that much for me.
darkartminiatures
New member
Oh man. How i wished i was there Next year for me. Congrats everyone and I\'ll look forward to seeing your stuff in white dwarf
Next year for me. Congrats everyone and I\'ll look forward to seeing your stuff in white dwarf 
SJB
New member
Well, I\'ve awoken from my first sleep of the weekend. Pleased with gold in fantasy monster as my Ogre was a whole lot of work.
Competition was tough this year. The impression I got was that there were less great entries this year but the ones that were great were of an extremely high standard.
Glad I didn\'t enter the Open but I probably would have given the nod to Martin\'s Elf over Mike\'s Empire dude. Close decision though and all the top three were stunning pieces.
Obviously congratulations are in order to Kiril for winning the sword. Unfortunately I didn\'t get to see his entry so look forward to pics.
Nice to meet with everyone again. Always cool to catch up, even briefly. I missed most of the meetup as Jakob was told, if he left the arena, they wouldn\'t let him back in (his stub had gone missing) so we went for a natter on the stands (after twenty minutes in line waiting for a baked potato).
Not sure if anyone has mentioned yet, but congratulations also to BanJo who picked up the silver in Youngbloods. Another entry I haven\'t seen yet. Hopefully GW will post pics soon.
Now, I\'m off to edit the pics of my Ogre to upload. My other entries will turn up soon but I haven\'t photographed them yet.
Steve B
Competition was tough this year. The impression I got was that there were less great entries this year but the ones that were great were of an extremely high standard.
Glad I didn\'t enter the Open but I probably would have given the nod to Martin\'s Elf over Mike\'s Empire dude. Close decision though and all the top three were stunning pieces.
Obviously congratulations are in order to Kiril for winning the sword. Unfortunately I didn\'t get to see his entry so look forward to pics.
Nice to meet with everyone again. Always cool to catch up, even briefly. I missed most of the meetup as Jakob was told, if he left the arena, they wouldn\'t let him back in (his stub had gone missing) so we went for a natter on the stands (after twenty minutes in line waiting for a baked potato).
Not sure if anyone has mentioned yet, but congratulations also to BanJo who picked up the silver in Youngbloods. Another entry I haven\'t seen yet. Hopefully GW will post pics soon.
Now, I\'m off to edit the pics of my Ogre to upload. My other entries will turn up soon but I haven\'t photographed them yet.
Steve B
I\'ve uploaded some pictures from the event; Steve, I hope you won\'t be mad at me uploading the picture of your winning miniature earlier than you . If you want me to take it off the web, just let me know.
I\'ve got lots more pictures, I guess I will upload them online a bit later.
So, once again, meeting you all, guys, was really great!
. If you want me to take it off the web, just let me know.I\'ve got lots more pictures, I guess I will upload them online a bit later.
So, once again, meeting you all, guys, was really great!
yes, congrats to everyone, it was a grand day! although, next year, we\'ll just be meeting in the hotel where only a few of us managed to get to. Prices were a bit high, but a lot better than the foodcourt chaos. I got first cut in the 40k sdinlge category, but didn;t place, and I wasn\'t expecting to. I didn\'t get my diorama finished in time, and unlike Matt, Decided to just leave it at home and finish it properly. wish I started earlier in the year now...heh. On the upside, i had a top day, and almost lost my vioce talking to everyone(must have spoken to 50 people I think, including my ex for almost 40 minutes....heh...argh!), and I will be going to the Barcalone Games Day to enter my diorama and warhammer monster, IF there are still tickets left.(I\'m planning to fly in, go to the event, and fly back to London on the same day, not as expensive as one might think!)
War Griffon
New member
Start saving for the hotel prices now but yes a much better than the food kiosk lines
War Griffon
New member
Sorry for the double post...
Anybody knw why the Fanatic Morning Star was not awarded or did I miss that one???
I saw the Forge World prize winner but nothing on the Fanatic one?
Anybody knw why the Fanatic Morning Star was not awarded or did I miss that one???
I saw the Forge World prize winner but nothing on the Fanatic one?
War Griffon
New member
Well I have just been told by an official source that the Fanatic prize was pulled several months ago!!!????
It souldn\'t make a difference if there wasn\'t enough entries for the pprize I would have thought that one would have been enough?????
As for those being good enough to be awarded that type of prize if they were not good enough how come they made it into the finalists???
It souldn\'t make a difference if there wasn\'t enough entries for the pprize I would have thought that one would have been enough?????
As for those being good enough to be awarded that type of prize if they were not good enough how come they made it into the finalists???
D
Durham_red
Guest
Glad I finally got to meet some of you, (I would have like to have met you all) Sorry for not remembering names but I\'m usless when it comes to that.
I only got about 30 mins for lunch so most of that was spent in a que for lunch before you all dissapeared outside.
I had a remarkably good day for a change, I got asked alot of good questions about painting and I\'m happy that I was able to help most of them.
Were hopeing that we can get a specific set of Tables next year so that the whole Eavy Metal team can go. We would hopefully have it advertised as \'Eavy Metal painting clinic or something similar, instead of the couple of us stuck on the \"army building stand\" in the furthest, darkest, corner of the hall. Which should make us easier to track down and grill with questions about NMM
I only got about 30 mins for lunch so most of that was spent in a que for lunch before you all dissapeared outside.
I had a remarkably good day for a change, I got asked alot of good questions about painting and I\'m happy that I was able to help most of them.
Were hopeing that we can get a specific set of Tables next year so that the whole Eavy Metal team can go. We would hopefully have it advertised as \'Eavy Metal painting clinic or something similar, instead of the couple of us stuck on the \"army building stand\" in the furthest, darkest, corner of the hall. Which should make us easier to track down and grill with questions about NMM
I dunno, but that\'s what one of the judges told me. It was on our checklist of things to photograph. If it was cancelled months ago they should have at least taken it off the competitor\'s guidelines on the web.
I take it you are a bit peeved because your entry (which was very nice by the way) and the Orc Blood Bowl team would probably have been battling it out for the award.
I take it you are a bit peeved because your entry (which was very nice by the way) and the Orc Blood Bowl team would probably have been battling it out for the award.
War Griffon
New member
Thanks Jambot, nnot really that peeved about it I was happy making into the finals as I never expected it to get that far.
However I was told this morning that all refernces to the Fanatic prize was removed from the web pages and White Dwarf etc when Jervis and clan decided to pull it but the ones I down loaded not so long back still mentioned it?
It would have been a nice finish to the day but I don\'t think they were that good
Was there any other Fanatic stuff entered besides the BloodBowl Team? I couldn\'t get near the 40K stuff to have a look properly.
However I was told this morning that all refernces to the Fanatic prize was removed from the web pages and White Dwarf etc when Jervis and clan decided to pull it but the ones I down loaded not so long back still mentioned it?
It would have been a nice finish to the day but I don\'t think they were that good
Was there any other Fanatic stuff entered besides the BloodBowl Team? I couldn\'t get near the 40K stuff to have a look properly.
leopardpixie
New member
Come on where are the CMON-ers Pics.....
