A Gamers Game - with Master Chief

 

Once again, my trip down memory lane takes me to the Winds of War in Bracknell.

 

 

Now on our first visit, we had been told that "Best Army" was awarded based on the look of a combined army, and while my Aliens theme Guard had gone down very well, my teammate who had just brought regular tau (albeit nicely painted) hadn't really fit into my theme... and that the prize was awarded to the best unifying theme. Hence the winner that year (if I recall correctly) was a rather beautifully painted white Necron army, as there was a unifying colour across both partners forces.

 

So the following year, we worked on a joint project. The Halo Marines programme. I made a prototype Spartan using a marine, some Tau bits, and some heads from Pig-Iron Productions. Sent the specs to my friend.

 

We wrote lists. We did originally consider using the Elysian buggies to be the Warthogs (counts as Razorback) but they were a bit small... then Ken found some toy Warthogs. Quick paint job later, they work. I also converted the Ghosts as Landspeeders. I think the moment I'm proudest of was having the idea to get a couple of old broken x-boxes off ebay, strip them out and turn them into display cases. It really set the whole thing off perfectly.

 

 

I ran a Blood Angels list, which is pictured below. I split my squad into an advance section with the flamer, power sword sergeant (energy sword) and chaplain master chief. Hanging back would be the rest of the squad with rocket launcher and a sanguinary priest (elite choice at the time) The ghosts would fly around and channel our enemies to where we needed them, run interference etc.

 

 

To represent the Sanguinary Priest, I tried to model him holding an "Overshield" I'm hoping the regular Halo gamers will recognise it.

 

 

Ken ran Wolves, so a couple small squads hunters in Razorbacks, and a Long Fang squad. They usually hung near my sanguinary priest, who effected all friendly models at the time.

 

 

This army was adored by the crowd, and we did quite well with it too, coming a respectable fourth out of a field of about 20 teams.

 

 

As for our original plan of competing for Best Painted Army? Well we tied on the scoring with the best painted army (same as I had done with Aliens the year before) however this time the unifying factor seemed not to matter... the rather nicely painted sisters army won best army, the ok painted guard ally wasn't mentioned. However, we did get some recognition for the effort we put in, picking up the Fergus Award for the Gamers who clearly have too much time on their hands. An award I would later pick up for the aforementioned Star Wars Guard army, which by the way also tied for score with the best painted Army that year. I was always coming so tantalisingly close... Maybe next time.

A nice finishing touch, which I sadly can't seem to locate right now for pictures, Ken produced game inserts - our army lists written like the booklet guide you get to a game. They really helped set the whole thing off. Could do with finding those things...