The Warforge Miniature Modelling and Conversion

Gamesday Baltimore 2010, Part 1 – The Event

I'm back home, situated, and I've had time to sift through the literal thousands of pictures I took of Gamesday Baltimore 2010. I'm going to try and keep things neat and tidy by dividing the day into two posts - the Event itself, and all that transpired there, and the Golden Demon Competition, in a post to follow. Also, a lot of the images and stuff below were taken while I was participating in things, so if there's an annoying amount of photos of my models in the mix, that'd be why. Sorry!

For now, let's just talk about the event itself!

The Convention Center lobby is a familiar sight after the last time I was here in 2008, though truthfully I was expecting more people since Baltimore is the only Gamesday this year.

It wasn't too long until they felt kind enough to let the rabble in, at which point there was a minor stampede for the Forgeworld line. I didn't get to witness it myself, but I was told one brave soul actually got a running start and slid all the way under the bars that formed the waiting line and up to the counter as people were herded in. I waited a little while, and simply wandered around taking some shots.

Some of the displays were crazy, crazy impressive.

 

There was one really fantastic event that pit the Orks versus the Imperium on an absolutely hilarious scale, with an ungodly-sized Ork titan trying to take down an entire mountain fortress. By the end of the event, the Ork Stompa had been reduced to only a fraction of it's starting size, and there was a whole lot of titan-sized debris on the table. I'm not actually sure who won, but I doubt that even matters.

 

There were some equally nice Open Gaming tables to be found, which I snapped a couple quick photos of later on in the day.

 

There was a whole section of Armies on Display, but by the time I got around to it most of them had been packed up since the competition ended pretty early in the day. Still, the ones that stuck it out got photographed! (And poorly, because of the scratched-to-hell plexiglass everyone had to set up behind)

 

The Forgeworld guys were also out in force, although I didn't see anything new to oggle over in their display cases. Only snapped a couple quick shots because it's all been pretty much covered ad nauseum before. Some display cases of older miniatures and greens, as well.

 

I spent a lot of time this year crowded around the club-run event tables, partaking in what they had to offer. I have to say, I was pretty impressed on the whole.

Rock'um Sock'um Stompas was an obligatory stop for me, where five trundling titans belly bumped and smashed the zog out of one another.

 

I threw my own Stompa down, and was summarily destroyed first on the board. Guess mine's a little too small!

Another fantastic club event involved remote-controlled 40k tank laser tag. Think about that for a minute.

As awesome as it was, I did a poor job of photographing it. Pictures do it little justice, but I did take some video, so when I have time later I'll throw it to the ravenous Youtubes.

There was also a Rock'em Sock'em Dreadnought arena, which I felt summarily obligated to join. There was actually a fairly thorough rules set for the game that gave each walker a couple of damage boxes and a few new abilities. I will say it felt startlingly like Warmachine, actually.

Just like the first event, I was the first one to get wiped out. Oh well!

The fellows over at Paul's Basement League set up a fun little board where Independent Characters could deathmatch eachother for the amusement of Khorne, and I felt compelled to throw my Big Boss into the mix. I couldn't use the special rules that were set up for him, but I just ran him as a fully loaded-out Ork Warboss and he did just fine for himself - he actually broke the dominating Dark Eldar Archon's win streak in the first round, which had apparently been going for quite some time. He went up against (and lost to!) Commissar Yarrick quite a lot, though - that pesky 'umie just doesn't stay down!

 

Bolter and Chainsword also represented with quite a nice collection of goodies.

 

Later on, my buddy Chris and I got our game on with a quick 1,500 of Daemonhunters versus Orks, where we played eachother to a virtual stalemate. The tables we were using weren't anything too fancy, but they were open and available thanks to the fact that the 500 point tournament had progressed to the point where there weren't many competitors left.

 

Afterwards, I resumed my wandering and took another handful of miscellaneous pictures of the goings-on.

 

All in all, it was quite a day. I was a little surprised at how empty it got after around 3 o'clock - it seemed like a lot of people started leaving early after they'd had a look around and bought the things they wanted. I had to duck out a little early myself because we had to get back to New Jersey, so I didn't get to hear them make the grand announcement about where they're planning on holding Gamesday 2011. According to the rumbles of the internet, it's slated for Chicago, though, and the internet never lies.