samedi 25 août 2018

Warhammer Fest Europe





Hi all!

Last weekend was Warhammer Fest Europe in Düsseldorf, a great opportunity for plenty of hobbyists from Europe and beyond to gather and share about the Warhammer hobby.

I worked all weekend at the Citadel studio area, with the whole Plaguebone army on display.
It has been a bit of a logistical nightmare. I had to empty my cabinets, pack them all up in multiple boxes so they could fit some bigger plastic crates.
Then all this has been palletted and wrapped in plastic, put on trucks for a few days on the roads to Düsseldorf (crossing a sea and 3 countries).






I decided to break the barrier of the cabinet, for people to really get to see the Sons of Kortharis in the flesh. This allowed me to pass models hand to hand, directly showing and explaining painting technics.
It seems to have been a great attraction, litterally non-stop talking from Saturday morning to Sunday afternoon. I had lost my voice by Saturday 4pm ! XD
Everybody have been very respectful, only one model got broken, and it was during the set up. Well done everybody!

The most asked question was probably how I made my bases. For those of you who asked and want to see a complete tutorial, clic on the picture below:




The venue was fantastic: the Maritim Hotel within the complex of the airport.
A great hall hosting the sales area, Golden demon and various activities from Warhammer Champions to video games licensing. Above this, a wide balcony welcomed the various departments forming the Design Studio.

I did a seminar about designing Mortarion, sharing many secrets behind the genesis of this iconic character.



(just a hint of the kind of pictures shown at the seminar...)

It is a complex exercise that requires a lot of preparation, but it is really worth it in my opinion, considering the reactions I could read on faces, and the comments of people staying behind.


It has been a fantastic experience. The questions and conversations following the presentation were great. I was delighted to hear how curious and enthusiastic those 400 hobbyists were.
I think the conversation about the female representations in our miniatures was one of my favourites. It was cool to see how passionate and engaging most of you were. Especially the ladies! Thanks to everyone who jumped in (even spontaneously!). It has been a great conversation, which I hope made you realize how badass our female warriors are. Girls rule !

But the main highlight of the weekend for me was meeting loads of happy hobbyists, some well known and some new friends, be it during the day or at night in the bar:










Colleagues from GW, fellow bloggers, painters, gamers, dear friends, brother... All united in the love of games and toy soldiers!





 
(Est Radieux en force !!!! )

I forgot to take one with the amazing Chris Keil! Man, if you read this, we need to take one next time.
It was great to see you and Cagn catch up. Mutual fans!

Icing on the cake, my Order of the Twisted Tree managed to place on the highest step of the Open category. I had prepared a display base for them (a gift from Mike Anderson, ex-colleague, thanks a lot if you read those lines!), and designed a plaque to go on it:



Like my Eldar army last year, this trophy means a lot for me as it awards miniatures I converted and painted for gaming purposes.
Some say that you need to paint to 'Eavy Metal style and standards to place in Golden Demon. It is not true, and my warband proves it. Creativity, atmosphere and narrative play an important part in the competition, as Pawel Makush's Slayer Sword winning entry proves:


Congratulations to all of the winners, and a big thank you to our mighty judges Christian Hardy, Simon Adams and Max Faleij for your hard work.

To finish this article, here is a video of the Open competition award ceremony, captured by my little brother Babou "Le Pratique":



Thanks for reading, and see you all next year at any Warhammer Fest!


13 commentaires:

  1. Félicitations pour ta contribution, en particulier pour avoir apporté tes plaguebones, c'est vraiment une super façon de contribuer à la communauté. J'aurai adoré pouvoir y être et voir tes figurines de plus près.
    La prochaine fois j'espère =)

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    1. Merci Yann! Ça aurait été un plaisir de re rencontrer.

      Comme tu le diz, une prochaine fois !

      --
      morbäck

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  2. Tout d'abord, bravo pour ton trophée.
    Comme tu le fais remarquer, c'est plaisant de voir qu'une peinture "atmosphérique" puisse être aussi bien récompensée qi'un travail respectant les canons ( j'apprécie les deux hein ;-) ).
    Ensuite, merci pour ce reportage vu de l'intérieur. C'est très intéressant. J'aurais bien aimé entendre les échanges sur les figs GW féminines, Quand j'ai commencé à voir les photos des Plaguebones sur Instagram, je me suis dit que le transport avait dû être délicat. J'étais loin du compte ...
    J'espère maintenant qu'un tel évènement sera organisé en France. Ce serait une bonne occas' de te serrerla louche!

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    1. "J'aurais bien aimé entendre les échanges sur les figs GW féminines" Je plussoie, ça m'intéresserais aussi beaucoup !
      Et bon en fait je plussoie l'ensemble du commentaire en fait, ça m'évitera une redite...

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    2. Merci les gars!

      Pour ce genre de débat/conversation, ça se fait sur l'instant. Il n'y a pas de secret, pour en profiter, il faut se rendre aux événements. Internet n'étant pas très approprié pour ce genre de discussion.

      Quant à organiser ce genre d'événement en France, je ne pense pas que ce soit dans les tuyaux. l'Allemagne est le plus gros marché d'Europe continentale, et bénéficie d'une position géographique privilégiée (et d'aéroport rudement bien desservis!)
      Mais il ne faut jamais dire jamais !

      --
      morbäck

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  3. Everytime it is pleasure to meet you. You are master of making Warhammer and one day you will be same legend as John Blanche or Jes Goodwin. With you as a leader I'm not afraid about quality of new releases from GW. Cheers.

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    1. Thanks a lot, Tomas!
      I am far from hoping to be as legendary as John or Jes, but I am glad to read you wish me the best!
      Congrats on your gold trophy by the way. You are an amazing painter, I always look forward to seeing your next model.

      Cheers mate,

      --
      morbäck

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  4. Congratulations on the gold, well deserved even though you had some tough competition! I appreciate you letting us handle it and have a closer look afterwards. I must say you are too humble regarding the quality of your paintjob, I found it absolutely exquisite. I very much enjoyed your presentation on the design of Mortarion as well.

    /Nicklas

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    1. Thanks Nicklas, it was great to talk to you after the show.
      Such a shame my flight was so soon after the event, I would have loved staying behind with you guys.
      Thanks for your comment, truly motivating.
      And I am glad you liked my seminar!

      Thanks man,

      --
      morbäck

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  5. It was great to meet you and see your work in real. Seeing all the miniatures was wonderful, especially without having to look into a showcase. Thanks a lot for this!If you should ever come to Berlin, you are cordially invited to us.

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    1. Thanks a lot! It was great meeting you all, I really appreciate the professionalism and enthusiasm of the German staff. You guys are awesome!
      I take a note about the invite. Next time I am in Berlin, i'll send a message before ;)

      Cheers,

      --
      morbäck

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  6. Un vrai plaisir de voir ton armée "en vrai", et de pouvoir échanger avec toi sur ta conception des figurines et des difficultés rencontrées!
    Si je ne me plante pas, c'est de notre conversation (Les stormcasts féminins avec des armures stylisées mais pas trop, le fait que vous ne puissiez pas faire des plastrons "réalistes" identiques aux autres stormcast pour pouvoir les repérer sur la table), les proportions féminines, le fait que les soeurs de batailles aussi auront un design qui restera "sexué" (mais pas sexiste!) pour pouvoir les différencier...
    Ce fut un vrai plaisir de discuter avec toi!
    Je ne t'ai pas trouvé dans le bar Samedi soir (j'ai trainé avec l'équipe dur Warhammer shop Hamburg mais ne t'ai pas vu)mais ce n'est que partie remise! Va falloir que je monte à Nottingham si j'ai bien compris! :)

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    1. Salut Zabu!

      En fait, il s'agit d'un question-réponse avec les gens étant venus mon séminaire le samedi.
      Mais il est vrai que le sujet est revenu plusieurs fois dans le weekend !
      Je suis ravi que tu aies apprécié ton weekend en tout cas!

      A+

      --
      morbäck

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