Armies on Parade is returning once again. Hobbyists around the world are hard at work painting, converting, and building great edifices out of myriad materials. If, like us, you’re after a little bit more inspiration or some encouragement to get started, we’ve got you covered.
There’s a variety of hobby triumphs on display during Armies on Parade that our judges need to introduce special categories alongside the primary awards. These commendations celebrate armies that show particular ingenuity, humour, or a strong commitment to an awesome theme.
Consider, for example, The Loonboss’s Fun Guy award, won by Alan Hayward. This entry tickled the judges pink with its genius inclusion of the weird and rubbery dice as a Squig Herd, and there’s even a Troggboss with a moon for a head.
Received wisdom suggests that Armies on Parade needs to be an army, often in some sort of parade formation – shocking, we know! But what if your army is the most Knights you can fit within the display board guidelines or simply a column of tanks resting as a spearhead assault is planned?
No problem. Last year, the Honour of the House award for Best Large Model Army went to Scott Sullivan’s colossal collection of Knights of all shapes and sizes, while Pete Lynch-Mathew won Knight Commander Pasks’ Top Tread Head award. Sometimes bigger is well and truly better.
Artificers of great skill are always sure to get noticed. If you’re a dab hand at converting hordes of unique warriors like Wong Wai Liong, you could be in with a shot for the Blessing of the Omnissiah commendation. This impressive display features a wide range of models crafted from a blend of Adeptus Mechanicus models and a whole host of Necron parts. We’ve even spotted a heavily converted Chaos Knight there too.
Let’s not leave out Jacopo Colcera who constructed this topsy-turvy black pyramid, winning them the Architect of Nehekhara award. We shudder to think what kind of dark invocations he had to whisper to Nagash to get this thing to stand up.
For more, check out all of the winners from last year to see the whole breadth of incredible hobby skills on show.
The submission window for Armies on Parade 2021 is open from the 1st to the 31st of October, and the Awards Show and Parade Day will take place online on the 20th of November. If you have even the ghost of an idea for a great display board,* or you’ve painted up a glorious force in the last year and want to show it off, we’d love to see your entry. Grab your brushes, paints, bits, and tools, and get to it.
* Or a great idea for a display board full of ghosts.