A day at the Conflict – Dave Noyle

Conflicts are a great way for a Games Workshop enthusiast to spend the day. With an entire hall full of games and activities waiting for you how can you go wrong? At Conflict Montreal I was set loose with a camera and a mandate to “have fun.” (Yes, they pay me to do this.)

I decided I would start my day in the “free area” and pick up some hobby tips from the experts working there. If you wish you can receive basic painting or terrain building instruction for free at any Conflict, all you have to do is turn up. As it has so often been suggested to me, I made my way towards the painting class area, eager to learn. The painting classes at Conflict Montreal were being commanded by Golden Demon winner/Outrider James Craig.
I’m sure he was thrilled when I sat myself down and demanded to paint a Space Marine. Much to my dismay James was fresh out of Space Marines, but he attempted to placate me with a Plague Marine. Sufficiently bribed I set to work on my subject of Nurgle.

James took me through the basics of painting, starting with basecoats, and then on to washes and highlights. By the time I was finished I had a fully painted Plague Marine, and slightly green fingers. The images below show the steps I took in painting my model.

As there was plenty of day left I dropped of my model at the staff area and took a wander around the Conflict hall to see what attractions were on hand. Clubs and Rogue Traders from all around the Montreal area had pulled out all the stops to fill the show with games and tables. Each attraction featured something different; at one table buggies and bikes vied for the lead in a Warhammer 40,000 style racing game. At another table epic armies collided in pitch battles. Take a look through the gallery below to see some of the tables our presenters brought with them.

There was one attraction that really caught my attention. To be honest it is hard to ignore a giant blue pyramid. The attraction in question was “Teleports and Terrors” built and run by Curtis Charette, Marc Charette, and Matthew Killoran. This triangular construction took just over a month for the team to assemble and was specifically built for this event. The crew even came up with a custom game just for this table. In “Teleports and Terrors” roving kill-teams fight across two levels and eight rooms for control of this alien construction. Take a look over their creation yourself with the images below.

Having witnessed plenty of other people having fun and playing games I decided to play a game myself. With carnival-like skill, Frédéric Decelles (image of fred) from Librairie Donjon roped myself and fellow passer-by Stefan Grambart, into a game of “Dead by Dawn.” This particular game featured Dwarf Slayers fighting for death against a horde of Skeletons. I took up the side of the Slayers while Stefan grabbed the dice for the Undead. At the onset Frédéric informed me that my goal was to meet an honorable death. Meanwhile my opponent’s objective was to wipe out the suicidal Dwarfs. After a couple fast paced turns and a display of my usual generalmanship I had no troops left. The really odd thing was I had won. (Actually, we had both won.) Slightly confused, I made my way to the Warpstone painting contest to check out the winners. Here are a few pictures from the game documenting my demise.

At the Warpstone Painting Contest booth I had a chance to check out the fantastically painted entries and oogle at the outstanding winners. You can check out the winners for yourself here (link). And even found that my co-workers had been nice enough to enter the Plague Marine I had painted earlier in the contest. They had even been kind enough to enter me in the Neophyte competition. At least I won honorable mention; take that kids!

With games played, lessons leanned, and pride tarnished I decided to take my leave of Conflict Montreal and headed back out onto the street in search of food. It was surely a day well spent, and if you think so too maybe I’ll see you at the next Conflict.

Dave Noyle
Games Workshop Canada