New Years Resolutions
Happy New Year and welcome to this - the first of a series of great articles
written by members of the Canadian Grey Knight Volunteer Corps. My name is James
K. Craig and I am a Grey Knight Brother Captain, one of the longest serving members
of both this illustrious organization and a former member of the Canadian Outrider
program to boot, as such it has fallen to me to be your first editor and I can
only hope that my words will encourage you to check back here often. Looking
into the future of this space I can tell you it will definitely be worth your
while to do so! I am very excited for what is upcoming - great articles about
tactics, modeling, awesome new scenarios and campaigns written by some of the
best gamers and most creative minds in Canada.
As I write this, I find myself in that post-Xmas/pre-New Years void where I look
back at 2006 and ahead to 2007with an eye to resolutions. It is a chance to make
conscious decisions about what I have done and where I want to go. It is my hope
that sharing these musings with you will do two things. First, it will give you
a bit of insight into the mind of a Grey Knight - a bit of a chance to see what
it is we do and that, quite frankly, we are people too. Second, hopefully some
of this will be relevant to my fellow gamers and give some inspiration for setting
your own new years gamers resolutions.
So let us look back to some of the big events for me in 2006 and see where it
leads for 2007…
Games Day Toronto 2006 - This is the Alpha and Omega of the Canadian gaming year.
I had an amazing time at Toronto (as always) and was fortunate enough to win
my seventh demon award - my first time entering and placing in the WFB unit category.
I have had a long time to think back on this day and have made a couple of decisions.
First, I made the same resolution that I make and break pretty much every year
- Resolution One - to get working on my demon entries earlier and be finished
without any rushing at the end. Meh - we will see.
The second, and more important, realization comes from meeting Sean Holliday
(yeah that’s actually his real name) at Games day. Sean was one of the
volunteers working in my section (I was the WFB area captain) and he was on fire
that day. He had a great way with the gamers both new and veteran and really
made his table a GREAT experience for all who came by. It didn’t take long
to realize that he would make a great addition to the Grey Knights program and
after a few discussions and an application process he was indeed welcomed to
the team. One of the things I do as a Brother Captain is help with the training
of new Grey Knights and look for new people to swell our ranks across the country.
So Resolution two is to make myself even more available for prospective and Neophyte
Grey Knights. If you think you might have what it takes please grab me at an
event and talk to me about it. If you are new to the program - understand that
even if you are not in my area I am more than willing to lend you an ear, some
advice, an army (Brother Captain Nick I want my Chaos warriors back BTW ;P )
or whatever - just contact me through my Website at www.LostintheWarp.com.
My Website + Forum - Since I am on the subject lets talk about my site (shameless
plug!). One of my greatest accomplishments this year was to get myself a website
and forum that actually works. I love having a vehicle to communicate with my
fellow gamers and friends from around the world. In 2007 I want to keep these
running and to update the content on a regular basis. Currently this is easier
said than done. My site looks great but, with the exception of the pictures gallery,
which works, great, is kind of a pain to update. Stefan Grambart my friend and
fellow Grey Knight has volunteered to help me reconstruct my site into a much
more easily updated and content friendly format! Resolution Three will therefore
be to post more, share more and make my work, lessons and discoveries more accessible
to my fellow gamers in hopes that it will be of use and interest.
Now the Forum linked to my site (or available by going directly to www.thelostforums.net)
is more than just a talk about me and mine - it is a whole community unto itself.
I am fortunate to be a member of one of the greatest gaming communities in Canada
- The Lost. The Lost are one of the top tier gaming clubs in the new GCN network
set up by Games Workshop. We have worked hard over the past year to run great
events, become really tightly organized and to raise our public profile. If you
belong to a gaming group whether it is you and a couple of buddies or a large
group like ours with over 60 members you should really consider registering your
group with GW- they are putting into place some really great support mechanisms
and I think many people will be pleased with the opportunities in becoming a
recognized club. Resolutions four and five: help spread the word about the GCN
and continue to grow and support my local gaming community!!!
Conflict Montreal - Let me tell you Commissar Burns puts on a great event! Montreal
2006 was simply the most fun I have had at any Conflict since the inception of
these events.
The Warpstone competition was really top notch, the paint and chat with the illustrious
painters of Team Montreal was really cool (props and shout out to my friend and
Montreal team member Vince Hudon), and most of all I really enjoyed the late
night gaming. This addition to the Conflict really adds a new dimension for those
of us who are not in the Conflict tournament itself. Great games, great opponents,
silly rules, prizes - it was all there.
Resolution Six: Make sure I get involved with late night gaming at any and all
conflicts I attend in 2007. (This one should be easy to fulfill!)
Charity - One of the best experiences of 2006 was being invited to partake in
the Aces Charity painting competition at GenCon Indy. For those of you who don’t
know - this is the largest gaming event in North America taking place across
4 days in August with over 26000 in attendance! One of the show highlights each
year is a special charity event which takes ten top notch painters puts them
together at one table to battle it out and see just how good they are when the
pressure is on. Normally they take hours, days, weeks to paint a figure, but
what can they really do in just one hour? The rules are simple. Painters are
only allowed to bring one brush of their choice. They are also given a ratty
old brush or two that have been well used and abused. Once they’ve taken
a seat and all is ready, they get 5 minutes to study the secret figures given
them by random draw--until then; they haven’t a clue as to what they will
paint. Each painter has the same colors, the same palette, and the same hour.
Jokes and heckling abound on both sides of the table as they paint their hearts
out in front of an audience. When the brushes are down, it’s time to sign
them, seal them, and leave them in the display case until Auction Time. At that
time, attendees are given the opportunity to bid on this collectable, historical,
and eminently displayable lot of miniatures, with all proceeds given to charity!
This year I was fortunate enough to be included in this special panel along side
my fellow Canadian Angela Imrie, and other demon-winning notables such as Americans
Zach Lanier and Tom Shadle plus British competitor Rich Stedman.
The whole event was presided over by fantasy art legend Larry Elmore (pictured
with all the Aces charity painters below) that was a real treat! Most of all,
though, this left me feeling REALLY good about being able to put my skills to
use to help someone else out. As such, Resolution Seven will be to participate
in at least one charity event this year, In fact I think I may take a page from
the Astronomi-Con team and hold a charity tournament this summer!
Looking at this picture of me standing next to Marike I think that Resolution
Eight will be to drop a few pounds… nothing new there
Armies - Now recently (WD 7 to be precise) you may have seen a feature on an
army I built out of totally trashed tank models. I think they turned out pretty
spiffy and it has been a LOT of fun breathing life back into old models that
just needed a bit of attention.
They have been an absolute riot to play with and this has given me some renewed
perspective on the hobby. I have spent nearly two years working on a true showcase
army of beastmen all painted to a golden demon standard. This is a pretty slow
and grueling process but has been rewarding in what I have learned about my own
techniques and painting process. Doing this ‘Tank Company’ really
opened my eyes back up to the possibilities, fun and rewards of doing an army
simply for tabletop play! It reminds me that it isn’t necessary to be on
the top of my painting and modeling game to have fun! As such Resolution Nine
will be to have more fun and to paint at least one additional army this year
simply for fun rather than competition and show. I will pick a simple paint scheme
- do a few quick conversions and start slapping paint so that I will have a new
army for games with my friends, my club and as an addendum to this resolution
- I will have it ready for my favourite gaming weekend of the year - Astronomi-con
Toronto (www.astronomi-con.com)
Life - Finally I want to look back the real highlight of my year. This past July
I was married to a wonderful woman. She really completes my life and is a great
support of my hobby ambitions. This past year - aside from marrying me - she
let me go to GenCon even though it conflicted with her Birthday, helped me to
build an 18’ x 13’ game room in my basement and gave me the time
and work environment I needed to successfully compete in the Golden Demons once
again. She supports me and encourages me daily. As such Resolution Ten will be
to continue to work hard to make her proud and to show her how much her support
matters to me. This is a pretty big deal and I think as hobbyists we really do
rely on friends and family to support us. It really ought not to be taken for
granted, so I encourage all who read this to take the time right now to go and
thank those who have made this hobby great for you over the last year.
So, Thank you Lisa, Thanks Mom and Dad, Thanks to Craig and GW, Thanks to my
fellow Grey Knights, Competitors, Friends, Family and to all of you who are reading
this. I have LOVED being part of this community in 2006 and look forward to another
stellar year in 2007!!!!
James K. Craig - Dec 2006
Click here to return to the Grey
Knight homepage
|
|
James
Craig: