Golden Daemon: Retro 2

Welcome to part two of my fresh series looking at some of the older Golden Daemon winners. This post is dedicated to war in all its glory... the Battle Scene. The battle scene should capture a moment in the heat of battle, comprise of interaction between the models and still be of an incredibly high standard.

This first look is at Matthew Parkes Gold entry which also won him the fabled Slayer Sword in 1995. What strkes me with this is how bright and well presented the piece is. The orky wooden outpost looks fatastic, the grots going about their business and the Runtherd starting to shout through a megaphone to get the attention. The Ork being shot by a lasgun shot still looks fantastic to this day, and is a lesson in interactivity. The other little details too, the rag over the missile launcher, little mushrooms dotted about and the grot revealing his derriere on the splattacannon all add to the overall scene that certainly helped it win the Slayer Sword.

This next piece was by Chris Blair in 1996, and depicts a scene froma gang war on Necromunda. Whats nice about this is the Technology versus Nature theme, with the Spyers and the Ratskins fighting it out for survival in the dumps.  The first thing that struck me was the size of the piece, and helps show that Necromunda is played on more than just one level. The models, from what my eyes see, have had little conversion work done, but still interact well. The little bits on the floor look great, especially the sewage coming from the old tank and help convey how gritty and grimy the underhive is, and is highly deserving of its first place.

The third and final piece I've chosen is this little beauty. Nigal Carman decided to depict the chaotic brawling of a Gorkamorka scrap, and promptly took away first place. Its jam packed with models and vehicles, even a deffkopta is flying in on the action. Like the the second entry, this represents what Gorkamorka was all about. Orks fighting, riding around in trukks, looking for scrap and generally being insane. The base is another example of theming, with a really awesome looking 'Gorkamorka' title and the scrap pattern around the rest of the base really sets the piece off and shows the character of the orks really well. 

Hope you enjoyed these, I shall return once again with some more examples of Golden Daemon goodness!

Slayer Sword Winner Speaks.

When news filtered through that Karol Rudyk, winner of this years UK Golden Daemon Slayer Sword, was selling his prize on ebay, a lot of different reactions flooded the internet. Some people were saddened, some indifferent, some hateful, some seemed to understand and said they would do the same if in Karol's shoes. The sword itself sold for $600 on Ebay (approx £375). I decided to look into this and was able to ask the man himself. 

"I tell you why I sold the sword. 6 years ago when I saw the Slayer Sword for first time it looked like this:

This was a beautifull, fully-functional weapon. And this was my dream to win this sword. You should know also I am sword collector and I have several unique swords like:
 

Glamdring museum collection.
Atlantean sword of albion from Connan movie .
Anduril limited edition,
Full-functional japanese katana.

And the next should be the Slayer Sword.

But when I saw the actual version of the Slayer Sword this was a sad time. This sword not look good even on wall. This is a shame that GW give the best artist so cheap shit. My sword look like ship Chinese version. They give me it in a box (shipping from China) and it looks very bed. Blade is a piece of sheet metal and you can see traces of the blade grinder.

So when I saw this I do not want this in my collection. Maybe in future I will try to buy old version. I talked about it with GW manager, but they prizes are more and more low -quality. So big company and so cheap prize. This is sad.

I hope now you understand my reasons. I don't need many but this sword does not fit my exclusive colection.

Regards,
Karol"

Does this change anyone's opinion? I understand with him, trying to win an esteemed prize not only for your painting abilities but for your collection, and after all the hard work it doesn't live up to expectations.

Thank you to Karol who took the time to get back to me, you can see much more of his work here on his facebook page.

Slayer Sword... for sale?

But theres only one. This years Slayer Sword winner has put the esteemed prized up for sale here on ebay.

Is this acceptable? Does it de-value the prize at all? Hopefully the artist himself will speak out and tell us why he is selling the Slayer Sword.