Conflict

Andrew Lindsay

Sunday morning in March; I wouldn't have got up that early, normally I would hibernate till late, but not today. I got up and did what I usually did, wash my face, get dressed and eat. I pulled on a t-shirt and jeans as usual and checked what I had packed the night before, PSP, Ipod and a Tupperware container. Now unless you've grown bored already you'll probably be wondering what is in the Tupperware container. Well I'll tell you: A High Elf Prince, an Eldar Frarseer and an Osgiliath Veteran. Ha! Now I've confused you. No I didn't have people in there (I'd need a really big container for that) they were Warhammer models. I have to say they were some of my best work, obviously I'm much better now but that was why I was entering them in the painting competition at Conflict Scotland. Happy that my charges were safe, I gathered my things, said goodbye to my Mum and went in the car with my Dad to Glasgow.

It was being held in Glasgow (well just outside Glasgow for you geographically correct people) and was starting at eleven. It was nine when we left so we were going to get there in time. I spent must of the time playing with my PSP or just chatting to Dad. Sometimes I just watched the world go by. We got to the place at eleven but it took us 10 minutes to find exactly where it was. Eventually we did find it and we parked the car and headed there. Conflict was being held in a curling arena and my excitement grew as we got closer. At last we rounded the last corner and a maniacal grin spread across my face. What was once barren concrete was awash with gaming tables of all sizes, more models than you could shake a stick at and hundreds of peoples, some in the blue shirts of games workshop staff but most were just ordinary people. Some of those people were staring, slack jawed at the new models. To most people, this would be hell, seeing hundreds of geeks everywhere. For me, this was heaven on earth.

I soon recovered and headed towards the painting competition tables. As the year before, Baz, the manager of Games Workshop Dundee was in charge. To my horror they had changed the categories of the painting competition. There was no under 16 category, just Young Bloods, Warhammer, 40k, Lord of the Rings and the open category. So I took the plunge and the Elf and Veteran in the ordinary categories and put the Farseer in the Young Bloods. I ended up chatting to Baz about what was going on this year. He told me that Jes Godwin and Jervis Johnston from the design studio were here but more on them later.

I moved over to the next table from the painting comp, which was the Scenery table. Here you where given materials to make terrain for gaming tables and take it home. I booked myself in to make a monolith and a forest later on. Dad took his chance and escaped to put the coats and bags in the car.

After making my monolith I wandered around the hall to get the lay of the land. I ended up over by the tournament tables for Lord of the Rings and saw some very nice looking armies including an all giant spider army (not one for the arachnophobes!) And then I embarked on my epic quest, back the way I had come. After wandering aimlessly for the epic duration of a minute, I want to see Jervis Johnston and Jes Godwin. They were really nice and let me try the new washes (well they're a few months old know but they were unreleased then) on a spare model, which I still have. Next on the list of things to do was a game so I found Sam from Games Workshop Dundee. He was running Ork Trukk (yes I know it's spelt wrong but it's Orkish there is no grammar muhahah. . .) racing. I chose the red one because every one knows red ones go faster. Suffice to say I came 4th after getting shot by an angry mob of Orks.

It was 2 o'clock by the time Dad and I went for lunch. There is something so pleasing about biting into a piece of KFC Chicken. Then it was back for another game, this time for Lord of the Rings. Sadly my well laid plan failed when Gandalf the White blasted my Corsairs into the sea. Things had started to wind down by the time the game was over so I went to collect my models from the painting comp and to my surprise I had won 3rd place with my Veteran in the Lord of the Rings category. On the way home I vowed to come away with gold next year. First Conflict, then the world (well a guy can dream can't he? Wait, what do you mean dreaming isn't in the budget for this essay?!)