Old Stuff Day

 

Hi folks,

Old Stuff Day has to be my favourite event of the 40K hobby season. I have somehow managed to miss it a few times recently, mainly because "real life" has been biting so damn hard. One of the things that has kept me going the past 5 years is the 2nd Edition Army Challenge. Dr The Viking ran the challenge for the first 4 years, but recently stopped after facing some really tough times. The camaraderie between challengers was so strong though, that we couldn't fathom not continuing. As a result, the Wachtmeister has taken up the mantle of collating and publishing the results each month.

For old stuff this year, I wanted to provide some links to the previous season's final posts, so that people could take a look at some of the fantastic old school armies that have been born out of this challenge. 

2nd Ed. Army Challenge 1 (2020)

Finding myself deep in a hole of grief, when Dr The Viking put out the call for challengers, I was pretty quick to put my hand up. I didn't even have any idea at that stage if I had the models to build a 2nd Ed. Dark Angels army. As it turns out, I need not have worried; I had three seasons worth of old miniatures just waiting for love. I managed to paint 1500 points worth of Dark Angels in the first challenge.

2nd Ed. Army Challenge 2 (2021)

Knowing now that I had a bunch of Dark Angels left to paint, it was easy to sign up for the next season. Some absolutely incredible models were painted in this challenge, including an Eldar Exodite army with dinosaurs in it that is to die for. 

2nd Ed. Army Challenge 3 (2022)

For the 3rd Challenge I decided to go all the way back to my first 40K army: Legion of the Damned. To achieve this I had to purchase some extra odds and ends on eBay, which cost me a small fortune. Finally painting Sergeant Centurius, though, was a teenage dream for me. I love the army that I painted so much: 100% nostalgia.

2nd Ed. Army Challenge 4 (2023)

Picking through the rest of my bitz box, it was clear that I had enough Tyranids for at least one challenge. One of my mates heard that I was considering them for the challenge and gave me a box that roughly doubled my model count, and wifey bought me a couple of the old Armorcast epic-style figures. The hardest part was coming up with a paint scheme that did the 90's 40K era justice. I'll let you decide if I achieved that. In this challenge we also worked on and produced a 2nd Edition campaign, which paid homage to Jurassic Park in a tongue-in-cheek fashion. Playing some of the missions with my son is some of the best fun I have had with 40K in a long time. I helped out by designing the rules for special terrain; seeing people model those things and play with them was fantastic.

2nd Ed. Army Challenge 5 (2024) 

That brings us neatly around to the 5th Challenge being run by the Wachtmeister. We are just through our first month and I am again working on brightly coloured Tyranids, as I work at expanding Hive Fleet Proteus from the previous challenge. First on the paint table was a second Screamer Killer because, let's face it, why stop at just one! 

Even with all of the experience of 5 challenges under my belt, I am a bit worried that I am not going to make it though this one. I am not one to withdraw, however. I'll keep you posted with how I go!

See you across the table,

Marc