Friday, February 1, 2013

Army Display Boards - Yea or Nay?

Yarr, Nurgle pirates!

Today for my wistful stroll through the meadows of hobby, I shall deliver my opinion of display boards onto you.

I like display boards. There, my hat is in the proverbial ring. I really don't understand why some people take against them in such a vitriolic fashion. 'They're not needed!' I hear. Well, no, but then, neither are nicely painted models and swanky basing and themed armies or yadda yadda. 'They're only for w*nkers who want to show off!' you cry. Well, that could be said about any really well painted or converted army. True, not everyone has the skills to pull off an amazing display board, but you don't see people running up to folks with nicely painted armies and punching them in the jaw. You don't see that with display boards either, but you get the idea.

Simple, but still awesome.

Display boards seem to be a bigger deal in the States. I've not seen too many in Ireland, but I think it is a great idea. What could be wrong with an impressive army set out on an impressive board? What? What's wrong?!

Tell one.

I certainly plan on making one when I get to the point of having enough army to fill one up. It's handy in tournaments, it makes your army look supa-cool and it can be used as an emergency time travel device.

Well, so I've heard.

Anyway, display boards. Hit me.

Not so simple, and a handy terrain piece to boot!

13 comments:

  1. They seem fine to me - why not? I'm thinking about doing Armies on Parade in the future so I've been pondering them too for the last day or so. And why shouldn't people want to show off their lovely armies that they've spent a significant chunk of their lives completing?! There's always someone who'll find a flaw in everything, especially on the internet (now there's an astonishing discovery ;-)

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  2. I wonder if this would be a good idea for NWG13? What say you?

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    1. I say most assuredly yes. Extra points for a groovy board, set size. I think 2x2 is the standard, if there is one.

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  3. The ones you have look great. My only concern would be space - I have my stuff on cabinet shelves. The display board for an army wouldn't fit it them. The ones I've seen (in the USA) was my buddy's WAB army when he brought it to a convention. I've not seen one by anyone else before or since. Best, Dean

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    1. Oh, they aren't mine, just great examples from the net. I have heard of fold-up ones too, which are a genius idea. You could fold it and keep it stored away until it's needed. A little planning, and that sounds eminently doable.

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  4. Definitely a fan! As I don't game at all really my painted models are just cool ornaments and what better way to display them than an an awesome base! It also gives me an excuse that I can give to my girlfriend that allows me to build lots of cool stuff and put it all around my house!

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  5. Although I don't own one, I like the idea. I am aware that some tournaments in America will only accept army entries if displayed on display boards.

    Three great examples.

    Thank you for sharing them.

    I would hope that you would produce one - if only for me to see a great display board for your Fimir.

    Tony

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  6. I love display boards, planning on making some in drawers for my armies so they can be tucked away and used to carry the army to battle.

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  7. Display boards in my opinion are a must have if you are playing competitive tournaments. I tend to make mine functional in addition to complimenting the army. When I say functional it needs to be somewhat compact and allow you to transport your army from table to table in the tournament, being compact enough to allow you take and place units from the board. Most of the time I put a piece of board within a picture frame.

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  8. Psychosis basically sums up most everything I was going to say. All the obvious reasons plus functionality.

    I have a number of friends that take it step further with their magnetic bases and have sheet metal lining both their Army Transport case trays and just under the surface of the gravel and flock of their display base. They are able to carry and lift out whole units from both their case and base.

    Myself I'm not really into the tournament scene anymore, but in the past I always made sure my display base could easily be turned into gaming terrain once the event was over.

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  9. I don't have a problem with display boards, until they become a requirement (either mandatory, or you will be penalised points for not having one). That bothers me because I would rather be spending time on the models than on something that is of no use during the game. That, and I don't have space for one once it's built - if I had room to display my army on things like that at home, then I'd probably have made some by now.

    I think the only way I could make myself build a display board is if it would then be of use as a practical piece of terrain (or an entire section of a table). I'm afraid anything else leaves it in the category of "I have better things to do with my time"...

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  10. Loads of great opinions there. I do think that display boards should be rewarded as perhaps part of the painting scores. Perhaps another level of scoring, the same as you would for conversions, osl and so on. They should not be mandatory however. We all go to tournaments to compete, but the looking around at everybody's armies is a major draw too, which would be only enhanced by people using display boards. I'll be doing one, once the army is ready. In fact, all the curious little extras such as markers, themed terrain and so on are something I'm looking forward to.

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  11. I have a very basic "display board" which is really more of a way to carry my army from table to table without packing everything up. I made mine pretty generic so it can be used for multiple armies.

    I think the big and more elaborate boards are good for big and more elaborate events - especially if a lot of time and energy has been put into one specific army. I like seeing it.

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