Sometimes you’re lucky enough to just fall bass-ackwards into something amazing and awesome. I’ll say it helps when you have found an awesome community- makes it much more likely to happen. But I sure felt lucky and honored to be invited (which just means I actually checked the discord for once and saw the post announcing the event) to the 2nd Annual District of the Damned Zenithal Elephant!
What is this you ask? Why it is the premier kit-bashing-meets–white-elephant-gift-exchange event of the mid-atlantic region! If you’ve ever done a white elephant and wish you ended up with something cool instead of an air freshener for your car (even if needed, seems a little judgemental) then this is the event for you!
So we all gathered at a secretive District of the Damned Facility in an undisclosed state (undisclosed country as well). It was on planet Earth, I’ll give you that.
Ten amazing local hobbyists all bashed warbands, wrapped them up, and made lists using Forbidden Psalm: Endless Horrors from Between the Stars (https://impioussaint.itch.io/forbidden-psalm-endless-horrors-from-between-the-stars) and piled them on the table. Huge thanks to the DotD crew, especially @holyfirethem, landlines, and Razor Ramon’s Toothpick for setting everything up!
Now that we’ve swapped, we have a month to paint before the May Game Day. Time to get out that paintbrush.
The Exchange
Wrapped cults and gamer fuel were deposited on the table, and the exchange began!
You could open a new warband or steal an already opened warband. You could then steal from someone else, but you couldn’t re-steal the same warband back. And at the end the first picker got to steal one last time.
Things got heated as each warband seemed more awesome than the last. People really outdid themselves with packaging, including art, fluff, and cool background stuff! Warbands traversed back and forth, feelings were hurt, and friendships forever shattered. Just what you want from a white elephant.
Then the dust settled, with everyone’s new warbands selected!
The Bashes
Everyone’s stuff was incredible- all very unique and themed around the cult of a crazy god (FP:EHBS has quick tables to roll things up) and somehow things were extremely cohesive but totally unique. Don’t know how everyone did it. The production values were high too! I guess that’s what happens when you get a rad community going- a rising tide lifts all boats and suddenly everyone is churning out amazing stuff. Damn. Anywho, Landlines got some great pics of all the warbands, and has allowed me to put them up here (thanks dude)!
All the cults assembled! Too cool.
First I’ll get mine out of the way- Jason got to take these home to paint, and I have WIP photos below!
Next up is the mighty Ardite! These cultists are super rad- I particularly love the avatar made out of hot glue and old metal dragons. I GET TO PAINT THIS ONE AND IT CAME HOME WITH ME AND LIVES WITH MY OTHER MINIS NOW. If you can’t tell, I’m excited!
Jason did some great work with the Frostgrave Cultists box, getting something perfectly culty, who will also be great Mordheim Witch Hunters
Deadchannelstatic bashed these weirdos from every part imaginable- I love the claws and mutations!
@sleepykamistudios phoned in remotely and mailed a warband in! These incredible cultists had a super smooth finish and a ton of claws and tentacles! And they survived the journey.
Pyrautomata made these incredible skaven-headed weirdos. Such an iconic look with the head swap.
@holyfirethem made this incredible cult. While the conversions are amazing, this is probably the boldest zenithal scheme I’ve ever seen! True bravery.
Razor Ramon’s Toothpick made these super cool medieval mushroom dudes, all with custom mushroom names. I hear they’re fun-guys! The puns got out of control at the event.
TheMightyEl made this super cool cult – the bashing was top notch (everything beautifully integrated) but the Zenithal is super smooth and it really makes me want to fix my airbrush (and learn how to use it). Amazing stuff. Also came with dice and a custom lore journal.
And finally, landlines made this amazing puppet cult. Everything I love in a landlines gang- strong hook, tightly integrated theme, and imaginative use of bits.
This was sooooo much fun to see these all come together and it’s just the beginning- now we get to see what the new owners do to finish them up and create a truly collaborative piece. And we’ll play some games too. I heard there is a trophy. For best warband? For worst warband? For the human who needs cheering up? Who knows!? Only the endless horrors can tell.
The Cult of the Inexorable Mind of Metal and Wheels Who Wants to Evolve Mankind
So I was hoping to participate, but with Adepticon last weekend time was crunched. So I did this as a little palette cleanser the week after Adepticon, just before and after work. It’s been great seeing a lot of people in this community work over the years as it’s made this kind of bash-quick-and-move-on exercise fun (mostly) instead of stressful and bad.
I had no idea what the rules were, I just wanted to do something based around a machine god using a bag of pocketwatch parts and hardware from the garage.
The avatar was built out of foam, plasticard, and hardware bits. The other models were mixes of hardware, paper, coins, watch bits, and GW parts.
Can’t wait to see what everyone does to finish these up! Game day will be supercool I’m sure. Thanks again to all the folks who participated- this was awesome!
-BS
It was a ton of fun!!
Whst a great write up. Thanks for all the pics and coverage.
I’m really looking forward to part two.