NOCF at GenCon

Over the past couple of months we've been inundating the blog with posts about the two 40K armies that we are raffling off this year. Soon we'll have a few more featuring the Flames Of War army we are now selling tickets for (painted by Steve McCuen) and the Malifaux crews we will have up on the site very soon (painted by Wes Cogdal of Stiff Neck Studios).

Anyway, if you have any questions about any of these armies, or the mission of the NOVA Open Charitable Foundation, I (Dave Taylor) will be at GenCon this weekend - I'm the one on the right in the photo below. Feel free to hit me up and ask your questions. I'll be more than happy to answer them!

Cheers
Dave Taylor
NOCF VP

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5:00 AM

2015 Charity Raffles

Battle for the Craftworld - Sons Of Orar - Heavy Support One

Each year that I've been involved in creating an army (or two) and then auctioning it off for charity, there have been a few others right there alongside me. One of those perennial troopers in Justin 'misterjustin' McCoy from Secret Weapon Miniatures. The first year Justin supplied us with resin bases, and each year since then he has supplied us with bases AND contributed a unit to the cause. This year he has upped the ante by making it two units - these two Predator tanks - ready to lay down some impressive firepower.

The first Predator (shown below) is set up with fixed weaponry, in the Destructor configuration: a turret-mounted autocannon and two sponson-mounted heavy bolters.

The second Predator (shown below), has been set up with magnets for swapping out your weaponry, giving it the opportunity for a bit more punch against an opponent's heavy armor.

This first trio of photos are of the Destructor set-up.

These next three photos are the same tank, but now in the Annihilator configuration: turret-mounted twin-linked lascannons and two sponson-mounted lascannons.

And of course, if you want to run a cheap Predator you don't need to add sponson weapons at all. Justin has provided the side doors too : )

Thanks to Justin for his support of this wonderful project!

And our thanks to our sponsors who contributed to this project. 
Please support them, so that they can continue to support us!

• Atlantis Games & Comics • Element Games • Secret Weapon Miniatures • KR Multicase

Cheers

Dave Taylor

NOCF VP

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1:34 PM

2015 Charity Raffles, Sons Of Orar, Space Marines

Battle for the Craftworld - Spotlight on our Sponsors (part 2)

We are lucky to have some fantastic sponsors here at the NOVA Open Charitable Foundation. Each year they provide things like the models that make up the armies, the bases these models stand on, and even the cases the models are shipped to the winners in! 

Secret Weapon Miniatures have been with us from the start, even with the "raffling off an army for charity" idea going all the way back to The Storm Wardens project of 2010! This year misterjustin and his crew supplied us with all the bases for both armies. To represent the Sons Of Orar attacking the Alaitoc Eldar Craftworld, we chose to use the Alien Temple range, with it's sweeping curves and pointy edges!

Our last (and by no means least) major sponsor is KR Multicase. The team at KR have also sponsored us for the last couple of years, and it is thanks to them that we can confidently claim to send the winners their armies anywhere in the world. Our armies have made it safely all the way to Tasmania, Australia - half a world away! This year KR are busy cutting custom foam for both the Space Marines and Eldar, as well as a few more surprises coming your way : )

Don't forget to buy your tickets HERE today and share this information about our excellent sponsors with your friends.

Cheers
Dave Taylor
NOCF VP

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1:40 PM

2015 Charity Raffles, Sponsors

Battle for the Craftworld - Alaitoc Eldar - Fast Attack

Moving swiftly along (see what I did there?) we come to the incredibly speedy component of our Alaitoc Eldar.

Ken Webb was tasked with painting up Baharroth, the Swooping Hawk Phoenix Lord, and the squad of Swooping Hawks. Ken has chosen a very unique color scheme for these Eldar, who bring swift death from above. At the start of the project there was a bit of grumbling from Ken about the Finecast Baharroth he was sent, so he did a little digging around and found a metal model and decided to lighten it a touch by switching out the metal wings for these plastic, feathered wings from a Dark Eldar Scourge. Pinning him to a 32mm base (instead of his supplied 25mm base) meant that despite his heft, he'd want to remain upright on the battlefield.

As mentioned above, Ken Webb also painted the Swooping Hawks and Exarch. He flipped the purple and orange scheme found on Baharroth, and presented another beautifully painted and thoroughly unique unit!

And rounding out this post of swift things are these Eldar Jetbikes, painted by Max Dubois. In the early stages of this project, GW released the latest Codex: Eldar, and with it a new sculpt for the jetbikes. Brian Ballard (Eldar team lead) and Max decided to set aside the older bikes and upgrade Max's contribution to the latest models. We think it was a pretty good call : )

The two squads of three bikes have canopy stripes to mark them out on the battlefield. Of course, nothing is stopping the winner from fielding them together as a larger unit too.

So, if you like these, please head to the NOVA Open Charitable Foundation website and purchase your tickets for the Alaitoc Eldar army!

Thanks to Ken and Max for their support of this wonderful project!

And our thanks to our sponsors who contributed to this project. 
Please support them, so that they can continue to support us!

• Atlantis Games & Comics • Element Games • Secret Weapon Miniatures • KR Multicase

Cheers

Dave Taylor

NOCF VP

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1:07 PM

2015 Charity Raffles, Alaitoc, Eldar

Battle for the Craftworld - Sons Of Orar - Fast Attack

Even though this is the first year that Joe Johnson has painted models for this project, it certainly isn't his first crack at painting. Joe has been winning Best Army awards at tournaments for over a decade now, and his award-winning armies would be instantly recognizable to many. For the Sons Of Orar Assault Marines, Joe eschewed his signature bright palette and painted these sombre red Space Marines. His style still shines through and creates a great hand-to-hand unit for the attacking Adeptus Astartes force.

Thanks to Joe for his support of this wonderful project!

And our thanks to our sponsors who contributed to this project. 
Please support them, so that they can continue to support us!

• Atlantis Games & Comics • Element Games • Secret Weapon Miniatures • KR Multicase

Cheers

Dave Taylor

NOCF VP

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5:06 AM

2015 Charity Raffles, Sons Of Orar, Space Marines

Battle for the Craftworld - Alaitoc Eldar - Aspect Warriors One

Sales are humming along nicely for the Battle for the Craftworld armies, although I think the Sons Of Orar are just marginally ahead. So, if you've been sitting on the fence, hopefully this post will give you a nudge towards the Alaitoc Eldar ; )

Included in the massive army are these excellent Striking Scorpion Aspect Warriors. The Scorpions have always been my favorites, ever since I saw the Jes Goodwin design sketches in a White Dwarf back in 1991 (may have been even earlier). This squad of elite Eldar were painted up for the NOCF by Neil Szabo.

Neil (also known in some circles as Magneto) has provided both options for the Exarch: either the claw and sword, or the massive, two-handed chainsword. Impressive, most impressive.

And our other squad for today's post comes from self-confessed Blood Angel addict Chris "Jawaballs" Dubuque. These Fire Dragons are, I believe, the first Eldar that Chris has painted, and he has certainly done a spectacular job. This squad pops on the tabletop, and will certainly "pop" a few tanks if they can get into the enemy backfield!

Thanks to Neil and Chris for their continued support of this wonderful project!

And our thanks to our sponsors who contributed to this project. 
Please support them, so that they can continue to support us!

• Atlantis Games & Comics • Element Games • Secret Weapon Miniatures • KR Multicase

Cheers

Dave Taylor

NOCF VP

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1:55 PM

2015 Charity Raffles, Alaitoc, Eldar

Battle for the Craftworld - Spotlight on our Sponsors

We are lucky to have some fantastic sponsors here at the NOVA Open Charitable Foundation. Each year they provide things like the models that make up the armies, the bases these models stand on, and even the cases the models are shipped to the winners in!

This year, our miniatures for the Battle for the Craftworld were provided two generous donors. First up where the team from Atlantis Games & Comics. Atlanitis have two great store locations in south eastern Virginia (USA) - one in Norfolk, and the other in Portsmouth - serving the fine folk of the area, many of whom serve in or provide services for the US Navy (Go Navy!).

This year the Atlantis crew provided ALL the miniatures for our Sons Of Orar Space Marines, and some of the harder to track down miniatures for our Alaitoc Eldar army.

A new sponsor who joins us this year is the team from Element Games in Stockport, UK. It is great to see a business from (not quite) the other side of the world acknowledge the good work our Artist Consortium are doing and put their own support behind us. The Element Games team provided us with the bulk of the Alaitoc Eldar army miniatures.

Element Games have a fantastic store in the North West Gaming Center, and also distribute many different ranges of miniatures (including Warmachine and Hordes, X-Wing and Relic Knights, Malifaux and Infinity. Element Games are also closely associated with the Steamforged Games crew, who make the very cool Guild Ball!

If you are in the UK, we highly recommend you check out their facility in Stockport (near Manchester), and also check out their excellent online offering.

Don't forget to buy your tickets HERE today and share this information about our excellent sponsors with your friends.

Cheers
Dave Taylor
NOCF VP

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9:03 AM

2015 Charity Raffles, Alaitoc, Eldar, Sons Of Orar, Space Marines, Sponsors

Battle for the Craftworld - Sons Of Orar - Troops Two

Following on from the Eldar Troops choices in our last post, here are the other two Troops choices for the Sons Of Orar Space Marines.

The first squad we have here has a slightly darker cast to their red armor, and some lovely chipping/weathering effects, all from the hands of Texas-resident Will Thornton. These marines are a great example of some moody and carefully considered paint jobs. The sergeant is equipped with a combi-bolter/grav-gun and a power sword, ready to cleave his Eldar foe with ease.

While the special weapons trooper is equipped with a grav-gun, obviously the weapon of choice for our Space Marines this summer : )

The third and final Tactical squad for the army comes from A.J. Taflan (from Montana). His red is a little brighter than Will's, and his weathering/chipping is just as impressive.

The sergeant is armed (thanks to magnets) with a combi-weapon or bolt pistol and either a power sword or power first.

And the pointing special weapons trooper has the options for a meltagun, flamer, grav-gun, or plasma gun.

I think you'll agree that, combined with Neil's first Tactical squad, these make for a solid core for the Sons Of Orar.

Thanks to Will and AJ for their continued support of this wonderful project!

And our thanks to our sponsors who contributed to this project. 
Please support them, so that they can continue to support us!

• Atlantis Games & Comics • Element Games • Secret Weapon Miniatures • KR Multicase

Cheers

Dave Taylor

NOCF VP

Read More →

7:14 AM

2015 Charity Raffles, Sons Of Orar, Space Marines