Armies on parade boards - how are you making them?

[gideon stargreave]

So with just over a month to go before armies on parade, I’m planning my display. Only nowadays GW don’t make convenient realms of battle boards, so what is everyone doing for theirs?

[Brother Tyler]

Disclaimer: I'm not working on an Armies on Parade entry this year. I have one in the works (2' x 2'), and it involves some basic terrain with some other fancy stuff (that I don't want to get into since that's not finalized). I'd like to have my entry ready for next year (fingers crossed), but as always, that depends on having sufficient free time.

 

As an alternative to a 2' x 2' display board, you can use a 22" x 30" board - the same size as the various gaming boards that GW sells. A minimum (but certainly acceptable) level of effort would simply involve using one of GW's 22" x 30" boards (and those sold for Age of Sigmar are perfectly acceptable for armies from the Warhammer 40,000 setting), perhaps with a few terrain pieces here and there.

 

If you look at the Warhammer Community article showing the awards ceremony for 2022 (link), you'll see display boards ranging from relatively simple to very complex. While I have a great deal of respect for those that create awesome display boards, I prefer to focus on the army. My personal preference is that the display board shouldn't outshine the army. And then there's the logistics of it all - you have to transport your army on parade, display board and all, and set it up in a venue. I always worry that a too-fancy display board is at greater risk of being damaged/destroyed en route. There's no denying the craftsmanship that some hobbyists put into their display boards, though, and that is always deserving of respect.

[FashaTheDog]

You can always build upwards.  The famous Cult of Charlie Sheen team display from Adepticon years ago did that with amazing winning results.  GW's current terrain line does make tall displays a bit tougher to do, but hitting up a model train store can aid there.  From the gambit of display boards I have seen over the years, a well designed board crafted to tell a story or capture a snapshot in time of your army can make the army being displayed into something more than it alone on a grassy knoll.  That said, I do agree that in nearly all cases the display should not make the army look out of place and inferior to what they are placed on.