Euro Militaire Roadtrip and Man Flu!

Soooooo last week was a complete write off for me.. and most of it is due to that scary looking guy in the photo above.. no not me on the right, but the other scary looking guy to the left! And I thought this photo would be fitting considering that it is reflects most of our beverages ( quantity if not quality ) during our trip!


And the man flu that hit afterwards had nothing to do with it apparently!

But yeah.. Road Trip with Burak "Da Dude from Izmir" Something-or-another-last-name.

He took a plane to come and see me ( and the convention ) in UK for a week! Dude.. I thought I was the only one that crazy to fly to an event! But yeah he did it ( and the photo above is potentially the plane he came on.. though I don't see anyone screaming and running away from him in horror... ).

And of course he is not here even 6 hrs, and already has a beer in his hand. And a Hobgoblin one at that! Oh! How the dwarfs would shriek at him back home for this!

But it was a quick rest ( a day out in London for him ) before we set off to Folkstone! And the why? Well to compete and see all the entries of the UK's painting competition under the name of Euro Militaire!

Time to get this party started here.. and no the car was not moving while I had the cell out! If nothing else, my recent spat with the UK driving theory tests have proven that to me! But it did hold the address, and this would be put into the all fallible GPS system that would cause us no end of troubles as we drive to the end destination!

And the hotel that can only be described as the place where seniors go to pass away. Seriously.. I think most of the people visiting here ( aside from us ) had been here when it was originally opened way back in the time where everything was written on walls. Ancient, old, and gritty come to mind while looking at this place. Not surprised that we got a "deal" for staying there. Ugh.. need to re-investigate better places for next year!

At least the views from the place were decent..

Um.. yeah.. Ok then. Not the best views either.. at least not when the fog is rolling in, and the tide is out. Which was a majority of our trip actually! Though it would burn off near the afternoon and return only in time for when we came out of the pubs!

At least there is cool art to inspire us before the big event.. right? Seriously.. what the frak are these supposed to be? Aside from good references for rust and bamboo..

Oh well. Onwards to the show.. or at least to figure out where we need to go.. and our trusty GPS settings on our cell phones would lead us on quite a journey before having to resort to Facebook to find the entrance!

I mean.. we found it.. but how the heck do we get in? We contemplated asking the guy camping out under the balcony there.. but he didn't see up to answering too many questions...

Eventually we would find our way to the door.. just we didn't know it was the side door... :D Whoops.. But we were in.. which apparently we may or may not have been allowed actually.. but this photo above was a shot of us on the balcony from the other photo ( but this time on it ) looking out ot France. Which.. obviously.. you can't see cause France is a myth. Right?

While in though, I have to admit.. I had a bit of a mini-heart attack.

It has nothing to do with Tony's scratch built piece that has been around and worked on for 19 yrs.. no it was due to the fact that our convention tickets. The ones that I pre-ordered. The ones that I placed on my shelf for safe keeping. The ones sitting on the shelf above my model transport case so that I would remember them. Were still sitting there! And so we would be without tickets! Insert heart attack and mass panic now..

Thankfully.. Tony is not just a great modeller, but is also one of the coordinators of the show! And he knows all the big names like the other coordinators that would eventually hook us up with replacement tickets ( after I made them see that I had a receipt.. they believed me without it, but damn if I was going to take something without showing proof! ). Though.. the tickets they gave us were not the advance order, get in before the buyers of tickets tickets... no. He didn't have any of those.. instead we got the Club Member tickets allowing us to enter well before the rest, alongside the traders and club event members! Booyah!

This was pretty awesome for us as it allowed us to get in, get our models entered, and then go and stalk out the traders for some of the event only pieces! Like the Origen Arts newest release.. and pick up a "few" :D

And also the early start on the traders allowed us to scope out some of the bargin bins to pick up some nice extras at a bit of a discount! Such as the JMD pieces in the bottom left corner. But mostly it allowed me to pick up the busts for Massive Voodoo crew in the plastic bag ( which I will need them to remind me to pack for SMC! ). But the above made for a nice haul on the first day... second day pieces and purchases are hidden to protect the innocent ( aka me ) from those who might wish to do me harm ( aka the Mrs ). Just saying :)

The event itself I will put into a separate post here, but suffice it to say it was a good one. Lots of great chats, many good drinks, a piss poor sleep in the hotel that would double as a horror film setting, and a decent drive up to Nottingham to visit a few other locals.

Such as..

Yeah.. a quick behind the scenes tour of their facilities.. and getting to chat to some of the guys doing a lot of the heavy lifting ( literally ) that allow us to have some of our armies for Bolt Action.

Oh and this other place as well..

Where the beer was cold ( though we didn't drink too much ) and the prices were normal ( for someone in the UK living in a nice area with a posh pub around ;) ).

Unfortunately, we didn't check about the Miniature Museum, and the fact that it was closed for renovations at the time we showed up. :( But at least we could pick up a few things from the main store ( Forgeworld! ) and also have a look around the place. Plus add +1 ( or several ) to Burak's hatred from others back home in Turkey :)

Heck.. even I got into the mood and did a few poses while there with some of the bigger pieces..

Though this got old quick for me.. and considering that we had quite a drive to go still I was not feeling up to being the most photogenic near the end. Just saying..

But the trip was pretty cool.. and we did see some great pieces all around. Both at Folkstone at even at Nottingham ( though less in the latter than the former ).

Was a great trip.. really happy to see Burak once more.. and looking forward to our next adventures!

Even if he creeps me out at times... :D

Next up.. the competition and entries at the event!