Looking back, the 2014 Dakka Awards!

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**Kid_Kyoto**

Well as the remaining days in 2014 dwindle to the single digits it's a good time to look back a the highs and lows of this year which saw the release of such products as Codex: Buy More Terrain, Codex: @#$% Balance, Codex: Baby Titans, Codex: Stormicus Trooperus, Codex: Imperialis Guarianorians, Codex: Buy a New Edition-Buy it NOW Fanboy!, Codex: Grey Space Marines, Codex: Orks who are actually kind of cool and not very mockworthy, Codex: Elfs Who Are Dark and Also in Space and Kind of Into Bondage But in a PG-13 Sort of Way and the long-awaited Codex: Red Space Marines which forever changed what we think of Space Marines who are painted Red.

For Fantasy we had the End Times, End Times 2 - The Ending, and End Times 3 - We really Mean it.

While for the Hobbit we had uh... a PDF. And a $600 dragon.

Meanwhile there was the long-awaited Kick Starter that finally delivered. And the other long-awaited kickstarter that finally delivered. And the other other long-awaited kickstarter that finally delivered.

And of course the Perry's and Reaper continued to put out awesome stuff to little or no fanfare.

So lets look back at the highs and lows of 2014 by presenting our nominees for the Dakka Awards.

The categories this year are:

Best Plastic Infantry

Best Plastic Vehicle/Large Monster

Best Metal/Resin Model

Worst model

Best rule release

Best fluff release

Worst rule or fluff

Best business move

Worst business move

Greatest Wish for 2015

Greatest Fear for 2015

(Insert category here)

**H.B.M.C.**

So do we nominate... or are you still writing your post?

**Fireraven**

I'm still trying to figure out if he was joking or if it was for real. With all the seemingly love for GW by moching there codex names.

**Avatar 720**

KK never jokes. In fact, I can't say I've ever met a man more serious.

I'd like to suggest the categories of 'Best Site Admins' and 'Best Kiss-ass', for which I'd like to nominate both legoburner and Yakface, and also myself, respectively.

**TheCustomLime**

If you're open to submissions....

Greatest Wish for 2015:
New Codex and models for Sisters of Battle.

Greatest Fear for 2015:
New Codex and models for Sisters of Battle.

**H.B.M.C.**

TheCustomLime wrote:
If you're open to submissions....

Greatest Wish for 2015:
New Codex and models for Sisters of Battle.

Greatest Fear for 2015:
New Codex and modems for Sisters of Battle.

I think you just won the thread. I doubt anyone can top that.

**Avatar 720**

TheCustomLime wrote:
If you're open to submissions....

Greatest Wish for 2015:
New Codex and models for Sisters of Battle.

Greatest Fear for 2015:
New Codex and models for Sisters of Battle.

Complete with new fluff about a Living Saint who carves her phone number into Fulgrim's willy, and a convent of battle sisters who bathe in the smegma of Grey Knights as protection against daemons.

**Pacific**

H.B.M.C. wrote:
So do we nominate... or are you still writing your post?

You're just waiting for KK to add a 'best tiles' category?

**BrookM**

Best new resin model: Victoria Lamb's female Arcadians

**H.B.M.C.**

Pacific wrote:
You're just waiting for KK to add a 'best tiles' category?

They're all best tiles.

Except Sedition Wars...

**Smacks**

For best business move, and rules release I'm going to nominate Infinity for Operation Icestorm and N3.

**Kid_Kyoto**

H.B.M.C. wrote:
So do we nominate... or are you still writing your post?

Well since there's no actual judging, voting or prizes please feel free to nominate early and often. It's more a tool for looking back at the year that was.

**Do_I_Not_Like_That**

I'd like to add a quote of the year category.

I nominate this:

"Our crops will wither, our children will die piteous
deaths and the sun will be swept from the sky. But is it true?" - Tom Kirby, CEO, Games Workshop Ltd

I know I've posted it a few times, but I still cannot believe that a CEO would ever say something like that.

Come to think of it, I can't even remember which month it was said in.

**Chute82**

My nomination for the worst model of 2014 goes to...

http://www.games-workshop.com/en-US/Logan-Grimnar-on-Stormrider

**BrookM**

Best plastic vehicle:

**melkorthetonedeaf**

Brooke: everyone knows there are no women in the grimdark future.

**Paradigm**

Best Plastic Infantry:
Tough call to make as I honestly haven't bought much recent plastic this year, but if the new BA Tactical Squad is on par with the generic SM Tacticals then that's probably the winnner in my book. Honourable mention to the sublime Space Hulk Terminators, but they're not technically 2014 sculpts.

Best Plastic Vehicle/Large Monster:
Just for the sheer variety of awesome things I've seen done with them, Imperial Knights. I'll take my Dreamforge Crusader over one any day, but I have seen so much creativity and no two have looked alike. It's hard to think of anything else that has been so frequently displayed and different every time. I also really like the new Logan and chariot, haters be damned.

Best Metal/Resin Model:
Reverend Healer from Operation Icestorm. Great model, amazing detailling and so much fun to paint. Close second and third would be the Father Knight and at-easy Fusilier from the same set.

Worst model:
I'm not a huge fan of the new Lord Commissar, especially compared to the awesomeness of the old one. I've seen some good stuff done with it, but not anything that makes me like the model aesthetically.

Best rule release:
Probably Infinity N3, as it makes an already great game even better by all accounts. This year also saw the full release of Deadzone at retail, so that gets a vote too.

Best fluff release:
End Times: Nagash shook up the WFB fluff and changed the whole feel of the setting; it's something I'd love to see as an LotR-budget movie, it's that epic and so much happened.

Worst rule or fluff:
Tough one, I can't think of any real disasters, but I'm still convinced 40k didn't need a 7th edition. While I like and use the new opennes to list building, I would have happily continued with 6th and not complained.

Best business move:
I woiuld nominate the free release of Infinity N3 online by Corvus Belli; while it wasn't anything they didn't do before, it was still a neat gesture.

Worst business move:
Oddly enough, not GW. Yes, they're still incompetent, but that's nothing new. I'm actually going to say Corvus Belli underestimating demand for Operation Icestorm wasn't the best move, and despite them eventually rectifying it, I do wonder how the delays impacted enthusiasm for the game.

Greatest Wish for 2015:
The new Star Wars film leading to someone (preferably not GW) getting the licence to produce hard plastic, multi-part 28mm SW minis. A guy can dream. Perhaps more realistically, a proper Sisters of Battle release. In terms of things that might actually happen, Dreamforge releasing their female troopers so I can at least emulate that last one.

Greatest Fear for 2015:
The absolute death of the Hobbit/LotR lines from GW. One of their greatest games, and it'll be a shame to see it go.

Overall Product of the Year:
Going to go with Infinity: Operation Icestorm. Great minis, awesome terrain and a neat ruleset even without the full rules.

**Flashman**

Best plastic infantry (and why I wish GW would focus more on updating their infantry lines)...

**Pacific**

I will give it a shot!

Best Plastic Infantry
Perry's War of the Roses foot knights, wonderful sculpts, great options, reasonably priced. Actually probably one of the best kits I have ever seen
https://www.perry-miniatures.com/product_info.php?cPath=22_62&products_id=3148&osCsid=lf48bb1ec5i5dnbq90eo1o5hq6

Spoiler:

Best Plastic Vehicle/Large Monster
Not sure about this one as haven't bought any! Had a look at the new Rubicon 28mm plastic tank kits and they looked really nice.

Best Metal/Resin Model
Hmm.. toss up between the Kingdom Death Flower Knight (is that 2014?) and the CB Kum Biker

Spoiler:

Worst model
I'm loathe to nominate something for this, because I think these days there aren't really anything like the technically bad sculpts there used to be, at least amongst the bigger companies, and because so much of it is subjective. If it's in terms of poor concept, I would probably say that GW Warhammer High Elf eagle chariot thing, just because the moment you see it you just think "nope, they would be whip-lashed off the back of that chariot instantly". Which seems a ridiculous thing to say about a fantasy-themed miniature, but it shows that there are still lines in the sand that mustn't be crossed in terms of suspension of disbelief.

Best rule release
Infinity N3, big improvement on an already good 2nd edition in terms of content, layout, style, everything.

Best fluff release
Enjoyed reading the background to Deadzone, it was very well written.

Worst rule or fluff
Dreadball league rules/campaign system for scoring (not sure if this is technically 2014 though) - absolutely love Dreadball, fantastic rule system and great fun, but the league rules suck simply because they give as much emphasis and reward to injuring and killing players as they do the score in the game. Is this meant to be deadzone, or a sports game?

Best business move
CB bringing the Infinity N3 rules to free download almost immediately upon release of the printed book.
Warlord Games focusing on Bolt Action through the year, I think they have hit the motherload with that game.
Mass sales on Battlefront books for FoW

Worst business move
This one is practically written for you. Take your pick of GW closing social media off, attacking lawsuits against small-fry businesses, releasing a new version of 40k practically on top of the previous one, move to making everything direct sale etc. etc.

Greatest Wish for 2015
Infinity to take the step up to the 'big league' and truly become saturated in the market. It's an outstanding game, written by enthusiastic people who are really working hard to make it succeed. It deserves it.

The wargaming industry in general continuing to grow, perhaps some new stores opening in the UK after a hard couple of years have seen several close down.

Greatest Fear for 2015
Big financial recession that puts the squeeze on some of the games that are just starting to reach critical mass, and really the wargaming industry in general.

How about a 'Dakkanaught of the year' as a category also?

**DaKKaLAnce**

TheCustomLime wrote:
If you're open to submissions....

Greatest Wish for 2015:
New Codex and models for Sisters of Battle.

Greatest Fear for 2015:
New Codex and models for Sisters of Battle.

This will be exalted

**Alex Kolodotschko**

Best Plastic Infantry
Tempestus Scions

Best Plastic Vehicle/Large Monster
Imperial Knight

Worst model
AM Taurox

Best rule release
Tyranid- Add on units /rules in WD. More please

Greatest Wish for 2015
More time to game/paint

Greatest Fear for 2015
There won't be enough time.

**techsoldaten**

Worst Business Move

Blue Table Painting's Decision not to offer tenebre a full refund.

http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/0/618082.page

**Ustrello**

Best Plastic Infantry

Scions

Best Plastic Vehicle/Large Monster

Imperial knight

Worst business move

Blue table painting's response to the chaos dwarf debacle

Greatest Wish for 2015

A good new rule edition for warhammer fantasy

Greatest Fear for 2015

Warhammer 40k 8th edition

**rigeld2**

techsoldaten wrote:
Worst Business Move

Blue Table Painting's Decision not to offer tenebre a full refund.

http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/0/618082.page

Agreed.

**Ustrello**

Best Metal/Resin Model

Forgot this one, but I am torn between the cerastus knight line and the primarchs, so I will have to go with the Archeron and Konrad Curze in a tie.

**RiTides**

Best fluff release seems to be the End Times, if it wasn't for the price! Everyone I've spoken to who has read them loves the advancement of the storyline.

Gives me some hope for 9th edition fantasy... although it's a long hope

. I guess that's my greatest (gaming-related) wish for 2015, then!

**JohnHwangDD**

I'm not super active, but this is what I see:

Best Plastic Infantry - Palladium Robotech RPG Tactics Valkyries - excellent detail and proportion in 6mm scale

Worst model - CMoN Guillotine Games Zombicide Season 2: Prison Outbreak Runners with giant posts to their raised knees.

Worst rule or fluff - Games Workshop Warhammer 40,000 7th Edition - kept all of the annoying fiddly bits like "closest first" wound allocation

Best business move - Soda Pop Miniatures Kickstarting Super Dungeon Explore : Forgotten King to great success!

Worst business move - Blue Table Painting screwing over tenebre by delivering fraudlently sub-standard painting services for the premium price paid.

Greatest Wish for 2015 - Kingdom Death : Monster to finally release!

**ClockworkChaos**

Worst Business Decision- Blue Table Painting's decision not to offer tenebre a full refund. Really almost anything Blue Table Painting does but that is the highlight.

Best Metal Model- Anything Infinity but if I had to choose, hmm Dog Warriors of Ariadna?

**Chute82**

Worst Business Decision on 2014-- Blue Table Painting not offering a full refund to Tenebre

**Thamor**

Worst Business Decision -- Blue Table Painting totally screwing over tenebre.

Best Plastic Vehicle/Large Monster -- Imperial knight