I don’t remember the last time I was so amped up after a show. Lock & Load GameFest 2012 has been over for several days now, and I am still totally excited from a long weekend of games, sneak peeks, and seminars.

There’s nothing as inspiring to me as the sight of fully painted armies throwing down on beautifully sculpted terrain, and Lock & Load was not lacking! There’s a natural storytelling that occurs in games like these where both players are fully immersed in the world of the Iron Kingdoms as they marshal their troops and warjacks upon a fully realized battlefield.

Of course, it’s just as inspiring to see the incredible artistic talents of so many hobbyists on the table. You couldn’t turn your head in the gaming hall without seeing a jaw-droppingly rad army.

Naturally, our painting competition had some incredible entries. I don’t want to spoil No Quarter’s coverage of the competition, but here’s a look at one of my personal favorite entries.

I myself couldn’t resist the lure of painting a new army just for Lock & Load. Scoring a Stormwall and Artificer General Nemo & Caitlin Fynch before the rest of the world was big incentive to paint 50 points of Cygnar. I’ve always been a fan of the Fort Falk colors first introduced back in the days of WARMACHINE: Escalation, so I took the opportunity to use it for my paint scheme. I was so busy this weekend working with our dedicated fansites and podcasters to help get them staff interviews and other coverage of Lock & Load that I only got in two games with my new list. However, I want to thank both Julie Brinker and Cristofer Sarale for being great opponents!

I’m going to blog a little more about this army in the future, but for now, here’s a couple of shots of what I’ve been working on.

We’re also filling out a gallery of photos from Lock & Load 2012 on our Facebook. If you were there and took an awesome picture of models, tables, events, or players having a great time, we’d love to see them, and they might even be featured in our galleries. You can submit photos to simon@privateerpress.com

Until next time, what was your favorite part of Lock & Load 2012?