Robert Jones returns to Dallas Open with new Red Corsairs photos

The Dallas finish is where the hobby story gets real

Robert Jones’s Part 22 of *Road Through 2026* is the kind of event recap painters actually use. It picks up after the first Dallas GW Open installment and runs through the rest of the games, but the useful bit is right there in the promise: new photos of his Red Corsairs. Once an army has been to a three-day event, hauled through a venue, and photographed again at the end, you get a truer read on what the paint job really does on the table.

What the event looked like from the hobby floor

The Dallas Warhammer Open ran May 22-24, 2026 at Esports Stadium Arlington in Arlington, Texas, and it was not just a 40k grind. Warhammer 40,000, Warhammer Age of Sigmar, and Kill Team all had a place in the weekend, while Warhammer Community framed the Open Series as a three-day celebration of epic battles, beautiful armies, awesome hobby experiences, and community. Dallas also folded in narrative events, hobby challenges, painting workshops, and the travelling Warhammer store, which is exactly the sort of mix that makes the floor feel like a hobby event instead of a pure results sheet.

For the 40k crowd, the structure mattered. Best Coast Pairings listed the Warhammer 40,000 GT as an eight-round, three-day tournament for up to 300 players, with two Golden Tickets on the line, one for Best General and one for Best Overall. That kind of pressure changes how armies are presented: you are not just trying to win games, you are trying to survive close inspection from judges, opponents, and everyone else wandering past the tables.

Why the new Red Corsairs photos matter

Jones saying he includes new Red Corsairs photos is not a throwaway line. The Red Corsairs have fresh official momentum in 2026, with Warhammer Community identifying Huron Blackheart as the Master of the Red Corsairs, pirate lord of the Maelstrom, and Tyrant of Badab, then later tying the faction to new Combat Patrol support. Add in Huron Blackheart’s new miniature, and the army suddenly sits in the middle of a very current Chaos Space Marine conversation.

That gives the updated photos real value for painters. You get a look at how a Red Corsairs force reads after more work and more time at the event, not just in a studio shot but in the same environment where the army is expected to perform. The weekend context matters because transport, venue lighting, and long game days all expose the weak spots in a paint scheme faster than a shelf ever will.

The practical takeaways for your own army

The strongest lesson from a diary like this is that tournament-ready painting is about clarity under imperfect conditions. A force that looks great only in ideal light is wasting effort; a force that still sells its red, trim, and chaos-pirate attitude after a weekend away is doing the job. Jones’s Red Corsairs update points to a simple standard: your army should look finished from a few feet away, hold together after the carry case, and still photograph cleanly when the event is winding down.

A few habits make that easier:

• Build the army around a strong, repeatable color story, then spend your effort on the focal models.
• Use consistent basing so the whole force reads as one collection even when individual units vary.
• Test the army under event-style light before you leave home, because the table will not flatter weak contrast.
• Keep transport in mind when you finish the models, since chipped edges and loose bits become painfully obvious after a weekend on the road.

That is why the combination of games, venue, and updated photos lands so well. The article is not selling a new kit or pretending a single display board wins the weekend. It shows a lived-in army at the end of a real event, and that is often where the best painting ideas come from.

A hobby diary that doubles as a benchmark

Part 22 of *Road Through 2026* works because it treats the Dallas Open as both a competition and a checkpoint in Jones’s ongoing hobby year. The relaxed morning start, the return trip to the venue, and the rest of the games all underline the same point: a project like Red Corsairs only feels complete when it has been played, carried, and seen in the wild. That is the part painters can steal from the weekend, because the best armies do not just win rounds. They still look convincing when the last dice are packed away and the camera comes back out.