Oldhammer Weekend 2025

 

The summer sunshine was out in support of the annual BOYL even held at the Wargames Foundry today. Stuart had suggested a trip on a whim a few days back and we drove down not really knowing what to expect. My last event was 2018 so it had been a very long time since I last walked through this famous arch. I am very glad I did.

My teeth declined fairly soon after my last post and I ended up back in the dentist's chair. Dry socket and an infection where the wisdom tooth was removed. As you can imagine, I didn't have the will nor the want to get on with my 'Summer of Citadel' after that so this trip was a welcome distraction. 

Just like I remembered there was a small selection of event figures available. Lots of ex-Citadel figures including some nice unreleased Bretonnian models from the 1991/2 era. Some well sculpted and characterful spearmen found their way into my shopping bag, and they still retain the old slotta base which is unusual for Foundry. You may have noticed a familiar looking dwarf dangling there as well. A couple of strange 'variants' of the famous Combat Card Dwarf Wizard have been cast up. These are unknown in their providence and apparently there were a couple of other castings with different hats. 

These models are intriguing and so made their way into my shopping bag too. 

It was nice to see Tony Yates again and look through his art and talk about his old figures, some of which can be seen here on the table. I was pleased to see many old faces from back in the glory days; Warlord Paul, Paul Douglas, Erny and Snickett (the Gillson brothers), Steve Beales, Garth James and Richard Irvine as well as many others. 

I also saw Diane and Maria Ansell as busy running things as ever and had a quick word with Marcus after so many years. 

Stuart and I had a lovely chat with Geoff Solomon-Sims and a few other people over lunch and it made the trip very worthwhile and pleasurable. 

Though we only attended on the Friday, there was plenty to see and lots of big games to enjoy the spectacle of and the atmosphere was friendly and supportive. 

Like any true grognard, attendees were keen to share their models and discuss the activities that were put on. I spotted a couple of games of Third Edition being played and spied some excellent models. 

Including these last minute painted skellies! I loved the simple colour scheme and the bleeding heart shield design. Certainly something for me to steal for a future skeleton. 

A group of gamers were playing through the McDeath scenarios which brought back memories of when I attempted to collect the set and paint them all. I even played Winwood Harbour in 2015 at Foundry. I couldn't believe that so many years had gone by since that project. 

I also spotted some other old favourites such as Starfleet...

And some kind of Heroquest based game going on, not far from the original models nestling as they do in one of the cabinets. 

By far the best game I saw was Geoff's high production values version of the old Combat Card games 'Attack' and 'Charge'. He famously tracked down and painted all of the figures used for the Goblinoids and Fighters Combat Card range and was using these and a custom made board to run these ancient games. I can remember playing these in my back garden as a youth with the cards and blobs of Blu-Tak to hold them up. Geoff's version was much better looking. 

Of course, The foundry still holds a large number of classic and historic Citadel miniatures and it was to see these I primarily attended. Hidden away in one of the side rooms there is a cabinet that holds Ivan Bartleet's Chalice of Doom...

...and his Chaos War Altar. 

Displayed around them were some of the old Citadel Dragons of yore...

...alongside their partner figures. These were poignant to see as the artwork for these models were brought out by Bryan Ansell the last time I visited the Foundry.

This John Blanche piece showing some 1970s elves escorting a giant prisoner. I had been chatting to Nurgling (another ancient blogger for yesteryear) who quipped that the giant has since been demoted to ogre due to scale creep. This diorama goes to show that even ancient old school affectionardos like me can still discover something totally new on a trip out. 

Nurgling had spread out a number of unwanted items and bits and bobs on a table nearby and we noticed that the infamous Gobsmasha model illustrated in an old White Dwarf was sitting disregarded in front of the Citadel Giant. Again this was great fun to see and to note just how well the model had faired after so many years... Those flags and banners look like new... not very orky I know. 

I am sure you have all heard of the sad death of Matthew Street by now. Another loss for the old school Citadel community. I spotted this old artwork he did years ago and couldn't believe that 2017 is now nearly a decade ago. 

As always, I enjoyed looking through the 'Cabinets of Chaos' as I always did. I spotted these old Realm of Chaos era conversions which sought o show the different mutations available in Slaves to Darkness. 

These unreleased wizards also caught my eye... I'm fairly sure I painted the chap with the frog once too. 

Finally, I was proud to see that the Midlands Troll I painted for Bryan all those years ago was still inside the main cabinet, not far away from the Combat Card dwarf I mentioned at the beginning of this post. I never got a figure published in the late 1980s early 1990s White Dwarfs as I was utterly rubbish at painting then. But I did get a figure here. Probably the greatest thing I achieved hobbywise. 

The day passed so quickly and was so much fun. If there are any future events to be held here by the fine people mentioned in this post I would certainly consider attending. With two more days left of games, lead and more there is still time to make the trip down if you have never made it before, or if like me you haven't been for years.

Big thanks to all at the Foundry and all the people who brought this very special event to life.

Right, where's my paintbrush... I'd like my Summer of Citadel back please...

Orlygg