I have been lucky enough to have recieved a batch of photographs in the possession of Andy Craig, ex-'Eavy Metal painter from the Golden Age of Games Workshop. These were taken during his trip to the Golden Demon awards in 1988. It must be strange for him to look back on these now, as less than a year later he was working at GW and presiding over the next Games Day as an actual painter.
The photographs are old, in some places out of focus and have suffered through scanning and transfer through the internet, but they present a rare collection of images from a more simple time. When painters were painters and gamers were gamers. These are raw images. They were never taken to be published let alone be let loose across the world some 25 years later, so be kind to them.
How else should we start but with an out of focus mug shot of Andy? Was it a deliberate early form of the now ubiquitous 'selfie' or an accidental 'wot's wrong wiv dis?' misfire?
Rolls and rows of painted models! Now taht is what the Golden Demon should be about. What we have here is a selection of models from the, then, Studio collection. Despite the blurry nature of the photograph you can spot loads of classic minis here. The 2nd Edition Bloodbowl teams, Chaos Dwarfs, Chaos Thugs and Sorcerers not to mention the super rare Dwarf Wizard from the Combat Cards! What else can you spot?
A big table! We have seen this one before from Guy Carpenter's photographs but this one lacks Pete Taylor. Stacks of models here and its rather difficult to tell what's what, but I am sure I can spot some of the Naismith(?) giants near the centre of the board. I am pretty sure that is Jervis Johnson sitting on the rear table organising Bloodbowl games with a couple of identifiable folks. The guy in grey might be Alan Merret?
Loads of dragons await the judges attention. Stacks of boxes lay littered across the back of the room, presumably used to house the entries, with a gusto that would enrage modern health and safety executives.
If memory serves these must be the Mythlore LARPers. Remember them? Not sure if the chap of the left is indeed a chap or a chappette I am afraid!
This one is quite blurry but you can make out quite a few entries that did not make it into the Fantasy Miniatures book.
Dioramas wait to be judged. Hours or work went into these and there are few visual records around for us to study. At least we have shots like this however.
Its hard to tell at this angle, but that Rhino may well be Guy Carpenter's model! I am not sure. Punters were certainly allowed near the models - no glass cabinets then!
Stacks of stuff. I love the table tennis model on the left! This just goes to show how many entries did not make it into the book.
Beautiful dragons... Once the pinnacle of miniature painting and the love of all fantasy types. No longer. Though I think this is due to a lack of good modern dragons to inspire painters.
Ivan Bartleet receives his Slayer Sword.
I am still saddened that freehand banners went out of fashion. Look at all of these! All lovingly crafted by everyday gamers and all so different to each other.
Ivan's Overall Winner model, the war elephant, stands alongside that skull model diorama. See, skulls were popular even then!
Love this photograph. The Golden Demon entries stand proudly alongside a used tissue, a packet of crisps and a wayward microphone stand while domineering fire hydrants look on disapprovingly! Classic!
Dave Andrews? Standing guard over some early Rogue Trader models, including first edition Land Raiders.
Another Master Painter? These T-Shirts were awarded to the regional winners if I remember correctly.
Here's Tim Pollard in his.
And Andy Craig in his!
I have included a link to the original Fantasy Wargames book here. Its really great fun to flick through this and attempt to identify different models in the photographs. It also gives a far better idea to the modern reader how varied and imaginative the models entered in 1988 were.
Do you have any old school photographs of past Games Days, Golden Demons or GW stores in general from the 1980s and early 90s that you would like to share? We really would like to see them as even the most mundane of shots is likely to be of great interest to our community. If you own such pictures, please email me at realmofchaos80s@yahoo.co.uk.
A huge thank you to Andy for scanning and posting these images to me. And thanks to Tim Pollard for his great picture too!
Despite their rebellious ways, the Oldhammer Community is growing rapidly in the United States. In fact, Blue in VT, from Blues Marauders, was knocking out old school minis long before the term was coined, so in a way it has always been there.
However, some prolific bloggers and dwellers on the interweb from the colonies have been inspired by the events of the first Oldhammer Weekend and want to have a crack at creating such an event on the other side of the Atlantic. Geography is far more unforgiving for our USA cousins as it is here in the UK. Most parts of the country can be easily reached within, say, 10 hours for those willing to partake in gruelling car journeys, or motorway hops. This isn't quite the case in the USA, where the sheer size of the country acts as a barrier for like minded people getting together and playing old school fantasy battle games.
Well, a chap called Blake Shrode is trying to solve this conundrum by trying to create a USA Oldhammer Community so likeminded individuals can start making plans and picking venues or events that they can meet up at. As part of this, he is posting on our Facebook page and has set up a blog to focus on Oldhammer in the New World.
Check out the link below for more information, and if you are an American Old School Enthusiast, please join the page, even if you intend to just lurk, and offer your support, be ye a Yankee or a Reb!
The first anyone heard of the Troll games was this wonderful advert in White Dwarf 114. To this day however, I still know nothing about them! Can you help!?
This ad has always intrigued me. The crazy artwork. The tapes of 'troll music'. The bizarre sounding names of the games.
So much so, that I have been trying to get my hands on a copy of one of these games for over twenty years and I have yet to managed it. I still search on eBay from time to time but have never even seen a copy of any of them listed.
So in truth, I know very little about the Troll games. I don't know what they were like to play. What the tapes sounded like. Or even who designed the games/produced the artwork in the first place!
Well, wider gaming world and the thousands of folk who read this blog everyday - did you own or indeed play any of these games? Do you know anything about them? If the answer is yes, then please comment or email me as I would love to know more about these quirky footnotes in Games Workshop's history!
If you have copies to sell I would be very interested too!
As you may know, we have reached White Dwarf 114 in our journey through Warhammer Third Edition. Its been quite a trip so far, hasn't it? Where did we start? Issue 93 I think, so that is 21 White Dwarfs later, or nearly two years of product life. All of the major supplements have been released, save the delayed Lost and the Damned but in the coming months there would be a series of large scale 'Warhammer' spin offs to hit the market, inlcuding the genre defining Heroquest!
Issue 114 of White Dwarf contains a few randon adverts that are probably well worth a mention here on Realm of Chaos 80s. The first of these are the second month of releases of Marauder miniatures. The Morrisons produced a range of Dark Elves that certainly shared some of the characterists of those sculpted by Bob Naismith but have a far chunkier feel. As with the previous month's releases, I have softened to these, though I have yet to consider collecting Marauder in any series way as I do with Citadel. I certainly intend to do so in the future.
What to you readers feel about this small set of miniatures? Are they marmite models or something that you treasure and intend to field in some future, but not to far off, Warhammer battle?
There are some excellent poses here, and a few not so inspiring ones. Its interesting to see the plastic Marauder shields with freehand painting on, as I came to see these as being far more simplistic that the 'classic' old school shields of a few years earlier. It shoudl be noted that the 'Eavy Metal boys painted these as a favour and Bryan Ansell still have many in his collection to this day.
A while back I posted a brillaint Warhammer Third Edition ad that showed much of the range as it stood in the later '80s. Well this issue of also included a Rogue Trader: Warhammer 40,000 version of the same advert. I love this ad, largely due to all the old school box covers that are shown, not to mention the little seen plastic craters that were released around this time. See if you can spot them while you are enjoying the old school 40k!
As many of you will be aware, we have reached issue 114 of White Dwarf in our history of Warhammer Third Edition. As an offshoot of the 'Acceptable in the '80s' series, we are dipping into the work of the 'Eavy Metal painters of this period. There had been a period of change for the figure painters, and things were certainly much more organised than when Colin Dixon was first employed. If you recall, Colin was the original full time miniature painter, though by the later '80s the department had grown to include a wider group of artists, lead by the very capable Phil Lewis. Andy Craig, the great friend of Oldhammer and this blog, started his career as WD114 was organised for printing, and examples of his early work appear within the articles presented below. He would soon be joined by other '80s painting heroes, such as Tim Prow, Ivan Bartlett and many others. Unoffical members who were friends of the studio, such as Pete Taylor, also has their work showcased during this period.
If Helen of Troy was the face that launched a thousand ships, Phil's Bloodbowl minis must have lauched a thousand spin off teams. Such an iconic collection of minitures, and colour scheme, with many one off conversions. I am currently working with Phil to do an interview about his time at the studio and, hopefully, he will give us a little more information about the creation of the Chaos All Stars.
Steve Mussared's work was famous for the heavy gloss layer of varnish that protected these miniatures. He was an avid gamer and all of his miniatures were painted with gaming in mind. He had an unique style, and I have said it before, back in the '80s you could pick up a mini and name the sculptor and idenify the artist too because there were so many differeing styles. The converted daemon of Nurgle is a particularly memorable model for me. Steve's signiature grey bases really offset the bleached colours on this model.
Chaos never looked so good as it did when the original RoC books were being produced. The range of colours was wild and varied, yet consistant in their own strange way. Here we see many of the models painted for the Lost and the Damned, inlcuding one of Andy's plaguebearers. This, and many of these models, were on display at the Foundrty during the Oldhammer Event. Seeing them in the magazine is nothing compared to the real thing, believe me!
An Tzeentch gets its chance to shine, cracking (as they do) with deeply magical hues. Again, some of these models were on display, and I recall sing that Tzeetch champion among others in the Foundry cabinets.
Quite a varied bunch on this page; Bloodbowl, 40k and Warhammer. Note several of this minis. The Eldar Titan was painted by Andy Craig using his (then) signature yellow and black combination. The 'Kinky' Chaosette also was painted by Andy but he gave the model away to an ex-girlfriend! Opps! Perhaps someone will be lucky enough to discover her again one day! I love the Knights Panther conversion here, obviously made in homage to the famous John Blance painting.
Another mix of Bloodbowl and Chaos. This page sees a rare glimpse of the '80s Chaos Chariot from the talented minds of the Perry Twins. I love this model. I bought in 1989 and foolishly sold it about 10 years ago. Thankfully, I have since got my self a second version and have painted it up for my Khorne Army!
Any thoughts or comments on these models. Any memories that you are desperate to share? Please do.
If I was asked to name a product released in the late '80s that really summed up my youthful experience of fantasy wargaming there are several names that would be on my lips. Heroquest would be up there, definitely, as would be the Combat Cards. Both leave me with vivid memories of gaming with the other boys on my road, or discussions on the school bus, even games, with multiple decks of Combat Cards! However, there is one release that stands head and shoulders above all of these, probably because everyone had a copy but me, and I looked on in envy. My jealous feelings were soften slightly by the fact that I had Skeleton Horde, which was a forerunner to Skeleton Army.
In case you didn't know, the Skeleton Horde consisted of just the infantry, armed with swords, scythes and spears. Skeleton Army added bowmen, skeleton cavalry and a skeleton chariot to the mix. It REALLY was an army in a box and it was incredibly good value.
Which is probably why everyone had one.
I had to wait until later on in the mid '90s to get a copy. I bought the box with money I had earned doing odd jobs here and there, and had a wonderful time putting the models together. Sadly, I did not store them well and save for a few mounted skeletons, all of the models are long gone. I'd love to own another copy, but at £50 a pop for a box of these models on eBay, its going to be a while until I find a set at the right price.
White Dwarf 114 contained a lovely little article that allowed you to field the skeleton chariots, though of course any suitable models could also be used. In an age of 40k's rising dominance, the big box games and all the rest, this was a little bit of Fantasy Battle that got my mates and I talking. I even remember using the narrative fluff in a story in Literacy and getting full marks for something that was nearly totally plagerised. Thankfully, Mrs Baker didn't read White Dwaf!
So what are you memories of the Skeleton Army boxset? Did you own a copy of the blue and red box? Did you mangle your skeletons with too much polystyrene cement? If so, please share.
The nights draw in, and this results in candles flickering on fireplaces, the roaring glow of the fire itself and the need to draw back the curtains a shut out the long night of winter. With a great deal less time spent outside, the opportunities for miniature projects increase. I am sure that the sight of the enthusiast, bent in concentration over his desk, warmed by the mellow light of the modelling lamp is a familar sight in your home.
It is in mine.
My family and I have lived through about six months of chaos. Building work, extensions, new jobs, young children... the works. Now, things seem to be settling down and getting back to normal. In fact, I am typing this at work, just before I head off to remove my vast lead collection from storage. Initially, I thought it would need to be store for a couple of weeks, but problems just dragged on and on and freeing my collection was right down at the bottom of my wife's priorities! Largely due to the success of the Oldhammer Weekend (my wife could see pictures of what we do, rather than the mess of miniatures that is my usual working space) she has authorised a new miniature painting storage area alongside the Welsh Dresser display I posted up a while back. I have a new desk, mini gaming table set up and she has even warrented a new computer/printer/scanner set-up so I can blog with greater ease then ever before!
At last! I'll update you, loyal followers, of my 'Oldhammer Area' once its set up. You shoudl also see lots of new painted models from me, including the Nightmare Legion, Foundry Bretonnians, the Marauder Giant and Old Spiney himself in the coming weeks!
Before I depart to the secret lead cave and remove the weighty boxes of old school goodness from their dust wreathed sheets, I want to talk about Gary Chalk. Now, if you are not aware of the man, here's a little video from his website that will enlighten you further.
As you will have seen, there are plenty of illustrations here that make you aware of his bright, distinctive style. In fact, his style is so distinctive that he deserves to sit alongside the likes of Ackland, Blanche and Miller for his contribution to early Games Workshop (Livingstone/Jackson and Ansell eras) though, of course, his work is in no way gRiMdArKtm so hasn't a hope in hell of being mentioned or refered to in the mainstream GW hobby these days. One of the images shown on the video is that of a wizard casting a spell. This image is important to the nature of today's post, namely the rather unknown articles published across WD113-114 about magic in Warhammer '80s style.
What follows is a major article (or should that be articles?) that give us the most indepth look at magic in Warhammer Third Edition, with details about Colour Magic, the Colleges, New Spells for games of Third Edition and plenty more. All richly illustrated by Gary Chalk himself. Now, this article has been a bit of a mystery to me for some years. It is just so different to everything else that ever appeared in the magazine, partly due to the art style. Now, we know that there were several projects (most notably Confrontation) that were initially intended to be supplement released, but later saw publication in White Dwarf. Could these pages reflect something to do with magic that never saw the light of day? Or perhaps material that was part of the cancelled 'Realms of Sorcery' project to support Warhammer Third and WFRP in the later '80s? Who knows, but what we get is a wonderful article full of old school wonder. Additionally, its is interesting to note how the background has changed regarding the nature of magic in the Warhammer world and how the colleges have developed. Now, I won't spoil this for readers, I'll just leave you to enjoy the articles, but if you have an opinion about what you have read, please do share it below.
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