Oldhammer Weekend 2017: Overview

Hello and welcome to my annual overview of this year's premium Oldhammer Event held (as always) at the excellent facilites of the Ansell family's Wargames Foundry! I was damn well lucky to attend at all after recent events but thanks to my wonderful wife, Lisa "I've never been so glad to see you painting miniatures again" Taylor, transport was well and truly sorted as she drove me to the venue for much of the Saturday. 

She decided to book us into a hostel in the centre of Nottingham City for the Friday night so we wouldn't have to endure a long journey on the day, and we spent much of the previous afternoon exploring Nottingham Castle with our children - who were very pleased to learn all about Robin Hood! It also gave them the opportunity to visit their first Oldhammer Event, which captivated my son in particular (thanks to Mr. Curtis Fell, who graciously included him in the enormous Hellsreach game) and fascinated my daughter. They were both very excited to meet the famous Kevin Adams as he had sculpted small models of them several years ago, and anyone named Goblinmaster will be a person of considerable interest if you are under seven !

As with previous years there was a wonderful event figure, exclusive to the weekend, thanks to the endeavours of Jon Boyce and sculpted by John Pickford. She is based on a well known illustration originally appearing in Rogue Trader in 1987 and answers to Olivia when she isn't busting chops and decapitating perps. Thanks to James Holloway (who's photograph I shamelessly stole) you can have a closer look at the finished product below. There have been a number of Oldhammer event models over the years, and this one has to be my personal favourite (so far...) so a big thumbs up from old Orlygg to all involved. 

As in previous years I will now present a selection of the photographs I took of the event to help give you a flavour of the Saturday. Even though I was only there for the day, I must say that the atmosphere was absolutely fantastic and was easily the most relaxed and friendly it has ever been, and as you'll know if you have attended in the past, that really is saying something! It was also very pleasing to see such a range of games on show, from small Rogue Trader skirmishes to full scale fantasy battles! 

Kevin Adams set to work early with his now annual charity-sculpt-a-face drive and we were able to locate those Oldhammerers who hadn't managed to get their models completed last year. Here you can see Kev and Nick Harding just before work commenced on Nick's Dwarf Flame cannon figure. I managed to get the lowdown from Kev about his most recent work too. 

Kev had some challenging missions to complete during the day (he is there on Sunday too, if you are reading this in time and fancy popping down) with a highlight being this chaotic face on an old renegade body. 

There was a wonderful Dark Future gaming being played in the stableyard organised by Kilgore-Trout from the Oldhammer Forum. There were some wonderfully painted models on the table (more from them in a subsequent post) and the boys involved in the game were very enthusiastic about this classic car racing game. We talked about how adaptable many of the kits are and what a pain getting hold of the original figures is online. The need to remove the packet of crisps was deemed un-necessary as this was an Oldhammer Event and such items are now mandatory. 

A wonderfully run and presented game. Thank you to all involved in this! 

The majestically bearded and photographically well-endowed Richard Legg and co were running a lovely Rogue Trader skirmish during the Saturday morning, including some wonderful old Imperial Squat models that are not often spied at Oldhammer events, complete with bikes and a ramshakle flyer. Old school plastic genestealers were fielded in suitable quantities to delight and terrify the Oldhammerer in equal measure. 

My old gentleman compatriots of yore, Steve, Ash and Warlord Paul were running a 40k second edition skirmish also involving genestealers, including many of the more recent plastic releases. Ash had fielded an interesting assortment of human figs from practically everywhere while Steve was already listing his models on eBay (such is their fate when they fail him in battle) while the rather dapper looking Warlord Paul (think Sean Connery as Bond, only with a beard) unleashed his license to kill over their forces. 

As in years gone by, Wargames Foundry delighted the old school Citadel fans in attendence with another series of re-releases from the glory days of the 1980s. This year saw the return of many of the ninja figures, including the super hard to find (or used to be) ninja casualty, as well as the 1987 siege/cannon crew models seen in the WFB3 rulebook. Hobbs, from the old F4 Men-at-Arms range, the the Teutonic Knight from the old Blandford Warriors range also being returned to us. 

Here, have a closer look! 

These ninja make the perfect accompliment to Aly Morrison's Samurai figures from the same era already available from the Foundry. Sadly, rushed for time and harried by excited children I failed to pick any of these up so will have to wait until I return to the Foundry in October to sate my Japanese martial needs. 

I did manage to pick up Hobbs and the Teutonic knight though, and will no doubt one day get some more of the more modern castings of the Feudal artillery crew (I have the originals in my collection already, many of which are painted.)  The affable Tony Yates' Blademaster and Blade Wife and his Chaos Lord had also been cast up, for fans of his unique models - my daughter took an instant delight to the Chaos Lord and insisted I bought it for her to paint. 

The near mythical Nigel Stillman was in attendence and brought in his incredible Bretonnian army, which turned out to include parts of the 'original' forces he used to create the famous armybook of years past. Here he can be seen chatting with Oldhammer original, airbornegrove, who made the trip from the US and was a pleasure to meet after so many years. Whiskey Priest and co were indulging in a skirmish game here with some beautifully painted miniatures - more of which in a later post!

Curtis Fell, of Ramshackle Games, was involved in the gigantic Hellsreach game inside the pavillion and was kind enough to hand out free resin models of the Mayor of this desolate place. Closer inspection of the model just goes to show how far his sculpting skills have come on since last year's Oldhammer Cleric. A big thank you to him for his generosity once again.  

The Hellsreach game was gigantic and very highly detailed. You could have easily spent the entire day attempting to capture the intricacies of the game as there was ust so much going on. Expect to see a great deal of coverage about this mammoth game across Oldhammer media in the future. 

This beautifully crafted table was, and I am guessing here so please correct me if I am wrong, used for the Snorcling Space Hopper game. Like Hellsreach is was an extremely imaginative piece of modelling with a great number of comdeic touches. The spiders (and their webs) were the highlight for me here. 

An excellent effort! 

Oldhammer heavyweights Erny and Geoff Sims can bee seen here looming large over the gigantic Heldenhofen game, complete with Bloodbowl Stadium! There were a great number of excellent scenery pieces on this table, including many inspired by the seminal Warhammer Townscape - can you spot the windmill in this shot?

With such a large table to play on, and in their traditional spot, the boys from GROG did sterling work putting on this sandbox game. 

A shot from the otherside of the Heldenhofen table, with BOYL impresario Garth James looking on.  

This game was enthusatically run and well resourced, complete with this Gazette display and a tonne of dice scattered across the gaming table. I believe that the famous 'Harry' from Warseer fame (and beyond) was behind much of the scenery here! 

Great fun!

Thantsants and Paul Golgfag rip the solar systems of the far future to shreds with Space Fleet, the precursor to what later became known as Battlefleet Gothic. 

Matthew Street, Steve Casey (who always seems to wear this blue fleece at Oldhammer events for reasons mysterious and arcane) and Chris High King of the Elves - you should see his collection of old school third edition faerie-folk! In fact, it is so an impressive assemblage that we hope to construct a game around his collection later on this year. And yes, there are three dragon riders on the table there!! 

Nigel Stillman brought in his vast Bretonnian army, packed full of classic models from the 1990s Stillmania era, with many of them of his own creation. The 'Laydees of ye olde baggayge trayne' need to be seen to be believed. But again, more from them in a later post. 

Tony Ackland broods in a wizardly manner behind them. He had brought his sketch book again and we made some further discoveries amongst his recently unearthed (he had forgotten he had them) work. I'll do an art post later on to cover the highlights in more detail. 

Nigel Stillman's Bretonnians ride forth- though he told us they were never allowed to appear in White Dwarf properly because they weren't painted to a high enough standard! They look mighty fine here though, I am sure you will agree!!

Inside the Foundry Shop there were plenty of games in the offing, including this lovely skirmish involving Erny and Snickit. 

Erny's skirmishing wood elves caused considerable problems for his opponents.

As in previous years, the painting competition was held and the standard of entries was higher than ever. As a two-time winner myself (blowing my own trumpet there!) I was honoured to judge the entries along with Tony Yates, Garth James and Maria Ansell. In the end we whittled the entries down to those you can see before you. Scalene's Nurgle Plague Doctor and Harlequins won the single figure, and unit prize while JB (the Asslessman) picked up a the 'Big Monster' gong, thanks to his magnificant elf dragon rider that caught my eye instantly when studying the entries. Honourable mention went to the big walker conversion -though I cannot recall who made this, so please can someone inform me so I can update this post! As did the Minotaur on the toilet, a play on the inconvenienced dwarf of limited edition fame, which reminded me of the humourous entries in the old Golden Demon books of the 1980s. Wonderfully, it turned out that the painter behind this little gem was none other than Steve Casey himself, a collector turned painter, who I am sure won't mind me pointing out to readers had been feeling a little anxious about his painting recently. 

The humbly controlled joy of winning was evident on his face as he stepped forth to recieve his well won prize, and seeing my friend win was the highlight of the day for me and example of what the Oldhammer Community is all about! 

Right, that is enough for now. Expect plenty more coverage over the coming days as I take you through some of the wonderful miniatures on show (including Bryan Ansell's extensively refurbished collection), Tony Ackland's sketch book (and other arty bits) and a wonderful discovery (at least to me, so don't raise your hopes too high) from the Ansell collection. 

More soon,

Orlygg

A Historical Interlude: Egtved Girl by Michael Perry

A Bronze Age girl - standing rather defiantly if you ask me! I tried to suggest that she was quite a fearsome character in her facial expression, trying to convey one of those 'looks' nearly all teenage girls seem to throw about.

Last time we spoke I promised something a little historical, but still vaguely in the Oldhammer vibe - and here it is! A lovely Bronze Age figure by Michael Perry and produced by the Wargames Foundry. This range has been a dirty little secret of mine for some years now and I have been slowly collecting the different packs, but like so many of us neglected to even pop open the blister pack and get cracking. 

Well, that has all changed with the addition of this sultry girl to my collection. For the last two weeks I have gone cold turkey (almost, I wasn't that brave) on all of the prescription medicine I was on and I am now thankfully off the stuff. One of the drugs I was given has recently cropped up in the media (in typical sensational and ill-reported fashion) though they only thing I murdered on the stuff were the weeds in my garden. It seems my seizures and illness were simply side effects of these powerful medicines rather than the urology problems that I was originally suffering from. 

Now that WHS (wobbly-hand-syndrome) has passed, I am back at work on my cluttered workstation and hope to be able to post more regularly. But enough of my woes... on to the model itself. Despite having a degree in archaeology I knew very little about clothing in the Bronze Age and was keen to get the look of the figure correct. Little did I know that Michael Perry hadn't simply conjured up a random prehsitoric person in this tiny figure but actually based her of a very significant find that has become known as the 'Egtved Girl'.

                          

She was a Nordic Bronze Age girl whose well preserved remains were discovered outside Egtved (archaeological custom often names finds after their modern location) in Denmark in 1921. Forensic examination of her remains suggested that she was around 18 years old when she died and was a slim, five foot three in height with short, blonde hair and well groomed nails. She was excavated (if such a verb can be applied to the techniques of the 1920s) alongside the cremated remains of a 5 year old child in a barrow thirty metres wide and about four metres in hight. Sadly, only her hair, brain, teeth, nails and a small sample of her skin has survived. 

The original 1921 photograph of the Egtved Girl's remains. Note the large, bronze disk at her waist.

Her inhumation was interred inside a east/west aligned treetrunk coffin and was discovererd fully dressed lying on a cowhide blanket. Dendrochronological investigation of the treetrunk coffin dated the burial to around 1370 BC - and that is almost certainly the year the tree was felled. She wore a loose bodice type garment, which exposed her midriff, with sleeves that reached to her elbows and a short, string skirt. On her arms were found bronze bracelets and around her waist (secured by a woollen belt) was a large disc ornament decorated with spiral designs and a protruding spike. Dangling within easy reach from this same belt, was a fine horn comb suggesting that preening and postering with a hairbrush was a vital part of a woman's life even then! I am of course being facetious here, as combs are a very common find archaeologically as they were essential for removing the insects that like to set up home in our hair, as well as maintaining the latest styles! 

A slender, subtle golden ring adorned one of her ears indicating that piercing was just in vogue then as it is now, even amongst the more extreme grognards I have met (such as Chico.) A small, birchwood box containing an awl, bronze pins and a hair net was found alongside of her head, presumably her personal possessions most suited to the next life, though intriguingly some smaller bones from the younger child were also found inside. Why? Interpreting the past is always a tricky business, and it is hard not to let your own social and national bias effect theory. It could be suggested that the younger child pre-deceased the Egtved girl (especially considering they bear the unmistakable signs of being burnt) if their bones were part of her possessions, though we cannot be sure if they were not indeed added by those who buried her for reasons lost to us. The more romatically inclined may seek to relate the two burials to close family, with the child perhaps being a sibling or child of the Egtved Girl, but such associations are always going to be risky and hard to prove without further analysis. The child may have been totally unrelated to her and could have been a slave, presumably killed to accompany her mistress into the afterlife. Evidence for human scarifice, that most 'Hollywood' of historical subjects, is prevalent in the region in which the Egtved girl lived and there is plenty of scope to suggest that both the child, and Egtved herself, could have befallen this fate. 

We will never know. 

Modern, colour photograph of her clothing after preservation showing the position of her gravegoods in relation to her body. Note the footwraps alongside the bark bowl, these are missing from Michael Perry's intrepretation but appear on other figures in the range. 

Analysis of the grave goods yielded further information. Before the coffin was originally sealed, she was covered with a blanket and the cowhide and wrapped carefully in them. Flowering yarrow (a plant which to this day can symbolise protection) was then placed above her body, strongly suggesting a summer burial. Much like 16 year old European girls of today, booze (in this case a beer brewed from wheat, honey, bog-myrtle and cowberries) was clearly part of her life and was deposited on top of her in a bark bucket - which can be clearly seen on the modern miniature, nestled protectively under her arm. Whether or not drinking the stuff in the copious quanities teenagers do today was part of her life, or if indeed the alcoholic drink was some part of the funeral custom of the time, is impossible to say. Though, some modern imbiber has produced a modern version of the beverage for the curious, based on analysis of the recipe and can be purchased here. 

Museum snap showing the treetrunk coffin.

Her clothing caused a sensation in the press when unearthed in the 1920s and was seen as incredibly daring in the days of the flapper girl. The outfit, which remains the best preserved example of a fashion style now understood to be common across Northern Europe during the Bronze Age. If you are wondering why the preservation of the textiles was so remarkable, yet the physical, fleshy remains were so poor then let me explain. The highly acidic bog like conditions in which she was buried are often highly anaerobic and the resulting lack of oxygen prevents bacteria from surviving, and therefore decomposing the body. The preservational qualities of bogs are myriad, complex and varied and are far beyond the scope and remit of this blog, but the science is really rather interesting and well worth further pursuit.  

The Victorian myth that prehsitoric people's lives were 'nasty, brutish and short' is very unfair but still very much part of the public's perception of the past. Pretty much like the modern powergamer's misconception that any other form of miniature wargaming that doesn't involve army lists and rules loopholes is somehow an affront to the hobby. The isotopes extracted from the Egtved Girl's remains indicate that it is likely she was born and brought up in what we now call the Black Forest region, in southwestern Germany but later moved to Denmark (presumably, but not definitely, due to the marraige customs of the time) with the evidence suggesting that she travelled back and forth between these two locations during her lifetime. How can we know this, you may ask? Well, the answer is actually quite simple: strontium-87 and 86 are isotopes found in the water we drink and can be matched to locations to this day. These isotopes can be stored in our teeth as we grow and can be read much like a tree-ring under extensive analysis in the modern laboratory. 

The conditions that help preserve textile remains also destroy their original colours. Long centuries of immersion in bogs can tan flesh and clothing a chestnut brown and it is important to remember that what we see now may not have been the garment's original colour. 

If we can return to her clothing once again and discuss the significance of her outfit a little closer. Were these everyday clothes for people living in the European Bronze Age? Or should we interpret them to be religious vestments worn to celebrate some type of religious observations. Many archaeologists certainly debate this, suggesting that the bronze disk represents some kind of sun worship and the Egtved Girl's outfit could have been worn as part of a religious dance with the shining, reflective bronze surface mimicking the sun's light. There are a number of bronze statues excavated from the Bronze Age that appear to show females dressed in similar clothes, but it is all interpretation.  Of course, anything that archaeologists do not understand is always pegged as having a 'ritual' purpose, so much so as it has become a bit of an in-joke to students of the subject, albeit a painful one for some. On the other hand, we could just be looking at the 'high-street' fashion of circa 1370 BC and if that is the case, things haven't really changed much have they? 

"My favourite range has to be the Tzeentch horrors, their blue shades match my new skirt wonderfully."

As I have already said, we cannot always be sure what colour textiles from the European Bronze Age actually were, though we can have a jolly good guess. After studying numerous replica outfits from Denmark I stuck the the brown look you can see on the figure, though to create a bit of variation between the string skirt and the bodice I opted for a paler tone for her upper half. Unusually for me, I undercoated this figure in dark brown and washed her over with a dark brown ink before beginning work. Each colour was then worked up using my usual method of adding increasing amounts of Boneyard to the base until I was happy with the final highlight. As with the blue horror I painted recently, colour harmony played a part in all the tones save the bronze of her waist disc and her eyes. 

I chose the classic pdf base for my historical models just as a change really, and they not being part of my 'Oldhammer-look' I also felt free to add some static grass. 

To conclude, this historical miniature experience has been a really enjoyable journey. What started out as just another figure from a blister pack turned into a fascinating research project and a challenging paint scheme. Thankfully, I have the remaining figures in the range to finish (including a dancing version of the Egtved Girl) and all are under various states of completion. If you are interested in learning more about the European Bronze Age there are loads of resources out there that a simple Google search will make available. In my researches I did stumble across a rather atmospheric and illuminating video on Youtube that is well worth a watch to help better understand the world of the Egtved Girl and our European ancestors. 

There and back again... with a blue horror!

Well met once more brave grognards of the lead! It is a good feeling to be speaking to you once more here on the blogosphere and sharing this charming (if such an adjective can be applied to daemonic entities) Kev Adams blue horror from 1989. 

My health declined from March onwards as I needed a nasty operation. To cut a long story short, after the surgery I developed complications and was prescribed a series of medicines: sadly, these caused me to suffer a massive siezure which sent me to hospital. Though well enough afterwards to return home, I continued to suffer further seizures, hallucinations and other general unpleasantness until I was diagnosed with a severe allergic reaction to amitriptyline.

I am now recovering, thankfully, and should be back to my normal self in a few weeks time. Having spent the past three or four weeks largely in bed, I was keen to get back on the battlefield and take on a miniature or two. Obviously, I was concerned that my illness would have had an impact on my painting ability, but apart from loosing my alarity with paint I was able to knock out this grining horror in three or four leisurely hours. 

I so enjoyed working on him that I have fished out the other blue horrors in my collection and will be setting forth painting them up over the next week or so. If you are interested in my recipe for this model it was really quite simple. I used Foundry's Sky Blue A as a base coat (over a white undercoat) and washed over with the old 1980s blue Citadel ink, undiluted. Once this was dry, I repainted the skin of the horror with Sky Blue A and added pure white gradually to blend up the highlights until I was satisfied that the model 'popped' to quote Warlord Paul.  

I used colour harmony on the teeth and horns, adding a tiny amount of Sky Blue A to the Boneyard triad and simply highlighted up, using far more white on the final coat for the needle like teeth. Using the classic '80s purple ink (I know they are not the best quality-wise, but the colours they produce so envisage the classic era that they are well worth tracking down) I prepared a watery glaze and washed over the teeth to give them a slight contrast to the flesh. 

The eye was achieved in a slightly different way. I first picked it out in pure white before painting the orb of the eye in orange. Two yellow highlights were then added (again by adding pure white) and the eye was finished off with the same purple glaze used on the teeth. 

Very simple, easy and effective for my first model in many months. Here is a rear shot, worthy or the Ole Dirty Boye himself, Chico (it is even slightly out of focus!) I actually painted this long after the front half of the model, so it doesn't quite match the paleness of the front view, but no matter. I have also been working on a number of historical miniatures from the Perry's. They are very similar in style to Citadel that they feel quite familiar under the brush. I only tinker with them, a guilty pleasure really, but I hope you don't mind me posting these here in the future, as I have no where else to show 'em off! 

Orlygg

Warhammer 40,000: Rogue Trader - The ORIGINAL launch

Unless you have been living under a blanket, like me, you would know about GW's BIG ANNOUNCEMENT yesterday. In truth, I wouldn't have known about it save for the excited chitterings of my friends Stuart Klatcheff and Steve 'The Artist Formerly Known As The Citadel Collector' Casey. 

There is to be YET ANOTHER edition of 40k, albeit one that looks to be following a similar line to Age of Sigmar. Take a look here if you are curious (or have been living under a blanket.) Personally, I have lost count of the edition number now but I am sure that there will be readers out there who can put the record straight on that department, so please do in the comments. 

Considering the purpose of this blog is to document OLD GW products and chronicle, in a semi-literate way, my adventures in nostalgia I thought it prudent to travel back to 1987 and White Dwarf 93 to see how the original launched was handled. Not only will we look at that, but I also intend to discuss the early releases for Rogue Trader as the look and feel of the game rapidly changed as Bryan Ansell and co recognised its unexpected success. Rogue Trader/40k went through a series of changes before it became 2nd edition, and though this is a fascinating story in its own right, it it not the purpose of this post to go into great detail about it, simply to compare THEN with NOW. 

Okay, que whimiscal ancedote and let's get started! 

My first recollection of Rogue Trader? Hard to pin down really as I was really a fantasy fan, but I am sure it wasn't White Dwarf that switched me on to the game by a local boy who lived a few miles from my home. We got taking at school after I spotted him drawing space marines inside a school dictionary and within days we were regularly playing our version of the game. All I recall now of those early battles is the damp darkness of my friend's bungalow attic, the smell of mouldy carpets and ranks of appallingly splattered space marines and orks. 

But fantasy soon pulled me back, though I would return to the sci-fi scene with Space Marine some years later. In fact, my journey with Rogue Trader didn't truly begin to around 2004 when I started buying up old issues of White Dwarf, especially those I had never read previously. I started with issue 90 and collected them roughly in order. In the pre pdf days this proved to be a time consuming but rewarding experience as I saw how the game I new quite well by then, had its birth and brief childhood.

Enigmatic advert for Rogue Trader, published on the inner front cover of White Dwarf 91. The first major advert for the game published. 

The game certainly has an interesting history of development. GW always stated that they would release a game called Rogue Trader that would be a space age adventure roleplay system similar to Traveller. It took on many guises over the years but had mutated beyond the original remit. Bryan Ansell, who had control of the company by '86, saw where the money was and commissioned big book versions of Warhammer Fantasy and Science Fiction to help sell the miniatures churning out of Citadel Foundry. Rogue Trader was around, so it was affixed to the Warhammer brand and the most successful wargame in history was born. Along the way the game evolved from a wacky science fiction skirmish game into a detailed, large scaled battlegame that involved vehicles, fortifications and a great deal of Space Marines.

The first page published in WD concerning Rogue Trader. Nice graphics don't you think? Its all there from the very beginning; the aquilla, the chapter badges (though they are far more intricate here) and the star speckled background of a wild and varied universe. 

Launch articles are always a great way of exploring the original feel of any game, and thankfully we have a very nice one to explore published in WD 93. The first thing that strikes a reader when flicking through these pages is how focused the artwork feels, unlike in previous GW publications of the era (WFRP and WFB in particular) the artwork in Rogue Trader couldn't just be a splurge of the nicer pieces of fantasy art that GW had produced over the previous decade, it had to be something new and, for the first time, coherent. Another thing that strikes a cord when reading through this little manifest is that GW intended for their three core games (WFRP, WFB and RT) to share a certain philosophy  and a mythos, something they are keen to stress is not the case today.

"For more than a hundred centuries the Emperor has sat immobile on the Golden Throne of Earth. He is the Master of Mankind by the will of the gods and the master of a million worlds by the will of his inexhaustible armies. He is a rotting carcass writhing invisibly with power from the Dark Age of Technology. He is Carrion Lord of the Imperium to whom a thousand souls are sacrificed each day, and for whom blood is drunk and flesh is eaten. Human blood and human flesh- the stuff which the Imperium is made.

To be a man in such times is to be one amongst untold billions. It is to live the cruellest and most bloody regime imaginable. This is the tale of these times. It is a universe that you can live today if you dare- for this is a dark and terrible era where you will find little comfort of hope. If you want to take part in the adventure then prepare yourself now. Forget the power of technology, science and common humanity. Forget the promise of progress and understanding, for there is no peace amongst the stars, only an eternity of carnage and slaughter and the laughter of thirsting gods.

But the universe is a big place and, whatever happens, you will not be missed...."

A so it began... The famous description of what Warhammer 40,000 really is. A dystopian wargame with medieval fantasy elements. This passage has be re-worked since, several times, but the crux of the piece 'There is no peace, no forgiveness; only war' is plain for all to see. I am without doubt that the new edition revealled yestarday will share many elements of this opening text.

I find this page rather interesting. What we have are the prototype chapter badges of many of the marine forces we know today.They are certainly more intricate than they would later become and several of them have disappeared from the canon (Rainbow Warriors anyone?). 

The first thing that strikes me when looking back over these documents with fresh eyes is the artwork. Its certainly very different to the black and white fantasy line work that GW had been commissioning for the previous ten years. Its black, scratchy and contains many meldings of flesh and machine. It is sinister too! No heroic Space Marines yet, just dangerously psychotic cyber warriors that seem more closely linked to a chapter of the Hell's Angels rather than the Angels of Death. It is clear that at the time of conception, the artists had a pretty free reign to draw what they wanted. Sure, they had the plastic kits and a few metal models but the 'look' of power armour had let to be defined so its far more wild and varied.

It is also pleasing to see the 40k 'thoughts for the day' evident at this early stage. These little snippits of wisdom were always of great interest to me and I have always felt they helped protray the blackness of the 40k universe without the need to be especially GrimDarktm.

'Our thoughts light the Darkness so that others may cross space.'

'Praise the Emperor whose sacrifice in life is ours in death.'

The article itself begins with a strident declaration that this is not a science fiction game. 'We call it a fantasy game set in the far future... a sort of science fantasy.' And that there was a strident attempt to link the game with the very well established Warhammer Fantasy Battle by calling it Rogue Trader's 'sister game'. Something that is clearly the case as 'Warhammer 40,000 uses many of the familiar mechanisms of WFB and even some of the same creatures, which are now revealed in their entire cosmic guise.' Another early confession was the fact that this was intended to be a skirmish game in which just 'a dozen' miniatures will do for a session, though, of course, there is a remark that you'd 'want to collect the lot'. Its clear to see that Bryan Ansell and co didn't quite realise the hit that they had on their hands and that over the next three years they'd expand the game considerably. 

We also have the first piece of 40k fiction. A short tale about one Brother Tork of the Space Wolves Chapter. It does well to communicate the small scale nature of the game and its themes of interstellar horror and corruption. Of interest here is mention of the homeworld of the Space Wolves being Lucan. I wonder why it was changed?

'Warhammer 40,000 takes the Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay background into the Galaxy itself.' Mythos is a word used frequently in the launch article, as if GW were attempting to build a world comparable to Lovercraft, Howard or Tolkien. The three writers are obviously big influences (though not as great as Moorcock) on the development of the background. These days, GW work hard to tell us that their games do not share the same worlds even though certain deities and characters appear in both WFB and 40k. The aim of the background was explained at the time as 'to create an almost medieval attitude amongst the human societies. Fear, superstition, self-sacrifice and common acceptance of death are all strongly featured. Technology is present, but it is not central to the way people think. Most common folk see technology as witchcraft- so do the technicians!' This is still a core element to the background. 

The first ever Space Marine model is used here to give gamers a glimpse of the future. The prototype for the plastic Land Rhino!

The now familiar background is discussed in detail. Love that Blood Angel camo paint job!

Here's a nice quote:

'In Warhammer 40,000 technology takes a definite backseat, but that doesn't mean that there isn't any to be found. In fact, there's a whole range of advanced weapons, armour types and equipment. The range of technology available reflects the diversity of humanity, ranging from the primitive crossbows and slings used on feral worlds to the barely understood digital and force weapons carried by rich and powerful individuals.' 

I really like this about RT. If you are familiar with Warhammer Siege, you'll probably know the picture of a skirmish fought within the walls of the Mighty Fortress. Its a rogue navigator who's enlisted some primitives to aid him. These types of game (a mix of WFB and RT) have always really, really fascinated me and would be fairly easy to develop, considering I have some many fantasy models and plenty of scenery, I'd merely need a handful of spacey Citadel characters to provide the technology.

Oh, gods! Another project!!! Noooooo! 

Lovin' the Cowboy Style Inquisitor here!

Here is a thinly disguised advert for the initial 'forces' releases, Space Marines and Space Ork Raiders.

Ahhh, the first two box sets. Someday I'll get hold of these. The plastic space marines box set is one of the Holy Grails of collecting, though they do turn up with greater frequency that the Citadel Giant! The marines were a really ground breaking kit at the time and you really could go wild with the models and produce totally wacky miniatures. An iconic release really. The Ork Space Raiders were metal (why no plastic ork set?) and had a lovely whiff of the 'Black Widows' Biker Gang from the Clint Eastwood classic 'Every Which Way But Loose', mixed with 80s street punk. 

Here are the additional metals released alongside.  At this time, Citadel were still naming many of their metal releases and there are plenty of amusing names here; Brother Quiff? Brother Longun, Top-Knot Tone, Spiky Eddi and the brilliant Hippy Hogsbreath. The figures shown here are VERY different to what 40k would become and share much with popular 'franchises' of the day. 2000AD, Mad Max and WW2 clearly show their influence, though the orks look fantastic thanks to Kev Adams' genius. What ever happened to the gobinoids? ):

White Dwarf 94 - the first issue after the launch of Rogue Trader 

Really old people or retro consumers will be aware of White Dwarf's 'Open Box'. This was a section of the magazine used in the 1980s to review gaming supplements and general what-nots. On its hallowed pages you could read reviews of anything and everything from AD&D adventures to Ghostbusters the RPG written by such visionaries as Jim Bambra, Marc Gascoigne, Stephen Hand and Paul Cockburn. As the focus shifted away from Games Workshop (a trading company that sold fantasy games) to Citadel Miniatures (a miniature manufacturer selling lead and rule sets for lead) the decision was made to jettison the non company products and focus on GW's own stable of releases. 

Hence no need for Open Box any further. A new series what introduced, entitled Marginalia, which set out to give a soapbox to designs to talk about the decisions they had made during the design process of a particular product. The first to step up to the mark was none other than Rick Priestley, author of Rogue Trader. His account is fascinating and is full of interesting points. I have reproduced it here in full. 

According to Rick, Warhammer 40,000 Rogue Trader was something of a first for the erstwhile games designer, for it was the first project he worked on on his own. He'd previously contributed to Warhammer Fantasy Battle, Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay and Judge Dredd. Strangely, Rogue Trader had been written before any of the previously mentioned games were designed but it was always put to one side as other more pressing projects pushing their unsightly heads to the fore.

It was originally intended to be one of the 'freebie' games that would be given away with purchases by mail order customers, one of the other 'freebies' being what would eventually become Fantasy Battle. The popularity of this particular game (work was being done on its third edition concurrently with Rogue Trader) established the format for future games. Rogue Trader was 'rethought' from the ground up using many of the mechanisms worked out from Warhammer Fantay Battle. At the time, Rick thought this relationship was essential 'not only for the sake of the system, but also for the background mythos and general "feel" of the game.'

Rick describes the development cycle of the game as 'fitful'. He states that many ideas that were developed for Rogue Trader found their way into Warhammer 2nd edition. 'By now the "dark and dangerous" background for Warhammer had started to evolve, partly based on ideas by Bryan Ansell, and partly on the background of the Citadel miniatures ranges.' This point is interesting, as even at this early stage, GW were making design decisions based on the models that they were designing and selling. These judgments were a little more restrained than they are now, thankfully! By now, Rogue Trader existed as a rather tatty print-out (imagine the reams of that old concertina computer paper, the stuff with the removable holes) and rather than re-type up the manuscript, Rick chose to begin again afresh now that the unfinished WFRP had been handed over to Jim Bambra, Graeme Davis and Phil Gallagher.

Since a previous re-write, the basis of Rogue Trader had been based firmly on WHFB. There were a couple of problems as Rick explained, 'But the first crunch came with the change in emphasis away from hand-to-hand combat towards fighting with ranged weapons.' Problems persisted in creating a believable ground scale for weapon ranges. Priestley opted to work with abstract ranges and went on to state that 'even though ranges are very short in realistic terms, the differences between different weapons ensured that their vital qualities are less distinct.'

Another issue Rick had to deal with was the damaged caused by powerful weapons. He needed to rethink that standard strength and damage system used in Warhammer. 'With the new game (Rogue Trader) I wanted to allow more powerful weapons, but also had to maintain game balance. Simply increasing a weapon's strength would destroy this balance. To make weapons more effective, therefore, I introduced an additional modifier to the target's saving throw. In Warhammer this modifier is linked to strength but in Rogue Trader the link was broken. There are weapons that can cut through armour like a hot knife through butter, but then do relatively little damage - the laser for example. At the same time, I introduced a variable damage roll, allowing some weapons to do more damage than a wound with a single hit. This was necessary in the case of large weapons, where targets with large wound scored were likely to be engaged. All these modifications do make the shooting procedure more complicated than in Warhammer. I felt this was appropriate for a game involving fewer models and a greater variety of weapons.'

Again, Rick discusses that close link between rule development and model design, 'there was only so much modelling time available, so there was no point in having space marines armed with loads of tiny weapons if the figure designers only had time to create a single marine model. The models were influenced by the rules and vice versa. Just why is it that when you're just about to finish a section, some... person... walks in in which his latest cybernetic killer clone-armadilliod lobotomised space-nun and her amazing drone weeble dog, and wants the rules of using it... Sob.' However, there is no mention here of the Sales and Marketing boys who have just completed the number crunching and discovered that the forementioned space-nuns are are selling like hot cakes and need extra umphh adding to their stat line as well as an aggressive marketing campaign in White Dwarf liberally peppered with the adjectives 'cool' and 'awesome'. What we have here is a design relationship between the model makers and the rule writers that seems entirely positive and creative. If that really was the case cannot be known from this article, but it certainly seems far more healthy than the current regime's attitude.

Still, there were even more teething problems for Rick to resolve before the game could be published. 'By the time the game was ready for editing in December 1986, Games Workshop had decided to produce Rogue Trooper.' This game was based on the popular 2000AD strip of the same name and Citadel had produced and small range of miniatures to support it. 'The ensuing confusion was incredible, with people talking about Trader when they meant Trooper and Trooper when they meant Trader. Gurgling quietly often became the only option.' After discussion in the studio a new title was coined by 'some bright spark' that Rick confesses he would 'hate for the rest of his life' came up with Warhammer 40,000 Rogue Trader, though Rick preferred 'Warty Thou'...

'The publication of Rogue Trader,' Rick summed up, 'opens up a whole new area of supplements, scenarios, modelling, articles and more of everything. The first supplement is already in preparation, and I am looking forwards to throwing myself into further game development. The Rogue Trader universe was designed for gaming right from the start, and has plenty of room for future ideas - with over a million planets in the Imperium, there's room for players and other writers to develop virtually anything they want!

Go forth and develop!'

Little did they know what a juggernaut of gaming Rick had unleashed onto the world and develop it they did... Changing a small scale skirmish game into the most successful table top game in history.

Advert for Rogue Trader taken from White Dwarf 94. Note: before Chapter Approved reared its sci-fi styled head, the powers that were toyed with 'Imperium Approved'.

We willl remain with WD94 for a while longer and will discuss the second scenario published for Rogue Trader (the first being the rather lamely titled, the Battle at the Farm, in the Rogue Trader rulebook) called 'A Skirmish on Rynn's World', authored by the mega-talented Rick 'I am largely responsible for modern wargaming' Priestley (and no, that isn't an officialTM Priestley quote). 

This is a title that should be familiar with modern 40k audiences. Rynn's World has an iconic place in 40k history, with novels and fluff aplenty published about it. Subsequently, we needn't discuss the background to the scenario too much. A brief overview will be sufficient, I think!

The battle that this scenario describes is that of Jadeberry Hill. Not very GiRm DaRk is it? Jadeberry Hill sounds a bit like a place out of a girly children's programme and not a violent, futuristic table-top wargame. Still, it fits in with the Battle at the Farm for being suitably '80s naff. The article continues to explain that Rynn's World is part of the 'Rynnstar' system located near to the Orkish Empire of Charadon. This area of space is ruled by one Arch Arsonist by the name of Snagrod. This vicious and sadistic leader has plotted to invade the planet, despite the presence of the Crimson Fist Chapter of the Space Marines, and launched his invasion ten days previously. Incredibly, a one in a billion chance saw the shields protecting the Space Marine's base malfunction just as an enormous rocket crashed into it; wiping out most of the Chapter. Only the group at the Farm and one seconded to the Defence Force of New Rynn City guard are left alive... Suitably stirring stuff...

The rest of the article contains the GM's notes. Remember, at this time Rogue Trader was intended to be a skirmish game with a heavy roleplay element. The thought that people would go on to play massive pitched battles had not yet fully developed. The idea was that you would only need a few models to play Rogue Trader, after all, at this time Warhammer was king of the castle and Citadel were shifting over a million metal models for that particular game a month.

I won't elaborate on the GM's notes, I'll leave you to read them yourselves (just in case you're planning on running this scenario with some friends and don't want to be 'in the know' so to speak) but I can say that they cover a few interesting tactical problems for both the Orks and the Space Marine player. Just reading them gets me all excited for the tactical side of games like this instead of just 'Cleanse and Burn' tediousness. One thing that is interesting are the notes on the set up of the playing area. The name of the famous 'Pakomac' River is misspelt as 'Pakamac' on several occasions in the text and it makes you wonder with hindsight if this was the river's original name. If so, I can see why it was changed; 'Pakamac' sounds like a raincoat you'd screw up in a sack and take to a music festival, doesn't it? Again, not very GrIm DaRk is it?

There are a few notes that give suggestions about how to incorporate this game as sequel to 'The Battle at the Farm' from the Rogue Trader rulebook, as well as giving a few suggestions about how to create further games. They really is quite a lot of scope here for some excellent campaigning with a little effort.

Next up, we are given an interesting summary of the all the weapons and equipment used in the game, including some more typos (was this article produced in a rush?) and an intriguing mistake where the word '***piccy' appears where it should say 'Chainsword'. This is really quite useful to photocopy if you fancied a quick game as it has all the details needed to play any game of 'Early Rogue Trader'.

Two further pages remain in the article and these go on to describe the forces used in the engagement. Looking at the detail, I have most of the models required to play this scenario, though some missile launchers are still required for the Space Marines and some Heavy Bolters for the Orks, nothing eBay or a social media trading group couldn't remedy though.

Overall, a nice little article and I have included a link to a pdf copy of the scenario at the bottom of this section if you are interested in a little further reading.

Moving on, and there is a nice little colour page detailing some Rogue Trader releases for that month. Here we see for the first time some of the Space Elves (not yet Eldar) and the Space Dwarfs (not yet Squats). Both sets, I am sure that you agree, are instant classics. The Eldar at this point have that lovely '80s punky feel and sculpted by the genius of Jes Goodwin are absolute musts for any serious collector. The paint schemes too are suitably wild and alien and I just love the names that they are given... Kern Proudbrow anyone?

The Space Dwarf release is more substantial. Twenty models to the Eldar's (or should we call them Space Elves?) six. I love their design (I too never found GW's 'excuse' for dropping them in any way satisfactory) in a wonderfully '80s biker way (which many of the GW staff were at the time I am lead to believe...). The colour scheme is also fantastic; the green and red and blue working perfectly to create a gritty, almost Vietnam vet looking force of troops that even though are set in a sci fi universe are entirely believable. The names too are amusing, all puns or half-puns on famous guns. I am sure that you will agree that this set is an absolute must for any fan of Citadel miniatures.

Anyway, here is the link to Skirmish on Rynn's World.

Skirmish-on-Rynn-s-World

An advert for the ruleset and, of course, the now famous first two releases; the plastic Space Marines
and the metal  Space Ork raiders by Kev Adams. I have most of these models now...

As you would expect, plenty of Rogue Trader material popped up in White Dwarf 95 to following month. As many of you will know, this particular issue was  Warhammer Fantasy Battle heavy... Not only was there a flexi disk of Warhammer inspired music but there was also loads of Warhammer Third Edition release material on offer. So significant is this issue of WD taht I have blogged about various aspects of it over the years. Detail on thre flexi disk cane be found here.  Subsequently, Rogue Trader was a little squashed up in this issue and rather limited.

Bob Naismith and the Perry twins produced a wonderful range of space mercenaries here. There are obvious prototypes to what would later become 40k standards. We have squats, ratlings, power armoured troops and Imperial Guardesque soldiers. All the sculpts in this set, as I am sure that you will agree, are extremely well executed and quite varied. These models must have been a real pleasure to paint back in the day (as I am sure they will be today, if you can get your hands on them...) and one theme that I am keen to explore myself when painting up Rogue Trader minis is the bizarre 'future camo' scheme evident on several of these models. I particularly like the colour scheme on Mad Morris with the jet black comet tail effect.

Upon first glance, they look a little disappointing, don't they? That is certainly how I felt when I first saw these models. Compared to the massive modern plastic versions the design boys at Citadel have certainly moved on a long way from these early concepts. However, in more recent years these models have really begun to grow on me and I find them rather endearing now. They positively reek of 1980s design ethic though don't they? What is interesting is the number of weapon options that these first releases were intended to have, and its clear that even at this early stage it was possible to create the armour you wanted.

The colour schemes for the red and blue dreadnoughts lack depth, especially when compared with their armaments, so I would not be taking any inspiration from there. The first model is must better and I really like the way the Citadel painter has managed to achieve that oily metal look, very apt for a giant, robotic killer really! And the faces? They are just begging to be painted, aren't they?

Those of you that frequented the 1980s will no doubt recall the classic television series, The A-Team. Many of you probably watched it on early Saturday evenings as I did. BA was always my favourite character, not because of his tendency to 'pity the fool' or throw bag guys through windows but his skill at building incredible vehicles and weapons from the tools left lying around in garages and lock ups. Rick Priestley shares many of these skills, but instead of fighting crime he produces wargames terrain from the junk that is left lying around.

In this famous article, he goes on to explain (with the help of a few other GW illumni) how to produce vehicles from (yes, that's correct) a deodorant stick and other bits and bobs. Classic '80s madness that is still influential today. People still make this model. 

Here is the article in full... Rogue-Trader-Eavy-Metal

The First Ever Chapter Approved! WD 96

Issue 96 of White Dwarf saw the launch of a series of articles that many 40k longbeards remember with a fanatical fondness- I speak, of course, about Chapter Approved. Its concept was explained in typical style by Rick Priestley at the beginning of the article (read the pdf here) and to paraphrase the series was designed to 'explain loads of new stuff, fluff and miniatures relating to Rogue Trader'.

The first subject was a new Jet-Bike designed by Bob Naismith. The Mk14 'Bullock'- hmm? I wonder why they dropped that name, eh? The article goes on to provide background about the vehicle, including an amusing 'in game' test report by a pilot by the name of John Blank (who looks surprisingly like a certain head of art) as well as full rules and background.

Additionally, the Raven Wing are introduced. With an interesting piece of fluff that expands on the Horus Heresy (as it was known in 1987) and even incorporates the chapter of the Dark Angels into the fluff set up for the Crimson Fists and New Rynn City. Major characters of the Dark Angels are also introduced and their bike configurations are given. Psyker rules are also expanded on.

The MK14 Mechanicus Armories Jet-Cycle 'Bullock'. Is it me, of does the Dark Angel on the back of the beast resemble Maniac from Mayhem? Obviously, Norwegian Black Metal was still big in the 41st Millennium. 

Further releases for the early Imperial Army range. 

Here we have more troopers for the, now extensive, range of Imperial Army troops. There are some lovely, and other not so lovely, sculpts here. My favourites? Trooper Jones with the ork head, Sniper Lang and Female Trooper Vaskez. I'm not a fan of the grey colour scheme though. I much prefer the expanded and developed Imperial Guard that came in later years. With many elements of this release shared with that range, it would be easy to paint these classics up in the black jacket and urban colour scheme design.

Jet-Cycle models were designed to fit the plastic space marine. The article also saw the arrival of the infamous Christmas marines! Sadly, no rules or fluff were provided for them!

In the '80s it never took GW long to produce something silly. And the Christmas Marines serve as a suitable bookend to this post. From issue 97 onwards, 40k became an increasingly dominant force at Games Workshop towers and would, eventually, push Warhammer Fantasy Battle out of the waters completely. The game would change considerably through '88 and '89 and turn into a mass battle game complete with armoured transports, chaos marines and terminators. But that game was very different in tone to the inital months of Rogue Trader's life. 

Early Rogue Trader is mad. A veritable box of frogs of ideas, adventure hooks and zany models. Forget GrimDark, this was just as florescent as my sister's leg warmers and the headband I wore to school. A funny, frothy and far fetched game brilliant for re-creating wild skirmishes across a billion trillion worlds. All you need is the rulebook and a handful of models. With a new edition of a the game just around the corner, why not pop back to where it all began and blaze a complicated trail of devestation across the 1980s once again. 

Go forth and play. 

Orlygg