BOYL Envy, Sadness, and more info on Oldhammer Day

Well, if you are anything like me, you are suffering from an amazing amount of shock at the news of Robin Williams death. I know many of us have long enjoyed his run through our popular culture as a comedian, actor and his incredible genius. I've always thought we had a bit more of a connection because Robin Williams collected and played Warhammer. A friend of mine was a LA manager of a GW where he would bring in his son (I think he bought Empire for him), he had Eldar. Rumors of games between him and Billy Crystal used to abound in the gaming community. My friend did actually play him in a couple of games of 40k. He said Robin made incredible noises and "talked" as the minis. Just as I would imagine him playing if he did. Andy Chambers also shared the story that he called up GW mail order back in the 90s and talked as "Papa Nurgle". One of the mail order guys who packed one of his orders remembers it for being a) his and b) "very large". So we have lost an incredibly bright light for all of us (though tremendously in shadow himself), and more for all of us, a fellow gamer.

One of many shots of Mr. Williams in a gaming store.

Also, if you are like me, I have now collected hundreds of photos from the incredible BOYL event recently held at Foundry! Just looked incredible, and great to see pics of Kev, his greens, the games, the minis, and everything! Of course, the reason I started doing this little blog was because I wanted an event like this in the USA - and we are having ours soon!

So, now that the event in the UK is over, I'll let you know that we are going to have the special figure from Kev and Bryan! We also have a lot of games now set up, including Warbands, WFB, Rogue Trader, Siege. And of course the painting competition for Golden Gobbo USA. So tons of stuff to do! We are also looking at having a special template created for our event, a 3rd edition Stone Thrower template. More info on this right after Gen Con! And yes, the plan is to make them available to those who want them, though you will have to cover cost and shipping! And thanks, Zhu!
Of course, I'm already planning or running a lot of things, and I know several of you are just bringing third edition armies to play games with (Awesome!) but I am wondering if anyone want to volunteer to run an Epic game, or anything else. Now that we have seen what BOYL put on, I'd like to make our first year awesome. We may not hit that high of a bar (kinda hard without Kev and Bryan of course), but I'd like to see it get as big as it can!

Also, I think Don started the ball rolling for rooms at the Days Inn. They even have some meeting rooms that we may be able to book and/or use as guests for late night gaming, trading, chilling, or drinking! Not to mention a lobby to meet up and arrange rides to from the event and restaurants! You can find the hotel here.

Drop me a line or message me on facebook (Blake Shrode in the Oldhammer group) if you would like to run something or have any cool ideas!

On an unrelated note, can you believe the owner of this Maseratti was booked for impersonating an officer?  I just bet the officer was jealous...;)

So basically, well done UK! RIP Robin! And I just can't wait for October!