Way back machine - And we are back.

Way Back Machine - Black Sun (GW Mail Order)

And Current Events - Adepticon And Oldhammer Spain!

Hello, Been a while, and life gets in the way. Almost died twice, but recovering. so here is something very cool for anyone who used to order mail order long ago. Along with your White Dwarf Subscription you could get copies of the Black Sun. The post cost being what they were, I never got he subscription but I had heard of these at a convention a long time ago in the late 80s. But Black Sun was a way for them to push new products in mail order share a few laughs and discuss with the "pack" of Subscribers! After all, if you subscribe you were just as mad as they were!

Games Workshop USA in the late 90's also put out the Troll magazine with White Dwarf to subscribers, including things like conversion of the month and special deals on figs (or at least packages).

I'm including scans of Issue 2 (Sept/Oct 1984).  I believe due to the discussion about Origins that this one is from 1984.The credits state it was put together by Steve Williams And Robert Neville with Illustration by Trevor Hammond. Clive Thompson, Ian Marsh and Marc Gascoigne assisted with Shelagh Dwyer doing the layout. It was short lived, but lets see what is in there:

This is a bit different, as it was more about what Games Workshop was selling through their mail order back in 1984, so covers Star Trek, Ringworld and a whole host of other things. However, some sharp art by Mr, Hammond, some great joke pages, and it does capture that feeling of the 80s. The same sense of humor gave us a lot of the greatest moments in Warhammer!

I'm sure some of the other issues mention the figures, or Warhammer itself. But here we go:

Here is the Cover!

Wonder who Man-thing 5714611 was and what the number signified (if anything).

Page 3 - Talks about new releases and what will be coming in.

More New stuff, and very vocal put downs on prices, packaging and even TSR! Very Snarky. 

Right, can you imagine current GW requesting Torture Tips? I like the art style too, again, by trevor Hammond

Chaosium did SF with Ringword. Very interesting review.

The basement...err Catacomb clear out for Mail Order. We had Bob's Bargain Basement when I was at GW USA .

Tongue in Cheek bit for all you who cheated with the Fighting Fantasy series!

They brought this out at Games Day. They got quite a bit of money by printing the old games over there for american companies. a lot better than paying shipping. Unfortunately it has gotten a lot more expensive recently. Be weird if we go back to those days.

Review of fanzines and other pubs.....wow, haven't even heard of most of these.

And what old school 'zine/advertisement would not have the old competition Quiz? Place your answers in the comment section below :)!

OK, so some memories from the mid-80s for those of us who were alive back then. And maybe something you have never seen. this remains the only issue of Black Sun that I have personally owned, and I have no idea how many their actually were. I'm not sure if this team made a bunch or if someone else had to take over. I do think Mike Brunton and Tim Pollard might be able to answer some of this.

I know there are more of these out there, and I'd love to see some copies of them. So if you have them please get in touch with me.

Below are the links to the PDFs Laid out. You have to print them back to back, then fold them in half as a "magazine". But they are better quality then the jpgs I put in this piece. Enjoy. And if you have any others, please send me a message in the comments below or scans of yours!

Black Sun Vol 2 Pg 1 Sept Oct

Black Sun Vol 2 Pg 2 Sept Oct

Black Sun Vol 2 Pg 3 Sept Oct

Black Sun Vol 2 Pg 4 Sept Oct

Black Sun Vol 2 Pg 5 Sept Oct

Black Sun Vol 2 Pg 6 Sept Oct


On the other front, We just had a great few days of gaming at Adepticon where "Orclord" from Stuff of Legends, Rusty and Caius (of the building goblin Doom Diver that was not allowed to fire!)  hosted an incredible game with Orcs rampaging across the river at the Stalwart Empire (Damn those guns!). I can't do it justice on this post, so I plan another for the game itself, but here is just one picture: (I will state though I could only attend 1 day for crappy reasons, it was a BLAST!)

Reserves are off the table (you can see just some of the Orcs & Gobbo reserves at the top of the picture). Though it may not look it, the Orcs did get into the and over the emplacements! And this game also had 2 Old school Citadel Giants (mine adn Orclord's!

On the forthcoming Oldhammer front, the guys are planning on games at Historicon, and a weekend in October (Oldhammer USA Weekend #3!) in VA. In fact they are working on getting the date together so come on to Oldhammer In The New World Facebook Page to find out more and keep up to date (Plus find a bunch of us Oldahmmer Loons right here in the states!) We are still finding more and more people who have not seen this or did not know we were having Oldhammer Weekends...so lets find more to join us!

Some incredible minis in the Oldhammer Spain Case - Can't wait to see the close ups on the blogs out there!

Right now the Oldhammer Spain guys are having their first Weekend, and it looks fantastic. and guys if anyone knows how to get me one of those shirts - please let me know - size XXL! :) I'll pay!

I want one - I'll pay for it and shipping - Contact me please!

I started this blog a long time ago, in order to try to get some kind of get together for Oldhammer here in the States. I've been lucky enough to meet some great people, get together and have some great times and games! Congrats on doing the same Spain! So glad to see this still growing. Now my next blog is almost done. Its been hard, but I think it will be worth it! See you soon!

USA Oldhammer Golden Gobbo Competition! Guest Judge - Dave Taylor!

Well, if you have followed the forum then this is not a surprise, but we are lucky enough to have Dave Taylor join us as our judge for the Golden Gobbo competition at the USA Oldhammer Weekend at Dropzone Games. Andrew Dyer, our friendly patent official is running the event, and it looks like it is going to be awesome!

Dave is pretty familiar to a lot of people in wargaming, and has won awards (multiple Golden Demon, including staff awards), edited Wargames Illustrated, and been with many different companies, including his own. This is his bio from his blog.....

I've been modeling, painting, and playing with toy soldiers since 1991. Over the years I've painted thousands of miniatures, primarily for Games Workshop's games, but I've also tackled some great historical miniatures. You can keep up with my current projects here on this blog - Dave Taylor Miniatures. A quick browse through that will show you the kind of projects that Dave takes on!

Luckily Dave also allowed us to ask him a few questions, and I thought I would put those here:


OITNW: Do you remember the first miniature that you painted, and do you still have it?

Dave Taylor: The first miniatures I painted were for my early D&D days, some Dwarven adventurers, probably around 1983-4. I painted quite a few models for my roleplaying group over the years (including a handful of what I am sure were old Citadel Miniatures - some Orcs and Wolfriders). It wasn't until 1991 that I started painting GW/Citadel minis for wargaming. As a Uni student, I opted for the cheapest options, like the RTB01 boxed set, and painted up a dark blue Space Marine army. I no longer have any of those models, they were lost in some move at some stage, but I do remember a lecturer of mine (I studied Graphic Design) saying to me about some of my first models, "You know, Dave. I thought you'd be able to do better than this."

OITNW: Have you noticed the Oldhammer painting movement/styles in the more "current scene" and what are your impressions of it?

Dave Taylor: I have certainly noticed the Oldhammer approach to gaming, collecting, and painting. I think it's a great thing. Fortunately it's not just a nostalgia thing, but it seems to be a movement that appreciates many of the core ideas behind the fun times that were being had at GW/Citadel in the late '80s. While there are now some absolutely fantastic miniatures coming out of the GW Design Studio, they are very refined, distilled down to a core design aesthetic. The miniatures (and painting styles) of the Oldhammer era weren't afraid to experiment, to test new grounds.

OITNW: You have done some incredible armies, and some greatly detailed Golden Demon winners.  Are details or overall miniature effect more important?

Dave Taylor:  I'm a big fan of the overall impression of a miniature, regiment, or army. It's the big picture that will grab me first. But (and it's a pretty big but) it is the detail work that will always hold interest and keep me looking at the model(s) longer.


OITNW: I know you have painted a lot of 40k and Marines, but what are the iconic "Bad Guys" that you like to paint. Is there a Chaos God you really like to paint? (Do you have a special way of painting Nurgle or Tzeentch stuff?)

Dave Taylor:  I do typically paint "human" armies. They've always held the most interest for me. Humanity against the vast, spawning pantheon of foul creatures and supernatural powers. Be it a guy with a shiny breastplate and halberd, or an ill-fitting helmet and up-powered flashlight, I've loved the idea that it's their faith in the strength of Humanity (and the ranks of millions to take their place) that keeps these soldiers fighting. In those times I have strayed from the human armies, I've been drawn to the undead and Nurgle Chaos, both rotting and decayed reflections of previously human armies. I must admit I have no real "methods" to impart for my rot or decay.

Dave also is involved in the Project Alchemy bit that Jon Boyce, Tony Mansfield, Steve Casey, James Craig and others are doing (you have probably seen it pinned to the top of the Oldhammer Community page!) and you can read more about that here: Dave Taylor - Oldhammer

Dave is also one of the guys who has taken photos for Wargames Illustrated, who have some great photos of just models. He was working on that when we got the chance to talk at Adepticon:

Dave had this up at Adepticon, he was taking some photos while I was running a Deadzone event (from Mantic Games) next door! It was really impressive, and looked great!

Dave also was involved in this event at Adepticon, at least with some great photos! Really looked like a 28mm Space Marine Games, and was one of the BIG impressive events at Adepticon! Titanicus

You can also use the links on the right of Dave's Blog (the Labels bit) make sure to visit Adepticus Mechanicus, Legio Custodes and this type of thing under Golden Demon. The prolific nature of Dave's projects and his gorgeous models keep me coming back for more and more!


Hopefully we'll impress him so much he'll take some shots of our figs! Thanks Dave, and can't wait to see you there!

Hobby Update - Adepticon Metal Dark Elves (and a bit on Oldhammer) and an old school Dragon

Ok, finally some hobby stuff! But first, a quick Oldhammer In The New World 2014 - Baltimore (OITNW 2014) update:

First, I now have the warband rules, and just have to write them up and pdf them for everyone, which I will hopefully get done tonight and post as soon as I can. Also, we now have some Rogue Trader games set up for the day - more info to come later! And we should have the Golden Gobbo rules hopefully by the end of this week. Dave Taylor (former GW employee and Wargames Illustrated Editor), multiple Golden Demon winner and incredible hobbyist has agreed to be one of our judges for the Golden Gobbo at DropZone Games. You'll have to work hard to impress him, but that is kinda the point, right? He also - unlike me- can take incredible photos, and will probably put some up on his blog, promoting Oldhammer to even more people! We already have a lot of people planning on being there, and hopefully we'll add more. One thing suggested on the forums was maybe planning ahead and trying to get into a hotel and possibly get a group rate. Please go to the forum to discuss that plan, or if you have any suggestions. I did link to three nearby hotels, and there are also some restaurants near the store, but not right there (the store is basically in a business park, so you do have a small drive just about anywhere) unless something has changed since I worked there! Also, remember that I'm making the trip from Michigan, so have about 16 hours to get there with my family. Luckily I have some great help closer to the event, but the concept is to make it your day - so if you have something cool you want to try, get in touch and I'll get your table reserved!

This hobby update is for an army I built for 8th edition, but includes a lot of old metal - no not terribly ancient Dark Elves (though I'll get some pics of my shades which do include some old guys) but at least honest to goodness metal! For Adepticon, and the recent Great Lakes Warhammer League season, I played Dark Elves. I have played them before, but played Lizardmen for Becalming Cogitation. They took that away, so I went back to Dark Elves for a bit. I painted this army in quite the rush (most of my hobby nowadays unfortunately), and they are absolutely not even finished as an army, but they are done enough to play with. I did have to include two new things (darn plastic toys) to make this work for 8th edition, so ignore them if you are just looking for old stuff....the Kharbidysis was actually painted the day before I went to Adepticon, and I got him to this stage in just over an hour. (I had to pack ;) ). As I said, rushed. And I'll be the first to admit that I will probably never win too many awards for painting, I'm always drooling over Blue's minis or James awesome Bestiary models, not to mention Nico's amazing stuff! But for me, I get a very small amount of time to game at all, and painting gets taken out of my gaming allotment ;( Funny thing, I do enjoy painting, I just enjoy gaming more - mainly because you do it with a friend. The whole reason I do the 8th stuff still is because of my oldest buddy from high school (so he knows where a lot of the bones are buried!) was seduced into Warhammer by me, and he loves tournaments. So I've been still playing some 8th because of him. Big part of gaming of course is social, one of the big reasons I am so looking forward to OITNW in October!

Anyway, here are the pictures for my army, please be gentle on the comments, understanding all of the above. I'm not entering these into Golden Gobbo, they were just figures I could get painted up in time. 

The whole thing.

Bolt throwers - I have older ones, but these are red and black.

Bolt Thrower crew.

Black Guard

Black Guard close up.

Bonehead Hydra.

Morathi

Dark Riders

Some characters.

The 1 hour Kharbidysis

The master.

Dark Riders 2

The Cauldron and Deathhag.

The big unit of Witch Elves.

Poisonous, Hate-filled, Frenzied Witches.....they want to see if you can be there friend!

Some of the Command

The Warlocks

Again, sorry for the pics (old Sony hand held, so not great) and the paint, but at least it is some hobby! I'm working on all of the rules and stuff for OITNW 2014, and a few extra individual models. But let us know if you are bringing anything special, and when we start getting going on the Warbands, post some of yours up, Rusty and I are going to post our warbands here as we get them done. So watch this space. I also have to get all the orc stuff and eventually some siege towers on here......until then - Happy Gaming!

Oh, one more thing - in older metal, I have this old Dragon (think I painted him in the 80s.....) and I was wondering if anyone else has him or knows which company made him....I can not remember for the life of me, even though I KNOW I should know....if you understand? So let me know if you recognize him!