We're Back! Oldhammer USA Event August 7-9th In Allentown, PA!

First post in a while, but Happy to announce the agenda for the 2nd Annual Oldhammer USA event!

This year we have a hotel Conference hall in Allentown, Pennsylvania reserved for three days, August 7th-9th! The crew have some tremendous games planned, and we are going to have more games, more types of games, and even a bunch of Open Tables for any type of game! And its all going to be open much, much later for late night gaming, drinking, trading and everything!

The group learned a lot from last year, and we've added some great events, as you'll see listed in the agenda below. We've added times for Specialist Games, Trading Table, Vendors, and more! You can find out most of the details by visiting the Event Page on Facebook - Oldhammer In The New World 2nd Annual Event.

Here is just some of the events planned:

The Bretonnian Frog Hunt by Brian Kirkell, where Charlve the Insatiable needs your help in gathering as many giant frog legs as he can!

We have the Awesome Rogue Trader Demo by He of Three Names returning and getting even bigger and better!

There is going to be a massive Event Series by Orclord again - this time it starts with a river crossing and ends with a Siege! If you saw last year's game, this should prove even more EPIC! You'll want to be there to see this awesome display of miniatures as an Orc invasion once again threatens the Empire!

We are going to also have the painting competition return with more categories and an awesome prize for the best - Courtesy of our host vendor - The End of The World Terrain and Products, LLC.

One really cool new table is being built by Brian Kirkell and it is going to host a great new game - "Remember the New Alamo!". This Rogue Trader game for 10 players has an actual 28mm scale Alamo at its very heart!

You want Rogue Trader Madness? How about an Arts and Craft Table : Making a Deodorant Tube Hover Tank! Bring your cool beginning....in this we will supply materials until they run out (but feel free to bring your own!) Build your "Priestley" tank! What's more, build it on Friday, paint it on Saturday and take part in the ultimate Hover Tank Death Match to see who's Hover Tank reigns supreme!

Come see the "Oldhammer History" table, full of glorious products from the past! But please don't touch, the watch dogs are very well trained and hungry!

There will be Open Gaming, The Trading Tables (just awesome stuff trades hands!), Repair Station, a Painting Table, and more!

For Registration and Ticket info see here: Oldhammer USA Event Registration. A map and information for the hotel is also located here.

And above, we have a vendor who will be selling those really cool 3D Space hulk layouts, and many more terrain goodies! Watch here for more on The End of the World Terrain and Products, LLc as we'll find out what is up on their island bastion they call home!

See the agenda here: Oldhammer USA Weekend Agenda (please note subject to change - but I will keep this updated as it does).

I'll be posting more soon - Going to get some pictures of all of the buying I have been doing in preparation for this great weekend! - Cheers!

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!