Collecting Oldhammer Style - The long search for Happiness!

If you are anything like me, then you have lists. Your "Top Ten Dream" figures, predominated by things like the Chicken Dragon, The Citadel Giant, The Dwarf Juggernaut, and others. For some this might include the other dragons, like the Great Spined Dragon, or The Emperor Dragon. and if you get one of these gems, there are always more to fill the list back up!

Then there are the "current needs lists". The items you need for that force you are collecting, That figure in the scenarios that you are preparing, the old school McDeath search, and others. These are the ones you troll on eBay and the trading sites hoping to find them in a job lot or a reasonable deal with a fellow Oldhammerer. Most of these, while not as rare as some others, are very pricey in the real world, and stupendously stupidly priced in the BIN world of eBay. 67 pounds for an infantry sized figure....we all know the type.

And then there are "The Ones". they have been in several catalogs. you know they exist. this is not the Nuln Spearman. These are "regular models". But for some reason, YOU can't find them. Long ago you found it existed, and you even tried to order sleeves through a store. Buying 12 blisters to get your hands on this one figure....only to find out the sleeve you got, didn't have him. Maybe he is rough on the mold, so he is "out of service" a lot. I used to think maybe he was just hard to come by in the states. That if only I had a friend in England, I could have a ton of them.Maybe you finally find one, and he won't sell it to you. Maybe your local store never got more than one, and someone bought it, and every reorder went unfulfilled. But the thing is it isn't supposed to be rare, or limited. But for you it begins to be a quest. For a VERY long time my top little figure that I wanted most was this guy: Shown here in the Citadel Journal Spring 1987 version. He's listed here as Bombost. Thank you for all catalog images from Orclord at Stuff of Legends, And especially thank you since he is currently updating and adding on to this glorious resource!

Now some of you have three of him, or have traded several. Well good for you. That is kinda my point. For me here in the USA, he WAS rare. Here he is in the 1988 Catalog and the 1991 Red Catalog (Part 2 of the 1991 catalogs) known by the number 01 and then Axe 17. Man, you really don't know how long I searched for Axe 17. I did meet Mark in Dayton OH, and he had one....so at least I knew he was "real" in that he existed and was sold. Though, of course, Mark only had one and would not sell him to me. I didn't blame him.....wait, yeah I did!

I even went to work at GW in mid 90's (which is not too long after this article appeared!). The metal room was a collector's dream. But guess what? No Axe 17's to be found! Even when bits was working! I even looked at the metal room in the UK, but whether due to time or mislabeling, I never could find him.

And then, you got White Dwarf 135. And Wayne England not only had multiples in his Longbeard unit, he converted one to be the standard. Oh, how I wanted enough of him so I could do that!

Wayne Englands Dwarfs, White Dwarf 135 by Attilla13

And of course, a few months later in White Dwarf 144 we found out he used even more in his Clansmen unit!

Wayne England's Dwarf Army Part Two - White Dwarf 144 by Attilla13

So You have this model you desperately want. and you need more than one!

I did eventually find this guy, if memory serves me I finally found someone willing to part with him back in 97 or 98... (after 10 years or so!) I got one that had been primed white. Blue in Vt helped me get my second one not very long ago, and I am still on the lookout for more! Does anyone know, is there a reason this guy seemed rarer (without the rareness of limited edition stuff)? Are there tons across UK and Europe, and he was only rare in the US? Or was he pretty regular, and only seemed rare to me.

One other thing about this little guy, back in that Citadel journal he was named as Bombost, but on his tab, it actually displays "Bombo". Just so you know.

As many of you know, we recently lost Wayne England. I only got to meet him once long ago, though I believe beer was involved, it was his sense of humor that always stayed with me (even before the beer!). I was lucky enough to get back in touch with him, and that led to us having the Wayne England T-shirts and Prints available at the Second USA Oldhammer Weekend!

I helped sell a modest amount of Prints and Shirts, but even better got to start talking to Wayne. He was even kind enough to send me some original drawings from his Earl series. I know how excited he was to think of them as minis, and he even mentioned sending me some. I was planning on making a 3 part frame, 2 for the artwork he sent me and a small box so I could put the unit on display with the art. Kind of a triptych of design and finished product.

I do hope that someday we will get to see Earl become a reality in metal, but obviously there are a lot more important things.

So I wanted to do something else. My plan is to recreate Wayne's Longbeard unit, and I'll put them in the box to go with the original artwork he was so kind to send me. For many of us Oldhammer's that White Dwarf 135 launched 1000's of dwarf armies around the world. Just check out Bugman's and you are amazed of how many first found their love for Dwarfs after viewing that magazine. The Oldhammer Community has discussed this many times before: See Orlygg's Realm Of Chaos 80s:

Acceptable in the '80s: Wayne England's Dwarf Longbeards

Acceptable in the '80s: Wayne England's Dwarf Army: Part Two

So I plan on recreating that unit (with my own poor painting skills) and this is the first Project Blog. So first, I have to figure out how to get a hold of the miniatures, and which ones I need.

And there it is in its glory. One note. I know that Wayne sold this army off to someone. I also know he regretted it. I mean, when I started talking to him, I just had to ask. But he didn't seem to remember who he sold it to (at the time we were chatting at least). So if you know where it is, or who has it, please let us know. I am pretty sure we would all love to get some photos of it and some individual minis. But it would be nice to just know it is safe.

But I tried as best as I could to map out the unit and the models that Wayne used in creating them. Going through the catalogs and flyers and things I came up with the following list. I tried to use the Red Catalog from 1991 (Citadel Miniatures Catalogue Part two), since it is the one most of us froth over. There were a few surprises as well. But here is the list: (here is a pdf so it is clearer)

The first thing that was not a surprise since I have always memorized that guy on the upper left, was my old friend Bombo, and of course, he is there again with the banner! Second the third guy in from the left in the front row.....I couldn't find him. Orclord pointed out he is a known unlisted one shown here on Collecting Citadel Miniatures Wiki! After quite a while of searching it was nice to have Orclord find this, so thanks! The other mystery I had was the one in the back row, fourth from the left. I couldn't see the duck head in any of the catalog pages I had at hand. Blue in Vt confirmed he had one, but I was trying to find him in the catalogs. We did finally find him in the 1988 Catalog on page 308. The rest are scattered across the pages of the Red Catalog. I also had to kinda guess at the guy on the upper right corner, as he is pretty obscured. I think I made a good attempt. If anyone sees any mistakes I made, please get in touch so I can correct it.

I have a ton of dwarfs, though some are painted, and some are partially painted, I don't have too many that are clear, so I am trying to treat myself a little, and buy all new models for the unit. Then I'll get them painted up, and ready for that display.

But anyone have any Axe17's to spare?


Do you or did you have a non-rare/available/released model that you just couldn't find? What was it, did you find one eventually? Still looking? Let us know.




Also - I still am working on the Stuff of Legends Big Game write up from Adepticon. LOTS of pictures to sort out the good ones that show the action....but it is coming!

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!

Oldhammer USA Weekend 2015 - Wayne England Shirts and Prints!

Well, I'd like to let everyone know that Wayne England is having some prints and shirts made for the BOYL event at Foundry on Jul 31-Aug 2nd! Wayne is going to be in attendance as well!

Unfortunately we are not going to have Wayne at the Oldhammer in The New World Weekend on August 7-9th in Allentown, PA! But he has been kind enough to offer prints and shirts to us here in the USA! He is even going to make a special run of the shirts that say Oldhammer USA 2015 on the sleeve!

Oldhammer In The New World August 7-9th, Allentown PA

The shirts come with two pictures available, and will be available in big boys sizes too! Sizes can be a bit smaller in UK than USA, so order accordingly! Here are the two pieces of art on the shirts:

Shirt #1 - Dwarf Lord 

Shirt #2 - Earl the Stinking Goblin!

Wayne also is having limited edition prints made for the event, and is offering preorders on the #s of the prints. There are 6 images available for these prints. The first 2 are black and white (the images above for the shirts) and are 12 pounds each. If you order you can ask for a certain number of print, but they are first come first serve on the numbers.

There are also 4 gorgeous full colour pieces of art as well:

These are available for 15 pounds each, and you can also request numbers for these as well, first come first serve on the numbers. (Shipping to England for the prints is 3.99 in UK, 4.99 in EU and still checking on US shipping)

I'm taking down the pre-orders for the USA event, so that we can try to get it in one shipment, save on shipping, and also, save some time for Wayne. I already have orders for quite a few shirts and prints. Wayne is going to have some examples to show off in a week of so of the shirts. We will have to make our arrangements to allow for shipping time, so I'll announce deadlines soon, though Wayne will have them to sell until they are gone. I'll be able to update this one the prices of the shirts as soon as Wayne has his samples and prices from the printers. Note, these are the prices from Wayne, we are not adding anything for the Oldhammer event, which is why we'll have to figure out shipping, etc. To get your name on the list, email me here!

Graeme at last years Oldhammer USA event! He kept hitting everything!

I'd also like to mention Graeme Davis, one of our special guests last year, who was wicked with the dice rolling in the big siege game. He recently put together lists of all of the work he did on Warhammer and Warhammer 40k. Incredible bibliographies! But he also added one great article for his blog : Warhammer Prehistory: Find the Lady! Great to get another peak behind the scenes on the influences, both cultural and personal that went into the games we love. Included in this post are links to Coop's blog post about this topic on Fighting Fantasist, as well as a link to the Find The Lady pdf itself. Please also note the comments in these as Paul Cockburn, Phil Gallagher, Graeme and others make some great comments and their own views! Not sure it is in the comments, but saw on Facebook that Mike Brunton also did the maps for his (not sure if that is mentioned elsewhere, but want to give credit where it is due)! Enjoy!

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!

Oldhammer USA update - almost here!

I'm furiously trying to get last minute details done before the long, long drive for Oldhammer USA! The youngest boy is currently taking up room in the painting area furiously getting his warband finished! Can not wait for this - just a few days away now!

But I was working on something in the background as a surprise for our event, and I want to be able to share: we have had some special templates made, thanks to the incredible, indomitable Zhu!

 
These are really well done templates done by Alex of Ironheart Aritsans! These are hard plastic, printed templates. They are the Stonethrower template right from the 3rd ed book, the big template. we are going to probably do more over the course of a few years, and we can all have a set of great templates! He made the upper white one because Zhu wanted the "feel" of ancient wood!

Now, part of this is to let everyone have a chance to get them. So we are going to drop them to some helpful souls who have agreed to send them on to their final destinations. Basically to save us all shipping, I'm going to drop ship them to someone in UK (or a couple of someones to share the pleasure pain ;) ) who are going to be nice enough to send them on to their final locations....shipping will be much less if we can send them out in bulk from here to UK, Australia, Asia, etc.


They are going to be $10 a piece with 4 dollars shipping in US (like a DVD - avg price), and 8 dollars for international. The international ones are going to be bulk mailed to a consenting victim volunteer, who will then ship them out to those closer to him (ie, inside the EU is a lot cheaper to ship than from US). If you have received anything from here, then you know this is actually a bit cehaper, because we are sending one big box, and then small envelopes from there!

Alex and Zhu are going to be paid, and everyone will cover their shipping, and no profit will be made by me on these templates. Make sure to send it to me through Paypal so I do not get charged the fees (is it private or gift, i forget). But I am not making any money off of these, if I get all the fees, then I won't have enough to ship them all out!

The only money made will be two talented people who deserve it, and the postal services....though they may not deserve it right now. You can order a complete set if you would like, one of each color, order two blues, etc. Alex has been kind enough to let us do a preorder and he is going to print them on Demand.

I'm offering them for preorder starting with this post, and we will cut of orders on Nov. 30th (which is the weekend after Thanksgiving here in the states, and then I can ship them out, hopefully in time for Xmas! If I get enough for two runs, we will do one on Nov. 15th and another for Nov. 30th. So if you order early you can almost be guaranteed of getting them in time (I don't guarantee postal stuff - especially after UPS and FedEx issues last year!)

------> EDIT<-----------
These are on Alex's Print On Demand Queue so he can do a run next week, any orders done by Monday will ship out the following week. I'll be taking orders from those at Oldhammer, and then they will print and ship. Other orders will need to be to me by Nov. 30th for a second run. Good news, you can get them sooner, but you have to order quickly.

Ok! Well, I just saw Zhu's email from last night, and I want to let you all know that any templates ordered before Nov. 9th (including those from Oldhammer weekend) will have the logo fee donated to project alchemy for John Jon Boyce's project. Our guest judge Dave Taylor is also part of that project! I told you Zhu was incredible and indomitable!
------------->EDIT<----------



If you order a complete set the shipping for US should only be 7 dollars at most, and for International it would only be $12 dollars.

So as an example, Zhu wants one set, of 4 templates, its $47 if he lives in US, and $52 if he is in the UK - or about 33 pounds (depending on day). It would be just over 41 Euros, or just under 60 Australian dollars. (those were current as of this post, for other conversions or to make sure these are current, please do your own conversion). Remember, please make sure to send it to me without fees. I do not want to have a nightmare and have no money to ship these. These are the prices for drop shippable countries (which should include UK, EU, Australia) for other countries I'll have to make other arrangements - but you will only pay exact shipping.

OK - have two sick daughters and a sick wife that I am trying to please before I go off and leave them! I also have so much to pack and do! Can't wait to see all of you at Oldhammer USA - and for those across a sea, border, or just too far away - I hope you like these! And the fact that you can get them yourself!

Oldhammer Guest of Honor: Phil Gallagher Interview

As I announced earlier, we are going to be having Guests of Honor at the Oldhammer Weekend event. Our Second Guest of Honor is Phil Gallagher, Studio Design, Editor and WFRP guiding hand...along with the creator of the Emperor himself. Once again, Phil did a previous interview on Realm Of Chaos 80s, so check out Orylgg's interview here.

We are actually pretty lucky to have some special Warhammer/Oldhammer Celebrities here in North America, and I am really excited that they are going to be able to stop by. So bring your copies of WFRP, your questions, and any presents! Phil and Graeme also let me know that they will be there on Sunday, during the Golden Gobbo competition! So make sure you can be there on Sunday to meet them!

Phil was kind enough to answer a few questions that I sent him, I tried to not repeat questions from other sources, but remember you can get your questions answered on Sunday!

OITNW: In the realmsofchaos80s interview (see link above), you were confronted with a huge stack of already created material, and had to wrestle the beast to the ground. I’m sure it was a monumental task at that time, even deciding what to keep and cut. How many months did you work on this? You said it was mainly structure that you gave it, did that include the layout or just edited text?

Phil: It seems now, in hindsight, that Realm of Chaos took year and years to complete! In reality it was probably about a year, but the truth is, I can no longer remember. The lay-out was the team’s attempt to fulfill Bryan Ansell’s vision! We were lucky to have Ian Miller do all those fantastic illustrations, while Tony Ackland never seemed to tire of drawing weird, warped beasts of all types!

OITNW: But the end result is a beloved and treasured roleplaying game, one that many believe is there favorite of all time. Was the tension between your own ideas and that already created what made it excellent?

Phil: Hmm. It’s difficult to say. I think what’s made it a favorite with so many people is the sheer amount of creativity that went into it. Of course, I STILL think the mechanics were/are unnecessarily clunky – but, hey, that’s just my opinion, and the opinion of those that still play it is much more important.

OITNW: Was there a “battle” that you won, i.e. not including something or adding something in? Was there something that you would rather have been rid of, but were made to keep?

Phil: There were no battles. There was neither time nor opportunity to re-do the combat system, for example. Jim Bambra and I simply shoved in as much role-playing guidance as we could, and “cunningly” persuaded everyone (ourselves included) that we’d “fix” the magic system in “Realms of Sorcery”…

OITNW: I know it is the periphery for you now, but I was wondering on your general thoughts on the Oldhammer movement. Are you surprised by the passions that these things you helped create years ago are generating in otherwise respectable people?

Phil: I think it’s fantastic. I am surprised and humbled to discover that the thing lives on. Long may it continue. Perhaps I should have “Here Lies the father of Sigmar Heldenhammer” on my gravestone!

OITNW: One thing that most of us in Oldhammer love is the general humor and sheer explosion of creativity that the Design Studio created during those golden years. This tends to be lacking from current games and products. Was this a freedom that was allowed, or was it encouraged in the studio? Was it just something in the water….or beer? How much as editor for a lot of the materials decide how to cut it down, or did you go for a certain type of humor?

Phil: I think we had a certain youthful cynicism. Rick Priestley had set the ball rolling with the very first edition of WFB, and the rest of us just carried it on. Graeme “Undead” Davis has a fantastic dry, deadpan sense of humour, and I have terribly sad fondness for puns. Sometimes, slipping in a joke or two made me feel like I was being a little rebellious, in a quiet, understated kind of way. Other times, I just though it was funny. There were also times, of course, when we all experience that cliche of “you have to laugh… because if you don’t, you’ll cry.”

OITNW: I know that you currently act, and some of your photos have been amazing! The best roleplay group I ever had in college was a bunch of actors who also role-played. I was able to ask this question of James Earl Jones once after a presentation he did. So I will ask it of you as well: What is more important, truly incredible acting or wonderfully written lines?

Phil: Oh, good question! Wonderfully written lines make the acting easy, of course. Interpreting character, potraying genuine emotion, making the audience forget that they are in a theatre watching actors, moving them, making them laugh, these are all part of the reason I do what I do. Wonderful scripts can make the most wooden of performers look good. But the best acting I ever saw was watching Derek Jacobi walk across the stage, without saying a word, he aged 40 years as he moved from one scene to the next – absolutely amazing.

OITNW: Thanks so much for your time, I know some of these may get involved, but anything you feel comfortable answering would be great!

Phil: Glad to be of service. I hope my answers prove worth reading! As Benjamin Franklin is often quoted as saying, my aim is to “either write something worth reading or do something worth writing.”

Thanks, Phil! James Earl Jones's answer to my last questions was very cool. he leaned back, in that amazing voice of his said "Ohhhhh! That's a good question!" Then he said that of course as an actor, he believed that an incredible performance can improve and create something out of anything, and that incredible words or material, just make it easier to capture. Very similar to Phil's answer. He also said, that sometimes, brilliant material could "lock" certain choices an actor could make. Making it difficult to bring something new to the material. In some ways, to me that is the same with most things and one amazing bit I wonder at every day....my children and their imaginations. I'm always thrilled when I find them making up stories and places, rather than saying, but Bilbo has to look like this....

Ok, so that is three great guests, all appearing on Sunday, October 26th at Dropzone Games! Hopefully you can all make it!

Rusty's Corner - Rivers and Churches for Warbands game at Oldhammer Weekend!

Well, been a weird week for me. Want to thank everyone for helping out a friend of mine. I know some of the items I listed up on the trading were a little new, but it was easy to grab and sell stuff. Also happy to say that I donated some stuff that sold, and one very nice gentleman called and matched what I was able to raise, so we covered two months and even had a little extra. So - solid thanks, to a great community. If we need to get him some more, he will now be able to take some time and sort and prepare. But thanks! Apart from one special package (you know who you are!) and the few bits I am bringing to Oldhammer Weekend for you guys, everything is now on its way!

Rusty has been very, very busy of late. But as we pass the one month to go mark, he has sent me some new pics of the final piece of the Warbands board, the River section and the monastery. These are some WIP shots, but I gotta say - I can NOT wait to play on this table with everyone! Get your warbands together, and get ready to throw down! I do have some pics I'll put up Wednesday of some more villagers, monks, and dignitaries. But on to Rusty's Boards!

The board begins. The river/stream is made with careful use of spray paint and digging with a knife. Then sand and texture is added. Glad this worked out so well for you Rusty, see a hobby mistake I made years and years ago paid off!

The interior of part of the monastery. Great construction!

Monastery joining to the wall section. I do think that the one in the third book that Rusty is basing this off was basically a version or modification of La Haye Sainte. Warlord make a great one of these. Rusty's is going to look more "Oldhammer" of course, and is scratch built. So what do you guys think? - Comment Below!

I'm wondering if anyone is going to clash in that space on the board! Or are you going to run into a monk coming out of that door? Get your warband ready - and get those names on the bases!

The Great Spined of Rusty's makes a return as he gets ready to go over the bridge.

Incredible use of the terrain stuff. Rusty is always good at mixing it in. Can you believe that is only part of a bridge kit? Rusty used just one part of a bridge and built it in with mounds and odds and ends of terrain materials. To me the bridge looks older and more worn in. And no, I don;t think that Jugger is gonna stop the Dragon - no matter how he is painted!

More - and note the water is not in the river yet. Rusty puts all this detail in and then adds the extra stuff. Layered detail like this makes your terrain seem more real to me.

Rusty's Warband is trying to steal the initiative on us all.

Ok, very WIP, this is the first layer of the Woodland Scenics water effects. Thin layers dry quicker and give you a bit more control on all of the effects (and you can even paint in details on the different layers. This probably won;t be deep enough, but I know the terrain guru at GW taught me that a long time ago.

So, that is the work up to about a week ago. He's making more progress, and waiting for the water effects to dry! If you haven't made your plans to get to Baltimore yet, this is the type of game you will miss out on!

Other notes - Orclord from Stuff of Legends is going to be hosting a BIG game - a siege. Was glad to talk to him on the phone the other night and he sorted out some of the details. Its going to be 10' by 20'! Lots of stuff, and he is basing more Empire to make it extra special! You are going to want to see this or play in this one - That means you BlueinVT ;)!

This is a Siege game that Stuff of Legends did at a Games Day event! You can read a bit more on it here. Stuff Of Legends Siege Game - The Siege of Karak Azul.Ours won't be Warmaster, and is being Gamemastered by Orclord himself. I know I'm going to spend a lot of time over there! Hope you do too!

I know it was mentioned before on Facebook and RealmofChaos80s, but I want to play it down until after BOYL 2014. But yes we are going to have the limited Event Oldhammer figure that Kev Adams, Foundry and the Ansell's have created and supplied. So if you are as jealous of me of the events in the UK - here is your chance to get something extra special from 2 incredible guys - Kev and Bryan. THANK YOU both - its been years of my life working on and enjoying your figures and the worlds you helped created or define. Martin at Foundry has confirmed that our Boyldrick models are on the way to us as we speak. Unless we get crazy numbers, we are going to have one for everyone. So make sure you get there to get yours!

As most of you know, Kev is also recovering from his treatment. I understand it will still be a while until he can get back to sculpting at the Foundry. Bryan has been sharing some incredible pictures and details on all of this, and I can not wait for them to become available! But here's hoping that you recover well and quickly Kev - We want more! And thanks again for the awesome Boyldrick!

I'll have my hobby update on Wednesday this week I hope. And next weekend I hope to have a bit more news and some more info on some special stuff at Oldhammer Weekend USA. Just know you do not want to miss this!

Oldhammer USA - Warband Game Update

So the local mall put in a new playground for kids, and it is Garfield Pirate themed, which suits my girls just fine. The oldest jumped in Garfield's boat, looked at other kids, and said, the "monster had the ship...Abandon Ship!", at the top of her lungs. ;) Kids jumped everywhere and we parents had a nice chuckle. Regardless, I don't do anything unless these girls are taken care of first......

This is my littlest one wrestling a shark! Of course her mother did not approve (she's afraid of sharks after watching Shark Week one too many times), but she and I had fun with it! This is why I figure these girls will be gamers!

My Oldest one surfing on a turtle - she called him Sheldon. While the youngest wrestles Odie this time....maybe I might have a bit of a problem with that ;)? Now Their older brothers are into DnD, Heroquest, and Warhammer. More of that later!

Alright, here is a hobby update for our warbands table. In our scenario several townsfolk, monks and others are going to be walking around and getting captured by our erstwhile warbands! Rusty is making several monks and villagers, and I am making monks and some other farmers.

I wanted to put up some early WIP shots from earlier so you can see the progress that I have made on these. A long time ago, a very much younger version of me started them off with a incredibly bright red. For my sensibilities now, I started much darker and worked my way up - still have more to go, but you can get the idea.

These were Simple Greened with a bunch of my Orcs and Gobbos. You can see some of the other projects I am working on in the background. I have another hobby update tonight on the start of the Wyvern project - an old-skool repair job! But here are some pics of the monks:

This was the look I was going for on these guys. One of my favorite images from the old school stuff. Making buildings like that was always one of my goals. First though, after Oldhammer Weekend, I'm going to try to recreate the statuary jsut to the right of this banner bearer.

This is the group - All WIP, and not done in these photos. I'll have more pics of them and their progress soon. I did notice look a bit too red still, despite starting off dark brown. Inks may have to save this bit.

Still trying to figure out the masks on these guys - Silver or Gold? Weapons silver and black, so which would be better?

Command type figures

Another group shot, but you can see the "additional projects" right behind these guys.

The lead figure, and what I was trying to base my standard on...

With My standard, I am going tan/bone color, more because without the backdrop it is just too much red. Kept red text though. The chain bit made it hard, but do you guys like it?

Anyway, so these are some of the figs for the Warband Game, sure hope you guys can make it!