Games Workshop: A Catalog of Consumer Complaints, 2021

WARNING:  Apoplectic nerdrage-induced cursing bordering on terminal neckbeardia.  Do NOT proceed if you are vulnerable to malediction-by-proxy.  Proceed at your own risk.  Note:  Bellicose visitors may have their status upgraded to belligerent after reading. If you find this to be the case, please comment below with Disqus.  

Preamble

Well, we're back here.  Some announcements and a strangled rant.

First, we're locking in at Warhammer 40,000 8th Edition for the forseeable future.  We'll use this ruleset as a basis to develop the Nemesis Nihilum campaigns.  You can still add units from new editions, and we're going to be bringing back some stuff from the older editions. 

In addition, Kill-Team is locked at KT18.  KT21 will not be recognized by the council.

More on how all this will be handled will be disclosed as we get closer to Nemesis Nihilum...

BUT...

We really have to take a moment to talk about Games Workshop.  This recent bullshit by them is inexcusable and it's time for action. 

I tried to write a more eloquent article.  Every time I tried, I went off the deep end and got WAAY to detailed and wordy.  Turns out I have a lot to say about this, but writing all that out again isn't worth the "uh, nuh uhs" I'd get from monkey-brain mendicants.

This is draft three...and after this preamble I will limit myself to super short sentences.  Let's get some conceits regarding this malediction of society down before we begin.

1. I feel personally aggrieved by Games Workshop's actions since 2012.  I do not care how you feel in the slightest, and defending GW is a one way ticket to the mendicant's aisle.
2. To anyone thinking "it's just a game" -  you're a fucking half-wit.  Go to mendicant's aisle and contemplate this.
3. If you have no idea why I'm angry, kindly pay attention to GW's actions.  
4. I am not going to do a list of these grievances because it's super obvious to anyone that's not a complete and total moron - which is to say every single shill and newb defending GW.
5. This has nothing to do with money, but GW really thinks highly of their unworked plastic.  Too much, methinks.
6. This has to do entirely with the way NU-GW has reversed the policies of the company they co-opted.  So much potential wasted, so much goodwill squandered.
7. I hold GW personally responsible for the gradual decline of the local groups, which used to be a gigantic pool for our part of the country.  We were the pride spot, and now a guy I know had to drive 350 miles out of state to get a tourney.
8. I feel this is all disgusting and anyone supporting GW's current endeavors is either a shill, a rube or just a fucking asshole.  You can't change my mind because you have access to all the facts and honestly as a human being you should feel the same way I do.
9. I don't give a shit about your parroted capitalist apologetics that COMPLETELY misunderstands intellectual property law.  Unlike most of the rubes I happen to actually know what I'm talking about here and I don't have to prove it to you.  Read a fucking book.
10. GW thought it was a good idea to cancel Warhammer Fantasy.  WARHAMMER FUCKING FANTASY.
11. Age of Sigmar is fucking stupid.  Float around in your stupid bubbles as you circle my turd drain.
12. I'm starting to get worked up, so let's get on with it before I fucking wolf out and have to delete all this again.
13. The only ethical thing to do is play Oldhammer, and immediately cease support for NU-GW.  
14. Buy OOPs or secondhand only, but better yet get a brain and let's 3D Print the Future.  
15. Warhammer Belongs to Us. 

Indictment:  How to Strain Your Customer Base Like A Fuckin' Hedge Fund Manager

Community?  Not any more, chums.  Sit in your corners looking at your phone and wait for GW to tell you how much you owe to either A) not play because Beer Koof or B) rearrange your warband / army because it's now illegal and you're stupid.

All this only makes sense if the basic business model is changing.

Fine.  I'm not with it anyway.  Damn mainstreamers are making 40k hopeful again with their idiot primaris retcon and tech-up.  They're like all the other sci-fi supersoldiers now, which is what the mendicants wanted.  Nice flavor.  Much unique (?)

Make no mistake, they have deliberately attempted to destroy game groups.  They no longer will be relying on "guys" to induct new players - they have YouTube Reactors, Warhammer+, Social Media Marketing and they won't be needing the expectations we have.

You know, of cool new releases we can actual use for a few years and get to know.

They have a different tune to sing to us now.

Well, fuck Games Workshop.  No longer am I able to support this vile company's practices. 

This time, we're not abandoning OUR game.  GW gave it to us a long time ago.

We made up our own stories instead of following an "official" storyline.  We could do everything and anything we wanted because GW was chock full of badass talent and gave us the tools.  Updates were a cool 4 years apart for a long, long time - and new editions were generally better.

The legitimate creators of 40k shared it with us and we made it big.  We literally made worlds with our hands, and told stories of OUR guys.

They are doing everything they can to make sure no one else plays in 'their' sandbox - which is just a pastiche of a million sci-fi and fantasy concepts from history and literature.

The fact that these lawyers feel like we're so fucking stupid they can literally trademark the term 'space marine' is coldly telling of what was to come.  That incident only happened after GW's new hedge fund masters sent the lawyers in to check where MONEY was hiding.  Fuck the community, we can make more money of all the people who AREN'T gamers.  Who cares if we only make one sale?

NOW PREPARE ... FOR ... THE MAINSTREAM

It's all mainstream now... and with them they bring metaplot "progress" to the setting and FOMO to the business model.

BULLSHIT.  

I believe the shortages and sell-outs on the site aren't.  It's a lockdown issued by the controllers to increase the market squeeze.  It's fucking obvious.

As you'll see, they are peddling some serious trash for a premium price, and the mendicants EAT it up.  Generally, these days you get 20 models for $200.  BUY IT NOW OR FOREVER BE A LOSER WITH NO SPECIAL MODELS.

Worse and more concerning, the game systems are incomplete and unworkable.  UNWORTHY.

Unnecessary and unwelcome.

9th Edition, released last year, as had a few releases since and is already showing how poorly designed and thought out these projects are.

If you don't care about this, find somewhere else to fuck yourself.

With every release you buy, GW takes a shit on your head.  And they laugh - oh, my man they are FUCKING LAUGHING AT US.

Nothing for it.

Stop supporting GW immediately.  You can't continue to do so and consider yourself an actual person.  You're a mere mendicant and you should go participate in the MLM cult that GW is becoming.

Your online echo chambers don't prove shit.  Internet anecdotes are worth less than my popcorn farts.

Any yells of 'but business' or 'capitalism' proves you're an idiot and don't even understand capitalism.  Competition is allowed, and I can make Space Knights that look like your designs and THERE'S NOT A GOD DAMNED THING YOU CAN DO.

Now, I have my own intellectual property to develop and protect - but the actual ethical concerns are raised by GW, not my bootleg tyranids.  Again, if you don't get it just SHUT THE FUCK UP and go to the mendicant's aisle and tell them you have been detrimental to your community.

The only ethical thing we CAN do as patriotic American Consumers is to kill motherfucking Games Workshop.  Do not buy a single product and let them and everyone else know you're doing it.  You don't have to explain yourself to a GW apologist.

I will not be guiding new players to GW.  That would be unethical.  If they are interested in joining, I'll guide them to Oldhammer rules in use.  After that, I'd introduce them to the fantastic world of 3d printing.  NU-GW will not make a dime.

Play Oldhammer with 3d printed models and house rulings.  Ignore Warhammer+. 

Call me if you're unsure, I'll help you find the right 3d models for your army - and then I'll play whatever edition of 40k you want except 9th.  For real though - stop collecting.  No new armies, just finish the ones you've got.

Find a better game with designers that give a shit.  Maybe I'll work something up and show you what that looks like.

Anyway, like I said before in case you feel the need to reiterate my fuming curses:

Fuck Games Workshop.  #KMFGW

Warhammer belongs to US.  YOU CAN'T HAVE IT BACK.

You've pushed too far, GW.  You made sure we knew that you didn't give a shit about us - and now we don't give a shit about you.  Cat's Cradle, Silver Spoon.

Prepare for a wash of "retro-clone" wargames that will blatantly challenge your IP legally.  It's so easy to parody what you've become, it's astounding no one has done so.  You only really have a claim to iconography you have trademarked, because all that other concept stuff you stole yourself.

Even so, you can't stop me from doing whatever art I want.  Also, I can give whatever I want to anyone I want.

Buy my new retro-clone wargame: Hammerzeit 400,000,000,000 - Heavy Metal Combat in a Refried Universe.

Or, maybe Welcome to Planet Motherfucker - Superviolent Superfuzz Superpsychic Superwar on the Superworld in Superspace.

Of course the legion of mendicants will carry GW through this, not that they will show they care about your sacrifice.  For NU-GW, it's all about those high revenue licenses now, isn't it?

I hope your journey into money takes you to hell.

FOMO Has Got to Go

Inspirobot will analyze and select the best market strategy for your collapsing integrity.

So, just a while after I spoke about Blackstone Fortress and the market strategy, Games Workshop seems to have taken everything I said to heart. 

Warhammer Quest: Cursed City was open for pre-order April 3 of this year.  As of April 28, it is completely gone and is never coming back.  It's not on the GW webstore, and all records of it ever existing have been expunged.

Recently it's been determined that Cursed City will not ever get a reprint.  It wasn't ever mentioned that this was a limited release, and essentially if you don't have one you won't get one unless you pay scalper prices.  Based on what we've come to expect from Warhammer Quest games, this is definitely a step up on the FOMO game as GW has shown us the don't care what anyone thinks about anything they do, or don't do, or how they do (or don't) do it.

No reprint?  What?  Why would they develop an entirely new game system only to be done after one print run?  Again, this is a Warhammer Quest game and it came with certain expectations, such as support from the parent company.  Expansions and you know - remaining in print long enough for people to buy it. 

The pre-order itself was sold out in around 2 hours, so what bean-counter at GW was responsible for the decision to halt reprint manufacturing ALTOGETHER?  Not a delay, simply no reprints.  Cursed City is gone forever.

Is GW's capital down?  Are there manufacturing issues?  They haven't said anything about it, so one is left to assume that this is all on purpose and GW will be catering to the FOMO market from here on out.  I don't blame them really.  

With 3d printing getting better and better, as a company they are going to have to start offering something other than hastily written and janky rules and overpriced plastic.  The answer, they seem to believe, is making the plastic even more limited.  Probably so they can all scalp on the secondary market.

The FOMO Market Creation was something I only thought existed when I spoke about GW's practices, but it appears that it is not only very real, but that's what all of these will be targeted at from now on.  It's official.  Games Workshop games are only for scalpers and collector fanboys only.

...but mostly scalpers.

Fanboys will gawk at limited edition releases more and more as GW attempts to regain relevance.  It's hard to watch, but instead of leading the pack of game companies as the renowned rules and model makers they were, GW has decided to become the ultra niche-market of the already niche-market.

I wasn't going to buy Cursed City anyway.

I hate anything Age of Sigmar related with an irrationality that could only be born of the oldest neckbeardia.  It's just not gonna happen.  Call me when the Old World drops.  Maybe.  Honestly we don't NEED GW anymore and other gamers are starting to figure that out, mostly due to their questionable practices and policies.  Plus there's just better stuff out there.

...but I'm gonna scalp the hell out of the next boxed set, baby.  Pre-order 10 of the next set and wait 3 weeks.  Then double the price and stick it on Ebay.  After 6 months and every 6 months thereafter, add the boxed set's price.  Once it's gone too big and you need to lose the stock, break the remaining ones open and sell the components at a huge markup.

You can't lose with that strategy now that GW is a non-trusted entity.  Invest!  Buy!  Sell!

Capitalism!

Blackstone Fortress

Warhammer Quest was my first Games Workshop boxed game, back however many decades ago.  I was coming in from Heroquest and Battlemasters, both Milton-Bradley games that were widely available in the states.  When it was announced a few years back, I was immediately interested in the Warhammer 40,000 version of the classic game.

I wasn't interested in Silver Tower AT ALL.  Pass on Age of Sigmar - I just can't.  I won't.  Not ever.  Not to mention that the game appeared to have little in common with it's predecessor, so from the outset there was little to entice me.

Of course, this is the second 'new' Warhammer Quest game - the first 40k version of Warhammer Quest.  It's a few years old...and it's production cycle is pretty much over.  The game is super cool and came with a lot of cool models.  Like the Rogue Trader set, all these models have lots of potential in Kill-Team and Warhammer 40,000 as well as the game they were packaged in.

Which is just as well, since GW's marketing makes it impossible for anyone to get the correct sets they need to play the 'actual' game of Warhammer Quest: Blackstone Fortress.

All these games have limited production cycles.  It's a given that for many companies in the industry that most items are created in 'print runs'.  The problem is when marketing and design create, for lack of a better term, functional dependencies.

For example, Blackstone Fortress: Escalation is required for many of the smaller expansions to function, such as the Deadly Alliance box (the Zoat!).  The problem is that Escalation has been out of print for a while already, and after COVID there's little hope of a reprint.  Ebay scalpers have already seized on this functional dependency to ask ASTRONOMICAL prices for Escalation, making it a real problem for any reasonable gamer to actually collect this line. 

I really don't care if you're a collector and that makes you feel bad.  I just don't feel like the manufacturer should let critical pieces of a line go out of print while they are still creating additions to that line.  It gives the false impression that the line is 'alive' - i.e. at least some plan for producing critical components.

I suppose the ploy from Games Workshop is to create FOMO around every release.  Scalpers run many of the online communities, and these grifters love it when they can get their hands on something like this - a sort of false scarcity.  Blackstone Fortresses' last expansion went on sale late last year, just a few months ago - and yet this functional dependency continues to persist in Games Workshop design.

So here's some advice for all future investments:  It is quite apparent that all Specialty Games from Games Workshop will continue like this.  If you are interested in a line, get everything immediately on release and don't wait.  Don't trust designers not to sell you something you can't use.  If that's going to be a stretch in commitment, perhaps choose just one line and collect it until they declare it dead.

It's not a total loss - I like the basic game, and at least I can use my Blackstone Fortress Zoat (and ALL my other Blackstone Fortress miniatures) in all the other 40k games.

Just not in Blackstone Fortress.

Warhammer Fantasy Battle

3rd Edition, baby.

Warhammer.  It's SRS BZNZ.

I had always wanted a fantasy miniature collection, since I learned that such things were possible many years ago.  As a teenager, I was really into Marauder miniatures - but I was never exposed to wargaming back then.  It wasn't until I got older and had a job that I would learn about Warhammer 40,000.  Soon after, I would learn about the fantasy version of the game from friends made on the battlefields of the 41st millennium.  Maybe three years into miniature collecting proper (somewhere around 1998) I had my very first fantasy army - the Undead.

Fast forward many years, and I have many armies and campaigns under my belt.  Then something terrible happened to Warhammer.  I'm not really going to talk much about End Times or Age of Sigmar, because I hate them.  I like some Age of Sigmar models, but that's about it.  If I can't use them for something other than Age of Sigmar I'm not likely to use them at all.

A few years later, and Oldhammer is powerful.  In addition, many other games rose to fill the gap left by the death of Warhammer.  Some were good games, but they just don't have that down-home flavor of the Old World.  Still, as a community, Warhammer Fantasy players adapted.  The 9th Age began, for better or worse (YMMV).  The Warhammer Armies Project (yes, the actual WAP for many a year now) began an unofficial 9th Edition.

I have something like eight Warhammer Fantasy Armies.  I'm still building them, with old pieces.  However, Games Workshop must have felt the pulse of Warhammer deep in the muck of the Age of Sigmar.  Last year, they offered us a tease of something we desperately wanted - a return of Warhammer Fantasy Battle, proper.

A few articles have come out.  The announcement.  A map teaser.  The latest on...Bretonnians?

Games Workshop has let us know our caparisoned knights will be back on the table in an 'official' and 'supported' capacity soon.  Well, that's fine - the way it SHOULD be.  However, we've been doing this without Games Workshop's involvement for quite some time, because they literally ended the world with all of us still in it.  

For whatever reason, a large portion of the player base DID NOT end up in the Age of Sigmar.  So I guess they have to come back for us if they want our gold crowns.  For myself, I wanted to introduce Warhammer Fantasy Battles to the blog while Games Workshop is talking about it.  I'm most interested in the Oldhammer, but for current style games I'm all in on the Warhammer Army Project's 9th Edition.  You can find everything you need there for battles in the Old World, and I'll probably drop edition translations of old magic and items, and maybe characters or units we dig up from the vault.

For the Old World, I'm hopeful but wary.  I want this to be the definitive version of Warhammer, but Games Workshop doesn't really work that way.  We'll wait and see.  Until then, check your 9th Edition army books at the WAP, or find an army there and start raising the banners.  Hit me up if you need help finding models among the myriad of manufacturers now available!  It's a sea of choice!

Warhammer 40,000 3rd Edition Ruins [Desert Edition]

In the far days of yore, there was the Warhammer 40,000 3rd Edition Box Set.  Many of my buddies wound up getting that box, so our club generated lots of these ruins around the year 2000 and 2001.  We didn't really have a club back then, just my living room.  So, all the terrain from all those sets were donated to our budding terrain collection.

These ruins are various ages, but the oldest are 20+ and this is the third or fourth time I've revisited this particular set.  I got my first set in '98 when 3rd Edition dropped, and I continued to acquire new ones from various sources over the next decade.

Admittedly, these ruin sections are not the finest examples of the terrain-maker's art, but they have certainly acquired character over the decades.  To that end, I find I can forgive their cosmetic shortcomings - many of these were done long before we ever even knew how to use much of the material we were trying to use.

"Enemy interceptor inbound!"

Many of us tend to neglect the terrain portion of the hobby for years, and these ruins are quite nostalgic for me.  They make up the mainstay of two of my tables, and much of it could honestly use a little more TLC.

"Go for the eyes!"

While my craft has certainly advanced over all this time, I probably won't ever have to 'start' over with these - but I can't say that for my other set of ruins.  Those are going to require some actual work to make presentable again - but again, like these...I probably won't start completely over.

Old Units & Warhammer Legends

Inspirobot thinks you can do better with all that money.

So, recently Games Workshop dropped a huge chonk of stuff onto Warhammer Legends.  In addition, a large swath of stuff was removed from Forge World's Imperial Armor books.  Like, 200 units.  FROM THE GAME.

You likely already know what I'm talking about.  You guys remember when they used to claim continued support for any army they ever sold?  Huh?  You remember that?

I'm not going to go into detail on what I think about this move, but as far as generally-accepted practices go I would say it isn't one and shouldn't be.  It's so silly I've decided that I hardly even care - not because it doesn't affect me, but because I'm numb to the pain.  Therein lies the strength.

I find I'm just not really interested in a lot of stuff that GW is doing these days.  Sorta, but not really.  Rules design and coherence has been sketchy since 2012 and everything needs constant collation and updating.  I mean, I love Warhammer - but this constant points changing has got to stop.  In 8th and 9th we'll probably skip right to power levels across all modes over the ridiculous new points system.  I'm not really a competitive gamer anymore.  I'll deal with it in that setting, but in our increasingly more casual games it's a disservice to listen to the metamongrels who constantly force this.

While I'm not declaring that this is an Oldhammer exclusive blog...I'm probably steadily leaning that way as time goes on.  I like a diversity of rulesets, so it's unlikely that I sit with simply ONE version of a ruleset I own six or more completely different versions of already.  We'll use, create and convert any rules or models we want to make our games interesting - you know, how they used to encourage us to do.

Just like with D&D there are so many old editions that actually provide valid ways to play.  So many things that have been lost in the current version of the game.  I have toyed with the idea of attempting to bring every rule and unit from my vast collection of tomes into one work, a sort of 'ultimate' edition, if you will...but that way lies madness.  I mean, vehicle design rules, Legion of the Damned - pretty much everything that the current IP stands on the head of to even be a thing.

It's obvious GW doesn't really care HOW we play the game, and I don't really care what they think anyway.  They can't make up their minds as there are too many goons out there trying to break the rules.  The current rulesets do have their own cool things, don't get me wrong.  I like it, in a way.  I can always use the models for whatever I want.  Any model - in any edition.

HeroQuest Dungeon Elements

As everyone probably knows by now, I love chests.  I mean, face it - everyone loves chests.  Nice pretty chests, full of ... treasure.  I'm totally talking about HeroQuest pieces.

I like a nice rack.  Just about any size rack is great, as long as it's sturdy and reliable.  I tell you what, I just looking at racks when they are all gussied up.  Nothing quite like admiring a good looking rack.  

You can never have too many racks.  You know, for weapons.  Or otherwise.

HeroQuest Furniture!

So, Heroquest was a board game published by Milton-Bradley way back in 1989, and was one of my first forays into fantasy gaming.  It was a collaboration with Games Workshop, and is still one of the best adventure games out there regarding dungeons and monsters.

"Lady, I already told you not to do that kind of stuff in here 

Alas, so many years later and I do not actually have a copy of Heroquest (I had at least two growing up).  However, somehow - I've managed to grab every piece from the game I could when I ran across them.  As a result, I have lots of the miniatures and furniture - but not the board or any of the cards from the game.

A quiet place amidst the dark of the dungeon.  Noice.

The furniture that I have has been used in countless dungeons and wargame setups.  However, they aren't fully painted.  Some might argue they don't really need painting and for thirty years I've put it off.  However, I wanted to get this done so I could say I have painted Heroquest kit.

"Heeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeyyyyyyy!"

All of these are fairly simple, but the card portions are intact!  So, naturally those are part of the display...even though there's a clear crease on the fireplace it still resonates with me.  That might be because it's been with me so long...

Foreboding Skeletons

So, in the bin there have been some painted items that I'm not entirely sure where they came from.  Miss Anthropy painted them, but I only recognize a few pieces from Mordheim.  Depicted above are these foreboding skeletons and the lamps they like to hang out under.  I decided to get these finished and ready for any sort of game involving the undead, since they were mostly finished.

The lamps are from Mordheim, or the Free Company box set from Games Workshop.  It looks like they were stuck on a base to act as lamp-posts for some little village in the Old World.  However, I'm not sure at all where this polite and informative lady came from.

Yep, I have no clear idea where any of this came from.  I would really like some help in identifying these pieces, especially these metal ones.  The lady is very creepy, and I stuck it on a base with a vulture (also metal) to create a sort of objective for ... something. 

Even though I don't really know exactly what these models are or where they came from, they are still cool painted up.   I have lots of models that I have little idea where they came from, and though I try to ID them all sometimes they slip through the dragnet.  If anyone out there recognizes any of these pieces, leave me a comment and let me know what they are so I can properly catalog them!

Treasure Tokens

You like gold?  Huh, kid?
What am I saying?  You're an adventurer - of course you do!

Treasure!  It's what's for dinner - if you're a certain kind of murder-hobo.  

Here's some fantasy treasure markers, mostly cast-offs from larger Games Workshop kits.  This clutch of game tokens is a group that was painted a long time ago.  I'm not even sure who painted these, as they once belonged to the old club.  I know Miss Anthropy did a few of these...maybe (probably) even all of them.  

Be careful - statistically, at least one of these is a mimic (and the rest are trapped).

This collection of tokens comes from a wide variety of sources and I'm not sure where they all came from.  Some were painted quite some time back, but I'll try to mark where they may or may not have come from.  Currently, these are my main set of Treasure Tokens for Frostgrave, though they have been objective markers for a while.

Greetings, I'm Tryna Gitmunny.  How do you do?

Now, they serve many different games, not just Frostgrave.  That's why they do not have snow applied to them, and why I won't apply snow to any of these markers.

Warhammer 40,000 Kill-Team

I've played every version of Combat Patrol / Kill-Team in every edition since 3rd.  It should go without saying that we'd also be taking on this version of the skirmish rules subset, but this edition is a little different.  It's a full-blown game on it's own, and Games Workshop has really lavished production on this version.

So, in approaching Kill-Team I saw an opportunity to actually use some of the smaller sets I've managed to cling on to over the years but never blossomed into a real army.  It would also serve as a place I could collect a few new models without the commitment required of a full army until I got ready to make that move.  If ever.  Instead, Kill-Team would be composed of DIFFERENT forces than my main 40k armies.

Kill-Team is one of the most anticipated games on our roster.  As larger 40k forces require more time to muster, the Kill-Teams in my area are becoming activated.  Almost every gamer I know has a Kill-Team, and if they don't they have friends they can borrow one from.

If you have a 40k army, then you have a Kill-Team.  40k aficionado?  Collect a Kill-Team from a new army.  If you're in the Iron Seer's area - prepare yourself.  Kill-Team campaigns have been planned from the get-go!

We'll be using all the Kill-Team material from the Core, Commanders, Elites and the Kill-Team Annual 2019.  Other Kill-Team materials will be considered, but by and large Arena will not be part of the program.  Even so, plenty of Kill-Teamery to get caught up on in the meantime as we begin to explore a new corner of the 40k universe through our campaigns, armies and terrain building.

Get ready to carve out your own piece of the Nemesis Sector.

Warhammer 40,000

Today, I introduce Warhammer 40,000 to the blog.

I was going to wax lyrical about how I came to be a wargamer.  I was going to talk about where I first heard about it, how I came to have my first armies, my first campaigns and settings in the 40k universe.  That got a little long though, so I decided to get right to the point.

Warhammer 40,000 was my first miniatures wargame.  It was a long time ago.  I have a lot invested in it...but I haven't really talked about it for several years.

Age of Sigmar was the last straw for my old club.  We were one of the first clubs to call it out.  We even went online and decried GW to all our fellow fanbois - and suffered.  We called it the Spring of Discontent, and much Games Workshop was sold, traded and vaulted away.  You could say we were 'put-out' about it.

So Games Workshop faded from view, a place long behind us.  Many thought we were never to return - but in an ancient vault somewhere here in my lair, 40k waited.  During this Long Night, boxes were shuffled, stacked, moved, dropped and otherwise shown contempt for.  Not so for other wargamery going on, but for the Games Workshop stuff there was now a stigma.

It has gone on like this for many years.  Now I understand that a six-year break isn't much for some folk.  For others it is.  For me, it was...I had a lot of Warhammer stuff, but like the current ordeal with Star Wars...I just couldn't.  Even.

Then, a while back - things began to change.  We saw Necromunda return.  Games Workshop, even though they perpetrate things like Age of Sigmar and Primaris marines - seemed to be hearing us.  Us grognards from the older demographic.  It must have been because we were showing all the new gamers NOT-Warhammer.  Whatever happened, I attribute it to the Spring of Discontent, because soon after our disavowance of GW others would begin to take up the banner and move away from Games Workshop in general.

Last year I bought a Codex.  To my great surprise, I greatly enjoyed it.  So I spoke to some of the guys, and again to my great surprise - folk were all about it.  A return to Warhammer 40,000?

We'll need a new campaign setting.  I guess I'll get on that.  Meanwhile, dig up your armies and clean the dust and grime off.  Fix the broken bits and get your order of battle straight.  More on the campaign setting soon...

Welcome to the Nemesis Sector.

White Dwarf 166

WD 166 is all about 40k.  So much so I didn't photo anything else.

I used to collect White Dwarf.

From about 1996 to somewhere around 2012, I had a subscription or I picked it up monthly from the comic shop.  Sometimes, I missed a month but would always pick up the back issues relatively quickly.

In the grim farness of the dark future, there is only war.

From issue 226, the drop of 3rd Edition, I have a complete run until the end of the magazine.  I don't count the reboot of White Dwarf - 409 is where I stopped.  Never even opened that one.

Like plasma cannons or multi-meltas?  Too bad.

I picked up a few older issues here and there and added them to my collection, but mainly focused on what was happening 'now'.  Now, in my old age and several years after having stopped collecting periodicals in general...I want more White Dwarf.  Luckily for me, there's still more than half of it out there.  So, I'm relaunching my White Dwarf collection with a new target number - WD166.

Less than 100 orks led by a normal size warboss.

So that's about 80 issues or so to track down, but it's totally worth it.  Those old issues seem to be less expensive than what's current, so it's not really a financial problem to complete this.  2nd Edition is where I started playing 40k, so it was a good target point - I actually remember a lot of this.  Especially since we'll be playing 2e 40k for a bit coming up, it made sense to start collecting here.

I only wish I was this fly.

What I will say is that it's very strange to see the old stuff after so long.  I remember what it was like when armies weren't very big, and mostly comprised of infantry.  I've seen 40k morph a lot over the years, and even despite my recalcitrance to join current editions I've kept my finger on the pulse.  The difference in every aspect of the hobby has more contrast than night and day, but I suppose that's just the evolution of design.

The art, the miniatures, the design, the language and the magazine layout itself are all products of it's day...as is to be expected.  Maybe I'm just marveling at how long ago this stuff really is...but it really is the change in design that's most thrown me.  I really enjoy a simple design, and will be keeping that in mind as I go forward.

Check out the tiger stripes on those guardians.  Fleek!

Not that I'm pining for days of yore.  The aesthetics HAVE changed, and that's not only ok it's necessary.  Things happen, things change, you get over it and move on.  I for one welcomed the change to a more realistic vibe...I guess that really started to happen 'twixt 2000-2004.  It's just interesting looking at how things have changed.

Easily 1000pts of Dark Angels in 2nd Edition.

Space Hulk Genestealers: A Saga

Genestealers breed in iterations...and apparently get painted that way also.

So, when Space Hulk first came out I got it as a present.

For some reason, I decided I didn't want to play it with the club until it was fully painted.  As the club drifted away from GW products, Space Hulk got shelved again and again.  Now that I'm no longer affiliated with that club, I find it's one of the projects I'm most keen to finish.

Iteration 1 - or, how to NOT use ArmyPainter Quickshade.

Problem is, I've tried this a couple of times.  I've got a couple of different batches of genestealers, each of them look slightly different because they were done at different times with different paints.  However, they are all done with QuickShade.  I'm not totally done with the genestealers for Space Hulk, so that means the rest of them will have to be done with QuickShade as well.

Iteration 2, wherein the application of medium has been more explored.

Overall, I've never felt comfortable with how any of these turned out.  This was my very first project to use Quick Shade on, and I made a lot of mistakes.  Such was the way of 2009-2011.  I tried out a lot of new products during that time, but Quick Shade was honestly one of the hardest to wrap my head around.

Getting the Quick Shade to do what you want can take a little practice.

Eventually, several projects after these, I would be able to actually use Quick Shade.  I had just been so used to not using such...blanket measures.  Once I had done a few, it became easier as I understood how the material would behave and what paint would look like once it was applied.  All in all, I still like Quick Shade, though I don't use it much.  There are more than a few projects I mean to use Quick Shade on, including the rest of Space Hulk.

I mean, I already started it.

I'm going to leave these as they are, much as it pains me.  I still have several Genestealers to do for the Space Hulk set, so we'll see if I've improved any.  Probably not, as it's been a few years since I used it.  Hopefully, I'll remember the lessons learned these years back and they will turn out much better.

Mostly not to be as sloppy.

Frostgrave Cemetery Graves

Welcome to the graveyard, we got snow and graves.

I had a bag full of old gravestones, so I decided to make a graveyard.  You know what they say.  When life gives you a bag of gravestones, make a graveyard.

...wherein we totally ignore the lines we drew...

 So, I got my graves and with some foamcore and a small piece of scrap foam I set out to build a set for a cemetery.    I decided to use foamcore as it seemed to work nicely on the other pieces of terrain.  I knew what i was looking for...four smaller pieces and one larger one.

You're gonna need about 1" per body, Mister.

 One piece would have the larger grave, which is a Buzzy miniature from Reaper Bones.  It comes with a Mr. Bones figure as a pack.  It will be a pretty impressive tombstone for some unlucky sod...

All your stones in a row...

I cut a piece of foam to make a few small rises, for no good reason other than I thought it looked cool.  Once they were glued in place, I gave the whole base a good coat of acrylic brown.  After that, I decided to try a method I used on my daughter's tundra science project and put the snow down first.

I know the names are sophomoric but I don't care.  I really couldn't help myself.

It had snowed here the day before and my yard looked like a sodden mess.  I wanted to try somethings with realistic water, and would use the snow to create bowls for icy puddles.  Using some flock, realistic water and some Winter Tufts from Army Painter I tried to get a blend that looked like the puddles in the melting snow, with some ice around the edges.

That snow is turned to mush in the sun.

More precautions will be taken next time but it didn't look so different from the yard.  These took only a short time to make, and fill out a good portion of the board.  Gravestones can be claimed as cover by infantry, and if it's icy / muddy it also can be difficult terrain.

Alas, poor Buster...we hardly knew ye.

The set actually ends up providing a nice set of obstacles and cover.  The large one obscures line of sight in a most inconvenient way.  Together the whole set has a footprint of about 15-25% of the three foot board depending on how closely they are spaced.  The cemetery graves is the second section of the graveyard, the first one being the gates and the last one the mausoleum.  These graves will be the meat of that setup, and they look great on the board!

As the Ghostmist falls on the tundra, rival warbands fight over the graves of those long dead.

Space Hulk

Space Hulk,  3rd Edition (2009)

What!?

9+ years ago??  I got this for my birthday as a present from the Lady...and I let it sit unplayed for almost a decade.  Despite constant urging from club members I refused to play it until it was fully painted...which never happened.  Shameful display.

Ok...well I guess nine years happened.  Anyway, in true fashion I am finally ready to begin this project since 4th Edition was published in 2014.  There were a few rule tweaks and extra missions in that version, but I'm quite fine with the box I have.  It's almost pristine, with only some of the card punched.  I am really looking forward to finally puttin this on the table.

I do remember Space Hulk in the 90's.  The two middle-aged guys who were the only other Warhammer players in town were all about it, and I got to dive into Deathwing quite properly.  I had Vengeance of the Blood Angels on Playstation (1).  That was my jam.  It was creepy and scary in a way I really had never encountered before.  Warhammer 40k today doesn't have that weird background music, it's all orchestral fanfare and Gregorian-style chanting.

***[DID YOU HEAR THAT?]***

I don't know why I never got around to finishing it, as I had started once or twice.  With the breakneck pace of the old club, I just never found time to do this one justice like I wanted to and kept putting the project off.

Painting back on schedule, even though it's all different and it's going to be like 3 distinct tones / colors.  As I said, I started once or twice and you can really tell with the set.  I'm just going to have to eat it in the upcoming galleries.  I'll have genestealers with slightly different colors, and that's just how it is.

Campaigns!  Yes!  We're going to be doing the main campaign as soon as the set is finished, which shouldn't take that long.  After that, we're going to start exploring what we can do with Space Hulk, and what's out there we can obtain and adapt.  This is going to be cool.