In prehistoric times (I must have been 7 or 8) there was a board game called "Heroquest". Released by Games Workshop (GW) in '89 this game (long forgotten by most) was my introduction to the world of fantasy, miniatures and, in a basic form, war-gaming...
A couple of years later and some school friends introduced me to "Warhammer Fantasy Battle" (4th edition, aka WFB). This was Heroquest on a whole new level, no longer were you limited to a small board or a single hero to play, we commanded vast armies of Orcs and Goblins or the "glittering hosts" of the High Elves. I say "we" but those two armies (the ones included in the box) were claimed by my friends, so I had to find a new army to play. The ruinous powers called to me and I chose Chaos.
I stumbled onto two old books, Realm of Chaos: The Lost and the Damned and Slaves to Darkness. The rules were out of date but it didn't matter. Corrupt Chaos Warriors appeared alongside wild Beastmen and mutant warbands as well as strange superhuman soldiers from the far future (with some crazy story about a godlike "Emperor of Mankind" fighting a hero of Chaos, some guy called Horus...) all accompanied, of course, by the infinite horrors of the warp, the Chaos gods and their Daemons. Exposed to these tomes of lore and the unlimited possibilities of Chaos, my friend's armies seemed pedestrian in comparison; I've been a Chaos follower at heart ever since!
With the release of Warhammer 40,000 (2nd edition) it wasn't long until we discovered that "In the grim darkness of the far future, there is only war." Tanks, guns, aliens - it was an instant hit and we didn't look back. Chaos was an easy choice for me as I'd had a taste of the future from my old books and my WFB daemons served me as well in the future as they did 40,000 years in the past...
As with all things, time moved on. Bloodbowl and Warhammer Quest came and went, Necromunda too; school needed more of our time and prices increased at what felt like an exponential rate. At the introduction of a new "white metal", replacing old lead based miniatures and accompanied by a substantial increase in price, me and my friends put the hobby aside.
The call of chaos stayed with me though. I'd play the computer games (Cyanide's Bloodbowl, Warhammer: Mark of Chaos etc.) and gaze longingly into the local GW store, curious about the latest releases. New friends started to collect and play again but I resisted, I knew the curse on time and your wallet the hobby can have!
About a year ago though I finally relented. There was a fancy Warhammer 40k (6th edition) starter set available which included Chaos Space Marines and, to quote my better half, "Why don't you just get it? You've been drooling over it for ages!" So I did and here we are...
Enough history!
I'm back into the hobby and now collecting - Chaos Space Marines (Alpha Legion), Eldar (a resurrected army from my youth), Tyranids (using the amazingly retro 1st/2nd ed. models) and, my latest project, an Inquisition/Assassins/monkey force.
Here's a selection of my miniatures to give an idea of the sort of stuff I do and to give me an opportunity to improve my photography skills! Expect more in future posts...
An Escher Juve from Necromunda, painted aeons ago, facing off against the awesome Helbrute model from Dark Vengeance
Alpha Legion Rhino, with graffiti from sneaky cultists, primarily some freehand practice
A Khorne Lord of Skulls converted into a walker using only components from the original miniature... plus a couple of coke bottle tops! Needs some green stuff before he can be painted.
An Alpha Legion Noise Marine, including scratch built Blastmaster, elf pretty-boy head and freehand signal generator waveforms - looks a bit rough this close up, but I was proud at the time!
Dark Angels terminator sgt - one of the first models I painted after returning to the hobby, I'm pleased with him even though the power sword isn't complete
A retro styled Tyranid Trygon built from a spare Hive Tyrant tail and an incomplete 2nd ed Screamer Killer Carnifex I got in a ebay job lot
For me it was the WFB 4th Ed box set. My brother and I were rather overwhelmed by the sheer volume of miniatures it came with, even though we were too young to really understand the rules. From then it was just a case of going into GW, seeing the marvellous, red cover of the Skaven army book, and that was that. Skaven loyalist forever. Not long after that we picked up a copy of Space Crusade, but didn't care for it at the time. It's only 25 years later that I actually appreciate how good that boardgame is...
ReplyDeleteEven if a few of the models in the box were cardboard cut outs...
DeleteI don't know where there is so much focus on Space Hulk these days, I think Space Crusade would make a much more interesting PC competitive computer game.
I agree. Space Hulk seems more of a thrill-ride where a doomed terminator squad desperately struggle to survive an overwhelming enemy.
DeleteSpace Crusde has a bit more of a tactical approach with the choice of squad loadout and upgrades.
Space Hulk is quicker to learn thanks to the enforced simplicity.
DeleteWas in Games Workshop for the first time in years last weekend reminiscing about rhinos costing £6 and my old harlequin force.
ReplyDeleteIf we're ever living the same neck of the world I'll get involved again. Great to hear about stuff like Hero Quest and Blood Bowl. It's worth adding that Space Hulk was a lot more fun that it should have been given its simplicity. What was the scaven based game that came out about the same time as Necromunda?
In the mean time I still play Dawn of War with the Titanium Wars mod on the PC (best mod that still supports campaign mode) when I get the chance and that gives me a bit of a GW fix...
More army pics please. I want too see how your forces progress!
Seb
To be fair, for all in increases in prices of new models Ebay has made second hand armies infinitely more available and affordable. Once you know the trick of stripping GW paint it's a great way to start or bulk up an army.
DeleteI don't remember a Skaven based game but there's a ton of licence board games that I've not played.
There will be more army pics, definitely! Thanks for the comment!
I think it might have been Mordenheim
Delete