Down a wormhole, to a Grim Dark future (nearly)
Welcome Brothers and Sisters, I’m James, an average closet Warhammer Nerd who has been drawn back into the Warhammer Universe by a Slaaneshi Fiend (friend) I thought I had left the Grim Dark Future behind me in the late 90’s….but it looks like I am back. Join me on my journey back to social and tournament 40K gaming.
So after 25 earth years, I didn’t think I would be playing warhammer again, let alone writing a blog about it!
I had forgotten all about warhammer to a large extent, over the years I would occasionally pick up a copy of white dwarf in the newsagents and have a quick read….so i guess it never really left me completely.
By chance I found out that a friend at work Steve (fiend of Slaanesh), was a big warhammer fan and he painted the models as a hobby and small business.
We both worked as servitors administering pointless processes for a large organisation, indoctrinating young aspirants into drones, ready to be sent out into the meat grinder. Chatting about fantasy wargaming was a welcome distraction and felt as though the Emperor himself was shining a little joy upon us. Steve showed me some photo’s of his work and I was blown away, telling him “You’re Eavy Metal Mate” Already I could feel myself getting lured back in!! (but denied this to Steve for quite a while..)
“You’re ‘Eavy Metal mate”
Steve showed me some photo’s of his work. I had been working with him for years, and never knew anything about it. The hooks of the hobby were biting in deep…
I started to mention Warhammer 40k here and there to people and it’s amazing how many people played warhammer as a teenager or had a brother who did and then drifted away from the hobby. It was far less cool 25-30 years ago and now even superman himself plays warhammer 40K!!!
A few co-incidences then started to fall into place, the second Dune film was being released which sparked conversation about Sci-Fi films and literature. I bought a PS5 and started playing Helldivers, which is heavily 40K inspired.
I decided that I ought to finally do something about mine and my brothers old lead mini’s which were lurking deep in a wobbly old wardrobe in my mum’s house. They brought back lots of memories when I dug them out, most of what was there were my brothers who had sadly passed away about 18 months before. There were a couple of little note books of my brothers, one with the title Dwarf Armies Book. There was virtually nothing written inside it lol, typical of my brother, he wasn’t the planning type! The book and an old army list of mine were like artefacts from a lost time, they reminded me of how much fun wargaming was and how passionate about it I used to be. The mini’s were mostly a mix of Dwarf Fantasy and a lot of Man O War ships. The Dwarf Anvil of Doom and the Throne of Power were both there…….unpainted of course lol.
“Finding these old army lists was like unearthing ancient artefacts.”
I spoke to Steve about the Mini’s and he told me I should try to sell them as they would be worth money, I didn’t think much of it but was shocked when I looked on Ebay and they ended up selling for a good price! After a bit more reading up about Games Workshop and the current state of warhammer I couldn’t believe how big it had become, the company is on the FTSE 100!!
I started watching youtube videos (thanks auspex tactics and majorkill) I downloaded the core rules for 40K and read them all the way through absorbing them like some kind of data hungry cyber engineered monster. It stirred the hunger for facts and figures which I do seem to enjoy, I think I could still recall the profile of a warhammer fantasy chaos warrior from 1995!!!! I was already having thoughts of what faction, what detachment, who’s lore did i like the most.
I was not expecting these dusty old models to sell for anything! I couldnt believe my eyes when I saw how much they went for.
Then I came up for air, thought about what free time I had or didn’t have, the cost involved, the fact I can’t paint a model for toffee and reluctantly I decided to put the idea of a return to the hobby back in the bottom of a wobbly old forgotten wardrobe…….. and drink another tea.
You can also follow my Journey on Instagram. I’ll be posting lots of photos videos and sharing my tournament experiences with you.