Say hello to Lordybloke

1: How and when did you start wargaming?

Way back in the mists of time!

I can trace it back to getting some book tokens (do they still exist!?) one Christmas as a young lad in the mid 80's and buying some fighting fantasy books (Deathtrap Dungeon and Island of the Lizard King!). I was hooked on those books and picked up Warlock magazine (dedicated to FF) which opened a world where I could buy miniatures of the beasts I'd been fighting in the books along with floor plans to fight these battles out in 3D. Terribly exciting stuff!

About the same time I was reading Lord of the Rings which added massively to the whole fantasy melting pot.

Warlock magazine was discounted and I needed a new monthly fix of rules and miniatures so I bought a mag by the name of White Dwarf.......

2: What was your 1st wargaming purchase?

One of my first purchases were some "drastic plastic orcs" and the "psychostyrene dwarf" (early Citadel plastics) along with some Grenadier LOTR minis, although these were more for "roleplaying" and dungeon bashing. My first actual wargame purchase was Warhammer Fantasy 2nd ed I found going cheap in a bookstore.

3: Do you remember you 1st painted models? How bad/good were they and do you still have any examples?

 I do remember my first painted models. Very thick paint! There's a good chance I have some early painting examples in the loft. Next time I'm up there......

 
4: How long have you known the other Lonewolves/how did you meet?

 Met a few whilst working at Games Workshop (12+ years ago?) who knew a few of the others and we all ended up in Zeds garage! Tomarse and Ballboy Elliot joined us like strays, stupidly we kept feeding them and they kept coming back!

 

5: Do you have a game that sticks in your memory (for good or bad reasons) that you'd like to recall?

So many games....

There was one game a long, long time ago where my opponent fired a rock lobber at my unit of chaos warriors, it scattered and landed on top of my chaos lord on his griffon (they were allowed to ride them back then!), squashed them both flat and caused my centre to panic off the table!

I lost that game.

6: What’s your all time favourite games system?

 All time favourite has to Warhammer Fantasy. To me its the original game that got me into all this! The current Epic rules are close though. I think its a very under-rated set of rules.

7: Any wargaming regrets/ things you would have done differently with hindsight?

 Make sure I painted something before making the next purchase (yeah, right!). Going to the Dark Stars weekend (shudder) is also something I'd like to erase!

8: Any wargaming experience/ army/ model/ story that you are most proud of/ like to brag about?

 I've got a Gargant!

Although there is a story thats randomly popped into my head! During my GW management training I'd attend the monthly meetings with the other managers to get used to the format etc. At one such meeting they decided to introduce a bit of fun and competition. At various points in the meeting we'd all have 5 minutes of painting time for about a total of 20 mins. We'd all have to produce a marine in that time and we'd all vote at the end for the best.

I chose the Eagle Warriors scheme (blue and white halved) as I'd been given a white undercoated marine sgt.

The meeting went along and we all got our painting time and at the end of the meeting it was time for the vote.

Each marine was held up and got a score. There were some shocking examples to be seen!

It came down to my Eagle Warrior (which I must say was looking good, proper shading and highlights, the works! It seemed like I was the only one who knew how to use inks?!) and a black armoured marine with HUGE grey highlights.

The final vote was undertaken and my blue and white sgt won with a landslide victory! HOORAY!!

Everyone was congratulating me and I was feeling pretty good, oh yes!

 

But thats not the end......

The regional manager looked at me and said "he's not a proper manager, he can't win" and proceeded to hand the winning prize (all the new releases for the next two months!) to the painter of the fat grey highlighted marine. Gutted.

GW was not a democracy!

9: What do you see happening to your wargaming wise over the next 5 years?

 Hopefully as the boy gets older I'll be able to squeeze more time in for my hobby. Although thats not likely......

I think I'll be continuing the quantity over quality of paint work and increased use of dipping! I'd like a Napoleonic army up and running and try out a few rule sets for that era.

GW games will still be a big part of my gaming diary but I think they will come in equal shares with the Historical games.

I'd also like to try more sculpting!

 

10: Any final thoughts?

 Just to say thanks to the Lone Wolves in general and Zed's hospitality in particular for all the great games we've played! Despite all of us having the usual highs and lows of life we've kept the games going which has been a great outlet to de-stress (mostly!).

Long may it continue!

Oh, and can we get a campaign (any system!) going again soon?

 

Bonus section, for those that have worked at GW

A: How long did you work for GW?

 about 4 years

B: Which Stores?

 Bristol Central, Cribbs Causeway, Swansea and Bath. I even did a day in Cardiff and Gloucester stores.

C: Fondest memory

The discount!  Although Games Days were fun back then (just don't forget to bring ALL the kids back on the coach!) 

D: Least fondest memory

 Working weekends and 8 hours of running Gorkamorka intro games each Saturday! Its probably a fun game but I've had all the fun kicked out of it!

E: If the money was good enough, would you go back? and why?

Nope! I got sick of the annoying kids, know-it-all teens and being treated like a free creche long before the money became an issue!